More on today’s ride to the North Shore Channel Trail. The north side beaches were absolutely clogged with gawkers for the Air and Water show, which is apparently some military display thingy. The section along North Avenue beach was absolutely impassable by bike. Well not absolutely. On the way there I somehow managed to weave my way through at limping pace without getting off the bike. On the way back I made it about 80% of the way before giving up and getting off to push. On the bright side it appeared that the rest of the lakefront path was more deserted than usual. 31st St beach, which is usually clogged with obese people who insist on walking or simply just standing in the middle of the path, was practically empty. The bridge that the path has to go over when bypassing Navy Pier, so often a lesson in steering your bike through a sea of oblivious, slow-and-randomly-moving flesh, was reasonably passable.
Started feeling rather hostile towards the whole concept of the Air and Water show. I am certainly not a humanitarian, so I can’t pretend that I hate it because (like the 2-3 protestors I saw in Bush/Cheney masks) it embodies aggression and whatnot. I hate the crowds it brings. I hate the way the crowds behave like the bike path doesn’t exist. I hate the piercing screams the planes emit. I hate how even cyclists raise their eyes to the sky, thus dangerously not looking at what’s ahead of them, at the planes. I hate the excited radio commentators whose inane emissions are broadcast all along the lakefront. But surely those reasons are completely personal and I can’t pretend that my hatred is morally superior to the gawking admiration of the masses.
One Less Car 
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