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Monday, November 17, 2014

The day I had to keep going

I'll be the first to admit my unabashed wimpiness when it comes to the cold.

As soon as the heavy coats come out I just can't handle it anymore. It's too much for my little hands and my ears. And since I'm the one who takes the kid to school in the morning, why should he be cold so I can prove to myself that I can really tough it out by biking?

So it should surprise no one that I've chosen driving over cycling every day since this season's first real cold snap.

You can imagine my despair when we found the car wouldn't work one day last week.

I had a moment. Like, maybe 10 seconds there where I rested my head on the steering wheel, closed my eyes and gathered myself. And then the little guy and I just loaded up and biked in. Simple as that.

I closed the cover on his trailer and gave him a blanket, but he didn't complain. Not even one time.

The only surprise: My ass got really, really cold. Anyone else's ass freeze on extremely chilly bike rides? Even with extra layers? Lordy, that was unexpected.

Also, the only thing wrong with the car was the battery. Simple fix.

Monday, November 10, 2014

The Carsplainer

First of all, she was really trying to be nice, the lady who carsplained at me.

"Excuse me," she called. We were on East Walnut, waiting at the light to cross National. I was first in line, she was just behind me when she made contact.

"It's really hard to see you. You really need a reflector on the back of your bike," she called.

I calmly pointed to my rear reflector, telling her I already had one.

"Kid, that's not enough!" she replied. "It's really hard to see you. You need reflectors on the top!"

And, you know what? She was right. I did need to be more visible. I'm still not used to it getting dark earlier, and I stayed late at work. Cody called once he got home and realized I didn't have lights on my bike, offering to bring me some. I declined, even though I was wearing dark clothing because my ride is on wide, well-lit streets with low traffic volume.

The Carsplainer didn't know how tired I was. She didn't know how insulting I found her advice. She didn't realize I was technically street legal. She had no idea that every cyclist runs the risk of going unnoticed by motorists, no matter what time of day it is, and that's why it's so important to behave legally and predictably when sharing the road with motorists.

She really just thought she was being nice.