First and foremost, I apologize profusely for the implied swearing. I do my best not to swear often, but sometimes nothing else seems to fit the bill well enough. This is one of those times. If you prefer, instead of what bamf actually means, feel free to imagine that it means "big and manly female". That will work.
Also, before I start, here are two things I learned today:
1) It's hard to ride a bike in wedges. You know, those shoes that pretend like they are heels, but really aren't because they are more practical and more comfortable. Super cute. But unfortunately, not bike friendly.
2) Wearing a backpack, no matter how light, exacerbates the sweating that occurs pretty much anytime one rides a bike. Jeans have the same effect, to an even greater degree.
Now on to the story...
Today was quite the busy day as it was the first "morning meeting", which is a 7:30 am meeting every Monday and Friday with various presentations, which is attended by neuro grad students, clinical faculty and physicians, lab techs and the PIs of other labs. (PI stands for principal investigator and it's basically the person in charge of his or her own lab) Ok, so I was at morning meeting and then I started working in my rotation lab. I finally have papers to read and understand!
Skip forward a few hours, to when I left lab to eat my lunch quickly (pb and j sandwich, rice cake and fruit salad...dining like a king :)...and then I had a chiropractor appointment. I got a random neck injury on Friday and I've been waiting for it to get better and it just hasn't healed completely so I went to get it checked out at this new place.
I left right from work so it was me, my bike, my backpack and my iPod, setting out on this adventure. Google maps told me the office was about 3.5 miles away from downtown, which was accurate. Google maps did not tell me, however that most of it was uphill and also across I-80. Well, it did tell me that part but I didn't realize there would not be a legitimate bike lane or sidewalk on both sides of the road that overpassed the interstate. So there I am, in cute grey wedges, my nice jeans, a nicer-than-a-tshirt top, backpack safely bucked on, riding my bike alongside cars going at least 35 mph, if not faster. I was slightly intimidated, until I remembered that I did the equivalent of this nearly every day in Denmark. Then it was a piece of cake.
I made it safely, though when I arrived I was unfortunately much sweatier than I would have preferred. But despite my embarassment, I was rather proud of the accomplishment.
Apparently riding your bike for 6 miles-round trip gives one plenty of time to think. Here's what I decided to think about. I believe there is a fine line between being supremely awesome and taking the day by storm (a.k.a. being a bamf), and being a total idiot. And I've decided this line, today, was my helmet. I know this sounds super dorky but hear me out. I gotta admit it, riding in jeans and wedges was not my brightest idea. And was more than a little bit uncomfortable. BUT since I had my backpack tightly buckled across my chest and my helmet securely fastened on my head, at least I looked like I knew what I was doing. I looked ready for adventure, albeit poorly dressed for said adventure. Who knows what all the Iowa City-ians thought as they drove past me, swerving to the other lane to avoid hitting the crazy biker on the side of the road, but I'll admit I felt somewhat invincible. Invincible and sharply dressed. Not a bad feeling. But that's when the realization came that if I would not have had my helmet to show just how dedicated I am to not screwing up this brain that I've worked so hard for and my backpack to show I mean business, I really would've just looked utterly ridiculous. Don't you think? So that was my exciting experience of the day.
And what, might you ask, does a bike-riding bamf do when she gets home from her adventurous day? She naps.
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