Zach and I were living in 50 year old, 500 square foot, cinder block walled apartments: welcome to Aggie Village. In an effort to lead a healthier life, I had decided to begin riding a bike to school. It had been several years since I had attempted this, and I soon realized that the phrase "it's just like riding a bike" (implying that it is skill you never forget once you know how) was a LIE. But after an embarrassing day of riding the whole way to school with my whole front wheel and handle bars backwards (nope, this isn't the embarrassing moment) I had pretty much brushed up on my bike-riding skills enough to get to school unnoticed.
It was a cool, crisp fall morning, though not cold enough for frost. I made my way through Aggie Village parking lot on my bike easily, especially considering the 50+ pound backpack I was sporting. As I was nearing the edge of the parking lot where it met the street, I could see a Aggie shuttle making it's way toward the apartment complex, filled to the brim with college students, all staring out the window. I had to cross the parking lot entrance to get out of it's way. But as I turned, I could feel the heavy backpack pulling me off balance. Luckily I caught my fall with my foot. However, since the backpack was so heavy, I was still too off balance to avoid a fall all together. At this point, the shuttle had been stopped, waiting for me to get out of the entry way for probably a full minute as I was trying to gain control. It was in slow motion; I slowly slanted sideways furt
her and further until I was finally lying on the gravel with the bike on top of me. A quick fall would have been so much better: I would have scraped myself up quickly and got out of the way, maybe someone from the shuttle would have asked if I was OK. But this slow, off balanced descent to the ground was... just weird. Lying there on the ground, not knowing exactly how I got there, all I could think to do was look up at the bus full of Aggie students. I could see their faces, including the driver; all bore the look of utter confusion as if they were all wondering, "What in the world is she doing?" No one was even laughing! I finally tried to get up but found that, like a beetle on it's back, I couldn't even sit up with the heavy backpack. I probably looked so odd, straining to sit up, my hands and legs waving around in the air, nothing happening. I finally wriggled out of the straps and dragged the backpack to the side of the road. I then went back for the bike. Total time making an idiot out of myself in front of an Aggie Shuttle waiting on me: 5 minutes. It felt like: 2 hours.In case you want a little more insight into the time I rode my bike to school with the handles and wheel backwards, just imagine me riding to school, wondering why my knees were hitting the the handlbars, wondering why the breaks and the gears wouldn't work, convincing myself that some crazed vandal had come readjusted my bike just to be cruel. Then imagine me being really loud about it because I was having so much trouble riding the bike and I knew people were staring so I tried to verbally explain "man, what is wrong with this thing?", and then a nevous, "heh heh."
