Walk-O-Rama Special Edition: Bike-O-Rama!!!

The triumph of this week’s adventure nearly trumped the legendary conquest achieved by Arielle last week when she successfully ate a Green Cactus burrito and was not forced to abandon her meal due to any ridiculously spicy hot sauce or spices.  Go Arielle!  Since Ken and Kristen were the only two up for escaping the office today (which is just weird people – I mean come on!), they decided their odds at finding enough bikes to ride in the campus bike share stalls would be slightly better than last week’s failed attempt.  And they were right! Ken even had a route in mind! For over a  year now he has been talking about some mysterious clearing that he once stumbled upon, and he was set on finding it and showing it to all who were dumb enough to follow (Kristen).  It was bound to be an adventure unlike any other! Or at least a good way to burn a few calories, which is a good thing.

Go Arielle! What a delicious achievement!

Having swiped their cards at the pay station, they were forced to pretend to read many rules, instructions, terms and agreements, and other such nonsense that they simply agreed to so the machine would release its death grip on the bicycles and allow them to begin having some major fun.  This major fun was found in the form of Kristen nearly crashing because she wanted to take pictures in motion and Ken narrowly avoiding wiping out when he could not figure out how to switch gears.  All initial difficulties being soon after overcome, the two headed out to find this legendary clearing in the nearby forest.

Yay! We finally scored some bikes!

Kristen quickly learns that she is not as skilled as that boy she saw texting while riding last week

Ken grows tired of waiting for the green light to give him permission to take the bike and attempts brute strength

Moments into the ride, both bikers were quickly realizing that biking is BS, with the exception of those downhill slopes that proved to be few and far between.  Cursing happened.  Before too long, a barely visible trail was in view, and all signs of civilization were quickly left in their dust.

This is when Kristen learned for sure that Ken did not know where this clearing was located.  In fact she’s pretty sure he dreamt it. While intoxicated. Turns left, right, and in a u shape were made at every opportunity, until the rugged trail that they were following was little more than a mere parting of a few shrubs where some deer had likely once passed.  A few familiar signs were spotted along the way that helped guide them on their journey, which were particularly helpful for the return trip when they were racing back to try and beat the clock to avoid paying another four bucks.

 

Dead end #1

Proof that others have been lost here as well

Adding our mark

We still fit in some walking on this exhausting outing

A Lite to help guide our way

Backtracking at dead end #2

We briefly considered abandoning our bikes and taking a cab back

The ultimate dead end that made us quit

The pair could not contain their excitement when they were soon close enough to the forest perimeter to hear traffic. Though the rain clouds above gave Kristen hope that a downpour might give her a legitimate excuse to be wet so she would not have to admit to just being super sweaty, precipitation held back for the remainder of this rigorous adventure.  The cooler breeze felt while gliding downhill did do its part to refresh the riders, in much the same way the intense air blowing cycle works to dry cars in a car wash, so they could not complain.

They made it back with mere minutes to spare, but to their dismay they could not figure out how to properly return the bikes that they now never wanted to set eyes on again.  A kind stranger shared the secret method of making them lock, bringing an official end to this week’s adventure.  Never had refueling been more of an emergency than it was after this particular calorie burn, so operation carb fest was initiated to recoup all losses.

Carb Fest 2014

Join us next week when we will not do this again.

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Walk-O-Rama: Define Bicycle

This past Friday was the much anticipated Bike-O-Rama adventure.  We met at noon, as planned, with credit cards in hand to finally take advantage of the University’s ingenious Bike Share program.  With the campus nearly deserted after the end of the Spring semester and the weather being more than accommodating with its sunshine and slight breeze, we were already envisioning the relaxing time we were about the have – that is if we could all remember how to ride bicycles.

As it turned out, either we had forgotten how to ride them, or there was something amiss with the collection of bikes we found waiting for us at the bike stand. From a distance it seemed like we were fulfilling out destiny.  There were five of us, a perfect match for the five bicycles waiting at the sharing station.  As we walked closer, we realized that this number was not totally accurate.  We had not ridden in a while, but we did vaguely recall the basic concept and the parts required to ride.  Seats were helpful, preferably attached to the frame. Pedals also played a vital role in the biking experience. So we were sad to see that two bicycles were missing these key components.  Our disappointment could not be hidden.  Some members pouted, others tried to think of solutions, and some refused to admit that this outing was a no-go by biking in place.  It was not the same.

If animals can remember to ride bikes, so can we. Right???

Though Ken claims to be trying to fix the bike, photo evidence suggests that he just broke the seat off

This picture perfectly captures our disgust with the bike share program

Kathy decides to not be affected by the misfortune of others and tries biking anyway

In desperation, we decided to go look for more bikes. We found several pedestrian bikes chained to a nearby rack and briefly considered jacking them as an alternative, but no one had remembered the chain cutters on the walk this week, so that was also ruled out as a possibility.  Disappointed, we abandoned this location and decided to seek out options elsewhere.

While walking, we came across a lovely pool of water that we had to prevent Kathy from diving into. We were inspired to enter this building to see what other pleasantries could be found inside.

The bewitching waters that nearly lured Kathy into their depths in the pool below

We learned that some of our party had not been on our outing when we explored the rooftop of this building years before, and so we took another trip up, mostly because the option involving an elevator seemed the most attractive.

The view that greeted us when the doors opened nearly erased all of the previous disappointment caused by the Bike Share scam. A happy little garden was planted there for reasons that we were too lazy to read about, and our view of the blue sky drastically was improved.

The Library definitely needs one of these!

Way cooler than Ellen’s celebrity selfie on Oscar night

Technically celebrities, though not of Walk-O-Rama caliber

Who makes a dizzying 3D pattern in their sidewalk below a super high building with a rooftop garden? That’s lethal.

Please read this and tell us what it’s all about, preferably in fewer words and with entertaining hand gestures

Feeling thoroughly relaxed, we descended to a lower level where another garden could be found.  Here, lucky individuals were eating lunch outdoors surrounded by lush greenery.  This inspired one of our members to begin eating the surrounding plants, which were fortunately edible.

A beautiful garden that was eaten by a member who concreted the belief that WOR members have a lot in common with locusts

Once inside, we discovered more beauty in the form of knitted structures that somehow involved mathematical formulas. This concept hurt my head, so I can not explain it with any additional detail or clarity. Just look at the pictures. They’re amazing and very, very pretty.

Knitting is difficult enough without getting mathematical formulas involved!

The ones with tails that flew were particularly impressive/frightening

The mathematically inclined do not even share our same alphabet

And they even provided our lunch! Thanks!!

Feeling smarter and relieved of all our bike induced stress, we felt ready to leave this wondrous place and return to the office.  Perhaps we will attempt Bike-O-Rama again later in the week. Stay tuned!

Seriously.

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