The other day I found myself humming a familiar tune while putting on my helmet.
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Mar 192010
Mar 182010
Chicago loves bikes. It’s official.
My morning commute yesterday felt like a group ride! For more than half of the way, I was in a line of 9 cyclists going down the bike lane. Our spontaneous conga line caused stares, double-takes and smiles. How could people not consider cycling as a valid form of transportation after seeing so many bikes all around them? Snowball effect – more riders beget more riders.
On the way home, I spotted my friend Elizabeth. She had pulled over to chat with the owner of De Fietsfabriek, so I pulled over and joined them, and then we rode home together. On the way, we saw three bike cops ticketing a van for being parked in the bike lane. Overhead in a stern voice as we passed, “See, all these bicyclists have to go in the lane around you.” Today on Streetsblog I saw this video to train Chicago bus drivers how to interact with bicyclists.
I feel that everything is coming together to create a real place for cyclists in Chicago. The cyclists themselves: out in droves. The drivers: expecting cyclists and behaving respectfully. The infrastructure: far from perfect but following the 2015 Bike Plan and better than almost all other North American cities. Law enforcement, city government, and Da Mayor: working for us. The sun: shining down approvingly on all of it.
My giddy optimism is so bright this week!
Do other Chicagoan have thoughts on this? Bicyclists in other cities – how do you feel about your place on the road and in the community? Any other optimists out there?
Mar 172010
photo of a hill courtesy of pinkmoose @flickr--I was riding too fast today to take one!
I know I complain sometimes about the hills on my commute, but every once in a while I look forward to tackling them. One of the little-discussed benefits of bicycle commuting is using your ride home as a stress release. Trust, it’s better than blasting Pearl Jam in your car (what can I say, music I listened to in high school is still the best when feeling angsty).
Now, back to our regular scheduled, positive programming. And my glass of Jameson — happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Mar 162010
Months of short days and drab colors wear a girl down. Eventually she needs yellow sun and blue skies. Enter SPRING!
There is no denying the proof in the pictures: winter is behind us; let’s all spring forward 
Happy Sunshine!
Mar 142010
. . . my Batavus, that is.
Here she is waiting outside for me during a happy hour last week.
As I was walking away, I looked back and found myself turning around to take a picture (or 10). Who cares what the rush hour drivers thought? And anyway, I knew my friend C wouldn’t get there for a few more minutes — she was trying to find a place to park her car. 
Where will your bike take you this week?
Mar 122010
I’m pretty sure these would still be funny, even without three glasses of Friday night wine.
Hipster Puppy – ari stayed up all night drinking beer and playing old 7”s, so he’s gonna have to sit out this month’s critical mass (photo kari g)
Hipster Kitty – Even Ender’s bike-polo teammates have begun to notice his body odor (photo Sarah VanCamp)
Thanks for the tip, Trisha! You know me too well.
Don’t forget to email us pictures of your cat (or dog, bird, small child, etc.) surfing the internets
Mar 112010
Chicago is in defrost mode and the snow is becoming little more than ground water and memories. Rain has taken over the precipitation spotlight, setting up shop over the city, where it plans to remain for at least another week.
Today’s commute pictures come courtesy of my new Holga, an odd little all-plastic camera similar to the Diana camera. Yes, that last picture is a pack of Huskies accidentally double exposed over the bike path. Seeing what comes out is fun, although dropping the film off during lunch and picking it up after work is a hassle. (Check out Quaint Living for some fantastic lomo pictures from a similar camera.)
You don’t get experiences like this in a car. Long live the bike commute – rain or shine!
Mar 112010
And nothing matters when we’re cycling / In tatter-tatters you’re entrancing / Be we in Paris or in Lansing / nothing matters when we’re cycling
A slight change to the original.
Monday night, Me and Mr. Dottie, dinner and Magnetic Fields concert.
That is all
P.S. Thanks to {frolic} for making us one of its first Blogs of the Week. I love {frolic} and visit daily for my dose of happy.
Reader Melissa tipped us off to this one — Marisa Tomei riding a gorgeous vintage-style bike as part of the promo for a new web-based series, “Into the Heart of Italy.” (Didn’t embed the whole clip since most of it is a Bertolli pasta commercial!)
Melissa, who’s based in NYC, happens to be looking for a similar bike. Readers, any suggestions? Do any modern manufacturers mount the headlight on the handlebars like that? I can’t think of one . . .
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.
LIVELY CONVERSATIONS