Shaun Rides His Bike

Today’s ride was mostly on trails.

The first chunk was on the Lakefront Trail along Lake Michigan. There was practically nobody on this trail, but I get the feeling it is a madhouse on a hot summer day!

Then most of the rest of it was on a couple rails-to-trails trails that looked a lot like the trails around Seattle, but with less moss. 😁

However, the day was dominated by two things: One man-made, and one natural.

The man-made feature that overshadowed the day was that a long freight train was crossing my route, but it got slower and slower and finally just stopped.

I figured it would start again any time, so I hung around, getting colder and colder.

After twenty minutes or so, I doubled back and sat on a bus bench, because my legs were getting stiff.

But it didn’t start again. Maddeningly, it would creak every few minutes, making me think it was going to start, but it didn’t. After 60 minutes, I started studying the map, trying to find a way around it (not knowing how long it was!), and the only route I could find was on about 1.5 miles on a really busy road with fast traffic, no shoulders and no sidewalks.

Getting desperate, I tried it anyway, but after a couple people honked at me, I turned off. I was still parallel to the tracks, and adjacent to some sort of vacant industrial lot with overgrown concrete, and I decided to come back to my intersection by threading my way through this.

When I got back to my intersection, I was warmed by my little adventure, and figured it was only a matter of time. I noticed a sign that had a phone number to report problems, and I thought, “Well, THIS IS A PROBLEM!!!” So I called it. The dispatcher picked up the phone immediately, and was REALLY nice. She understood my plight. But there was little she could do. She said she’d contact… someone.

So I waited a little bit more. At the two hour mark, I started yelling at the train. If anyone heard me, they surely thought I was nuts. I said a large number of colorful words. But, of course, it didn’t help. The train just sat there, impassive, unmoved, immovable.

Alongside the tracks, there was what looked like a gravel shoulder, maybe 20 feet wide, punctuated with huge mud puddles. I decided to navigate this and find the next crossing. The gravel was fine, but the mud was slippery and sticky, and I was so grateful I had pedals with MTB studs on one side, because I almost fell a few times.

After about a half mile of slow going, I noticed a truck on another parallel maintenance road about 50 feet away, with two workers motioning to me to stop. I yelled, “IS THAT TRAIN GONNA MOVE???” He yelled back, “NOT ANYTIME SOON!” I yelled some bad words. He yelled at me to follow them (meaning to travel in the same direction until our “roads” met).

When I got there, I noticed there was no road crossing the tracks. I was between several sets of tracks, and they were coming together, eliminating my little path.

They explained how I was going to have to get out of there, and guided me back to the road. I think it was the same road I’d tried to ride on before, but I knew I had no choice, so I just took the right lane, watched my mirror, and waved cars around me for the next mile or so.

It was over pretty soon, and I took a right turn on the first street that crossed the tracks. When I got over the tracks, I was on the phone with my wife (bluetooth headset, one ear!). I was so relieved my voice started cracking.

A few minutes later, I was back on the route! Yay! If I had known how long this was going to take, and what an ordeal it would be, I would have taken all the bags off my bike, tossed them over or under the train, then hauled my bike over it. It would be stupid to do this if the train could start moving at any time, of course, but hindsight was tantalizing!

A few minutes after this odyssey, I came to a bridge over a major highway. The bridge was closed for repairs. I scanned right and left to see if there was another bridge across the highway nearby. Nothing.

I decided to throw myself on the mercy of the construction workers. I rode my bike up to a group of them, and explained the situation. They discussed it for a second, and decided to help me get across. They had to stop the jackhammer operator, and help me carry my absurdly heavy bike over a couple small chasms in the concrete.

The guy who escorted me was excited about my trip, but he told me not to tell anyone he let me cross. I thanked him profusely!

The natural phenomenon that dominated the day was the wind. Not unexpectedly, it was an almost constant headwind, often more than 20 MPH. Not super fun, but way better than a stubbornly stopped train!

More wind tomorrow, but hopefully no trains!