The Car-Free Challenge: Wednesday

Success!!!

It was a pretty sleepless night, actually. I had dreams that I was falling off my bike into traffic, and between that and the thunderstorm rolling by, I had to tell myself in the middle of the night that I would just drive to the barn in order to calm my nerves. But then I got up, and the sun was shining and the streets were dry, and I decided, ‘What the heck!’ I took a deep breath, got my stuff together, and headed out the door.

I caught the 603 at 7:27 am, figured out how to put my bike on the rack (where it says ‘Pull the Handle’, it really means ‘Lift the Handle’---it has to go up, not down.) I got my ‘you’ve stored your bike on our bus’ pass, and away we went. 17 minutes later, I got off of the bus at the Transfer station, and I’m pretty sure I forgot to put the rack up. But the bus driver didn’t say anything, so maybe I didn’t.

At 8, the 604 pulled up to the station. I successfully loaded my bike, got on the bus, had a conversation with the driver about the exact stop for me to get off, and settled in. At 8:07, we left the station, and 15 minutes later, I was on the other side of the treacherous bridge over the tracks, and hopped off. I definitely forgot to put the rack up, and the driver had to remind me. Dratted novice bus-bikers!

I took a minute to get myself organized, and then walked my bike across the street, hopped on, and pedaled to the barn. 3.5 miles later, I was there. That nice flat section just flew by. Every time I looked at my speedometer, it was over 20 mph, so I was zooming. It took about an hour all together, house to barn.

I was in plenty of time for my lesson, so I drank some water, and took my time getting changed. Then I had my lesson (Trinket was a star!!!!! We have stretchy trot!!!! On demand!!!! But that’s a whole OTHER blog.), held horses for the farrier for a couple of hours, helped out with turnout, and shot the breeze with the barn staff a little bit.

At 1:27, I texted John that I was getting ready to go. I probably wandered around for at least five more minutes, just getting helmet and gloves on, putting phone away, generally making sure I hadn’t forgotten anything... I hopped on the bike, and had an uneventful trip back to where I left the bus that morning. I just missed the 604---I mean JUST---it pulled out as I was arriving, so I decided to just keep going and pedal back to the transit station. This was about three more miles, but the bus either had to make lots more stops, or traveled a longer route---I actually beat it back to the station. I got to the station, and hung around for about 5 minutes before I realized that John would probably want to know I’d gotten there, so at 2:06, I texted him. This is of no interest, except that I traveled 6.5 miles in about half an hour, including stopping at three traffic lights and a railroad crossing, and having to slow down for a trailer that didn’t see me. So that’s a pretty good clip, I think.

The 603 was running 15 minutes late, so I didn’t get on it until about 2:10. By 2:30, I was home! I definitely remembered to put the rack up this time! Again, the trip took about an hour, including the delay for the 603. I think if we timed it right, we could get home in 45 minutes. (Barring any bus delays.) This is about twice what it takes to drive the distance.

Biking OUT is not a problem. We typically do that in the morning, when it’s still cool, and it’s all downhill. It’s coming up the last hill to the house in the middle of the day that sucks. Give us a couple of weeks, and it will probably be trivial, but it’s nice to know that the bus option is there to help us get home. It means we’ll ride our ponies harder---no doubt they’ll be happy about that!

So here’s what I learned. The bus doesn’t go everywhere. But if you think hard about it, you can probably find away to hook a bus and bike trip together. It will take longer to get where you are going, probably, but between being able to do other things on the bus, and not needing to go to the gym, it’s not a bad solution. IF you can be flexible about when you leave, and it’s ok if you are 15 minutes late sometimes. That’s a huge ‘if’, especially for people who need to take the bus, because they probably don’t work for the most flexible and understanding bosses on the planet.

I also learned that we need more food. LOTS more food. I gobbled two huge veggie tacos as soon as I walked in the door. That was two hours ago, and I’m STARVING. ; ) I need a snack. Eventually, this will level out, but I’m definitely burning more calories. I’m not craving meat, which is an interesting change from previous years, when my body was used to meat protein, and didn’t know how to cope without it. But I sure am hungry!