Wednesday, October 11, 2006
first post
i have been car-free for almost a month now, since i got home from china sept.15. i have to say it has been easy so far, but tonite was the test. i was due out on the east side, at pete's house, at 730...and the lightning came about 645, rain was coming down in buckets, and now that i'm home reading the news, i see a tornado touched down in the outskirts of town. anyway, at about 7pm i had to make a decision--to go or not to go. and i knew pete had made dinner for me, so what choice did i have.
i put on my rain-suit from china--dark blue with a reflective silver stripe around the chest/back--and some gloves, and headed out. the rain wasn't too bad at this point, but it was dark, cold, and windy. i wheeled outta my alley, briefly rode on Hudson, and then turned south on Summit. i took summit all the way through downtown, to Livingston. it was not a bad ride. my back flashing vista-light isn't hung properly, and my headlight conked out briefly as i neared pete's house, but i jiggled it and it came on [brighter than before!].
so, all in all, it was 6.25 miles there, 26 minutes, and well worth the ride. pete was flabbergasted when i arrived...and graciously let me bring my muddy gritty bike into his parlor. he has hardwood floors, easy to clean up, and instead of leaning it up against the newly-papered walls, i stood it against the piano bench and we put last sunday's Times under it for the drippings.
we had a nice dinner and after a few innings of the Tigers' game, i rolled outta there and took a slightly different route home, through downtown to High Street and then north to campus, etc. i am glad i did it and i think there might be hope for not operating my car all the way until i go to china next summer. ha!
ps. it was on the bike ride to pete's house that i thought i should keep this blog :]
i put on my rain-suit from china--dark blue with a reflective silver stripe around the chest/back--and some gloves, and headed out. the rain wasn't too bad at this point, but it was dark, cold, and windy. i wheeled outta my alley, briefly rode on Hudson, and then turned south on Summit. i took summit all the way through downtown, to Livingston. it was not a bad ride. my back flashing vista-light isn't hung properly, and my headlight conked out briefly as i neared pete's house, but i jiggled it and it came on [brighter than before!].
so, all in all, it was 6.25 miles there, 26 minutes, and well worth the ride. pete was flabbergasted when i arrived...and graciously let me bring my muddy gritty bike into his parlor. he has hardwood floors, easy to clean up, and instead of leaning it up against the newly-papered walls, i stood it against the piano bench and we put last sunday's Times under it for the drippings.
we had a nice dinner and after a few innings of the Tigers' game, i rolled outta there and took a slightly different route home, through downtown to High Street and then north to campus, etc. i am glad i did it and i think there might be hope for not operating my car all the way until i go to china next summer. ha!
ps. it was on the bike ride to pete's house that i thought i should keep this blog :]
