Not suffering enough, I guess.

I was coming home from work on Friday afternoon through Mission Hills and noticed a long line of cars parked along Indian Lane, one bearing a license plate marked "Senator". Traffic along State Line Road was bumper to bumper and I made my way across State Line Road and through the Carriage Club parking lot. Ward Parkway was blocked off so I walked my bike across to the median and I was whistled over by a cop.

"Where you headed?"

"Just trying to get home."

"Well, I can't have you going that way. The President's going to be rolling through in a bit."

So I carried my bike across the Parking Lot that was Ward Parkway leading to State Line Road and onto the campus of Pembroke Hill.

Some driver asked me, "What's going on?"

"The President"

"(a bunch of curses)"

"Haven't we suffered enough?"

Turns out it was a fundraiser for Jim Talent, a Missouri Senator and stooge of the Religious Right, in Mission Hills, Kansas. Go figure.

I know, the President rides a bike. Just wish he'd been riding one at that moment, somewhere else than on my way home. Laurie's plane was delayed coming in while Air Force One was taking off. Who's working for who here, anyway?

What does it take?

This week I have yet to ride my bike. It is, of course, only Tuesday, but I feel as if I betrayed something by driving to work twice this week. With my wife out of town, I hate to make the dogs wait an extra hour.

At the Greater Kansas City Bicycle Federation of late, we've been discussing "appropriate" transportation. There is, in Eugene, Oregon, a Center for Appropriate Transport. We don't seem to have that sort of mentality here in Kansas City. Or it's not visible, as it is in Chicago. Are we more spread out than other cities?

The hip quotient of cycling in Kansas City consists of these sort of groups:
Racer types, in spandex and Team Kit (Replica of the TDF jerseys)
Messenger outlaw types, riding in jeans, rolled up at the ankle, worn Chuck Taylors and ironic T-shirts.

Where are the regular riders, people riding not specifically for fitness, but for transportation? The people who I see in other cities, like in Amsterdam, as seen here with a group of folks or rather their bicycles parked in front of the Museum of Sex, IIRC.