I am so unbelievably disturbed by this. Yet strangely drawn…

Check out the gruesome goodies at this Thailand bakery.

I biked about 20 miles on Sunday.  I went to the theater to hang out with Jesse Wayne in the AM, went home (6.2 miles).  Soon after that I biked to good will to find a suede skirt I could turn into a Native American inspired costume for this not-so-PC Cowboys and Indians party.  Not only did I find the skirt, but this dude fell in love with my bike and told me how awesome it was and how he wishes he had one just like it.  Almost 8 miles later, I returned home.  That brings us to approximately 14 miles.  When I got home I went out again

to Borders, Walgreens, Scarlet Begonia, etc. (2 more miles).  That night I went to a pool party at this famous guitar shaped pool.  That was another couple miles…4 miles more.

Monday, I felt great. No pain or anguish in the least.   I wrote about the first horrible feelings on Sunday on my tumblr, but that was about the only difficulty I encountered.  I’m still not going to bike to work! This time I really do have a root canal to contend with.

I guess it will have to be Friday, weather permitting.

I’m starting to feel like a real loser for not having ridden my bike to work yet. Everyday someone in the office asks, “did you ride here today?” I’m getting really sick of having to say no. I’ve always got a bunch of semi good excuses, like “it’s 400 degrees out and I have to go to the dentist at lunch” or “I need to go to tutor 40 minutes away right after work” or “we’ve got practice and I have my guitar” or BLAH BLAH BLAH!

Anyway, next week I am going to make it happen if it’s the last thing I do. All 8.5 miles. I’m supposed to get my sweet chrome rack and basket in today and that will help me for sure. I definitely need a lot of water to be readily available and I’m super tired of the backpack scene. I’m going to give myself 2 hours the first time to avoid any feeling of stress whatsoever.

Maybe I should just get a Wii Fit… but then I’d have to get a Wii. I’m a little nervous about how 1984¹ the whole scene is too. I guess I’ll give the biking a fair shake before I go the route of being watched by Big Brother.

1. In Orwell’s book, an exercise instructor wakes everyone up at the same time and they have to do all kinds of stretches and work outs via a creepy two way screen, a mandatory fixture in every home.

My least favorite part of biking everywhere is the lack of anonymity.  I’ve been getting phone calls and texts everyday from people who “saw me biking around.”  I’m  not sure what the purpose of telling me that is, but it seems to really press on people to let me know.

I mean, I don’t think I look that cool with my bangs blowing straight back in the wind and my nose running (it’s allergy season).  On the really good days, I sport the latest of my accessories, “sweat,” as well.

Yesterday as I was biking home with a bunch of toilet paper under my arm, I couldn’t help but wonder what sort of social response to expect.  As I turned the corner onto my street, I was met by a torrent of bikers- all of which looked way more serious than I did in my ruffled taffeta shirt and slippery black flats.  They were all decked out in sportswear and helmets and spandex and their bikes probably even came from a recent decade.  I tried not to feel like a tool, but it was tough.  They were all staring at me, biking along at a good clip, holding my bath tissue.

This stuff isn’t for the hipster.

I can’t bike to work yet.

I’m waiting for my chrome basket and rack to come in at Bike Peddler, a Schwinn dealership of old,  and I have to drive 400 million miles to go tutor calculus right after work.  Soon I will bike to and from work consistently.

I decided to bike to the library and the mall the other day.  It’s only a few miles, but they’re not nice miles at all.  I ended up struggling up the worst hill I’ve ever seen in real life and collapsing on my face in front of the library.  I doubled over a fence for a while, waiting to vomit.  When that didn’t work, I went face down into the grass.  I was wearing my heavy laptop-laden backpack at the time, so it pressed me a little harder into the moist earth.  It was rough.  After a few minutes, I felt great and kept right on going.  I stopped at Panera and pulled the whole ‘homeless-shower’ trick and all was well.  I even got  some cat-calls from a landscaping truck.  Doesn’t take much, I guess.

Yesterday I biked to the grocery store (ya, I know, I’m a total sellout- but I was cooking for someone else so I don’t feel that bad).  I didn’t wear a backpack because I’m really tired of the whole sweating deal.  I ended up biking home with my purse filled with raw meat.  Kind of sick, but think of all the green! Money, the environment, the envy I surely inspire…

Well, I quit freeganism. Sort of. I went to the farmers market over the weekend and bought organic vegetables from small time farmers. So I’ve decided that I’ll just write about all the different things I’m doing to save money and be healthy.

Tonight I got two bags of bagels from a coffee shop that I frequent. Last week I got a 3 speed Schwinn Traveler which I plan on riding to work in the morning. Work is 8.5 miles from home and I’m more than a little nervous. I’ve been “training” at the gym for this, but something about really doing it and doing it on a 3 speed from 1964 is terrifying. It’s pretty easy to hop on my wheels and head down to the village or the parks a couple miles away, but we’ll see how I fare on the highways and byways. I don’t have and sweet spandex bike gear or anything, so I’m sure I’ll run into all kinds of trouble. I stupidly brought my computer home from the office so I’ll have to lug that thing around in my backpack. Nothing like a healthy dose of back sweat to get your day started right.