Bike To Work

Lately I have been trying to bike to work, or at least ride my bike to the bus stop and take the bus. I used to be fairly into bikes; this is my bike from college. I pulled it out of the shed and modified it slightly. It's a 1990 Schwinn Sidewinder, 21-speed, low-end mountain bike. I added smooth city tires, Zefal commuter fenders, and a custom milk crate rear rack. Pretty cool, eh?


During college, I was actually hit by a car while riding this bike. It was on Grand River near Hagadorn in front of the Quality Dairy. I was riding on the sidewalk and got plowwed by a truck. Two major lessons: never ride on the sidewalk, and always wear a helment. Oh, and don't take a guy's word about fixing your bike in exchange for not filing a police report.


So the custom job with the milk crates also has many visibility reflectors built in. Most of this went together great with zip ties. My briefcase fits perfectly. Even without cargo, the crate panniers make me much more visible on the road. I've experimented with a few different routes to work--as it turns out, the main drag through our county (Saginaw St.) is the best bet. It's a 9.5 mile commute, and I can take the bus if I decide to bag it.

Here's my last serious bike: a Cannondate T-700 touring bike. This is me at the end of a cross-state tour with my step-mother in 2000. We started in Detroit, rode up to Port Huron, and crossed the state through Flint, Lansing, and Grand Rapids ending here in Muskegon on the shores of Lake Michigan. That was a great bike. I sold it on eBay for 2x what I paid for it.