oh, and I forgot to mention the chafing

Because it seems impossible to get from Carroll Gardens up to Columbia during this MTA strike, and because K assured me it would be easy, I borrowed K’s bike and rode the 10.46 miles this morning in the freezing cold. This was a bad idea. Did I really want to get to work so badly? And who do I think I am? Some kid who can just ride a bike for 2 and a half hours? Because that’s how long it took me. Granted, I had to walk it across the bridge which slowed me down and I did spend some time being lost in lower Manhattan. Is this east or west…am I going south? Here’s the water again. Is this street diagonal? I’m sore now because I’m not thirteen anymore and am no longer used to spending hours on a bike. I haven’t been on a bike in years. And this particular bike was not for me. Scrappy fluorescent yellow 21 speed supposedly but I couldn’t get the gears up high enough to make myself move at any speed. Everyone passed me. Even (especially?) the thirteen year olds. And everyone was dressed so sleekly and riding expensive fast moving cycles.

And my chain is rusted. And the front brake scrapes the bike ever so slightly the entire time. I am tired. And am crashing on a floor in this neighborhood. I want this strike to be over. Give these guys their pensions for christ sakes. Why do the new workers (my generation) always get screwed? The new workers deserve a future too. If it’s not debilitating school loans and low wages it’s this.