how to bike to work

• Saturday night. I tell all my friends about Michiana Bike to Work Week and encourage them to bike like me.
• Sunday afternoon. I run out of time to fix my flat tire and accept Liz's gracious offer to use her bike on Monday.
• Monday 6:30 AM. Wake up. It's thunderstorming. Guess I won't bike to work. Reset alarm for 7:00.
• 7:00 AM. Dress nice, do my hair, go downstairs for breakfast, look out window. It's not raining anymore.
• Hesitate. Consider. Maybe if I leave right now I won't be late for work ...
• 7:35 AM. Skip breakfast, change clothes, pack work clothes in backpack, find bike lock, get Liz's bike out of garage, get on ... whoa. Liz's bike seat is really high. Can I ride it like this? Try again. No.
• 7:50 AM. Borrow Sarah's wrench and try to adjust Liz's seat. Don't really know how. Lower it by about a quarter of an inch. Try and try and try. Still won't work.
• 8:00 AM. I am supposed to be at work. Instead I am standing in my driveway in shorts, T-shirt, and bike helmet, staring at Liz's bike. Time invested in this project now makes it MANDATORY that I bike to work. Return Sarah's wrench, get my backpack on, and go.
• Stop at first intersection. My feet can't touch the ground so I have to get off.
• Cross street and get back on. All my fiddling with the seat now causes it to slant dramatically downward and I slide off. Push it back into place, get back on gently so as not to break the seat again.
• Repeat those last two steps at every intersection. Hope that people in their cars aren't looking at me.
  
• Finally make it to work. Change back into work clothes. Look in the mirror. Helmet hair is awful. I will be ugly for the rest of the day.
• But at least I can say I biked to work today :)