I blame the Economy

One of my excuses for never working out was a lack of time. Thank goodness that unemployment cured me of that "problem". Since I like being effecient, I thought I could accomplish two things by buying a bike:
1) Get exercise
2) Save money on gas.

I bought a bike that was within my means and beamed with satisifaction that I was so brilliant (rare moments must be celebrated). My goal would be to ride my bike to places within a few miles of my home. Since I live in a big city, that meant pretty much everywhere. In the process, I would get in shape and help the environment. Why hadn't more people thought of this?? Now I know ...

On a Friday afternoon, I planned on meeting some friends at a local bookstore. This was the perfect opportunity to ride my bike. The first few pedals were magical and then I changed the gear. Nothing happened. I switched the gears to left and right. The bike made a lot of noise but no matter how hard I rode the bike, it was the same amount of energy. Since I was at the start of my journey, I thought I could push forward and enjoy the extra calories I was burning.

Then the first car passed me. I thought I was going to have a heart attack as the car's close proximity created a lot of wind in my direction and a shiver up my spin. Within five minutes, two cars almost hit me . My heart was racing faster from thinking that I was going to die rather than the exercise of riding a bike.

I got off the main road and tried a side street. With just my luck, I passed a high school as they were letting out the students. Zig zagging my crappy bike past annoyed teenagers bought me straight back to high school,the low self esteem and reflections on much of the root cause for my weight gain in the first place.

I was at the half way point. I didn't want to turn back but riding my bike didn't seem like such a good idea anymore. I got back on the main streets but I didn't want to die so I rode the sidewalks. I knew it was illegal but just as I was thinking that I would prefer a ticket to death, I see a cop car coming my direction. I jumped off my bike. I waved to the confused cops while walking my bike the rest of the journey.

My great idea became a pathetic scene. I couldn't get myself back on the bike; cars (and crazy drivers) were clearly trying to kill me, even though I was a huge target and wouldn't be hard to miss. In the end, I burnt more calories (and gas) trying to get the stupid bike into the car and return the store.

Signing off - trying to come up with Plan B!
Jessie