Transcript

Location: Bud Hendrickson Nature Trail, near the intersection of North Salem Road and Hamilton Street

I was, uh, biking along the Bud Hendrickson Trail just coming off the bridge, and my chain was a little bit loose, and it popped off. And I’m not a great biker even though I bike everyday, and so it didn’t occur to me that I could just put on the brakes and it would be okay. But that’s not what happened. I kind of went out of control and fell off my bike and skidded on my knee and my hands. And I was in shock so I started to whine or scream– I’m not sure what sort of noise I was making– but it was late at night, and people came out from the houses that you can see around here. Two different women from two different houses came out. One woman put her hands around me from the back and held my hands and told me “breathe, just breathe” in order for me to kind of calm down and come out of shock. And then the other woman put the chain back on my bike and said “where do you live? I have a truck. We can drive you home.” And so for me this was such a wonderful Northside story, and it’s such a shame because now there’s all these fences in the way, so today I wouldn’t have that same experience. But when I had that experience, it lifted my heart. My name is Ariel Beaujot. I don’t have a car. I only bike everywhere. I’m a professor at the University of Wisconsin,La Crosse, and I love the Northside.