Is It True? Are Bicycle People Crazy? Or Is It The Rest Of Us?
It was 2005, “Winter Bike To Work Day” in Chicago. Middle of winter. Very windy. Blowing snow. Icy streets. Air temperature 25 degrees. Obvious to anyone, a truly perfect day to celebrate biking to work.
Warm drinks and a chance to win prizes awaited those bicyclists who could make it to Daley Plaza in the heart of downtown’s Loop between 7 and 9 in the morning, courtesy of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. Weather conditions, no extra charge.
Riding a bike in the Loop during business hours is a lot like playing Russian Roulette, even on a good day. On that day, you really would have needed to be there to fully appreciate how crazy the attempt might be.
Walking along Washington Blvd. for my 6 block commute from the Old Northwestern Station to my office on LaSalle St, I was headed East and so was the traffic, three one-way lanes of steel and flesh, all on a mission.
Remembering back, I see Bike Messenger #1 in the left lane, crossing Wacker Drive. In the blink of an eye, he barely avoids being hit by a taxi which, at the last instant, made a left hand turn on to Wacker, starting from two lanes to the messenger’s right. Of course the poor inconvenienced CABBIE lays hard on his horn.
Two blocks later, Bike messenger #2 is delicately balancing, feet off the ground, in the right hand lane for the red light to signal green. A woman in the middle lane, driving with one hand on the wheel, talking on her cell phone with the other, out of the blue, decides to make a right hand turn. She hits the front wheel of the bike, bending it way out of shape and knocking the messenger, his gear, and his tools of livelihood, suddenly and rudely to the pavement. The irate messenger, who, miraculously appears unhurt, leeps to his feet, screaming “YOU FU##^ING A#$HOLE”!
The lady, her mind occupied with more pleasant thoughts, blissfully unaware of her misdeed and still inching along, warmly taking note of his wave, turns in his direction, flashes a big smile, waves with her cell phone hand, and drives off.
Life in the City.
