National Bike Month

Apparently, May is national bike month!  I've been aware of this in the past because there's a rather large hoopla that goes on in Providence every year on Bike to Work Day, which includes a visit with a bike mechanic, breakfast and a community fair (not really sure what that means, but I'm sure it's fun!).  I saw the notice about the Bike to Work Day party the other day on a local blog I read, and I was all excited because I finally have a bike!   I'll finally fit in with these people!  Except for one huge problem--

I don't want to bike from the party to work.

The party is being held at the World War I Memorial, which is right at the bottom of College Hill.  College Hill is the steepest hill in the whole city, and was actually the site of the Red Bull Soapbox Derby Championship the first year I lived in Providence.

Here's a video that illustrates the crazy steepness--I'll wait while you watch it.

The point is--there is no way in hell that I am riding my bike up that hill, and if I attended the festivities, I would either have to ride back up that hill to get to work, or go another mile out of my way to get to a slightly less steep hill.  I honestly don't even know if I can ride up that hill, I'd probably roll backward into traffic!  I'd happily walk to the party, but that seems not really in keeping with the spirit of the event--more just like I'm trying to scam free food.  Plus, I'm still intimidated by hard core bikers, and I can't make a speedy getaway on foot if they're mean to me.

So, conundrum.  I want to participate, but I don't want to die in the process.  I still plan to celebrate National Bike Month by biking to work as much as possible, and in the interest of being a total nerd, I started a spreadsheet keeping track of days that I bike or walk to work vs days that I drive.  Yeah, I'm the coolest.