Bike Rack on the Bus

The other day I caught a glimpse of a bike on one of the Metro bus racks, and I thought to myself: "that could be really helpful. But I would feel like such a jerk holding up the bus the first time I tried to do it, making everyone late and attracting vicious sneers upon mounting the steps, (assuming I ever actually figured out how to make it work), that I will probably never take advantage of it."

Fortunately, one of the following must be true: I am not the only person who thinks this way, there are people who know that I think this way, or there are people with extra time on their hands who just like making videos that might somehow aid in increasing bike transit, because LOOK!!!!

Fewer and fewer excuses...

Relativity

As it turns out, walking to work yesterday was a great idea because not only was it a nice way to spend the first hour of the day, it was also a good way to realize that riding my bike would be much easier. (Until yesterday, I was always comparing riding to driving, and for this slovenly character, that was a tough sell.) As I made my way slowly along my route, my shoes started to rub my heels the wrong way, and as the boredom ebbed and flowed, I found myself thinking about how much more quickly it would go were I on my bike. I also discovered that it was not, as I had anticipated, as much less stressful walking than biking. One of my major complaints (and there are more to come, I assure you) about biking in the city, even this little tiny one, is that the intersections offer so many opportunities for disaster that the ride is never all that pleasant what with the constant worry about what’s coming from which direction. You'd think I'd have done enough walking to know better than to think this wouldn't be the case when you’re on foot as well. I just really like how much easier it is to respond quickly to vehicular surprises when I'm not suspended precariously above the ground.

So I rode to work today, and the payoff was more than just the satisfaction of having left the car in the driveway. I'll get into my complaints in more volume and depth soon.

Launch

Yes, that's me. I'm lazy about lots of things, but this one is among my most contradictory. I love the idea of not driving. I even love not driving. But I don't like to have to replace it with things that take, you know, any time or effort. Now that Sarah's got the Portland Green Streets chapter up and humming, though, and, let's face it, now that gas is $3.32 at the Cumby's on the corner, I'm having more trouble getting away with it with myself. My office is only 3.28 miles away, and I have a perfectly good bike, and I'm really not all that busy.

I thought it might be fun to document my commuting adventures - lord knows I need all the incentive I can get. I also like to talk about how lazy I am, because it makes it harder to miss out on good stuff as a result of it. Plus, funny things happen when I leave the car at home. It hasn't failed yet. (Three for three.)

At this particular moment I don't have much time in which to document, but I wanted to say that thanks to one of the kiddos I work with, whom I promised I'd get myself to work on foot this morning, come hell or high water, that I did. Walk. And although my heels were a little raw by the time I got there, thanks to a poor choice of socks and a winter's hiatus from sneaker wearing, it was a gorgeous walk in 40 degree weather and an awful nice way to spend the first hour of the day. (No, I didn't leave at midnight. I just meant the first hour of the day out and about.)

(Please comment on the readability of the color scheme.)