I recently procured a bicycle and have become one of the many dual wheeled pedestrians in the city of Madison. I've been keeping journal entries on my laptop as I adapt to riding. My intention was to post them anonymously somewhere else on the Internet under the name "bike n00b." Realizing I would probably be outed sooner than later by those who get their jollies from outing bloggers, I decided it wouldn't be worth it and have since struggled with the decision of sharing these short, at times embarrassing, journal entries with the world. Today I decided, why not? Some of the things I've been dealing with as a new cyclist in Madison I'm sure others are also dealing with, so I might as well as make my personal journey a "getting started guide of what not to do when picking up the habit of biking."

I finally have a bike. I had been making excuses for the past two years, but an extra depressing and cold winter filled with less walking to work and more beer and heavy food consumption than ever before left me with a nice souvenir hanging around my waistline. Thanks Old Man Winter, you cold and heartless, bastich. Not too mention, President George Bush presented me with an economic band-aid that I felt the need to spend locally, if spend at all. So, I found myself at Saint Vinny’s on Willy Street the day of their summer bike sale and after some coaxing by a bike fanatic whose name I can’t recall, but I think his first name was Andy, I left with a rusty and beat-up Giant for $25. Great frame and tires, but everything else fairly busted up. I dropped the bike at Revolution Cycles and two weeks later I returned to find a nicely tuned and fixed up bike - just like new.

But now what? Ride it? Oh, this should be easy, because as they say, once you ride a bike you never forget how to do it. But when was the last time I rode a bike? When I was in high school? Back when I was fearless and would easily ride my bike ten miles across my small New England town of rolling hills and back again without thought or hesitation. Often cutting off the road and charting new paths through the Mountain Laurel woods that separated the back yards of my neighborhood and bunny hopping over small brooks (I think you call them creeks here in Wisconsin) and plunging full speed down steep inclines. I can get to that mindset again, I know it. Madison will make it easy with its proliferation of bike paths and cyclist friendly streets. Won’t it?