I always ask myself if I am learning disabled (I know I'm not, but there's gotta be a word for this type of disability that I'm about to describe about trying out "new to me" city transportation). For example, we have a metro rail. Current day, I know how to get on the rail, how to take it downtown and whatever, but when I first started taking the rail, I had NO idea what to do and couldn't wrap my head around it.

During the day before I actually got the courage to take the rail, I would imagine walking up to the door and had a million questions in my head, such as , where is the conductor? Is everybody going to stare at me because I have a bike? What if I am so sweaty that the seat gets wet and everybody laughs at me, and how do I pay for my ticket, and what if I can’t find the machine, what if I’m late, what if it goes south instead of north, and does it stop where I need it to stop, what if it just keeps going because on this day it just keeps going?!?!

I know which immediate family member I get this from, and we both are the type of people who have to know everything is going to be OK before we get involved in something. 

I decided to commute to work via bicycle + metro rail. I practiced on the weekends taking the rail, and got it down pretty good. The day of the big commute, I missed the rail and had to bike all 14 miles there. I don’t remember how I got back home after work, my friend probably picked me up...one day my friends met me at my job with their bicycles and it was probably the sweetest thing ever to me. Like, really cool because I work kinda far away from "it all".

All my worries were STUPID. The conductor doesn't even look at you when you get on, and nobody really cares if you have a bike because EVERYBODY HAS A BIKE. I did get my bike stuck on the rack, and missed my stop once, but that was during a practice run, so I wasn't late to work or anything. The machine didn't take cash (even though it said it would...liar), but I had a card, and got the ticket and all was fine. Yes, I was sweaty, but the seat wasn't made of silk or anything, so it was all good. The train stopped at each stop, no big deal. 

There WAS a day where it didn't go to my stop for work, but that’s because I didn't check the schedule and thought I could be all sly and sleep in and take the next train... If I DID check the schedule, then I would know that they don’t go past a certain spot during the weekdays from 9-11am, therefore, ruining my plans of being a slacker.

METRO RAILLLLL

I think it’s funny that I need to practice things like biking to the train for work, etc. I know there are people who decide to commute and just get out of bed one day and do it, without torturing themselves with all those questions. Yes, anxiety is a problem for me, but riding my bike has actually helped with that( and I am not one to do the pill stuff). 

I am less afraid of driving in this city, since I've seen most streets on my 'cycle so I know where the potholes are and where the hills are, etc (and there are a LOT of hills). I haven’t commuted in a long time, mainly because I kept missing the train and was late to work. Unfortunately, I don’t have any more PTO, so mistakes like that cannot be made. Next week I'll commute to work and squash all these anxious thoughts.

Here’s a pic of my bike on the rack right before the wheel got stuck in the hook. Here is also the metro rail station at night, (during one of my practice runs). We don’t have train stations like this for civilian-commuting-use where I grew up, so, it’s one of those exciting things for me that gradually wore off into an everyday thing.