5/9/12

Ride In 5/9: Legalize pot pies

It was Bike to School day, or as they call it in the Netherlands, school day, and it was a time of great celebration for children and those encumbered with children. There was a gathering of would-be-biking-to-school children at Lincoln Park, which is near my house and I stopped by on the way to work. Here's what it looked like:


It was a good turnout and I saw some familiar faces and missed other familiar faces and missed at least one unfamiliar face. The kids seemed to be having fun and I regret that this is the case. Don't they know that bike commuting is serious and DANGEROUS and fraught and EPIC and in no way meant to be amusing? Apparently not. The organizers were handing out medals to participating children. I did not get a medal.
After the fun and festivities of Bike to School day, I proceeded to bike to school, medalless (do I sound bitter?) and that was terribly uneventful. There might have been a guy who was trying to race me. Not only do I have nothing to prove, I bristle at the implication. That's a snooty way of saying that he rode faster than I did.
A now-rare excursion up 15th. I rode behind a woman who was on a CaBi. She wore a shirt that said "Citi Volunteer." Perhaps CitiGroup has sent down dumb New Yorkers to figure out how Bikeshare works.
I could look at people all day long. They're fascinating.
A man pulled his Volvo into the cycle track before 15th and Massachusetts, blocking it. He exited the car and went around to the other side and escorted a woman out through the passenger-side door. I'm not sure if she was infirm and that was the reason for his parking faux pas. Not wanting to make a big deal of it, I just rode around. In his trunk was a folding bike. Curious.
My wrists hurt from riding over some really rough pavement by the construction at Sheriden Circle. From now on, I'm going to wear boxing gloves on my commute. That'll also set a nice tone for pushy drivers. Might make it harder to brake, but if I'm bellicose enough, I won't need to brake. They'll just get out of the way. Right?

This is a weird picture of the National Cathedral. Purely incidental that it looks weird, like it's been cropped and pasted from two equally bad pictures. Nope, it's just one bad picture. Can't remember what possessed me to take it.
Summer humidity without summer temperatures still makes for unpleasant bicycling. I might invent a shirt that's made of sponges. Patent pending.

2 comments:

  1. Knowing it was Bike to School Day made me happy all day. One of my runner friends biked to work for the first time and reported he got wet in the rain. I remarked it was an odd day to start bike commuting, and he said, well it's Bike To Work Day. I set him straight.

    The guy with the folding bike in the trunk highlights the real problem: it's not cyclists vs. drivers, road space at a premium (or any other such example), it's the fact that people are not considerate.

    They'll stop in the middle of the road even if there's a parking spot 4 feet up, to spare themselves a moment of inconvenience. Sigh.

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    1. I'm woefully behind on my TFTS reading, but I wanted to heartily agree with your point about considerate people. It goes way beyond transportation, too - the world is a much better place when we all think a little bit about other people, and how our actions might affect them. I'm not saying you have to dedicate your life to never inconveniencing anyone, but a little thought now and then goes a long way.

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