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.
