{"id":819,"date":"2005-09-08T02:44:22","date_gmt":"2005-09-08T00:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/word\/archives\/819"},"modified":"2005-09-08T02:44:22","modified_gmt":"2005-09-08T00:44:22","slug":"hazarding-the-morning-commute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/archives\/819","title":{"rendered":"Hazarding the morning commute"},"content":{"rendered":"

I went to work this morning on my bike. I work in the Loop<\/a>. Those of you who have had the blessing of driving\/biking in this part of town know that it can get crazy, especially at rush hour.<\/p>\n

I could have taken the bus<\/a>, but I am trying to take advantage of the fleeting warm weather, so I hopped on my bike (after fixing the chain, which had come off and tangled in the gears). There are 4.32 miles of city streets to attain my destination.<\/p>\n

\"IM000696.JPG\"<\/p>\n

I don’t look like a touristy biker. I have my jeans rolled up, bike gloves on, and a messenger bag slung ’round my shoulder. I look tough (honestly!), and I’m perfectly willing to slam a hand down on the hood of your car if your bumper is trying to get fresh with my bike. I’ve done this at least 3 times this summer. I figure the car can take it, and my body can’t. Simple self-preservation.<\/p>\n

\"IM000695.JPG\"<\/p>\n

For the most part, Chicago drivers respect bikers, mostly because they don’t have a choice. We’re everywhere, and you don’t want to invoke the wrath of the biker gods. \ud83d\ude00 But you’ve got those few who seem hell-bent on taking city streets at 45 miles an hour with no concern for those of us who do not have a V8 engine and metal surrounding us.<\/p>\n

I had a bus honk vociferously at me, and at least 3 taxis protest my presence on the road. Well, I’m trying my best to stay out of the way, haha. I find it especially amusing when pedestrians get a look of terror on their faces as I zoom past. I’ve never come close to hitting a person on foot, and I’m not planning on starting now.<\/p>\n

The best part of the day so far was going about 15 mph over the river on the bridge. On my right was the south loop with the morning fog\/smog burning off, to my left the skyscrapers towering gold and silver glory. Phenomenal.
\n——————————————-
\nAlso, please see my recent article<\/a> in One Magazine<\/a>. That is all.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I went to work this morning on my bike. I work in the Loop. Those of you who have had the blessing of driving\/biking in this part of town know that it can get crazy, especially at rush hour. I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chicago"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sholeh.calmstorm.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}