I picked up my bike at the bike shop today. It's a used bike given to me last week by my friend Jan DeCourtney, and it needed a little work, so I took it there from Jan's house in my car and dropped it off. I walked out of the bike shop with it today, got on, and rode away, knowing I looked really weird and wondering how I could have not even sat on the bike before committing myself to riding it home!  The seat is very low, and as I pedaled home, I imagined myself looking pretty weird, pretty dorky, riding along with my knees coming up so high.

I'm sure I didn't actually look that weird. At least not because of my knees coming up high. I had my black yoga pants on, with the bottoms tucked inside my white socks so they wouldn't get caught in the chain. What fashion flair I've got!! I could at least have worn black socks!! 

If only I'd taken my helmet with me, my dorkitude would have been complete. (I can hear that in Darth Vader's voice!  How many times does he say "... would be complete" in the Star Wars films made in the 1970s anyway?!) I'm referring to the helmet I got at the thrift store last week for $3, with its swirling rainbow colors that are reminiscent of an oil slick. 

I hadn't been sure I would need a new bicycle seat until I'd ridden home, a trip of no more than a mile, and my butt was pretty unhappy.

I'm going to work up to riding to Boulder, which is about 15 miles from Longmont. I don't know what the difference in elevation in, and that's of more significance than the distance, I think. In the meantime, I'll ride the bike to and from the Post Office every day, and each trip will save me either the time walking (46 minutes round trip) or 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions if I'm driving. I could say something romantic here about how I'm willing to look dorky to do my part against global warming, but it wouldn't really be true. The truth is I'm willing to look dorky under almost any circumstances.  It even gives me a good long chuckle in retrospect.

273 copies sold so far, and 43 copies in the last 10 days, for an average of 4.3 copies per day. Not bad!!