I am worthy again!

I am worthy of being a cyclist again. I commuted this morning for the first time in months. I used to do it quite often. But lately, been into working on the car, the weather, having to need the car for work, etc.. Not one of them a real viable excuse. Plus I just wasn't into it, and for me, if I'm not into it, I'm just not into it.

But this morning I got it into my head that I am going to commute. It almost never happened though. One kid wasn't feeling well, the other didn't want to go to school, wife is scrambling to take care of them, while I am trying to dig out all the stuff to ride in.

It took FOREVER to get ready to ride in. Up and down the stairs several times trying to find stuff. I'd forgotten where my commuter bag was:

(This is a very special bag. I won it with my teammates at the 1997 24 hrs of Canaan. We got 2nd in the Open category against 100+ teams. And we weren't a stacked team like a lot of the other contendors. This event was one of the best moments of my life wrt to racing. Every lap became like my best race ever. The 1st place team had a manager and was even watching our team closely. We went to him for updates on how we were doing. They actually ran their woman racer for the minimum amount according to the rules, but we ran ours (MY WIFE!!!) through full rotation. Anyway, I digress)

I wanted to take my commuter bike. It has a 2x9 setup on it, but the only 9 speed cassete I've got is on my mtn bike, so I had to swap cassetes, pump tires, find the tools and tubes, etc.


This is a cross bike, but I changed over to a flat bar. It has an ebay 150mm stem on it, and it is still too short, but it is fun to ride. First bike frame I make is going to be a road/cross bike built with a longer top tube to accomodate flat bars.

This one has a Surly SS dropout that also has a rear der. hanger:


It was really fun riding in. I am not even close to being one of those aggressive cyclists that cuts in/out of traffic, or has to hold the middle of the lane, etc. But I definitely change my mindset. Where you get this hypervigilance, and awareness, and this sphere of confidence around you. Forcing eye contact with drivers, holding your realestate of the road. Muttering comments under your breath when you have to ride around some dumb driver stopped where they shouldn't be.

And I'm allowed to be hypocritcal... dumb drivers in their steel coffins, with their good morning smoke and cup of coffee and cell phone. Who the hell do you need to be talking to now? And those crazy students in their $30-$40k cars that mom bought them driving the 1 mile to campus in order to spend the next 1/2 and hour looking for a parking space...

Of course I have been driving in for the last few months and probably will tomorrow.. Oh well, at least for today I was part of the good fight.