Riding one-handed is a little tiresome, but holding a box of pretty pink flowers staves off discouragement.

When I ride home from work with a box of flowers from the Western Horticulture Club plant sale, people smile at me. Try doing that in a car, and see how many smiles you get. No, there is just something about a geek on a bike with flowering plants that makes you smile.

When I used to ride over to Aunt Ruth’s house pulling my lawn mower behind me, I didn’t get many smiles. Mostly I saw people shooing their young children into the house. Yeah, there’s just something about a geek riding a bike while holding onto the handle of a lawnmower that makes you uneasy.

I did my part to make a dent in the provisions at the YMCA's Bike To Breakfast event.

I invited some friends to Bike To Breakfast at the YMCA this morning, and they ate like birds. We got there and no one was eating. I thought, “I’ll break the plastic wrap and start the buffet line.” I ate a bagel and an orange, then a tiny muffin, a banana and another bagel with peanut butter. Altogether, my three friends only consumed three bananas and a tiny muffin. I shall not list their names, to protect them from embarrassment. You see, When a biker shows up at a buffet, the folks serving the food should feel a sense of awe at the quantities of food being consumed. As a group, I think we were not as amazing as we could have been.

Still, I really enjoyed the camaraderie, dining with friends by the bike racks. Thank you, YMCA, for feeding the bike geeks.

This is me attempting to avoid detection as I sneak contraband out of my office

Some days when the weather looks rotten, or I am just short on time, I will bring my bike right into my office. Though it has never been expressly prohibited, I assumed such action would be frowned upon. But, last week, when I was sneaking out the back door with my commuter bike, who do I see parking his car, but the president of the college. Our eyes met and he smiled and waved. Was the smile painted on? Was he thinking, “Remember to fire that guy as soon as the new contract is in place”? Or was he thinking, “Hey, there’s one of my devoted followers, staying healthy and saving the planet! I should buy him lunch”? Hopefully, it was the latter. (I think “latter” means the second one…)

I am so excited about Bike-To-Work Week I could not wait for it to start!

Riding to work is the first thing I thought of this morning when I woke. Am I a very strange man to be so excited about Bike To Work Week?