1. no one can see the silly getup i wear while biking (i’ve been told i look like legolas…)
2. i don’t need glasses because the air is more moist
3. i don’t get sweaty till at least san antonio
4. no cars
5. no bratty kids on their huffys
6. light at embarcadero always turns green for me
7. it’s just me and the road

i know it’s not the safest thing. i know it’s not great that i’m leaving work at 10pm. granted, at this point i’m working on research proposal-writing, so it’s not really work i’m doing that late. but i reflected last night as i biked home how much i enjoy riding late at night. i’m exclusively in residential areas, so i’m not in danger of being hit by quickly-moving vehicles… it’s just very peaceful. i take my hands off the handlebars and coast for awhile, and i’m happy. it’s a nice way to end your long day.

1. kettle corn (quite confusing, actually. just as i started biking, i smelled kettle corn… at 7:30am…)
2. exhaust
3. curry (yes, you read that right. the bike “bridge” that goes over this little wash always smells like curry in the morning)
4. perfume (woman next to me at the intersection of oregon expressway + bryant was a little olfactorily aggressive this morning)
5. tar
6. wet grass
7. coffee!

my commute always culminates in my walking through the doors of the d.school… which unfailingly, in the morning, smells strongly of coffee! i didn’t realize until this morning how many distinct smells i take in each morning. i think it was the kettle corn… which i’m still profoundly confused about. anyway, usually my nose gets runny when i bike, but this morning i paid special attention to everything i was smelling, and it was bizarre when i passed over the bike bridge — and i was finally able to place the smell. curry. i know i’m not actually smelling curry, it just really reminds me of curry. certain smells take you to very specific places, and that smell takes me not to a place, but to a thing… or at least, the idea of a thing. songs do that for me, too. i love it. i have this smell i’ve been experiencing sometimes at work that reminds me of a very specific my little pony i had when i was 4. my mind works in strange ways.

oh, and yesterday, the true statement was that… we’re getting the internet at home. what was the rush? oy.

1. waterproof jacket + pants
2. fenders
3. waterproof panniers
4. shoes that dry quickly
5. socks that dry quickly
6. waterproof gloves
7. glasses of sorts so i can actually see where i’m going

so i’m a bike commuter… 17 miles round trip between my house and stanford. i can deal with it being cold, dark, or cold + dark, but i’m woefully unprepared for precipitation. seems like there’s a lot of STUFF i need to make this work. yikes.