Muscle power vs. car power

Officer Travis Benson, a Grand Fork bicycle cop, will be racing Mayor Mike Brown during the Monday afternoon commute.

They'll start at 5 p.m. at City Hall and race to Altru Health System, obeying all traffic laws in the process, of course."The purpose of this race to demonstrate how easy it can be to commute to work by bicycle instead of a car," the city said in a press release.

Monday kicks off National Bike to Work Week. The city will be giving away prizes if you can correctly guess who will win the race.

Last May, the mayor raced Officer LaVonne Nelson. Brown won but only by a minute and a half. The race happened at 1:30 p.m. so traffic was light and did not reflect normal commuting conditions. So the timing of this year's race could give Benson a chance, especially with those pesky Grand Forks "traffic jams."

I actually rode my bike after Nelson last year but got confused and took the long way around.

The main disadvantage of biking to work, as I found out, was that I kind of needed a shower. Well, actually, I really needed a shower.

Maybe I'll just drive after them this year. I have to attend City Council that night, after all.