Biking It

I'm glad I won't have time this week to worry about turning 30! I'm dog-sitting in Logan Square until Wednesday. This entails walking two gorgeous dogs named Sydney and Ogre and spending the night at my friend, Stacey's. The only problem is that I don't have a car to travel back and forth with. Logan Square is about seven miles from Ravenswood, where we live. I'm going to brave riding my bike. This might sound a bit wimpy to my die-hard biker friends (James), but I'm not used to riding like this. I've been riding to work every day, but work is only about a mile away. There's also the problem of having a hair appointment at 4:00 today in a completely different neighborhood, and the fact that my sister-in-law is in town and we are spending time with her this afternoon. Why does everything always have to happen at once?

Yesterday I picked up dinner for Dave and I at our favorite little fast-food Lebanese joint on Foster Ave. I proudly ordered the food, splurged on lentil soup and baklava, then hopped on my bike to ride home with dinner. See, people can get things done on a bike! Well I hit a bump on Lawrence, the plastic bag broke, and the lentil soup went everywhere. For the first time this week I cursed the people that stole my car! I also cursed myself for ordering the soup which made the bag too heavy. I got home and cried for my car and the spilt soup! (Don't cry over spilt lentil soup!) Luckily the hummous and chicken shawarma wraps and the baklava were spared.

I'm grateful for my bike, but life is sure more complicated these days it seems. No more hauling 27-pound bags of cat litter home in the car! I don't know what we're going to do there. Cat litter is too heavy to carry on a bike, and the local stores only sell the crappy stuff. I don't use the crappy stuff for my babies!

I guess it's time to add a basket to my bike. I might as well attach a trailer too! How does one go from a car that has enough space to live in to a bike with a basket? I guess I'm finding out.