About ten years ago I biked with a friend from Chicago to Hammond, Indiana—a 30-mile ride that was made especially easy by a strong tailwind. We could take the train back, my friend assured me, which was a relief because I'd been having knee problems and wasn't up for a return cycling trip. Unfortunately, she turned out to be wrong: when we wheeled into the station we found signs clearly stating that bikes were allowed on trains only if they were packed into boxes. The station didn't sell boxes, and even if it had, we didn't have the right tools with us to disassemble our bikes. It was a long trip back, riding into a wind that seemed to grow stronger with every turn of our pedals.