Level 1: Getting a bike. It’s kind of weird to think that it was May 14 when I was just starting to think about getting my first bike since I graduated high school. That first moment on the bike was terrifying. I teetered, I wobbled off the sidewalk, I eventually took it to a parking lot so I could have a bit more runway to get going.

Level 2: Going out for a ride. On June 2, I actually took my bike home for the first time and took it out for my first ride along the trail near my house. Getting going from a stop was an ordeal. Curves and hills were scary. Some other bikes passed me on a fairly narrow and winding section of the trail and it freaked me out. But I completed my first ride, a 3 1/2 mile round trip that would become a regular thing.

Level 3: Building up some endurance. I did that trip a few times a week, occasionally adding in a longer version.

Level 4: Reaching my first goal, riding 6 miles each way to see the July 4th fireworks, which I did.  

But on that July 4 ride, I started thinking about another goal, unthinkable in May. To ride a bike for an Ingress event (called and Anomaly) scheduled for August 25 in Philadelphia. This would involve riding on city streets, in traffic, all day long. It wouldn’t be a lot in terms of distance or speed, but it would be a completely different biking experience. These Anomalies are competitive events that take place periodically in a select number of cities worldwide where players (“agents”) converge to meet specific objectives in a certain timeframe. Bikes are valuable because they can get places much faster than agents on foot, and can go and stop places cars cannot. I’d always admired bike teams at Anomalies, but never expected to be on one. Until I decided it was going to happen.

Level 5: taking the bike out at night to see the Wilson Bridge open.

Level 6: riding around Alexandria in traffic to get a feel for riding with cars.

Level 7: riding 20 miles in a day to really test my endurance.

And then level 8: riding for an Anomaly.

That is absolutely the best way to do an Anomaly. Maybe it’s that Philadelphia is an abnormally good city for biking – there are bike lanes a lot of places, relatively narrow streets so traffic isn’t going too fast, a lot of 4-way stop signs. But instead of the terrifying experience I expected it to be, it was actually really simple and fun. Throughout the day I became more comfortable with the idea of biking on city streets (and sometimes sidewalks), through crowds, through traffic.

The day after an Anomaly is called Mission Day. This is a non-competitive experience that encourages agents to get out and see the city they are in. I also ended up doing that almost entirely on a bike. By this point getting around Philly by bike was a snap.

I’ve spent so much of my life being afraid to get back on a bike. Unsure of where to start. Certain that I would be embarrassed by my lack of biking ability. Putting up all kinds of barriers in my head.  But instead of making all kinds of excuses for why I couldn’t, shouldn’t, or wouldn’t, I decided to just go and do the thing.  I’m loving this new philosophy.

Cliff now wants me to join him on a 32-mile ride in late October. This is terrifying to me. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to do it.