I was in Denver on business recently and had a chance to ride the Cherry Creek trail. On the one hand, the trail was smooth wide, concrete trail paralleling the creek and the busy road on either side.

On the other hand, on the way back from coffee, what a great way to start a day, biking to coffee along a flowing creek, we got on the road to see the contrast.

The road surface was a disaster, patched, bumpy and poorly marked. We took the lane in 45 mph traffic and were cool with that but the road surface reminded us that it’s not just about how we ride but also about how a city accommodates bicyclists. Remember, accommodations for cyclists include smooth pavement. They don’t have to be about bike lanes or cycle-tracks.

But to talk about the title of this post…on the way back as we bumped down the main lane, we saw a student going to school with his large stringed instrument in a case on his back and a cell phone caught between his ear and shoulder, going the wrong way…but he had both hands on the handlebars…and he was using his bicycle to go somewhere.