Could a Cabbie Be Considered a Paid Hit Man?

I love my morning bike ride into work. I leave my house smiling and happy to push my pedals rolling into the rising sun.

 

Wheels turning for me down Elston Ave, for the cars waiting in traffic, not so much wheel turning is goin…. HOLY SHIT!!!!

The giant dark green suburban that is directly to my left has decided it wants Burger King, and NOW! Blasting across my path, it’s time to brake and turn, and that time is now.

AT&T service vehicle behind the scene is honking his horn in response to the mayhem unfolding in front of his eyes.

Thank you SRAM Ultimate's. I stop like a freaking bike ninja. A really, really pissed off bike ninja.

Even after the master of the beast laid his beady eyes on me over the plush contour of his puffy cheek turning to respond to my cries of “WTF!?”, he continued his big ol’ green’s fast food wagon on its quest for drive thru spoils.

Screw it, usually I would go take a picture of said beast master and post it on the internets, but today, I  decided to let it go, just return to the bliss known as cycling.

Almost killed by fast food. Eating it is far less dangerous.

 

And off I go again.

 

Pedals pushing. Sun in face. Happy.

 

Starting to notice there are far less cycling commuters on the way in today. I surely do love watching some Cat 6 races on the way in, but today, there are none.

 

Thinking about cross season, it’s is here, and cross is the best thing since sliced bread got toasted. And buttered. Cross is good.

 

AHHHH! Buzzed by a speeding Tahoe deciding the bike lane is a good place to pass cars at an intersection, even if I am in it. Jack ass. And as usually happens, at least 95.7% of the time, I coast past the offending jack ass at the next line of stand still traffic.

Eventually senoir JA passes me down Elston. As he goes by, I watch him almost run up on the curb to get around one car before the next stop light. Glad to be behind that fella.

 

Back to bike ride. Yay!

 

As I approach the Elston and Ashland, a Subaru with a bike rack on it decided it should also be allowed to use the bike lane to get to the turn lane, but he doesn’t fit all the way, and blocks the bike lane, and the road. Bing bong.

You even got a bike rack on your car. Pssssh.

 

I WILL ENJOY MY RIDE TO WORK!

 

Back to bike riding happiness. Previous encounters, melting away with each revolution of the crank.

 

Bike zen.

 

I am now realizing where all the other cyclists are, they are dead, the dumb asses driving this morning killed them all.

 

CAB WANTS FARE! CAB WANTS FARE NOW! BRAKES! STOP! DON’T DIE!

WTF! THAT’S IT! I’M TAKING A PICTURE!

This got me thinking. The guy in the cab is probably going downtown. So what, the fare is going to be about $10, if that. For $10, the driver of this cab is willing to run people down with his 3000 pounds of steel. Now, if you are the one paying the cabbie when he/she runs someone down, and perhaps kills them, does that make him your paid hit man? A cheap hit man, but a paid professional none the less. Should the person paying the cab driver also be responsible for the death of a cyclist or pedestrian during the paid time in the cab? There are some  cab drivers that are professionals and drive very well, but for the majority, they are far from a professional driver. The last time I was in a cab, and he almost hit a person in the crosswalk, I made him let me out. I do not want to pay someone to hurt or kill another living being, it’s just not me.

 

Another couple blocks, and I arrive at work. Still happy I rode my bike.

Cycling Shoe Reviews - Part 2

or Clipful Cycling

For Part 2 of the Sisterly Cycling Shoe Review, here is Caitlin and the Bontrager Solstice shoes:

I have a confession to make.

I still don’t have the clipless bike pedals that would maximize these shoes’ potential. If you are on the fence about converting all the way to clipless pedals or if you need to spend money in small increments like me, keep reading. Turns out that both clipless and clipful (clip-positive?) cycling can improve your ride tremendously.

I have the Bontrager Solstice shoes, which are sturdy, affordable and comfortable. Before these shoes, I knew that clipping into bike pedals makes the whole long-distance biking thing much more fun and fast. I took other people's word for it. But what I didn’t know is that the entire shoe structure is made for optimum pedaling action whether or not you go clipless. This is primarily due to the stiffness of the sole throughout the length of the shoe. The result is that your entire foot is transferring energy to the pedal while being supported. Additionally, they tend to be narrow and light which is beneficial for obvious reasons. 

My first ride with these shoes was nothing short of awesome. I felt in control and very cool. My imaginary competitors were blown away. I was ready to win at least the biking portion of my upcoming triathlon. Like this:

Julie Bresset after winning gold in the mountain bike competition.
Image from imgace.com

For now I have clips on my pedals which keep my foot attached to the pedal in the proper position.  The combination of biking shoes and clips make my rides smooth and fast. I will soon invest in some clipless pedals but for now, I am very happy with these shoes and encourage you to try them out! You won't regret it.


*For more comprehensive information about cycling shoes from the professionals visit this page on The Village Cycle website.

Bontrager Shoe Reviews – Part 1

(or How To: Bike Quickly, Look Good and Feel Like a Superstar)

Due to the generosity of The Village Cycle, my sister Alison and I now own new cycling shoes. Clearly, we are both excited about this, since we both wanted to write about them as soon as possible. We decided to make this a two-part series for two different perspectives on Bontrager cycling shoes.

So, without further ado, I give you Alison with her Bontrager Street WSD Shoes:

Bontrager Street WSD Shoes  (On Sale!)

Thanks to the Village Cycle I acquired a second pair of clipless biking shoes. And I must say, they are working out quite a bit better than the first pair. Here are a few reasons I particularly like them.

You go faster. I own two bikes: a Myata road bike I picked up at a garage sale 6 years ago for $20 and a french Mercier, granny-inspired bike from the 1970s (it was my mom's). The combo of the Myata bike with the Bontrager clipless shoes has pretty consistently cut my commuting time down by about 7 minutes for 4.5 miles, although I then have to shower when I get to work since I was actually able to work up a sweat so it's kind of a wash.

They are fashionable. I rode/wore them to Alamo shoes to try on regular, non-biking shoes and the shoe sales guy complimented them (or me for wearing them I guess) then a minute later asked "oh, wait, are those bike shoes?" so apparently it didn't immediately turn on the bike-dork radar, which was fine with me. Also, they are simple enough that it's easy to wear them around work if necessary and I have been known to have them on at a street festival or two this summer.

If you don't fall a bunch, you feel like a super star. I know this because the first time I used my first set of Bontrager clipless shoes (not fashionable ones mind you) I most definitely DID NOT feel like a super star. Several acquaintances at work had invited me to join them for a 40 + mile round trip to Wolf Lake on a Saturday morning, and me, wanting to try out my new clipless shoes and train for the Apple Cider Century, agreed to join them. 

Everything was fine until I got to the South Shore Cultural Center where, instead of asking an armed security guard where the bathroom was (my intention), I rode up to the cop-like guy, stopped my bike and promptly proceeded to fall into both him and his side holster and gun. Luckily there was an extremely large group of volunteers sitting and watching the whole thing and they were quick to ask why the heck had I tried to mall the guy. Trying to explain the physics and reasoning behind clipless pedals to them, at that point, didn't work. That was the first and probably most dramatic of the approximately eight splendid crashes I had that day while trying to start and stop my bike all over Chicago's south side. Somehow my coworkers still talked to me afterwards, but my street cred was pretty low. Luckily, so far, the new Bontragers have been easier to get in and out of and (knock on wood) I haven't had any spills in them yet.

*For more comprehensive information from the professionals, The Village Cycle has an awesome page here