In your face, doubters

Yes, Monday was the first time in my life I'd ridden from office to home, or vice versa. I'm not from Vancouver; I 'm from Mexico City—a metropolis that couldn't get further from being bike friendly. It's a place where cars and buses fight furiously for a place on the road, and where biking, skating or even walking are nearly impossible. For me, biking to work was no more than a fairytale from the Great White North.

On the way to the office on Monday, I took my bike to the nearest SkyTrain station, it's true—but I was determined to ride home, no matter what. (Bets had been made!) As you can imagine, I expected the trip to be long (no less than an hour), exhausting (I am not a sporty girl), dangerous (cars would try to kill me just for fun), and even rainy (Vancouver can be surprisingly wet, even in May).

It only took me half an hour! I had no idea it would be so fast. I wasn’t tired, no cars tried to kill me even though I rode along busy Grandview Highway part of the way, I didn’t run over any pedestrians, and I even had to take my jacket off because the weather was dry and warm.

I did the same on Tuesday—took the train in the morning, rode fully home in the evening—and this morning, Wednesday, I would have ridden all the way to work, but I stayed up a little too late last night, eating chiles rellenos (stuffed chilis) and talking with friends. Tomorrow: all the way, both ways!

To the people in the office pool who bet against me: hmmm, that wasn't a very good idea, was it? Time to fork over your money.