Biker Babe

I finally own a bike! I feel like a real Portlander now. I think I might have been kicked out of the city if I lived here much longer without owning a bike. I've been talking about and looking into getting one for months now and today I made it happen. I bought the bike at Waterfront Bicycles, a great local business where you can rent bikes for advernturous outings. Waterfront Bicycles is part of "Mary's Portland Tour" - just come for a visit and we're sure to rent bikes there. The bike is a Fuji Sunfire 2.0 hybrid bike. For all of you Texans, yes the bike is "burnt orange", but I like to consider a golden brown.

This evening, I snapped on my helmet and took my new bike for its first ride this evening. The roads were wet from an afternoon rain, but the air was crisp and when I looked to the west the scenery was gorgeous - as the sun was setting, clouds were rising off the hills creating an incredible glow. I felt great riding down the roads in the bike lane... until a speedy little biker passed me on the left, spraying a little water from the road on me. Then, he reached his hand out to the left and wiggled his fingers as if to say, "Eat my street water. See ya!" At first I was offended and thought about squirting him with my new biking water bottle, but then I realized that 1) he was too far ahead of me for the water to reach him 2) my water bottle was empty and 3) his hand gesture was actually his left turn signal. I should probably read a street biking manual.

I kept biking down the road and came upon a 4-way stop. The car to my right looked at me on my spiffy new bike and gave me the nod. He obviously thought, "Wow. Look at that serious biker on her spiffy bike. I'll let her go on because she's probably going somewhere really important - like a biker's club." However, my fellow road bikers probably thought much less of me as I turned into biking lanes (without using my signals) and rode on the wrong side before swerving across the street into the correct lanes. I'm sure to get better.

I think my bike needs a name. Any ideas?