Too young to die

My wife and I are daily bicycle commuters and do not own a car. We live a car-free lifestyle but are neither preachy nor political about it. She had never seen or participated in a CCM ride, and I had not participated since 1998. We both had come to agree with the conclusion that CCM had grown too big for its britches and that it was counter-productive to the overall effort to get more people out of their cars. Until last night.

We were downtown later than we normally would on a work day, and on the way back to our offices, we were at Kinzie and Dearborn when came upon the CCM ride heading north. (Dude on the Bianchi single-speed who cut off the driver in the Infiniti -- you were awesome!) We watched the entire show roll by. We stood there in our day-job outfits, wishing we were on our bikes or could somehow show the riders that we were one of them. We watched the entire ride pass and then returned to our offices to get our bikes to head home.

Thanks to CPD's efforts to divert the ride off Michigan Avenue, we ended up in the thick of the ride on Chicago, heading west. We ended up joining the ride, reluctantly at first, but eventually really enjoying the pace, the music, the costumes and the stares from onlookers. One of the enduring images in my life will be standing on the bridge at Division and looking back at the swarm of cyclists behind me, cowbells and dance music in my ears.

My wife and I hope this isn't the last CCM. Clearly, even people who are already car-free can get something from these events. Keep it up. CCM has two more supporters.

Jerry and Natalie
Logan Square