Sunday, July 21, 2013

Checks and balances

This summer, and for the first time, I live in a high rise with hundreds of neighbors and not a house with just a few folks. Also for the first time, my bike doesn't live in my immediate surroundings: I keep it locked in the bike nursery. Which means I can't just unlock the padlock on the shed door, grab my bike and take off, eh.

There are a few more steps to this process. Let me tell you all about it!

:: I was excited to see this bike and then I spied the questionable Native American design :: Lisbon ::

First, I make sure all my ride accessories are with me when I leave my apartment - hand pump, gloves, helmet, replacement tube and tools, sunscreen, phone, keys. This includes the keys to the bike room. 

I take the elevator down to the basement (then realize my water bottle is still on the kitchen counter and take the elevator back up - heh), unlock the bike room door, locate my bike, release the bike lock and give the tires a quick pinch. Usually one or both feel flat so I dig out the hand pump from my pack and get to work unscrewing caps and begging the pump to play along. 

When the tires are nice and fat - or just fat enough to protect my butt from bumps in the road - I wheel my bike out of the room and meet the first security sensor, which I lovingly call a "checkpoint." I retrieve my key chain fob and dangle it in front of the red light sensor. When the sensor beeps its approval, the door ahead unlocks and I am permitted to lead my bike awkwardly through the door, and then through a second one.

Keeping my fob in one hand, I pedal along two floors of the underground parking lot, hit the second checkpoint, dangle the fob once again and say "open sesame" loudly to open the garage door. At last I'm free to pack my various identification materials away and pretend I don't live in a paramilitary building.

Today: 
I biked along the parkway. It's partially closed to cars on Sunday morning and you can really get your speed and/or sweat on. No cars, and lots of kiddies pedaling their little hearts out. Pretty sweet!

I checked out halfway through my ride, found a grassy sunny spot and read a chapter of my novel.




3 comments:

cs said...

Sounds like most of the workout is getting everything out of the building. But, hey, we were bike buddies today!

As for this novel, is this something you're reading, or reading and writing?

Fran said...

I like your inclusion of reading in both camps! In this case, though, it's a novel I'm reading; it was written by someone else: "The Colony of Unrequited Dreams." Are you reading or writing anything these days?

cs said...

I think I've read that, or at least perused it. My memory is awful. Not much writing for me except for the blog, and my reading has apparently fractured into extremes: textbooks, or light beach reading. Also working on a large illustration project.

And what do you have cooking? :D