Pump It Up

Well, the weather yesterday was pretty much perfect, and I was pretty much rested, so a bike ride along Lake Michigan it was.  I’m happy to report that I’m still able to report.

Off the first ride, I couldn’t get a feel if the repacked bearings in both wheels had made a difference; now I know they did.  How else to explain the time it took me to do twenty miles?  Yes, the wind was at my back going north, but that meant it was in my face on the return.  So, that leaves the bearings.

I started out across from the Museum of Science and Industry, where, alas, the U-505 is no longer parked outside; still, the museum with its caryatids makes for a good reference point.  Then it was south for 2-1/2 miles down to 79th Street before turning back.  I passed by Rainbow Beach, where we all went as kids to escape the summer heat (and, in the case of my two sisters, to be seen by the opposite sex) and the old South Shore Country Club, where my sister Betty went to her high school prom.  All memories should be as pleasant.

I no longer get (too) upset by “cyclists” in their fancy outfits so tight it keeps them from talking, as in “Passing on your left”; I just keep an ear out for the approaching whirr and try not to get spooked when I miss it.  The big thing on the lakefront trail this year is separating bikes from pedestrians and joggers.  To do that, the city is making a new, bike-only trail, which sounds a lot nicer than it actually is.  Too often, the trail parallels Lake Shore Drive, with the traffic maybe six feet away.  They’re promising to install extra guardrails soon, which is very nice of them.  Something strong enough to hold off a drunk driver, I would hope.

I started off a little after ten in the morning and figured to get to the north end of the trail by noon.  Imagine my surprise to find out it was only 11:50, so I kept going another four miles or so into Evanston.  There’s a nice park right up against the lake and opposite Calvary Cemetery, final resting place of author James T. Farrell.

How a South Side White Sox fan ended up on the North Shore is beyond me.  Then again, that puts Farrell far away from the misery of his 9-24 Sox.