Monday, April 16, 2007

Feeling Kind of Pale

Rode my bike to work for the first time today. Took a lot longer than my test ride because I had not factored in the traffic difference on a Saturday as compared to a Monday. I was about 10 minutes late. My boss was late too so no big deal.

Apparently, riding your bike to work in the burbs is an odd thing to see since I had a number of remarks thrown my way on my way home. They include the following:
  • Ride your bike on the sidewalk, asshole.
  • Nice bike, faggot.
  • Look! It's the 40 year old virgin.
  • Woo-hoo!
There were a few others that I couldn't make out so maybe they were/weren't aimed at me.

Apparently, the sidewalk remark is born out of the fact that you can ride your bike out there and never run into anyone. The streets are packed but the only people I saw using the sidewalks were people on bikes. It's illegal in the city but in Jefferson Park it appears to be the preferred use. As for the other comments I say:
  • Why does riding a bike make me gay? Also, it's 2007 folks. Can we stop using that word?
  • I am not 40 and I slept with lots of ladies in my day. Who? Girl I met at Niagra Falls. You wouldn't know her. She's from Canada.
  • Woo-hoo indeed. I was hauling ass down Foster at the time and with the wind in my hair I probably looked pretty dashing.
When I got back to my predominantly Hispanic neighborhood I realized that my skin is awfully white this spring. My darker skinned neighbors made me feel really pasty. I make Rose McGowan look like Lorenzo Llamas. Gotta get a little sun on these legs.

3 comments:

Foofa said...

As a walker I hate bikes on the sidewalk. I think you were probably pretty cool on your bike. Speaking of, do you know any great places to get cheap yet cool bikes? like under $100.

Michael K said...

I got my bike from Craig's List. It's my go to source for just about anything. There is a place in Uptown that fixes bikes and resells them called Uptown Bikes.

http://www.chicagobikeshops.info/shopDetails.php?id=30

Another place is Working Bikes Cooperative. It's a great charitable organization on the south side.

http://www.workingbikes.org

Anonymous said...

I'd have to leave at 2am to get here on a bike.

I'm really lazy.