Three times now I’ve made the seven mile trip downtown and back by bike, not nearly enough to answer my colleague’s accusatory question–“Are you one of those bike people?”–in the affirmative, but enough to have learned something.

Faster is actually safer in some contexts. More daring and presumably more experienced cyclists than I pass me in the Lincoln Avenue bike lane all day long. The come to intersections where I hesitate or stop, and they zip right through them. They are decisive and quick, and they do not hesitate. I am exceedingly cautious, and yet, watching them, I get the impression they are the safer riders.

Sometimes waiting is dangerous.