Betty Foy's Bloom

Posted by Dottie at 23:28 commute diary Add comments
Mar 092010

Betty Foy’s bloom: the surest sign of spring.

Last week, the awkward weather felt like neither winter nor spring.  Suddenly this week – spring!  Granted, it’s the chilly and rainy spring, not the sunny and flowery spring, but beggars vs. choosers, etc.

You may have noticed that this photo is from a warm day last month, not from today.  Betty and I were together both days and that’s pretty much how outside looked today, so close enough.

I was so cheerful about spring, I took a joy ride during my lunch break, in addition to my 10-mile commute.  Betty and I flew up and down and all around downtown, Navy Pier, Grant Park, crunching both the city gravel and the lakefront sand beneath her tires.  Riding Betty felt like a dream, a cloud, a scoop of gelato.  And fast – vroom vroom!

For once after lunch, I did not want to curl up and take a nap.  A small miracle.  Does anyone else steal away during the 9-to-5 for a ride?  I often go for long walks, but not rides.  That will change as the season does, I’m sure.

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  • http://lovelybike.blogspot.com Lovely Bicycle!

    The colour and texture combination of the gray tights and cream lace(?) is wonderful, and very fitting to the landscape.

    I do not work a normal 9-5 job, but yes I go for rides all the time when taking a break from working. In the warm months, the result is that I often end up working late into the evenings, because my daylight time is reserved for cycling : )

  • http://www.pedalandcoast.blogspot.com Sox

    It has been know to happen! :D

  • darren

    Dottie, it must REALLY suck being you eh???… looking perfect all the time!!!….. :p

  • http://www.etsy.com/shop/mhsgemini37 Melissa S.

    Looks the same except there is less snow on the ground! Yes! Can’t wait to go ride my bike. As soon as the snow leaves the path! :-)

  • http://www.portlandize.com Dave

    I have often thought about taking a bike ride at lunchtime, and I probably should just take a long lunch from time to time and do it. The main reason I haven’t – I work on top of a 500ft hill, and so I would have to either ride back up that hill, or all the way across downtown to the waterfront to catch the aerial tram back up (which is how I come up in the morning).

    What I really should do is take a long lunch, ride down the hill, get something quick to eat downtown or eat a packed lunch in a park, then ride back to the bottom of the hill and walk back up. I often suffer from post-lunch coma myself, so maybe that would help :)

  • http://whatwouldanerdwear.blogspot.com What Would a Nerd Wear

    it’s spring here too and it is SO lovely! i love to ride without mittens or gloves and not to worry about ice or snow.
    i’m in heaven!

  • http://www.welshcyclist.blogspot.com welshcyclist

    You look great winter, spring, summer or fall, how do you do it? I enjoy a bike ride, every now and then during my breaks at work. I’m lucky because I work close to the sea, and there’s a cycle path alongside the beach.

  • http://www.bike-bliss.com/ Cherilyn

    We had a few beautiful, warm days which put an end to ice skating,but you should have seen all of the bikes downtown! It was definitely opening week of biking season.

    Then today, more snow. It’s melting pretty quickly, however.

  • http://cyclinmissy.blogspot.com Cyclin’ Missy

    I often go for a walk at lunch time when it’s nice out. I don’t get to ride my bike around my office though. The traffic on the busy roads around me is insane. I’d spend most of my lunch hour getting to an area that was nice to ride in.

  • http://letsgorideabike.com Dottie

    I’m so happy to hear everyone else is feeling spring coming in, too :)

    @darren – Hahaha, usually I am a frazzled mess. The beauty of having your own blog is putting up only the pictures of yourself in which you don’t look like a wildebeest.

  • Steve

    I’m going to stay away from commenting on Dottie’s appearance except to say that it is inspiring, at the least.

    I sometimes get away at lunch to check out a downtown eatery or to run a quick errand. Tallahassee ain’t downtown Chicago, but it is nevertheless bicycling here is a heckuva lot more fun and easy to park than driving around, especially when the state legislature is in town.

    I’ve been to downtown Chicago many times, and if I worked close enough to the bike path along the lake to go for a “mental health” ride, I’d do it.

  • http://girlsandbicycles.blogspot.com Miss Sarah

    I’m always riding pre 2 pm or post 8 pm, before and after my irregular work hours.

    Oh my god. Summer is coming. I don’t work for 2.5 months. It’s going to be GLORIOUS. Particularly since Dexter will be big enough to sit in a trailer or bo-bike!

  • jerry

    Pretty Betty Foy. What do you think of the 650B wheels and what tires do you use? I have tried 650B Paselas and Schwalbe Marathons on my 650B Rawland Sogn and am not impressed with either. Both a bit sluggish… not that I am trying to jam at 20 mph, but I even feel a drag at around 14 mph. J.

  • Scott

    You took a joy ride at lunch? That’s awesome, even I have never done that!

  • http://bikinginheels-cycler.blogspot.com/ cycler

    I don’t often get to take a joy ride at lunch (Ah yes, I remember being able to actually take a full lunch- hasn’t happened for a while). But I do run errands at lunch fairly often that wouldn’t be possible without a bike to extend the range.
    In the summer I do get to ride to the farmer’s market to pick up my CSA share, that’s an errand and a joyride combined I suppose!

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