I Survived

This fall I'm going on my third year of living in Madison. Throughout the last couple years I have had an ample amount of time to discover how life on the isthmus differs from the small town that is Portage, Wisconsin. I honestly love both communities, but I think this a topic I could probably talk on for days and still have only made a small dent in. For most, the first difference that comes to mind when considering Portage vs. Madison is size. Many in Portage will probably celebrate the day when we can amend our population sign to finally read 10,000, while Madison is currently pushing 225,000 people. This dramatic size difference is responsible for many of the other contrasts one can see between my two hometowns, not the least of which is biking.

Biking in Portage generally entails cruising down deserted streets and never really having to pay attention to traffic. Biking in Madison is completely a different story. Since umm I don't know, maybe conception, I have been literally petrified of biking in Madison. As a kid, whenever I would ride down to the west side with Mom, I would see bikers flying through traffic on University, only feet from the nearest car, which generally are also flying, and I would be afraid for the people in the bike lane. At some point while in high school, I came to the conclusion that these cyclists either A-have lost all regard for own lives or B- have no comprehension of fear.

However, over the last few years biking on campus has started to become more and more appealing, if for no other reason than simply because the walk to the boathouse from the southeast can sometimes push 20 minutes while the bike literally feels like 5. So, this week I decided to tempt fate and brought my little red Trek to Mad-Town.

I rode to class all week and I'm still alive! I did manage to rack up my first verbal warning from a biking police officer who rode past to remind me that I need stop for all stop signs and I may or may not have kinda run into someone on the sidewalk as I was trying to get to the street, but for the most part, I am still in one piece and have learned to almost love biking in Madison.