from our listeners: trail riding

6.9--a bikin' squirrel says what?

everyone knows--or should know--the pottorff family.

quick math reveals them to be a six-wheeled commuting family. this shot, taken today, june 4, shows the family on one of MY personal favorite bike paths, 86th street in the northwest metro area. i prefer this bike path to the new trestle to trestle, for example, because when work is being done on THIS multi-use bike path, the city doesn't just close it down, they only close that portion that is being repaired, while creating and posting detour signs. i can't understand WHY the city doesn't do this on ALL the trails.

and for THAT matter, i don't know why they don't do REPAIRS on all the other many bike trails. i don't seem to recall trees blocking 86th street for days and weeks on end, nor do i recall muddy water pooling across it every time it rains.

notice how happy users of this multi-use trail are, and how well they are interacting with our heroes, teri, izzy, and picture-snappin' daddy squirrel.

MPG report: none required.

from listener matt martin, of muscatine: matt was profiled by the muscatine journal during bike to work week. anyone who has done the melon city crit over the years has warmed up or cooled down on the streets of muscatine, and knows what a lovely town it is. these are the streets over which matt commutes as many of 40 weeks a year. he's from washington, d.c., and he has some quite valid and interesting observations about the local bike scene. he's pictured on his fair-weather fixie; his foul-weather fixie has fenders, and is no doubt getting a lot of miles here lately. read here for the full newspaper story. thanks for writing, matt! say hello next year at the melon city crit. i'll be sitting at the hairpin with friends and a cooler full of beer.

a reader/listener known only as "the one" sends in this photo, and claims it is somehow related to his employment, but it raises many more questions than it answers. i don't know where to begin, so i'll end with this: thanks for your submission, one. you must have a fairly interesting job.