Big News on the Bike Front

I created this blog July 8th, 2008. It's April 20th, 2009, and I can finally provide an update. There's some pretty big things happening re me getting a bike.

Miyazaki-san is moving back to Japan this week. We became close covering the North Korea issue. We endeared ourselves to each other over beers. And he really sealed the deal by giving me a coat & shoes that no longer fit him. When he told me he was planning to get rid of his bike before he moved, I offered to buy it from him, by which I mean, he's giving it to me this Wednesday. I never told him I didn't really "know" how to "ride" a "bike."

Nine months ago I decided I needed a bike. My friend Aaron was heading to Indonesia, and he agreed to let me borrow his bike during the 4 months he would be gone. I never got around to picking it up. I got a girlfriend who had a car and was conveniently located along a bus route. The bikes that my roommates acquired quickly fell into disrepair. It was fall, then winter. The desire and need diminished.

I didn't think the maxim "just like riding a bike" would apply to me. My dad gave up on getting me past training wheels sometime around age 8. I don't think I cared enough to learn. At 13, I must have changed my mind about that, because I spent a few days the summer before freshman year of high school teaching myself on the same bike (it was a bold yellow, and had an FM radio attached to it, but the name is escaping me). I was shaky at first, and never figured out how to do the "standing up" while riding thing, but it was enough to go for low intensity rides around the neighborhood with friends. Then, all of a sudden, everybody knew how to drive. No one rode bikes until college. Until Friday night, I could honestly say, "I haven't ridden a bike in 10 years."

I arranged to pick up the bike this Wednesday, after work. Miyazaki suggested that we enjoy some beer on the roof of his apartment building, as well. I couldn't not ride the bike home after picking it up. So this past Friday, I had my work cut out for me: by Wednesday, I needed to be able to ride a bike while drunk.

Coming your way

In the late afternoon, I received an email from a real estate agent, telling me that my roommates and I had been deemed acceptable to live at at the house on Q Street, NW.

A few hours later I left left work. There's guy in the elevator and we start making small talk. I ask him if he's biking home (he looked the part).

"Yup," he says with a grin. "Only way to do it."

"Well, walking's okay, too," I sheepishly told him right before starting my two mile trek.

I work on 14th Street NW, and live right off of it on Harvard, so my walk home is a straight shot northbound. It's been warm in the early evening, but not as oppressive as it had been a few hours earlier, so the walk has been bearable. I noticed a lot of people biking. Not just a lot: every intersection I would stop at, I saw a cyclist or two riding along the cross street. Was this more people than normal, or was I just particularly aware? Left and right I took mental notes: helmet, no helmet; bike shorts, street clothes; street bike, mountain bike; what kind of bag were they carrying?

I think it was around 14th and P that I told myself, "I need to get a bike." It would be helpful for my eventual arrangement at the house in Truxton Circle, which, for all of its charms, was close (but not that close) to two metro stations, a walkable (but more than I'd care to walk) distance between the U Street corridor and the H Street NE corridor, a hike (slight) to the closest Giant, a good hike (real good) to the Wonderland Ballroom, and a bit too far away from work to walk it. There's also a fenced in driveway to keep bike safe. And lots of my friends have bikes. In other words, getting a bike = great idea!

So, what's standing in my way?

Well, money, because I can't afford to be spendthrift until after the move to Q Street.

Also, I don't really know how to ride a bike.