Is it just me or would these be the most awesome patio tables ever for a coffee shop? Pull up on your bike, someone comes out to bring you coffee, you pay, you drink, you bike away. Really, some days I wake up and think that if I could just ride my bike all day, stopping where I want to, and not having to deal with anything like cars, traffic or work. Sunday, I suppose, is the closest I get to that, when I take an hour or two to just ride up and down the channel trail.
But today is Friday, not Sunday, and the Mayor’s Bike to Work Rally calls to me. I’ve tromped on the pedals every day, Sunday through Friday, and my reward is coming in a touch late to work after hitting up the big rally downtown. I’ve never been before, so I spent most of Thursday a-quiver with antici-wait for it-pation.
On my way home Thursday, garbed in my Indians jersey, jeans and my plain white hat, some young wanna-be thugs pronounced my attire, bike and all, as ‘Pimpin.’ Clearly the definition has changed since I was a kid, or they were experts in sarcasm. Still I made it home from the train, picked up my books from the library, hauled the new phones upstairs, and got inside within 20 minutes. I love my commute.
This morning, I woke up at 3am to terrified cats and a thunderstorm with hail. I buried myself in the pillows and firmly told the weather to blow on out by 6am so I could bike to work. Surprisingly that worked! There was frozen hail in the alley as I zipped down to California Street, but the bike ride was cool and lovely. The Metra (and CTA) were not so nice today, as ‘mechanical failures’ were the name of the game. My guess is that all the bad weather caused things to flood and break, so I got to Ogalvie 18 minutes late. On the plus side, I still made it to the Daley Center in time for the start of the Rally, so I got a t-shirt, two more water bottles, another light (not as good as the one I got at UIC), and a ton of maps, including a new one that’s waterproof and doesn’t tear. It’s slightly laminated.
Mostly I just hung out, chatted with people, glad-handed, got interviewed, took a bike-safety quiz (passed 100% thank you), and had a nice time. Every time I talked to someone, the conversation began with “Is that a folding bike!?” In fact, every time I was interviewed (there were a lot of booths), the intro went in some variation of this: “Hi, are you interested in – Does that bike fold!?”
I wished I could have stayed later, but since I was already 18 minutes behind schedule, I ended up at work 30 minutes late. Now, I’m pretty much always getting to work 30 minutes early, so by 8:30 I was in the office and dressed for work. Today was also the first day I wore different pants. Usually I bike casually, so I dress casually and wear my work pants in, but today was sticky and wet, and my jeans were heavy, so I threw on my lightweight, cotton cargo pants that button up into pedal pushers. Doris Day I am not, but the 3/4th length pants were easy to bike in, so go me!
At the office, I was accosted by many coworkers with congratulations. Everyone knows I had my personal goal of biking all five days, and here, with one half of a day’s commute left, I’ve done it. I feel fantastic. I made sure not to bike too hard, and concentrated more on biking safely than quickly. Some mornings I took 15 minutes to get to the train, some it was 10. Sometimes I took the slow way to work, sometimes I went the fast route. Twice I was ‘in danger’ and once was my fault for trying to get around a car that wanted to park (he didn’t signal, in my defense!) and the other was a near-dooring. I met a lot of people on my adventure and made sure to tell everyone about Bike to Work Week. Most of the time, people were interested in the bike, as expected. I was more than happy to explain the pros and cons of my Dahon.
In fact, I should break them down here!
- Pros:
Portable, can bring it on the Metra/CTA/Bus/Pace, can store it in the office, easy to ride, easy to fold up, cute, climbs hills well. - Cons:
Putting it into and out of the bag is a bitch, heavy (25lbs), awkward to carry, hard to lock up, only has three gears, 16″ wheels means you pedal more.
The short answer is this: If you’re only riding 1-5 miles at a time and you commute by train/bus in the middle, the Dahon Curve series is perfect. The D3 has (surprise) 3 gears. The SL (pictured here) has 8 gears and is a couple pounds lighter. The other styles (D7 and D8) are all straight backs, which … isn’t very visually appealing to me. And yes, I consider that when buying a bike. If it looks good, you want to be seen on it and that way you’ll bike more. The Mµ series is curved a little, but generally they have the 20″ tires and I don’t have any interest in that size tires for a portable bike. If I had a ‘grown up’ bike (and yes, I’ve heard all the training wheel jokes), I’d want regular tires, but my Dahon is meant for portability, so there’s no need for big tires. The size difference between 16″ and 20″ wheels is amazing, by the way.
As I finish up my recap of my Bike to Work Week, it’s about to start hailing at the office. One side of my building looks like it’s sunset, the other is nearly nighttime black outside. It’s wonderful that my bike folds up, because if it’s still this bad when I get home, I can toss it in the trunk of my friend’s SUV and she’ll drive me home. I hope it clears up, because I just want to bike and keep biking.
Yet again, Overheard in New York gives us the title. This was the hardest part of the whole week, you know! I found the first one on accident and then decided to use them as a motif for the rest of my posts. I don’t think I’ll do that again! Oh, and yes, I did write up a bunch of this stuff in advance, but don’t think that means I don’t love you!
Take This Package Nowhere in Particular. Immediately!
Bike messenger: Well, the problem with being a bike messenger is that you have to make stops, ’cause if you don’t make stops you don’t make any money.
Newbie: Yeah.
Bike messenger: But if I find a gig where I don’t have to stop and I still made money, man, I’ll have it made.–5th St & Ave A
via Overheard in New York, Apr 24, 2007
gha