PriorBlog

It took me a while to get comfortable with riding my bike to my new job. For one thing, I didn’t want a repeat of the getting my frame smashed in the mailroom like at my old workplace. And then there was the issue of me having to dress fancy (by my standards) for the new job and how this makes it difficult to show up at work all sweaty.

Instead of riding my fancy new Bottecchia to work, I have been getting there via a circa 1980 touring bike that I bought for $20 at a yard sale a few years ago and forgot about, having left it in my parents’ garage. My mom brought me the bike on a recent visit and after a few fixit sessions in the basement (I’ve been thinking of starting a series of “How Not To Fix a Bicycle” videos for YouTube. The pain and frustration I feel when say breaking my chain tool hurts, but I bet it would look hilarious to somebody else) it works reasonably well.

I did two days sweating a lot and hiding behind minivans while I changed into my work pants in order to evade being seen. The whole experience was unpleasant and awkward, and I was leaning towards just saying forget about it and taking the T. But the T had been getting crowded, and I was really getting sick of it. It seemed like everytime I got on the orange line I’d get stick without a seat, and nobody would offer me a seat either, which is just plain rude, because I had a book. If you don’t have a book on the T, what business do you have occupying a seat? It’s more difficult for me to hold a 1000 read book while standing and being jostled than it is for some “old person” to just stand there. The bottom line is, illiterates don’t deserve to sit!

Sorry for the rant.

And only people reading books I approve of should be allowed to sit.

Back to work. So, I’m feeling this awful tension between uncomfortable T and uncomfortable situation with being nude in the parking lot (slight exagerration). That’s when I was told that there was a shower near my cube at work. This coupled with a secret entrance a fellow cycling commuter co-worker showed me, means that I can pretty much sneak into work a sweaty mess and arrive at my desk fresh and clean and hardly anybody sees me in my former state.

Speaking of state, let me tell you about the old Boston State Hospital. Yes, thanks to google maps, cyclists can find new and exciting ways to get to work. I discovered via satellite a shortcut along some abandoned roads. Yeah, it’s private property but nobody reads this blog anyway so let me tell you all about it. There used to be a Lunatic Asylum there with a 250 acre campus. First it was called “Boston Lunatic Hospital,” then it was called “Boston Insane Hospital,” and then they changed the name to “Boston State Hospital.” Then they closed it down and razed all of the buildings. It is very eerie and strange and I am sure if I cruised through there late at night, not only would I see ghosts, but insane maniac ghosts, which are extra-scary.

The place is currently being developed, but currently all there really are in the section I ride in are a lot of abandoned roads. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Centralia, Pennsylvania where my maternal grandfather was from.