Full disclosure: I cannot ride my bike with no handlebars.  It just so happens to be the name of the song by Flobots that I’m listening to right now while trying to think of a title for this post.  Good thing I started when I did or else this post could be called “Killing in the Name” or “Mayday!!!”, either of which would have been concerning.

Notwithstanding, it was a good song choice, since I rode my bike (with handlebars) to work today.  A bit risky since I only just attached the front wheel to the frame for the first time last night since moving to Austin.  I also wasn’t quite sure how to get there.  I mean yes, I could have hopped on the highway and gone my normal way, but I wanted to keep things legal.  Instead I looked at the route we ran yesterday, decided I could remember half of it, and then settled on taking a main road the rest of the way.

The first half was pleasant and relatively flat, but for all the running I do, I sure felt like my legs were working hard on the slightest inclines.  I departed the smooth, biked-path-ed Shoal Creek Road and entered the overdriven, underloved Burnet Road.  There was surprisingly sparse traffic the whole way up, which was nice, though it was clearly not a bike-friendly street.  After getting to work a coworker’s eyes popped out of her head when she heard I rode on Burnet.  I told her I karate chopped all the cars in the face it was no big deal and traffic was light.

Overall a good experience!  I’ll be giving it another go for sure, and who knows.. maybe it’ll become a weekly thing!