This is about yesterdays commute, as it seems like I'll be carpooling a bit more often at least for the next couple weeks. As it turned out I did crack a rib on Monday when I dove over my handlebars. Doc says I should stay off the bike for 6 weeks, I told the doc no way, so we compromised somewhere inbetween.

Yesterday I took my Gary Fisher Wahoo (2001, last of the steel framed Wahoo) as it has gears and is a bit of an easier ride so my aching side wouldn't be such a big deal. I got a late start so I pulled into the bus depot just in time to see my bus clearing the light at the end of the street. I give chase for about two miles when I finally catch the bus at a stop next to Highland Mall. The whole sprinting on a mountain bike with a (not known then) broken rib was no fun. Elated at catching the bus, I got to relax for about 8 miles until I arrived at my destination stop. The rest of the ride is 6 miles of some uphill and downhill (mostly up on the way there) but I took it at a slower than usual pace and it didn't bother me too much.

The ride home was a trial, as I tried to take a shortcut and ended up with three huge thorns in my tire. I actually only found and patched the first two as the third had broken off underneath, so all together it took me 15 minutes to find the three holes and by that time I just said to hell with it and busted out my new tube. Next time I'm just going to skip patching until later and not chance missing the bus. Which I did. I rode about a mile past my usual stop (so a little over 7 miles total) before my side started really bothering me so I stopped at the next stop I saw and waited another 25 minutes for the bus. On my last ride home I had some ******* honk at me and turned around to see what was up and it ended up being a tattoo artist friend of mine. Heh. Besides the pain and the tire my ride was really pleasant. The weather was nice and I didn't run into any thoughtless or evil drivers.

Tomorrow I think I'm gonna carpool again though.