I did my bit!

I'm just not used to it. I know that it makes so much sense on so many levels but I just can't help but feeling.... silly tooling around town on my bike. I pumped up the tires and set out through down-town to go to City Hall and to do a little geocaching at a local park. Going through the DT area was the worst. If you have read this blog at all you know that recreational, altruistic cycling is not the norm in these parts. Most adults on bicycles around here are on them because they can not hold onto a job or driver's license, and "Down Town" is where most of these people are to be found. I guess I was "worried" that the other middle-class white males passing through this bottle-neck of Urban Blight would simply assume that I was "one of them" and that I was in some way in danger of being knocked off my bike by their scorn. I took great pains to avoid this. I wore my helmet and chose the Trek 820, conspicuously decorated with costly-appearing yuppyish doo-dads and NOT one of my beloved drop-bar vintage road bikes. "Bumcycles" down town, "vintage" in the countryside. After all, Image is everything when it comes to Utility Cycling Chickly. Right?

Well, I am pleased to say that I was able to safely and efficiently run my errands, find one of my geocahes and even find a more bike-friendly way out of the valley! I was not thrown from my stead by either scorn or 4 wheeled impact (although a schoolbus driver -of all things- certainly did her best to try!) I got in about 5 miles of riding that I would not have otherwise too! As silly as I felt about it initially, after it was over I was pretty pleased with myself and glad that I chose to do something healthy for myself and the Planet.