If you know me, you may know of a few things that I don't do that seemingly every normal person does. I don't drink coffee. And I don't ride a bike. I tried to ride a bike once, but that ended quickly.A little over a month ago I moved into a new house - and everything has been wonderful. It's cheaper, bigger, nicer. My best friend lives in the bedroom next to mine, and we have a new roommate who is pretty much the 3rd awesomest person in the world. And, I now live 1.5 miles from school. How can this situation not be a win?! Well, we're about to find out.
My commute to school used to consist of a 15-20 min shuttle bus ride, on the days I opted for that. Or a 15 minute drive, followed by sometimes a 15 minute walk from where I could park my car. The latter is what happened most days. From the new place it's a 5 minute drive to campus. The search for parking and resulting walk seems too much given the short distance of the drive, so I've opted for no driving. There is a bus right outside my apartment, I can take it down the street to the baseball stadium, switch to a shuttle to take me to the football stadium, and switch to a shuttle that will take me to the Psychology building. You read that right, 3 buses for 1.5 miles. Seems, wasteful. So, the only logical answer is - ride a bike. It'll be the fastest, most independent way to commute. Not to mention, earth friendly.
But. It's a bike.
I rode with a friend of mine one day, and with a non-1974, non-Panasonic bike, I actually did much better.
Then a very generous friend (and blog reader) decided to give me her bike. She was moving out of Austin and could not fit it in her car. So, now I've got a bike. I bought a helmet, and a bell for the bike, and I should be all set to go. I rode the bike around my neighborhood for a short while last night, just to make sure it seemed ok. And I've been planning out my route to school for weeks. There is one small problem. The hill at Dean Keeton. There's no way around it, I must go down this hill. Yes, down. I'm afraid of the down. The up, fine. It'll be hard, maybe impossible, but the down - I'll be going so fast. I won't lie, I'm terrified.
But today, I'm going to ride to school. Look out drivers, bikers, and walkers, here I come. Worst case, I'll take three buses home tonight!
UPDATE: as of 10:15am central time, I have made it to my office. The bike is secured outside, I've changed my shoes and mopped up all the sweat. I suppose getting home will be the big challenge. Also, I didn't hate it. It was...almost nice!
