Commuter Frustration!

OH MY GOD I GOT ANOTHER FLAT TIRE.

Obviously, these are some super-uber-recordbreaking CRAP tires on this bike. They are Kenda, as far as I recall. However, in their defense I will say that there is shattered glass everywhere lately. I have no clue why, but it's like everyone all over the city has decided to smash glass bottles everywhere. Even on the lake front path last night, I ran into a bed of broken glass. Not hard to spot and, being sick of flat tires, I got off the bike and walked it - then watched 4 cyclists in a row ride right through it. One of them was going slow enough to say to me as he passed "You've got the right idea about this."

So, in addition to the flat tire plague in my life, I must state another frustration I have: cyclists on bike paths. Not all of them, of course, but there is a particular sub-species that just brings out my inner Scolding Grandmother. These are the (usually fully spandexed) riders who insist on going fast and refuse to ever slow down or, god forbid, stop. So here's a note to all of you on bikes: on a multi-use path that is often crowded with joggers, walkers, people taking their dogs for a stroll, and even people who are just enjoying a leisurely ride on a bicycle, be willing and always prepared to slow the hell down. In other words, don't train there. You want to cruise along at 30 mph? Take it somewhere else. Somewhere far away, thanks.

While I'm at it, a side note to rollerbladers: Stop. Just stop. Rollerblading at all, I mean. Stop it. I think I speak for all of us, wheeled and unwheeled: We hate you. So please, just stop now. Thanks.

Also: city buses, why do you want to kill me? Taxis are generally just lethally indifferent, and pedestrians are mostly oblivious and never think to look for anything on the road besides cars (bless them), and delivery trucks are predisposed to not care if they are in anyone's way. But the vast majority of CTA buses actively want to murder people on bicycles. They are homicidal, I tell you. I don't know why.

And PS this is so self-induced but MAN do I ever want a basket and/or a rack and/or anything at all where I can put my purse for my 8+ mile commute. I suppose after the Big Ride (barely a week away now, ahhhhhhh!) I can at last install these extras. Yet I think I'd rather sell the bike entirely and buy my beloved Pashley. (Which I still haven't even test-ridden, fyi, this is a love-at-first-sight thing, okay?) And if I'm going to do it anyway, should I go ahead and get one NOW instead of waiting? Because I mean nearly TWO WHOLE WEEKS without my bike, while it's in transit between here and Tahoe. I don't know if I can take it.

Okay, end of frenetic venting. The weekly flat tire just really annoyed me too much and I had to blurt. I feel better, thanks.