The Underwear Rider

I was riding my bike home the other day and a guy passed me wearing nothing but bright pink underwear and a big fur cap. My first thought was, "I can't believe this guy's not riding in the bike lane." Instead he was on the opposite side of street holding up cars. I respect bikers' rights to ride where they want, but if the bike lane is safe to use, just use it. It's actually required by law where I live. It wasn't until later that I considered that running around outside in only your underwear might be illegal, so I looked it up. It turns out to vary state-to-state and city-to-city. For all the complaints we lay on our politicians about how they're screwing everything up, it makes me happy that some of these very serious people have to sit in a room together and decide just where to draw the line on what coverage of underwear is acceptable on their city's streets.