A Day Without

When I got to college, I became an avid fan of cycling. Not because I liked cycling so much as I disliked walking. So when I learned that my bike's tires were intolerably flat yesterday, it had all the markings of a bad day.

But, it really wasn't.

Firstly, not having to wear a helmet was a trip. Leaving classes was even worse because my hand would always reach for the phantom helmet.

It's a surreal experience, going from zipping by everyone on the sidewalk in rush to get to class and leisurely walking where you're stuck following someone for at least some of the time. It reminded me of walking to class in high school, which thankfully didn't allow bikes in school.

There are also little things one notices while walking and not while biking. For example, there were plenty of advertisements for “Snow in the Quad,” but they were at walking intersections and written along the sidewalk. On a bike such scribblings would be invisible. I even had a little laugh when I saw an ad for “Shirtless Hotties in the Quad,” for the same day as the above event.

I also noticed that my pedometer got significantly more steps that day than a normal day when I bike everywhere. I know for a fact that my pedometer registers biking as steps, but evidently nowhere near as many steps as actual walking is.

All in all, I liked the change of pace not biking everywhere.

So the old adage still holds, that it's worth it to stop and smell the roses. It sounds like a brilliant epiphany. Still, I'm not looking forward to walking halfway across campus to my Organic Chemistry lab in an hour.