Improbable? Funny? Horrible? Tragic? Sad?

Improbable? Funny? Horrible? Tragic? Sad?

I don't know how to describe it.

Today was the first day i attempted to ride my bike into work. I've been too scared to do t his on my own. Or maybe i was just too lazy to replace the tubes in my tires, too lazy to figure out how to make my brakes really stop me when i pressed them. It was last night, in fact, that i overcame my laziness (and fear) and did both those things. The most frustrating thing was the brakes. I have always been afraid of fixing bikes. When i was younger an older boy made fun of me as i was repairing a flat tire on my bike, he was especially mean as i tried to reset the chain. It turns out that i did NOT reset the chain properly; i had my uncle do it for me later. So, from then on, i pretty much just shied away from bike repair.



The braking system of a bicycle is remarkably intricate (looking through my eyes). I was sitting in the garage for nearly an hour and half before i was finally able to make proper adjustments.

This all came about with the re-location of a co-worker to my area. He mentioned to me that he was still going to ride in. The thought of riding into the Medical Center was not one that i entertained for very long. It was 13 miles. Riding in from my old apartment was only 4. I couldn't imagine having to cross over memorial drive; having to cross I-10; having to get past the north loop ...

But i did it this morning through the fog and again this evening as the sun went down. I got home just as the sun dipped beneath the horizon for a grand ride total of 26.2 miles (according to mapquest).

However amazing this might sound, it's nothing compared to what happened to me on the way home. With my road bike, I ran over a squirrel and killed it. If you've ever killed something with your car then you're familiar with the 'cringe' you make as you realize you're running over something. You even imagine that you can feel the bones breaking apart. Well, on a bike, it's 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times worse.

Shawn laughed and i cringed and hung my head in disbelief, as the little squirrel did his final death twitches in the road.