I got up this morning and blearily loaded my bike into my car. I intended to stop by the bike shop and see if they could fix my rear derailleur. I figured if they couldn’t fix it, I’d just run. They were closed when I got there.

So, I ran my usual 3.2 miles. It was a good run. I felt strong. I finished in just over 33 minutes, so I was pretty slow. My best time is around 28, but that was oh my god my head hurts please stop kind of feeling, not a tired but awesome feeling I usually get.

I went about my day, running errands here and there, one of which took me by my friend Brian’s office. He mentioned that he was going to ride in something called Critical Mass later that night and I should too. It sounded cool, so I took my bike to Atlanta Pro Bikes and had them fix me up. They put it on the stand right there and tuned it right up for a measly $15. Awesome! Ready to roll!

So, I ended up riding maybe ten miles around Atlanta with Brian and 300 other bicyclers tonight. It was so much fun. The weather was perfect, the sun was just starting to go down on the first Friday of fall 2007. It was actually quite indescribably cool. I can’t wait to ride in the next one in October.

I felt a little dumb with my super awesome mountain bike that I can only afford because my brother in law runs a shop, when most of the other riders were hipsters on vintage ten speeds, but fuck it. I had a great time and I got the second ass-kicking workout of the day. Afterwards I ate a burrito. So good!

Check out this youtube video of Brian as the long train of bikes snakes through Atlantic Station:

The screen flashed up as we were waiting for the movie to start. A baby cried off to our left. Then a woman started jabbering incoherently and a cellphone started to ring. Abruptly it all stopped.

“Don’t spoil the movie,” warned the screen, “by adding your own soundtrack.”

“Don’t add your own soundtrack.” I whispered to her.

She gave me the finger.

So, I guess it’s okay to add your own sign language.