do they make training wheels for adults?

for many moons, i whined & whined about how great it would be to have a bike. i could ride to work & to the gym & to the garden & i would get a ton more exercise. so i got this great free bike & began my adventure. & i realized that biking requires different muscles than i have (balto ain't flat) & it's kind of scary... being on the street in crazy traffic. totally unnerving.

on tuesday evening, d & i biked over to the garden - which was really great. so much faster than walking & not that much slower than driving. true, i had to walk the bike up a few hills. but that will get better w/ time. things at the garden were & are growing like crazy. lots of tomatoes but none of 'em are ripe. i yanked out all the potatoes cuz i couldn't stand the bugs & i didn't feel up to drowning all of 'em. d watered our plot w/ a random little boy who wanted to play w/ the water - it was pretty cute. we had a picnic dinner of chipolte. it was a great way to spend an evening - until the ride home where i got a bit adventurous & was practicing the whole standing up while pedaling thing while going uphill. i'm still not sure what happened but i ended up flat on my back in the street next to my bike. it was super sucky & kinda scary. seriously, thank you helmet. jeezus it would've sucked so much worse. anyway, other than cuts, bruises & missing skin, i'm fine. a bit humiliated, but fine. though i am a bit apprehensive about biking again. i mean, i plan to ... maybe even tomorrow. it would be nice to know i couldn't slam into the pavement again though.

d & i walked down to velocipede last night. it's a nonprofit community bikeshop in our hood. anyway, i can volunteer there for a few hours & they will provide me with new handlebars & assist me in putting them on. sounds pretty good to me - once i'm back to riding that is.