Adventures in riding the bus: Adding a Bike

Well, yesterday I finally did it — I took the bike on the bus.  It was easy.  I made it to my bus stop with time to spare, and then it only took me a few extra seconds to figure out the bike rack.  It’s totally self-explanatory.  I challenge you to do it, too — in fact, I challenge Wendy B. in particular to give it a try!

Coming home was a little harder.  I had put my bike in the back of a co-worker’s truck for the afternoon, and then she gave me a ride up to the bus stop at 122nd, so I didn’t have to ride to the bus stop.  The bus, however, never came.  After waiting more than 20 minutes (for a 71, after 4 p.m., which really shouldn’t happen), I took off under my own power.  I rode all the way home, and the bus never caught up to me (if it was even there).

My ride was from SE 122nd and Market to just past NE 122nd and San Rafael, and then into the neighborhood to our house.  That’s not a huge distance, but for me that was a challenge.

Now I know that I can bike for some distance.  The next challenge in that area is to get my bike working properly.  It’s a junky old J.C. Penney bike that I bought cheaply from someone on Craigslist.  It works (obviously), but the brakes could use some help, and the gears sometimes shift around randomly while I’m riding.  I’d like to get a really decent commuter bike, but I need to save up some money for that.

In a related story, I lost my bus pass, so I may be biking it the rest of the month.