I’ve been planning this for about a month. Driving different routes on the weekends. Getting the Cannondale ready. Waiting for the weather to break…just a little. And finally, this week I started commuting to work on my bike.
This is not a ride out on my Seven…a beautiful, lightweight machine, made especially for me. This is a different kind of ride…on a workhorse with blinking lights, loaded down with everything I need to get me through the day. It’s a ride wearing a bright neon green jacket hoping that helps me get noticed by drowsy early morning commuters and stressed-out workers hurrying home to dinner or chores. Yes, this is definitely a different kind of ride.
It’s about 23 miles each way…but it’s not an easy 23 miles. It’s not the terrain, nor the distance – I’ve done five times that in a single outing. Getting from the city out to a suburb of Chicago can be difficult. It took me several weeks to scope out a route that would be the safest, relatively speaking. There are stretches that are actually nice, but there are a couple spots that are not so great. Unfortunately, there is also little choice.
I’ve already altered my route, eliminating almost a full mile from my original plan, but finding a stretch of road that is much safer. It has an honest-to-goodness bike lane that stretches for about four miles, but as quickly as it starts, so too it ends just as abruptly. A black and white sign that reads “Bike Lane Ends” is all the warning I get before I’m once again riding within very close proximity to 4,000-pound missiles, driven mostly it seems by distracted or impatient people.
I can’t help but wonder why the bike lane ends where it does. Maybe bad planning. Or maybe it’s some unseen boundary between one bike-friendly township and another which is not so friendly to those of us on two wheels.
In spite of these challenges I absolutely love it, and so happy I decided to do this. Unfortunately there are times when I will need to have my car and won’t be able to ride to work. Yesterday was one of those days and I couldn’t believe how disappointed I felt driving in.
But today, I was able to ride again, and I came home smiling all the way. I probably looked like a blinking, neon green, cruising fool, but who cares? It was a beautiful evening and I felt happy. What could be a better way to end the day?
Yes, sometimes the bike lane ends, but that won’t stop me from riding. I’ll just find a different path.