From six AM on Wednesday to 8 PM I was on the move, gathering my workers together, transporting us to Urbana, harvesting 40 hens, half of whom have been fed flax seed for 9 months now, doing the necropsy, collecting the tissues, documenting each hen's condition, then packing all the samples up for the trip back to Chicago, dropping my workers at the train station or Rush Med center, back to the lab to dispatch the samples, and home.....then Thursday, I picked up my bike at Dan's where I'd left it Tuesday night to get the rear wheel trued and my spokes tightened, so I road to UIC down Roosevelt. It was hot. It was very hot in Urbana too, 95 degrees. But riding down Roosevelt really sucked. I would not recommend this as a bike route from Oak Park. Once you get past Independence and on east from there, when the bike lane commences, it's not too bad, and riding on the northern edge of Douglas Park is nice, but the condition of the road and the traffic, make Roosevelt a poor choice for the bike commute. I've heard stories of bicyclists being assaulted in the vicinity of Douglas Park, but my impression was that this stretch of Roosevelt is the best part of the ride. I hooked up with Paul for the ride home, after our chicken summit at Rush (Friends of the Hen) and as we traveled west on Congress, at Pulaski there was an open fire hydrant issuing forth a tremendous volume of water onto the street. I hunkered down to ride through it and just as I hit the wave a kid stepped out from the curb and blasted me with a big water gun, right in the face. It was a shock, but was without effect, the volume of water insignificant relative to the fire hydrant. I looked back and Paul had disappeared. I feared he got knocked down, but soon, he emerged- having run the gauntlet and ridden on the sidewalk to avoid the water. He still got wet! That was about as close to being assaulted as I've experienced on my bike ride-- no big deal. Considering the heat (94 at 5:30 PM) it was more of a pleasure than a pain.
Today I met up with the bike gang, all six of us, and I joined them on the ride to the loop. We went the bike rally at the Daly Plaza. Free breakfast and t-shirts, lots of promotions and hundreds of bike commuters. Bikers of all stripes and colors, riding super fast ultra racers and recumbent, mountain bikes and hybrids, commuters and folding bikes, and wearing everything from suits to bike racing outfits. My crew was in the middle, bike clothes but nothing fancy. After the boys chowed down off they went, but I lingered at the plaza to hear the speeches. Da Mayor himself gave an impassioned talk, and of course, seeing Amy Jacobson up close and personal is always a treat. Indeed it was a good looking group of bikers on the plaza today. I rode back through loop traffic to UIC, very glad I do not have to brave downtown traffic on a daily basis. The Mayor said that Chicago is the most bike friendly big city in America. You could fool me. Bike lanes are ok, but drivers who hate bicyclists, and buses that share the bike lanes make it a pretty tense experience. Riding through the west side from Oak Park to UIC is a breeze, relatively little traffic by comparison. Hats off to the loop commuters!
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