riding into June and the beginning of summer

[north woods gal]

I get that. I lived in the Chicago area for about seven years, so I know about heavy bicycle traffic. The Chicago area actually has some very good paved and unpaved bike trails, but these are also shared by pedestrians, often with kids. I'd see guys flying by these pedestrians, weaving in and out, no warnings, doing 20 plus mph on their bikes or the usual bicyclist and jogger plugged into an iPod, listening to music and so on, totally tuned out to the environment. Also, being a multicultural area, my usual, "On your left" as I passed didn't always register since English was definitely a second language for a lot of folks. Interesting place to live, for sure and I enjoyed the diversity.

It's all mostly a matter of educating, of course, as to proper etiquette and safety. As for the bicycle traffic, I worked around it as best I could, often riding during the heat of the day when traffic was the lightest. By August, had the trails to myself in the afternoon.

Up here, the biggest danger is some of the older retired folks in their cars who really don't know how to pass a bicyclist, not seeing us, passing too close, honking their horn and so on. By and large, though, I have the roads to myself and that's a good thing, of course. Might see another biker or two in a 20 mile loop, maybe half dozen cars. Still, there are times when I miss my Chicago days and having folks all around. Okay, just miss it a little.