That didn’t go according to plan. I woke up bright and early with the intention of riding my new bike the full six plus miles to work. After figuring out my seat was too high I climbed on board and headed down to the intersection of Northport Road and North Sherman Avenue and when I got there, I froze. All of the cars. What were those hand signals again? Do I walk my bike across all intersections or just certain intersections? What was that sidewalk rule again? Where is the bike path? All of that construction down North Sherman, how do I deal with that?

So, counter productively, but realizing I was being much too ambitious for my first time on a bike in who knows how many years, I tossed my bike in my hatchback and drove it to East Dayton Street, parked, and then rode the rest of the way to work. That went well, but I realized I need to get comfortable with my bike before taking it on the road again. If I don’t learn to enjoy this experience I won’t stick with it and achieve my goal of being able to bike most of the year.

ABOUT THIS REGULAR FEATURE: 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" (I changed it to Bike Newbie because I learned not as many people were familiar with the l33t spelling of newbie). 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."