Gwendolyn: The Destroyer
I decided to try biking to the Bus Project office today to see how bad
it was.
First, I geared up. Understand, that I am a country boy, and I am
scared shitless of biking in the city. I put on my shorts and a bright
orange don't-hit-me t-shirt, double checked my helmet, grabbed my map
of the "bike-friendly" streets in Portland, and headed out the door
carrying Gwendolyn: The Destroyer.
First thing I noticed was that my butt was sore. Ouch. That'll teach
me not to go all flabby. I stuck to the side walks for the first few
blocks, trying to make it to the street my map said had a bike
lane. Huh, wrong way. Okay, so I picked the next closest bike friendly
street (headed the proper direction this time) and took off. One block
down, I was ready to try this thing.
With no cars coming, I moved into the right most lane, and started
peddling. I must have looked like I was tweaking out, eyes searching
for suddenly opened car doors, frantic glances behind me,
stutter pedalling as I tried to figure out how to shift the small
gears on my new bike. But then I started to get the hang of it.
I got it. I was a car. In fact, I could even keep up with
them. The only thing was, they could flatten me if they
choose. Yikes. That will take some getting used to.
But downtown isn't so large here, and eventually I got to the
Hawthorne bridge which has a great bike lane, that continues well into
South East. I worked my way over the river and then up to right near
the Bus Office. No problem. Coming back was just as easy. I even took
the Jefferson street bike lane that was going the wrong way before.
Anyways, two days of bike riding has kicked my ass. My legs feel very
wobbly. Which kind of indicates I wasn't getting a good enough work
out on that stupid exercise bike. Not to mention, I'm eating tons
again.
One thing that amazed me was how much more intimate it was passing
through the city on a bike compared to a car. Everything was
new. Crossing the bridge kind of blew my mind as the breeze swept over
the water. I like this bike riding thing.
I did learn something from watching other bikers, though. There are
apparently only two appropriate ways to dress for biking.
- Enthusiast: The enthusiast wears spandex, googles, and very short shorts.
- Casual: The causual dresser makes no comprimises. Dress to impress. Just cause you're biking doesn't mean you can't look good.
posted on: 09/26/2005 | path: /life