It's Official

I am a bike commuter.

I have been working it out since I first had an inkling a couple months back that my car had taken a (huge oil leak quickly getting bigger) turn for the worse.

Do I need a car?  I asked myself.

Celaya hates the car, I reminded myself.

Next thing I know, I'm on the side of the road, having barely made it to the top of a freeway exit in the middle of the night on my way home from work with an overheated car.

On a positive note, a handful of samaritans stopped and offered help.  I do so love reminders of all the big and small good in the world.

So there I was, a few days later, determined that I would not spend a ton of money on repair, already working out the logistics of simply deciding to not have a car, and the key to my car goes missing.

Our mechanic shows up to take a look under the hood, and the very expensive to replace key is simply vanished.  Gone.  Nowhere to be found.  Sorry, mechanic, we'll call you if we ever find the key.

How embarrassing.

However, after freaking out about all my books for the classes I teach on Sundays being trapped inside the vault-like Volvo, my next thought was, "FREE!!"

If all of this drama with the car is not a clear indication from some powerful force (namely me) to go ahead with my bike commuter idea, then wait until you hear the rest.

A coworker lives right next to BART in Dublin, which is where I would need to get in order to work in San Ramon, and she has graciously agreed to pick me up and drop me off the two days a week I work in San Ramon.  My other office, in Berkeley, is a mere 1.5 miles from BART.  We have two perfectly functioning bikes.  I have been working (in a happy half assed quite unsuccessful way) to lose my last 30 pounds of baby weight (yea, it started at 70).  I live in the Bay Area, where it rarely rains nonstop.  My stepmother works for Hertz, so if I need to rent a car on rainy day occasions, or any other occasions, I get a great deal.  My brother and I have the same days off, so I can always recruit his driving skills (more likely just his truck while he lies about in bed) for grocery shopping or errand running.

And really, the list goes on.

The only negative I have found in my weeks of working this whole plan out in my head is that I am beginning my giant adventure right smack in the middle of the fall season, staring cold winter and rainy spring in the face.

But, honestly, even this minor detail is not a negative because I just see it as an excuse to go shop for gear.

I do want to own a car again.  But I want to buy my dream car:  a cute, modern (read high tech) little SUV that is eco-friendly and that I won't have to take a huge loan out for.  Right now I am looking at the 2010 Ford Edge.  My goal is to plan and save (and bike) for the next year, and take it from there.

So there you have it:  Woman Wife Mama is now officially a bike commuter.

Oh, and today, on my very first wonderful riding day out, I came across the perfect little flat bar road bike in all black with hot pink accents that I am now convinced I need as a serious bike commuter.

So the Edge may have to wait an extra month or two...