Thea Lux
Social Media Manager Age: 33

Describe your route: I bike typical Chicago streets on my commute. Two have bike lanes (Damen and Halsted), and I take Clybourn for the majority of my commute.

How often do you commute by bike? Bike 90% of the time, rain or shine. In the winter, the gear I have will keep me warm to about 20 degrees, then my hands and feet fall off.

Describe yourself as a biker: I enjoy a steady fast pace on a road bike, but I'm not going to go out of my way to race other cyclists. I do not yell at cars unless I am in danger and need to alert them of my presence. And even then, it's never anything angry, it's more like a terrified squawking bird, "Heyheyheyheyheyhey!!" There have been a few close calls where my lungs unleashed a sound I've only heard myself make while riding a roller coaster at Coney Island.

Bike Log Highlights

Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Commute home: EDT 5:30 p.m. 30-min. ride

On the way home, at the intersection of Clybourn and North and that tiny Dayton St., some pedestrians, who could best be described as backward-hat-wearing Birkenstock bros, crossed Clybourn at the speed of a snail when they bro-ishly ignored they didn't have the right-of-way. A car waiting to go honked at them in anger, which they laughed at and continued to saunter on at the speed only a Birkenstock will allow. A snippy, flustered biker with a sidesaddle and a bone to pick exchanged words with them and took off in a huff. The bros rolled their eyes laughed, and called after the cyclist, "Okay, bro...Thanks."

The huffy side-saddler continued at a quick pace in a lower gear as a taller cyclist and I followed up Clybourn at a steady pace. Clybourn is notorious for cars thinking they can create two lanes since it's a wider street. (Side story: A few weeks back when everyone expected a great storm and the sky was green with tornado warnings, I was caught cycling home. I was floored by the panicked drivers taking up the entire street, ignoring traffic etiquette thinking they would make it home two minutes earlier by drifting into the bike lane. "You're in a car," I thought. You will not be in any way harmed or drenched by this storm, let alone a tornado in a major metropolitan area. I will be drenched. I am on a bike. Please get out of my lane.")

A car with a case of the derps didn't check for humans before trying to pull into the bike lane and Scrappy Saddler lost his mind again, barking at the car who didn't care about his existence in the first place. He had to bark though, because he was about to get hit. Because no one remembers that anyone else exists on the road except themselves.