Iiiiiiiii rode my bike to work today. Not on purpose, mind you. The vehicle I normally take to work needed service. More than I thought. Took longer than I thought too. Soooo the option was hopping on the Specialized Rockhopper and pedaling up the Fox River trail to work.

It was fun. No calamity to report. No skids on wet bridges where my shirt gets covered with green moss. No squirrels jumping into my spokes. Not even a chipmunk to run over in gory anguish.

Just a bike ride on a somewhat cool, somewhat warm day depending on how long one spends in the sun.

Blessedly my ride was mostly in the shade along a beautiful river sinking low in its late summer state. Egrets stood bored on the rocks jutting out of the water. Their guts were likely full because the fishing is easy when the water gets this shallow. Or so you’d think.

I even found a bike trail along a road that normally takes me to work. But like all bike trails in this world that are tied to subdivision development, it came to an abrupt and immediate and all encompassing end. Just like that.

Which is the terminal answer to people who yell out the window at me while I’m on my road bike, which I ride on the road because it’s a road bike.

And still they yell: “Get on the bike trail!” Did I tell you that they yell?

The problem with their Philosophy is that their vision of how the bike trail works is limited to that 800-yard space where it actually runs along the road. So many of them end just like the one I found today. Plus they’re often lumpy, covered with glass or rife with thick cracks that can take a skinny tire guy down in el segundo. 

There’s never an actual time to explain the realities of cycling in this world. Not to people obsessed with their own timeframe and mental model of getting where they want to go unimpeded. In their cars. With nothing and no one in their precious way.

Which is why the Fox River Trail along the river is a quite nice way to commute to work by bike. No idiot drivers. Just me an the fat tire bike rolling along.

It took me 20 minutes to get to work today by bike. Not that much longer than it takes to drive. I have a bit of sweat on my back and my forehead is shiny. Other than that, no damage to report.

Perhaps I’ll do this again. Soon.