strike that

icebreaking

Enough about love. Let’s talk about biking.

I biked to work today for the first time. It was one of my (smaller-scale, more concrete) new year’s resolutions. Being a biker was always part of my Portland plan, but when I got here I was surprised – given its reputation – at the scariness of biking in this city. While Portland clearly offers better biking than many American metropolitan areas, it’s no Amsterdam. Bike lanes disappear unannounced. Hills loom. Drivers honk.

Consequently for four months I pointed at my flat bike tires and used my feet and my truck and the bus. Then two weeks ago Jamey got a bike pump in the mail, significantly calling into question the insurmountability of my long-running excuse. I don’t know what makes The First Time so hard with things like biking to work. Do you remember activation energy from highschool chemistry? It takes energy to get a process started, even if – once started – that process will itself generate even more energy. Which is good, insofar as the world does not burst into flames around us. But less good in its metaphorical applications, e.g. biking. Summoning up activation energy is one of the great challenges of life.

Last Sunday I rode eighteen miles around town, and my friend Lauren, for example, regularly rides twice that before I’m even awake in the morning. But for me it was monumental. It was perhaps the farthest I’ve ever ridden on a bike at once, and certainly the farthest I’ve ever ridden while wearing a polkadot cocktail dress. This made it officially inexcusable to further delay bike commuting.

So this morning I got up and got on. It was windy and spitting rain, and my hood blew around and my ears hurt. But it was thrilling. I felt like I was moving. I felt like I was a Portlander. I felt wet, but sexy-tousled wet. Darryl Hannah in Splash wet. Of course when I arrived I looked more drowned-dog wet, sweaty, soaked and snotty. Not particularly appropriate for work. But perhaps I can get in better gear and better shape and figure this out. Either way it was splendid, and I think I can do it again.

posted by tortaluga @ 1:51 PM