Veni, Vidi, Vici!

Translation: I kicked that bridge's arse!

It's true! I was not going to let that bridge over the Chicago River beat me again this year. Thus, I did not. None of this watching six year-olds pedal their Huffy's past me at near sound barrier speeds as my lungs collapse and my aorta ruptures in my chest cavity. No way. Not me. Not this year.

As we began to ascend the bridge of death, I told Julia, "See you on the other side." At the time, I was at least a good ten feet ahead of her, yet she felt the need to wait for me on the bridge to see if I died. I was ahead of her (and never looked back, mind you), but for some reason, she assumed the worse. Somehow in her mind, it was a natural thought to pull off to the side of Death Bridge and await my inevitable demise. Thanks for the vote of confidence. And that, in a nutshell, is why The Dings like me better.

I cannot take all of the credit for this victory. In fact, I owe it all to my Zoo friend, Bob. Mr. Insect doesn't know it, but I listened to his words of great wisdom one day when he said something that seemed to make sense about how to ride a bike and not die. The exact words are not important. I just channeled Bob's spirit and conquered the Mt. Everest of Lake Shore Drive with much glee.

And, of course, none of this could have been possible without Tony, who lent me his bike, Red Sunset, for my victory. Forget what I said about Bob being my inspiration. I really couldn't have done it without Tony, and to him, I am forever grateful.

Here's the bad part. I failed to charge either set of batteries for my camera. Neither the set in the camera nor the backup, fail safe set. Nothing. Thus, I have no photos to offer except these two that Julia took from Death Bridge with her Blackberry Storm as she waited for my impending doom. We don't know anyone in the photos, but you can clearly see how people can expire on this climb of evil.
If you really want to see more photos, just look at last year's. They didn't really change much.