Bicycling...let me finish...around Orange County

Decemberness

2007-12-12T00:36:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I've neglected my blog, sad. Because I was also neglecting my bike some since I was often on set or carrying around equipment and stuff. But I'm set on biking every day for my last week here now that I'm a lot less busy!

Today was my first cold biking day. The morning was pretty windy and made me bike slowly because they were headwinds. My ears were a little cold. I'm unsure of whether or not putting my helmet over my sweatshirt hood is stupid or not because it would probably help... My knitted biking gloves are awesome though. And my ride home at 11:30 was surprisingly bearable. I warmed up pretty quickly.

Tomorrow I get to sleep in and don't have to bike in the early morning so that should be fun. I've had to put air in my back tire every few days which is a little annoying because the guy at the bike shop looked at it and couldn't find any leaks, but clearly something's wrong. But I mean, I guess at least I'm getting use out of the pump I bought. It makes me feel fancy.

Good instincts, son, nice reflexes

2007-10-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

I fell today. And it's my birthday. Laaaame. Maybe I was partly distracted by that, but there was a white van halfway in a driveway as I was riding on the sidewalk and I went to just ride around the front of him and get back up on the sidewalk, but I clipped the edge of the street and completely wiped out. And people get on my case about staying on the sidewalk more often. The fun part was that the guy whose fault it essentially was just drove off when the light turned green. The guy behind him did stop to ask if I was ok, so that was nice at least.

Damage:
My favorite white shirt currently has tire tracks on it that I don't know will come out and now I look like an idiot for the rest of the day.
My left hand, knee, and right pinkie toe are surprisingly sore.
My bike bell got scratched.
And worst, my hand brake is screwed up and bent forward, hopefully it will be fixed.

I mean, I had to fall sometime right? So at least I was wearing a helmet (Not that I hit my head, but I looked smart) and it could have been worse. I hope my knee feels better for riding home tonight.

Awkward voyeurism from a new side

2007-10-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Um, yesterday someone took a polaroid of me as I was riding by. It seemed so planned out, like he knew I had been biking in that spot at that time on Tuesdays and was taking a picture to hold it against me. He seemed like a middle-aged office worker and he actually stepped a little bit into the street and took a polaroid as if it was not weird at all and then walked away casually. Hmm.

Peter Pan, Jesus Christ, or Superman

2007-09-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

Ok. So I bike to school everyday. It's 3.8 miles and only takes me about 20 minutes. I now wear a helmet which is good and I end up biking at night a lot but I have lights. The thing is, Orange County is not so bike-friendly. I'm not a hard-core bicyclists, I've just been biking enough for it to start pissing me off. So I shall detail it.

Last night some guy outside of a restaurant just standing on the sidewalk full-on SQUAWKED in my ear as I rode past, just for his own amusement. I flinched violently and should have stopped and at the very least glared at him but didn't.

Today I saw a dead house cat and cried. It's not fair that the car is the one that killed it and doesn't have to see it up close like I had to on a cat-friendly bike.

The most annoying thing about my bike ride is that I'm on the same street for almost the entire way and right after I turn off of that street onto the road I live on, there's a bike lane. Seriously, it starts right after my last intersection.

Anyway, it's getting to me a little. People yell out to me, being gross men who see a girl on a bike, or just being annoying and hassling me because not a whole lot of people bike here. Other than middle-aged men who possibly don't have a car and go grocery-shopping with bikes. But it's saving me gas money and helping the environment and I get excercise so yeah. Yeah! YEAH.