More Chicago Fun

On Sunday, we borrowed a bike from the neighbor for me and set off down the Lakefront Path to go ice skating. I’d ridden the path in the summer before, but was eager to give Dottie’s winter commute a try. It was below 20 degrees when we set out, but the day was clear, sunny and beautiful.

Trying out the Raleigh

The path was pretty clear of ice and snow, and busy, if not crowded — mostly joggers, but we saw a few other cyclists.

On a clear day you can see forever (or at least to the Loop)

We did have to walk our bikes through a couple of icy patches. [Insert Shaft music here -D]

Across the ice

And yes, in case you’re curious, we did work up enough warmth to jettison our coats. That’s some commute.

After arriving downtown, we locked our bikes at the [ridiculously named] McDonald’s Cycle Center.

Lock em up

From there it was a short walk to Michigan Avenue and the skating rink. Crowded, but so much fun! For me, lacing up skates is like Proust’s madeleine. Would have been even more evocative if I had managed to find a double lolly to dip into my hot chocolate. [mmmm, yummy literary reference -D]

On the ice

Dottie skating

After a couple of hours on the ice, we headed home — and that’s where the trouble started. [Interesting, my trouble started on the ice, trying to remain upright. At least next to Mr. Dottie I felt like Michelle Kwan -D] I have to take back everything I said in the previous post about cycling in Chicago being easier. It may be relatively flat, but that trail is looong, and after the ice skating and the ride in, my legs were not fresh! It was all I could do to keep up with Dottie, who was on a bike nearly twice as heavy as mine. Of the three of us, I was the tortoise (on his sporty bike, Greg probably could have lapped both of us). Will definitely have to start taking some longer rides and working on my endurance before our trip down the Silver Comet trail this summer. At least my legs weren’t sore the next day. [Hey, hey, mine were! -D]

Heading back home

Afterwards we poured some Manhattans, ordered a pizza and settled in for the Oscars…a fun end to a fabulous weekend. [T-bone, come back! -D]