Ride and Glide

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to live close to Lake Michigan. That way, I could get up in the morning, take a bike ride and never have to worry about traffic on the way home, the way I do with the outbound Stevenson Expressway, which starts to back up well before 2 PM. Today, I got a sense of what it would be like. Talk about sweet. Michele is back working two days a week in the West Loop. Instead of her taking the train as usual, I volunteered to drive, which got me down to the lakefront by 9 AM and home by 1:30. If you’ve never been to Chicago and are in the least bit fit, do the lakefront trail. The breeze is delightful (most times), the skyline, either at a distance or up close, stunning (all the time). And, if you’re more than a little fit, keep going all the way south through what used to be US Steel’s South Works. The mill complex has been torn down and is slowly going back to nature, which would explain those three eagles I’m pretty sure I saw flying overhead. Of course, they could’ve been Tony La Russa buzzards, but I wasn’t giving off any death odor I’m aware of. And they didn’t follow me up to Rainbow Beach. Yet again today, I noticed I’m either getting way slower, or a different type of person is using Divvy bikes; I got passed twice on the trail by young ’uns. I always thought the best bike was the one that offered maximum performance/distance at minimal effort. The people in question were pedaling away like crazy to pass me. More power to them, I guess. Sunny skies, temperature in the low 70s, low humidity and a northeast breeze that became a friend on the way back. I spent close to four hours riding and keeping a lookout for idiots coming from the opposite direction wandering into my lane while looking at their phones. That happened twice. If nothing else, it kept me from dwelling too much on last night’s 5-2 White Sox loss to the Rays. I doubt the Sox will go deep into the playoffs if they can’t beat good teams. They now stand at 11-17 against opponents with a winning record. A Divvy bike has a better chance of winning the Tour de France than we will the World Series if that keeps up. Mark my words, and hit the lakefront trail.