glad someone thought that was worthy of a double-take. it's a tradition: buy new bike, fall off new bike. reason i ran into it? a sort of huhthatlookslikeagiraffe'skneecapbutsurelynotincanadawaitisthattendonsiseeyeahithinksoaaaarrrgghh!!! kind of trance. mornings ain't my best time of day.

so how bad is it to keep riding on a slightly warped wheel?

wednesday i couldn't ride because we got the expected 16 hours notice of first baseball practice way the hell out in god's armpit. kid took everything-a-ballplayer-needs (i hope) plus a map to school in his backpack, and i drove the car and went by after work to pick him up with gatorade. but today i rode; nothing was gonna stop me. rode to work, worked, rode home, fed cat, got in car, went and got kid. 16 is too old for moms to lurk around practices anyway.

oooooo, the new bike is nice! actually, it's hard to tell how much of it is the bike. nah, it's not hard. it's the bike. i'm really even more out of shape than i was at the end of the last contract, but still getting there was 5 minutes faster than my respectable morning times and 10+ faster than the best i ever remember on the way home. i can get this one up the horrible hill without even touching the smallest cog. suddenly the word 'spin' makes official sense.

new job has a bike cage with racks in the parking lot, and showers with lockers for-cyclists-only. so now i can go around saying i'm a frood who knows where his towel is, and be telling the truth. there was no aggravation at all about getting set up, except for the disconcertment from the team lead i asked about it. i must be hardcore i got the name of the guy who handles it and sent an email, and he came round with keys and blarney and navigational ideas within half an hour. AND trucking down the long hallway towards the coffee machine i stopped to admire someone's norco-bike poster on a cubicle wall (it's a reflex now: see bike, stop and drool) and discovered another bike-to-work freak who is also another GIRL. yowsers.

rode home today in the rush hour. that was sure fun. yesterday in my car i timed the same trip, or sections of it at least. in the car: 4 minutes minimum to get around the cloverleaf and onto the bridge. on the bike . . . well, it doesn't compare. and it's FUN to slide by those cars.

tomorrow i have to go downtown by 8:30 to talk to lawyers. i promise nothing, but i'm thinking that maybe i'll ride into town, then put the bike on the bus that goes to the bridge and carry on from that point. hmmm.

ps songs: sabu visits the twin cities alone, john prine; the homeless do not seem to drink in here, michael marra