It's Like Riding a Bike...

You never fully understand the saying "...it's like riding a bike," until you hop on a bike after not riding one for 10 years. I felt like the most uncoordinated person on the face of the earth when I tried to get on it! The seat is a lot higher then it used to be on a kiddie-bike and it's a lot harder to reach the ground, so...watching me attempt any kind of mount/dismount makes for an entertaining show. ANYWAY, after I got all of that out of my system, my aunt thought I would be ready to take a ride around the city...and I was, but she'll never know how many times and how close the handlebars have come to bumping a rail or pole and sending me to Trauma 1. She'll throw a glance back my way makin' sure I'm still there, not knowing the second before I was battling to stay on the sidewalk. How else will I learn? :)

My personal favorite place to ride is underneath this bridge where they have you pinned between a rail and a wall on the sidewalk...this has definitely tested my baby-bird bike skills. The worst part is that you see it coming for about a hundred yards so you have time to think.."am I supposed to fit through there?"..."there's no way i'll fit through there"...so you almost start building speed like you're about to perform some big jump, but thinking it'll be easier to keep the bike straight if you go a little faster. So I pedal faster, holding my breath, wishing I could close my eyes in this neverending tunnel! With God's amazing grace, I have somehow managed to come out of that tunnel alive twice!....sorry, anticlimactic I know....don't worry, it's not my last venture through the tunnel.

It really is a great way to get around the city! Everything is so accessible and really makes it easy to get from A to B...except for dodging pedestrians and cars. You can definitely tell who's a local...the people zooming in and out of traffic without the helmets, the one pant-leg rolled up. Here's Erin...going a little faster than the speed of a pedestrian with fingers on the breaks, on the sidewalk, with the helmet! Whatever, I go at my own pace. It's really been awesome to have the freedom to just bike down to the National Mall and see all the monuments, ride by the White House, bike through Georgetown, etc. I love Atlanta, but it is definitely not an easy place to get around...DC practically begs you to use anything but cars. Great metro, busline, lots of walkers, bikers...definitely an eco-friendly city!

I've been staying pretty busy! Got to go visit some old family friends this past weekend, the Pecks! We used to live right next door to them from about 91-95. They took me back to my old neighborhood, school, soccer park, and everything looked tiny!!!! It really was mind-blowing, but so great to see! Thanks again for having me!

Lots of stuff to do this week...figuring out student loans, an interview with NIH, meeting up with friends, and then who knows! I love it!

Exciting find for those who may care: Margo and I were walking to dinner when we saw a couple guys being followed by a filming crew. They weren't engaging with the cameras at all so I immediately thought it was some kind of reality show when it hit me....MTV is having the new Real World in DC this summer! Come to find out the Real World house is 2 blocks from where Margo lives in Dupont Circle and apparently the new cast just moved in last week!...this could be interesting.