Commuting With The Colonel

With a stretch recent temps in the mid 30s and into the 40s in the days ahead, I got up the gumption to try a dress rehearsal on the “partial commute” to work. I attached the panniers, and filled them with clothes and stuff I would take to work on a “real” partial bike commute day.

Still life with bike and chainlink fence... 

As planned, I threw my 1990 Miyata 600 GT bike into the car and drove partway (yes, I promise to write more about this bike soon). After attempting to head west on the crushed gravel and limestone Great Western Trail, it became apparent that the recent thaw had left the surface conditions damp, slushy, and slow at best. So, I jumped off the path a bit, headed south to catch Keslinger Rd. and then take that west.

What I quickly found was that sometimes, suburban sprawl leaves barely a hodge-podge of viably safe cycling options. On more than one occasion, when the shoulder narrowed to a matter of inches, I had to cross the road to seek out the safety of little paved foot paths. I really started to dread the thought of being in the way of hectic-minded commuting during-the-week motorists, and started to reconsider my Keslinger Rd. plan. 

Hmm…  Perhaps since North Ave (IL Rt. 64) out of St. Charles has some pretty generous shoulder on it, I might try THAT until the trail conditions thaw out completely and dry up. We’ll see. I’m also contemplating leaving my car further west, perhaps closer to Rt. 47 (for those of you local yokels who know the lay of the land!). For now, near the intersection of 47 and 64 at Lily Lake might be ideal, and then add mileage as I gain fitness? Sounds like a plan! So that, on balance, was today’s big WIN… actually getting out and doing this.

The FAIL for the day (ok, WAIL, actually, because it was so “finger-lickin’ good!”) was my total and utter capitulation to temptation on the way home by hitting the KFC drive-thru! Yes, I gave in to the sweet siren-song inside my head...

Complete with KFC 'spork'!

YES, K-F-C!!!! 

No guilt.

None

I put in the 60 miles in the cold and wind on a loaded touring bike. Not like I’ll make a habit of visiting Colonel Sanders or anything. I did notice that one of the new pair of glasses I just acquired looks amazingly like the kind the colonel likes to rock on that genteel Southun’ mug a his!

Oh, one final note: Is it just me, or have the pieces of chicken, biscuits, and portions of mashed potatoes gotten smaller over time? And, in case anyone's wondering... I LITERALLY *licked* my fingers in a grotesque orgy of gluttonous Henry VIII-defiance and aplomb.