Star Beacon
July 12, 2008 09:41 pm
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You have to think a bit more before you decide to ride a bicycle to work.
I started making the trek twice weekly by pedal power a few weeks ago. It takes planning, making certain I bring clothes for work the day before, along with soap, towel, etc.
Riding a bike has become a group effort at the Star Beacon.
I don't mean everybody is riding bicycles. Hardly. I'm not a trendsetter.
But everyone keeps track of what is going on for my behalf. There are more eyes on the Weather Channel then ever before.
"You better leave soon. I hear there's a big thunderstorm coming from Cleveland," one person tells me.
Others point to the television and the weather bulletins.
Another big factor, unfortunately, is the helmet.
I, um, don't have one. I really don't want one. My head's too big for the Dora the Explorer helmet.
I know, I know. Helmets are an important safety factor. I've tsk tsk'd motorcyclists who zoom in and out of traffic on I-90, ignoring the speed limit, not wearing a helmet.
Then as a bicyclist , I don't wear one.
Staff writer Shelley Terry has bugged and bugged me to start wearing a helmet, especially after she covered a particularly nasty car vs. bicycle crash.
Maybe it is because as a kid we road everywhere on bicycles and nobody wore a helmet. We didn't even know they existed.
Nagging, er, suggesting, is usually something we attribute to women. But sports editor Don McCormack can bug and nag, too, rivaling Shelley when it comes to the helmet.
Actually, it works pretty well. Shelley nags me when I arrive at work. Don nags when I leave.
Of course, I suggest to Shelley she wear a helmet when she walks down steps, or Don when he drives his lawn tractor. (Inside jokes, folks.)
On Tuesday, I arrived home from a particularly muggy run to shower and get ready to bike-ride to work.
I was dripping with sweat. During my run, I noticed, despite the Star Beacon weather forecast, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Perfect day for running and cycling. Hello sweat glands!
Wife Louise said upon my return, "I know you love to ride your bicycle to work, but you weren't planning to ride today were you?"
Oh no, not a cloud in the sky. Of course I wasn't planning to cycle to work.
Being the Weather Channel aficionado she is, she went on to say there was an 80 percent chance of rain that day. "Not 20 percent, but 80 percent and it's this afternoon and evening," she said.
I looked outside. Still not a cloud in the sky.
So I road my bike anyway.
And sure enough, at about 2 p.m., the rains came. The streets flooded. The Star Beacon entry way flooded. A strange gurgling noise could be heard in the ceiling of editor Neil Frieder's office. And the power went off.
And it is pretty difficult to work on pages with no power. Everything I had been doing disappeared in an eclipse of darkness.
Now you might think wife was right and I was sorry I rode the bike.
Au contraire. Riding the bike proved a great idea. I just went to the bike, flipped on my light and spent part of the afternoon riding around the Beacon's news and production departments, waiting for power to return. If I hadn't brought the bike, the best I could do was join other employees staring out the window, speculating when power would go on.
After awhile, the rains stopped, the sun came out, a rainbow appeared as God's promise it would never rain again while I was trying to put together the entertainment page. Powere returned. Of course, it clouded up and rained more later and fellow staffers spent the evening shaking their heads at me for riding the bike. Yeah, I got wet riding home.
In the month I've been riding, I've been caught in a few storms but unlike the wicked witch in the land of Oz, I didn't melt. I simply stopped under a bridge over I-90 and phoned home, alerting family to have the garage door up when I arrived home.
I've seen lots of deer during my rides, including a baby deer who followed his mother and sibling across the road, became separated and started running toward me, squawking at me like I'm his new mother.
I actually told the little thing, "Don't come to me. I can't help you."
As if on cue, it turned around, saw his relatives in an open field waiting ahead, and ran to them. It was a beautiful site. (Another reason I can't stand hunting and terms like 'harvesting' the animals.)
From my bike I also witnessed a fox running. Boy, are they fast.
There's so much going on around us we miss driving cars.
So even if a rainstorm is possible, I opt for the bicycle. I feel better and never miss what's going on around me. I also figure two bike trips a week to work saves me $8 in gasoline.
Three weeks of bike riding and I saved enough to buy a helmet.
But I still haven’t bought one.
Lebzelter is special sections editor. E-mail him at bobleb@starbeacon.com. Take his biking poll with his column at www.starbeacon.com, under "opinion."
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A Robert Lebzelter column