Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, summer in Chicago. Where streets are opened back up after a music festival and smell like a toilet for days, where one-lane boulevards turn into two-lane highways of wrigleyville gridlock. Where if you go to the dog beach long enough, you're bound to see at least one mauling.

Seriously, it's my favorite time of year whether Lincoln smells like the French Quarter or not, but that was some scary shit. If you go to any dog park enough, chances are you'll see something unpleasant eventually. That was way beyond unpleasant though. People screaming, everyone else on the beach freezing, it was kind of like a reverse shark attack. I don't know what started it, but seeing someone have to grab their dog while it's still attached to another dog is not something I ever want to see. Eventually the dogs separated and everyone seemed to be more or less okay, but that seemed pretty hairy for a few minutes there.

Still, I love summer in Chicago to the point where I made the mistake of taking a longer ride home yesterday, through path and Cubs traffic that didn't end up being too bad. I forgot that Irving goes two lanes west-bound after games and found myself between them, since there wasn't any room to ride curbside. It reminded me of my very first ride home from work, where I was so freaked out about traffic on Diversy I didn't know if I would ever bike again. This was a piece of cake though, even having to stop a lot more down southport to get home. Weather and days like that totally make riding with the pelaton worth it. I made a note to savor rides like that so I have them stored in November and December.

Current beer-scale: 3.4