Category: Bicycling

“One Pioneer, a Thousand Riders” by Oboi Reed

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Oboi Reed at the new wooden velodrome at 8615 S. Burley – photo courtesy of Reed

In September John interviewed Oluntunji Oboi (“O-bye-ee”) Reed about his efforts to launch The Pioneers Bicycle Club as a way to get more South Siders and African Americans involved with cycling. Last month, Oboi did his first Chicago Critical Mass ride. We invited him to submit the following write-up of his experience for Grid Chicago:

In the words of The Notorious B.I.G., “It was all a dream.”
I dreamed of cycling as a form of healing.
I dreamed of cycling consistently with family and friends.
I dreamed of forming The Pioneers Bicycle Club.
Dreams came true, then I kept dreaming.
I dreamed of riding in Chicago Critical Mass.
I dreamed of riding in Chicago Critical Mass through some parts of the South Side.
The dream of riding in the mass came to life on Friday, October 28th, 2011.
The dream of riding through parts of the South Side, well, that dream is a bit more complicated.

Continue reading “One Pioneer, a Thousand Riders” by Oboi Reed

Grid Shots: Bicycle Film Festival

What a busy weekend! One that I was mostly sick for, but I still made it out to 3 of the 5 screenings, a few minutes of Goldsprints (John stayed longer), and the BMX BBQ JAM.

The Bicycle Film Festival was held at the Logan Square Auditorium (2539 N Kedzie Blvd) and the BMX BBQ JAM (with free veggie burgers from River Valley Kitchens) was held at the Logan Square skate park (2430 W Logan Blvd). I’ll be writing reviews of some of the films in a couple weeks.

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Alexis Finch (left) and pinup girl Jana Kinsman (right) talk to filmgoers about the Thought you Knew (TyK) project and sell calendars. Continue reading Grid Shots: Bicycle Film Festival

Alderman Solis goes to Amsterdam

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Alderman Solis in Zolle, Netherlands – all photos courtesy of Bikes Belong

[Background info for this post came from a write-up of the trip by Washington D.C. Department of Transportation Bicycle Program Specialist Mike Goodno.]

Earlier this month when I interviewed 25th Ward Alderman Danny Solis about sustainable transportation projects in his ward, he mentioned that he would be taking a trip to the Netherlands from October 1 – 8 to study bike facilities. The bike industry-funded advocacy group Bikes Belong sponsored this fact-finding mission for transportation officials from Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Miami, and Solis says that staffers from Working Bikes Cooperative recommended him to Bikes Belong as a bike-friendly politician. Joining him from Chicago were former Active Transportation Alliance executive director and current SRAM Cycling Fund director Randy Neufeld, as well as Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) bike program staffers David Gleason and Mike Amsden. Continue reading Alderman Solis goes to Amsterdam

Western Illinois Death March

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Roadside Halloween display in Colchester, IL

On Halloween weekend I took a train-bike-train excursion to western Illinois and northeast Missouri and, fittingly, death was a recurring theme on this fun little trip. My childhood pal Greg recently took a gig teaching political science at Western Illinois University in Macomb, IL. Judy, another old friend from the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, moved to Kirksville, MO, last summer to study osteopathic medicine. Since both towns are near Amtrak lines, I decided to link the two visits with a grueling 120-mile day of bicycling. Here’s a map of my bike route.

Friday morning I caught the Carl Sandburg line from Chicago’s Union Station. Like most Amtrak lines that run entirely within Illinois, it allows “roll-on” bicycle service for an additional fee, so I’m able to hoist my unboxed bicycle onboard and simply lean it against the wall of the train car. It’s a relaxing 3.5-hour cruise southwest across the prairie to Macomb, where Greg meets me at the combined train and bus station for this quaint college town of 19,748. In high school we played in a psychedelic rockabilly band called the Glorious Disciples of Freedom, so we greet each other with the band’s secret handshake, grasping each other’s bicep and saying in unison, “Disciples of Freedom.”

Continue reading Western Illinois Death March

A walking tour of south suburban Riverdale opens my eyes

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The Cook County Forest Preserve District recently installed a multi-use trail in the Kickapoo Meadows forest preserve. This is at 144th and Halsted in Riverdale, Illinois. 

This summer and fall I’ve been working with Active Transportation Alliance to develop bike parking plans for suburban schools and municipalities. This has given me a special opportunity to survey the conditions for walking and biking at numerous locations with a variety of environments unique to their geographies. This is the first article in a series that describes those visits. These plans are paid for by grants from Cook County and the Department of Health and Human Services called Communities Putting Prevention to Work. I’m calling this my “CPPW Series.”

I’m starting with the latest municipality I visited, Riverdale, Illinois. Riverdale is south of Chicago and shares a boundary with the Chicago neighborhoods of Altgeld Gardens, and West Pullman, separated by the Calumet River. You can drive to Riverdale on Halsted Street, or take the Metra Electric-University Park line to its two stations, Ivanhoe and Riverdale. Continue reading A walking tour of south suburban Riverdale opens my eyes

Handsome Cycles party at the Chrome store

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As a writer specializing in green transportation topics I try to keep up with all aspects of the booming local bike scene. But now and then I get a reminder that there are so many different facets to Chicago biking nowadays that it’s practically impossible to keep track of them all.

Case in point was the Chicago launch party for Handsome Cycles that Steven and I attended last week at the Chrome messenger bag store in Wicker Park. I was surprised to learn that the shop has been hosting these parties on the third Thursday of every month for some time now. With multiple kegs of complimentary Goose Island 312 beer on tap, it was a very lively shindig.

Continue reading Handsome Cycles party at the Chrome store