Don't sideswipe me bro

So I bike to work now, right? Give me a green star. Or leaner thighs. I'll take either one. The ride is only 1.7 miles, door-to-door--so don't get too excited and glorify my exercise/carbon credits/frugality too much.

The ride takes roughly 15 minutes both ways and the weather has been GORGEOUS. Just gorgeous. Fabulously wonderful, I have at least another 4-6 weeks of riding before the black ice will scare me more than the fear of getting sideswiped by a car, knocked off my bike, and run over by the car behind the sideswiper. (I have an active imagination, yes, but it's important to be prepared. {Live every day like it's totally your last!!!}

Some quick notes now that I'm a bike commuter:

• No joke, my ride has a hill at the end of the ride BOTH DIRECTIONS. What's the likelihood of that? Slim to none? Slim to none looooooooves the Nat Attack.
• But really, when did bike riding get hard? Not the actual act of staying upright (which was my initial concern) but the hardcore leg pumping. For the record, riding a beach cruiser on metro city streets is world's different than riding a recumbent at the gym. I'm just sayin'.
  
• Bike helmets don't look good on ANYONE.
• Riding a bike in a skirt has this totally throw-back feel. I can't describe it, but I feel like I'm in a movie.
• I will never be a hard-core bike rider. I get passed by virtually everyone--but *I* don't love showing up at work sweaty, and I'm not really in any kind of hurry, so I'm trying to enjoy the ride instead of using it as a method to get from point A to point B. {Stop and smell the roses! Joy in the journey! Tomorrow you might get sideswiped by a car, knocked off your bike, and run over by the car behind the sideswiper.}

And lastly, watch out for bikes on the road! That hard-core, totally earth conscious, outdoorsy rider you see might actually only have started riding a bike last week after a 15-year hiatus and might LOOK all calm and casual, but is inside getting nervous about every light, stop sign, car, curb, pothole, construction worker, other bikes, buses, stoop sitters, garbage trucks, garbage cans, taxis, strollers, dogs, unsteady balance, getting to work sweaty, judging the gap between driving cars and parked cars, and praying that the parked car doesn't have someone about ready to throw open their door and get out.

Double lastly: Don't sideswipe me.