Come On Level Up! Gimme!
This morning after dropping Ruby off at school, I was driving Nigel through Catholic University and headed for my regular commute when I decided to take a big, long way around instead.
Rather than take the direct northeast-to-southwest route, I cut west all the way to Mt. Pleasant and dropped into Rock Creek Park, where I offered a pump to a fellow commuter who was struggling on squishy, flattish tires. I continued down to the National Mall and rode along the reflecting pool, which is lined on both sides, the full length of it, with porta-potties. Evidently there’s a biggish event happening there soon, and they expect a lot of bathroom usage, perhaps it’s for a huge chili cookoff? Finally, I did a lap around the Washington Monument and headed to work.
None of this is remarkable, mind you, but it was about 30 degrees and gray, so it wasn’t that it was unseasonably warm and pretty and I just didn’t want to go inside. I was riding Nigel, so it wasn’t that I was in a zippy groove and didn’t want to stop racing. And it wasn’t that Washington Hospital Center was so stunningly beautiful that I was drawn to its charm. No, I suddenly decided to double my inbound commute because I wanted the miles, and the climbing feet, because I wanted the points, because I want to level up.
There’s still a ton of little things left to build and fix on it, but there’s enough there now to make me want to see those points add up and that level click over. If you want to play, or just poke around, feel free to join in.
Incidentally, the extra miles were pleasant all on their own, after all riding Nigel’s a good time and I would have enjoyed them whether or not I was scoring them. But that initial nudge at the corner of Michigan and Irving, where I chose the long ramble over the short commute, that came from my hunger for points and my desire to level up. It seems like BiKE GAME! is tingling, and that means it’s working. Pretty cool!
Tags: bicycle commuting, bicycling, Bikegame
January 14th, 2009 at 2:05 am
Told ya so! Addictive, ain’t it?
January 14th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Oh man. I want it. It’s like a magic trick that I know the secret to, but when I watch it being performed it still amazes and delights.
This morning I didn’t want it, wind chill was down around 10ish, both my brakes and rear derailleur were getting sticky, I was ready to be done. I guess the threshold was somewhere below 34, but above 10.