Another downfall to depending on your bike every day to commute is you have to brave the elements. Hahaha! I don’t live in Wisconsin anymore, so the only elements here are wind and rain. Well, I’m finding even rain sucks. Big time. The good news is that the weather in the city and the weather where I work are completely different ecosystems. The bad news is that if you commit to rain gear, you are toting around rain gear all day, even if it’s sunny down on the peninsula.

Today it was down-pouring rain, so I had no choice but to commit to the rain gear. This is my full get-up: tank top and t-shirt underneath, my running pants that wick (and dry quickly), my polka dot Aldo galoshes, and my knight’s huge jacket that is rain repellent. It’s so huge it fits over my 17.6 lb. back pack. (Yes, I did actually weigh it so that you can understand the intensity of the weight I carry each day on the bike. It’s good so that I understand why I don’t want to gain an extra 17.6 lbs. and work that much harder at life.) One thing I’m finding that I need to add to my wardrobe is clear glasses so that I can see when I bike super fast in the rain. Anyhow, I’m thankful I remembered to pack all items of my work outfit today because it might be kind of awkward to forget a bra or shoes. Awkward for my coworkers, of course.

My ailing bike

My bruised thigh

On Thursday when I was biking to work I realized that my back bike tire was going flat. Really, it was already flat. So, naturally my first instinct is to text my knight in shining armor, like he, on his way to work, could somehow help. When that got me nowhere fast I ran, uphill mind you, back home a half a mile. One thing I’m not very good at is wearing comfortable shoes. Fashionable, yes. Comfortable, no. As I ran home, my shoes were rubbing on my heels and decided they weren’t getting enough love and attention, so they started bleeding. However, I didn’t have any time for that – I had a train I had to catch! I threw (literally) my bike in the hallway, angry at the way she’d treated me that morning, and ran downstairs to hail a cab. I explained to the driver, who really didn’t know English, that he needed to get to the train station as fast as possible since I had a meeting with my boss that I would be late for if I didn’t make that train. He obliged, probably because he knew better than to make a sweaty woman with bloody feet angry.

On Friday my knight volunteered for me to take his bike. One thing I should explain to you is that the bike I’ve been riding is a 10 speed bike from the mid 90’s. I mean, it’s pretty nice if you’re not concerned about having many gears, having brakes, or any shock absorption. So, I was kind of pumped to take his bike. Maybe a little too pumped. I hopped on the bike when I got downstairs and proceeded to the end of our street, where there’s a stoplight. I squeezed the brakes to slow down and flew off the bike. It probably looked to passersby like I did a handspring off the front of my bike. I made a mental note that his brakes work. It wouldn’t be so bad if that was the only time I did it. About a mile later I forgot, like I tend to do, and came to a stoplight. This time I was a little more graceful and stayed on the bike, but you could tell by the pedestrian’s face in the cross-walk that he was concerned for both our lives.

Now none of this would be so bad if it weren’t for Monday. My knight bought a new tube for me over the weekend and fixed my tire. I was good to go again. So, picture this – it’s raining outside. Kind of a glum day. I get dressed in all my rain gear and take off on my newly inflated bike. I get about a half a mile from the train station, and I realize my back tire is flat. Again. And it’s raining. It’s so flat that the tire is starting to come off, so wheeling it is not a possibility, it has to be carried. And, I’m in a sketchy part of town where my bike will most likely be stolen if I leave it. Shit.

The nail, the second time

I found a doughnut shop down the street that looked like it had been converted from a gas station. There was a pole in the middle of their parking lot, in front of the store. If my bike had any hope of making it out alive, this was it. People leaving doughnut shops are just really happy people because they now have a tasty treat to indulge in and happy people don’t steal bikes. I assured my bike she’d be ok. I locked it up and parted ways with it, promising to be back later that night. I then half walked, half ran to the train station, knowing I’d already missed my train. There was another train leaving 10 minutes later that takes an hour to get to my office, versus the normal 45 minutes. I got on the train and called my boss. Naturally, I had a meeting planned that I was going to be late for not only with my boss, but also my boss’s boss that I’m not sure really likes me. My boss volunteered to reschedule the meeting and I made it to work. (Note to self, stop planning morning meetings with anyone important.)

When I got off the train that night I walked to where I remembered parking my bike. There was a car parked in front of the pole, so you can imagine the build-up that ensued as I got closer, trying to see if my bike was there. I’m happy to say destiny brought my bike and I back together. I shed a little tear and promised to never leave her again…as I realized I had no idea how in the hell I was going to get home. Carrying it 2 miles uphill was not an option. I tried a couple of cabs, but none of them were able to fit my bike. I figured my only hope was to find a bus and see if they’d let me take it on. As luck would have it, the next bus that came had a bike rack on the front! I happily got on and enjoyed crazy-people-watching for the next 35 minutes it took the bus to take me two miles.

Everyday traffic in SF

Not everything in moving to San Francisco has been hunky-dory. One thing that has not been so great is the commute down to Mountain View. If you’re unfamiliar with the Bay Area, or just bad at geography like me, that means it’s 39 miles away. One way. I probably should have done more research on that before moving out.

I started out thinking I could just drive every day. If I left at 6:30 am it would take me about 45-50 minutes to get to the office. If I left at 3:00 pm I could be home in 60-80 minutes. If I left any later than either of those time, add at least a half an hour. Or if it rained. Or was foggy. Or a Wednesday. Or Thursday. Or Friday. Or if there was an accident.

Another option is taking the CalTrain. The train is 45 minutes if you take the Baby Bullet. Plus the time to get to the train station. And the time to get from the train station to the office. Oh, and then back again.

Public transportation to and from the train was an option. But, to get to the train station, it would take about 30 minutes. The light rail from the train station to the office is about 15 minutes.

My knight’s trusty steed. Mine’s in the shop…more on that later.

Another option would be to ride my trusty steed (aka my 10+ year old 10 speed bike with no brakes) to the train station, take it on the train with me, and then ride from the train station to the office. It’s only about 2 miles for each part of the trek and takes about 15 minutes. It’s about 2.5 hours round trip. (However, biking 2 miles in San Francisco really feels like at least 10 since we like to have hills everywhere. And, if we don’t have a hill, we just create an overpass so that you can work on climbing hills.)

But, that’s 2.5 hours of NO STRESS. Seriously. If you had an extra 2.5 hours a day how would you like to spend your time? I get an hour of working out a day. Then, for the 1.5 hours a day I’m on the train I journal or read or blog or talk to friends or Skype my precious family.

The only unfortunate part to biking every day is that my coworkers will never again see me wearing make-up or having my hair done. Although helmet hair is kind of flattering on me. Good thing I’m engaged to be engaged so I don’t have to worry about attracting other suitors.