Always wear a helmet. Sharon taught me this lesson and I listened to her because Sharon is very, very smart. And, she’s a professional biker. Not really, but she’s way more professional than I am so I listen. Plus, she gave me her gently used helmet so I didn’t have to buy one! She always looks out for me.

Anyway, in case you don’t know, helmets are really dorky. I’ve had some practice wearing one because I use a helmet when I ski, but that doesn’t really count because when you’re skiing, everyone looks dorky.

When I first thought about biking to work, the vision in my head was me on a really cute, adorable cruiser, wearing a spring skirt, carrying gerbera daisies in a whiker basket. I’m pretty sure the vision looked similar to a J.Crew catalog cover. Today, I saw a girl who looked exactly like my dream– she was riding a yellow cruiser and had a black and white sweater on with matching white skirt. No helmet. Perfect hair.

I glanced at my own large, men’s bike and tried to shift and cover my rolled up pant leg. I loosened my helmet just a tad. I tried not to notice the sweat creeping down my back. I reminded myself about how fast my bike goes and that I could probably kick her butt with my 21 speeds. This made me feel much better about my helmet hair as I sped off into the sunset, dodging bugs and breathing in the sweet spring air.