Who wants to wrestle next?

Alright... so this morning riding the bus was a bit more eventful than usual.  As you probably know lately I have been trying to ride the bus and/or bike to work everyday.  It helps me save money on gas, saves from extra wear and tear on my car, and gets me outside more often.  It has been a lot of fun finding new ways to get around without having to worry about the stress of traffic that driving can bring along.

Well this morning was my first stressful day of bus/biking.  I did my usual routine of making the trek to the bus station, waiting for the bus, loading up my bike, and busing into work.  (I only ride my bike home from work so that I am not stinky and sweaty in the office!) And what started out to be my usual routine turned into an embarrassing disaster.

I always struggle loading my bike onto the bus.  Compared to my small figure I have a large bike to hold up, bike shoes that keep me a little off balance, and a giant old bike rack with levers and to pull and buttons to push in order to prepare the bike loading.  So as you can imagine... It's always a bit of a mess trying to balance my bike and pull down the bike rack all at the same time. 

This morning when trying to wrestle with the bike rack I nearly lost the match.  At first I couldn't get the lever pushed down in order to unfold the bike rack.  I finally had to use both hands and place a foot on the bumper of the bus in order to jerk the rack down.  With my luck the rack came flying down flinging me backwards and throwing my bike to the ground.  That was embarrassing moment #1.

Once I stood back up and recollected myself and my bike I placed my bike on top of the rack.  The next step would be to pull the hook up and over my front wheel in order to secure my bike.  Here comes embarrassing moment #2.  My arms were so tired from trying to get the bike rack down that I didn't have enough strength to get the hook up and over my bike wheel.  I pulled as hard as I could and about half way up the wheel SWAK, my poor little arms gave out and the hook slammed into the front wheel of my bike shoving my bike back off the rack and onto the road.

" SERIOUSLY?!!" I thought.  By this time I have every one on the bus and at the bus stops attention.  I could only imagine what they were thinking. "Is this girl serious?"  "Has she ever used a bike rack before?" Frustrated and embarrassed I finally showed that thing who's boss! I slammed my bike back on and with all my might yanked on the wheel hook.  The hook flung up fast and slammed into my bike hard, but the bike was finally locked into place.  Take that you dumb rack, you can't beat me this time!

I did it.  I beat the bike rack.  Sure I may have wrestled around a little bit, but I wasn't about to let that thing win in front of all those people at the stop.  (and by the way my bus stop is at a transit center so there was a bus waiting behind mine and about 30 people all standing around watching the chaos go down!)  I guess the lesson of the day is if you stick to it, you can do it! :)  That bike rack gave me a run for my money and for sure made me blush a couple times, but it sure felt good to get on the bus, laugh, and admit to the bus driver that I wasn't going down with out a fight!  If anything I was good entertainment for the driver!