bike commuting #6

I didn't do a lot of commuting over the winter but I did get my first lessons on how to stay warm:

hand and foot warmers
Col d'Lizárd Icebike tights
Stuff from Foxwear

I used my studded tires a few times and they worked great. Now that the temperatures have warmed a bit, I figure I'll get more into a commuting routine again. For now I'm focusing on commuting on Mondays and Fridays. I may transport my bike to work by car a few times too since I sometimes need to car to get to appointments. I'm running the remaining days in preparation for my trip to the Michigan Trail Marathon.



2007 Miles=425
Total miles=2075

Illiana Expressway

The Illiana Expressway debate has swirled around our area for awhile now. I find it interesting that the Save the Dunes Council is opposed to the road. The Borman Expressway (I80 & I94)passes close to the dunes and noise from the road can be heard in the state park. Personally I'd like to see more interest in public transportation and commuter rail lines instead of creating more roads. At a time when our dependence upon Middle Eastern oil is never far from the front page, it seems counterproductive to spend money on any project destined to increase that dependence. I'd be fine with the county income tax proposed to fund the South Shore extension. We need regional bus lines and the Marquette Plan (there's an Illinois state line to Michigan state line bike trail proposed in the Marquette Plan by the way). Illinois has a commission in place to improve rail transportation across their portion of the bottleneck that makes it cost-effective to off load freight on the west side of the City and then truck it to our side of the city because transporting by rail is too slow. What is Indiana doing about this-nothing that I can see!

Spring!?

I figured I'd better post something. Meteorological Spring began a few days ago and since then we've had record highs in the 70's and more snow (not much more). I've commuted by bike three times in the last week. I'd commute more often but haven't figured out how to get around while at work. I got a bike rack thrown in with the Trek 950 I bought last fall and I've attached it to my old car. It seems to work but I haven't actually transported my bike with it yet. Here's a sunset picture from over the weekend. As you can see there were small icebergs just off shore.

An Inconvenient Truth

I took several pictures of the breathtaking sunset last night. The reality of living around here is no matter how awesome the natural beauty is, we're never too far remove from reminders of heavy industry. In the center of this shot is a coal fired generating plant. Tonight I watched An Inconvenient Truth and realized again that it's not enough to carve out a small oasis of natural beauty like the dunes because pollution from that plant looms over it all. We're killing ourselves by degrees (pun intended). It gives me a higher purpose to do as much bicycle commuting as I can. See this movie if you haven't done so already.

Remembering George Cheung

I could see the big buildings of Chicago as I ran along Lake Front Drive in Beverly Shores this morning. It's the Chinese New Year. Today begins the "Year of the Pig" in the Chinese lunar calender. I can't think of the Chinese New Year without remembering George Cheung and his 50k fun runs. It's hard to believe that the last run was thirteen years ago. I never really spoke with George as we passed one another on the Chicago bike path, but he always came to our table at the buffet afterward at his restaurant. I have some great memories of my many trips into town for that run. One year Stu Mittleman showed! You can really freeze your ass off running 50km in February on the Chicago lakefront! I notice that there's a George Cheung Memorial Race in March along the same route.

Valentine's Day Snow

I caught up with this couple just before sunset at the top of Mount Holden. I forgot to get their names. It was a wonderful evening to snowshoe at the park.

Moller geht Schielaufen

Pardon my lousy German. It's all I remember from high school. I took advantage of a couple of inches of new snow yesterday and went snowshoeing at the dunes this morning. The snow was really starting to fly by the time I was finished. I wound up with a snow day of sorts because my work decided to close at noon due to the promise of really crappy weather this afternoon and evening. Maybe I'll go for another spin on the shoes later too!