A bike named Penelope Cruiser

I tried out this bike that is sort of like a cruiser, without the bent handlebars. Ryan said it wasn't a good idea, and the sales person said that she thought they are hard to ride quickly, but they had a 21 speed one, and it was so comfy, that I got it! I called it Penelope (Penelope Cruiser). I wanted to ride it so badly, but Ryan said it was too dark out! I thought I looked a little stupid on it after buying it (it felt like an impulse by), but a guy complimented my bike, and the girl he was with said I looked good on it. The bike completely reminds me of the night we spent in Rimini over summer (a small town on the Western coast of Italy) which is easily one of the best days of my life! We road around on these cruiser bikes (picture left) that the hotel provides. There were no working brakes so we just had to ring the bell constantly.

On Sunday we rode our bikes to Castro to get some food, and then we rode it to and from school. The ride is soooo pretty. Larry Fagan gave me a map with the route, and I saw the Donkeys he had mentioned (below). I was really happy and excited about being able to ride in and out of school for the next few weeks. The only problem is that the campus and areas around are INFESTED with Caterpillars! As we were riding there are all of these low-hanging trees and these pretty tunnel-like tree areas (like in the pictures) and I noticed there was a spider-like web on one of them that I ran right into. We rode by this high school, and all these people along the path, and I had to get off at one point, and I look down and I see A GIANT CATERPILLAR on my leg!!!! I froze, and just stood there freaking out until Ryan came and got it off for me!!!!

We rode in, and had a bite to eat at Tressider and a drink. When I went to lock my bike I wasn't paying attention again, and saw a good spot under a tree. I go over, and start to lock it against a rack. As I'm about to do this I notice that the rack is moving. Then I realize, it's not moving, it's just COVERED with caterpillars! I look over at the next rack, and see the same thing, and my eyes follow up the spokes of the wheel to the handle bars, which look like moving foam. My alarm is increasing. I look at the seat, it's moving too! Then I muster up the courage to lift my head, and I'm in a veritable forest of hanging caterpillars!!!!!! How I managed to miss all of them while walking in, I am unsure. But now all I see is a slalom course to dodge these long squirmy fellas hanging from their little webs, thinking they're all sneaky and that I'll be their free taxi to another tree!

I pretty much started spazzing out. I screamed (more like shrieked, I have a horribly piercing scream), and run out of there, Ryan came over and saved Penelope before I dropped her on the ground, and I rip off my helmet and start dancing in a circle to get off the phantom caterpillars. I was so disturbed! With my newfound adrenaline I ran over under the safety of the overhanging walkway and left my bike at a rack over there. Some think they are super clever and hang over the edges of those as well! EW EW EW! Carol showed me a Stanford Daily paper that said they are here until GRADUATION! Possibly even LATER!!!!

So on Monday and Tuesday I rode in, but on Wednesday I had another Stanford South Africa Student Seminar Series. NO ONE CAME on the Stanford end. It was just me, Betty Chang (the coordinator on the Stanford end) and Konrad Scheffler (the speaker) who gave an excellent talk, and the South Africa students via video-conference. Apparently we have a budget for food, so I plan on bribing the students with Izzy's Bagels next time to get them to show up. Unfortunately NO ONE has volunteered to give a talk to the students, so I'm pretty unhappy. I will have to start more serious harassment.

On my rides in to campus I have noticed some strange behavior.
1) People like to walk on the street, even when there is a sidewalk available, and they are always either on the phone, listening to music, or smoking.
2) Just like you are defined by your surroundings, your dislike of other people is defined by your vehicle. I hate bikers when I'm in a car, and I had cars when I'm on a bike.
3) Riding through campus during the hours of 10 and 4 is a bad idea. All the students wander aimlessly and are not paying attention, and people on bikes are either too slow, or too reckless.
4) Of course I am always right ;)

My best experience so far has been the fire line which is a no parking zone...for cars. The lane is probably too narrow to allow any cars or fire trucks to get through because it is LINED with bikes on either side!!! In any case, I love riding my bike. It clears my mind, it makes me feel happy, and most of all, it's an easy way to squeeze in some exercise that really only costs me about an extra 30 minutes of time every day, although I must admit the helmet hair leaves much to be desired!!! Maybe I'll keep a blow dryer in my desk. That would be really funny...or really reasonable.