Bikes,etc.

I've had my bike for a few months. I kept telling myself that any day I would start riding it. But for some reason it seemed like a big pain - dragging it out of the house, fighting car traffic, unlocking it and locking it everywhere. Now that I am living somewhere that finally feels urban, the bike has become my biggest bit of freedom. Anytime you start to get lost in your head, you can rely on the bike to pull you back out of yourself. The bike takes me to work, to German class, to the YWCA. It can take me to the co-op and the bar, the bookstores and the lakes. There's no waiting for the bus, or relying on someone else's car. I thought it may encourage me to just stay at my place and never venture outside, but it has been the opposite. The bike route to the University through downtown involves a trip across the Stone Arch Bridge - a little pedestrian bridge that is really quiet and beautiful. It's just about the only place I have ever seen the Mississippi look inviting. It makes me appreciate Minneapolis much more than the factories, empty prairie land, and gloomy Sundays ever will.