5.21.2025

Riding a bicycle is one of the only means of exercise I truly enjoy. I commuted and zipped around Chicago for over a decade in various states of sobriety and only ever wiped out once that I remember, if you don't count getting nicked by taxis (everyone gets nicked by taxis, sometimes worse).

They have this bike share program here. I've always been skeptical of these. The bikes are heavy and clunky. But mainly because it takes some discipline and awareness to ride responsibly in a place simmering with traffic and pedestrians. When they rolled out the Divvy program in Chicago in 2013 the lakefront exploded with idiots riding into traffic, wobbling through groups of people on the sidewalks along Michigan Avenue, smacking into trees. On at least three occasions riders made their own paths into the water.

I didn't feel bad for any of them and I'll take responsibility for that. There was a crash or two on Lake Shore Drive (was always going to happen) but my favorite, and you can find a video of this online, is the lady who got on a Divvy and after a series of impossible to comprehend events and wildly poor decisions ended up riding on the shoulder of the Eisenhower Expressway, like she was planning to commute home to Naperville or something. I believe she survived.

Anyway as it's gotten warmer here I've started noticing how many people ride bicycles and that many of the locals rely on this system. The docks are everywhere and there are protected lanes with curbed medians between them and the traffic. I do my research. Pick up a helmet, get the membership. I stand for a long time staring at the rows of bikes trying to figure out how to unlock one with my phone.