Like most working schlubs, I've got an hour for lunch everyday. Today I decided to run a couple of errands at lunch: go to the bank, stop by the running store, have lunch at home. It would have been a tough task to get all of it done in an hour with the aid of a car. On a bike though, it. would. be.A Race Against Time...
Song of the Day: Missing Persons, Racing Against Time.mp3
(I literally had this totally obscure Missing Persons (!) song stuck in my head during my lunch time adventure. Unless you're a huge Terry Bozzio fan like me, you've probably never even heard this song before, so , uh, enjoy?)
11:35 am.
Leave the office. I'm about 3.5 miles from Foot of the Rockies, where I have to enter a race today. I save $5 if I register today. I could have done this on-line and paid $3 more, but yes I'm that frugal. Besides if I did it on line, it would be just another day. Now, it's an impossible adventure. But not pointless; we're going to see if a man on a bike can run a few errands as quickly as someone in a car. Did I mention I'm on the single -speed cruiser? This is not the right bike for this adventure. One gear. It's very difficult to pedal this thing faster than about 14 or 15 mph. Should have taken the road bike.
11:45 am.
Stop by the bank, get some cash. Time is ticking.
11:55 am.
Arrive at the running store. Had to take the sidewalk alongside College Ave. It was very scary but necessary.
12:01 pm.
Leave Foot of the Rockies. I'm about 5 miles from home via College. College is to be avoided on a bike at all costs, but any other route would waste time, so I race along the sidewalk alongside College. Chain restaurants fly by; Appelbee's (neighborhood grill!). Olive Garden (family style Italian!). Ruby Tuesday's (food Mick Jagger likes!). Chili's (spicy but not too spicy!). Zoom. The sidewalk peters out at the mall. Cut across the mall parking lot (keep your head on a swivel!) to Stover. Ahh Stover. This is a bike friendly street. Bikers know the Fort differently than drivers. Stover is my College on a bike.
12:25 pm.
Arrive at home. In now have 5 minutes to eat lunch, pack my yoga stuff, and get back to work. The crushing impossibility of it all finally hits me. Would have been better off in a car today! NOOOOOOOO. Should have either done fewer errands and picked another time. Cram PB&J sandwich in mouth, pet dog and give biscuit to the same, remove race stuff from backpack, stuff towel and shorts into back back, strap yoga mat to backpack straps, and (12:41 pm) blast out the door. 2 miles from work. I'm already late but I may as well make a show of trying! (12:53 pm) arrive back at office. about 20 minutes overdue. I can make up the time by staying late, but I must admit it is a MFM failure; being motor free negatively impacted my working day. But it was a fun adventure so I can't consider it all bad. And I got about 10.5 miles of riding in, not too shabby!
Lesson learned; it would be hard to be motor free if you had a strict work environment where you couldn't make up some extra time taken at lunch. I feel fortunate there.
Today I'm heading to a city council meeting after work. There have been at least 2 cyclists killed by motorists in the Fort in the past year or so, and we need to raise awareness and see what we can do to make the city safer for cyclists and motorists. Join me there if you like!
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Time: 5:45pm - 6:45pm
Location: City Council Chambers
Street: 300 Laporte Ave.
City/Town: Fort Collins, CO
And we're going to see a concert at the Aggie tonight!
(not these guys)
That's more like it...
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