#bikechicago

Rapid Transit Cycleshop; Wicker Park
January 29th, 2011; 2:25pm

 




















:click image for hi-res:

David Byrne's Bicycle Diaries

A great read for any city cyclist. On Tuesday, September 28th, the audiobook will be released. From davidbyrne.com:

In addition to music and narration by David Byrne, it also features location sounds, creating an atmosphere more akin to a radio show than a simple reading of the book.

 You can download the Introduction for free. Here is an excerpt:

Cities, it occurred to me, are physical manifestations of our deepest beliefs and our often unconscious thoughts, not so much as individuals, but as the social animals we are. A cognitive scientist need only look at what we have made—the hives we have created—to know what we think and what we believe to be important, as well as how we structure those thoughts and beliefs. It’s all there, in plain view, right out in the open; you don’t need CAT scans and cultural anthropologists to show you what’s going on inside the human mind; its inner workings are manifested in three dimensions, all around us. Our values and hopes are sometimes awfully embarrassingly easy to read. They’re right there—in the storefronts, museums, temples, shops, and offi ce buildings and in how these structures interrelate, or sometimes don’t. They say, in their unique visual language, “This is what we think matters, this is how we live and how we play.” Riding a bike through all this is like navigating the collective neural pathways of some vast global mind. It really is a trip inside the collective psyche of a compacted group of people. 

Lakeview Cycling Club, 1890's

Found another one. This picture is of the Lakeview Cycling Club, from the 1890's. No specific date given. The address listed is 403 Orchard St, but according to The Encyclopedia of Chicago that is based on an old numbering system. Go visit The Encyclopedia of Chicago, it is an amazing online historical archive with so many great old school photos.

Like No One Else Was On The Road

Ride number 8 : 72 Degrees and Sunny : Windy, Gusts up to 25mph : Around twenty-one miles

Totally shredded The Micky Bomb today, catching every green light on the way down. Got some great speed while staying ahead of the traffic: like no one else was on the road. Went a rare one full week without a ride and today definitely made up for it.

It was extraordinarily windy out, especially heading South along the lake on the bike path, but once I got into the Loop and started back up North it was pretty much smooth sailing from there. Below is a Google Street View shot, with my route in blue, showing The Trump Tower at Wabash and Wacker.

From here I take Wacker to Michigan and head North, crossing the river, and around Ohio street you start heading downhill and the Michigan Avenue Bomb begins.

Took some more random on-the-go shots from my cell phone. They are in order corresponding to the route map above. Click any of the photos for larger shots. Quick side note: I took a picture of the Alta Vista neighborhood to follow up from my 6th ride but as I was snapping the photo from my bike a woman honked at me from behind to let her pass (it's a narrow road) and the photo didn't get sent properly, as if she didn't want me to take it. Weak. It will get taken.

(1) This building always reminded me of 

Pink Floyd and The Wall

 

(2) At Fullerton and Lake Shore facing South,

lots of people out early today

 

(3) Buildings and Trees

 

(4) From the bridge heading into MP2000 

aka Millennium Park

@thegratefulone

-Zach

Dismantling The Michigan Avenue Bomb

Hi! My name is Zach, and I am a 25 year old Chicago bike rider.

I love Chicago, and I love riding, and every day I get to spend outside on the streets brings me a step closer to nirvana.

For the beginning of the season I have been working on a nice, easy at times/treacherous at others, 24 mile bike ride that takes me North to Foster & Damen, using Winnemac Park as one anchor, and South to Roosevelt & Lake Shore, using Adler Planetarium as another, hitting up several primo neighborhoods in between, such as Roscoe Village, Wrigleyville, Ravenswood, Old Town, and the Loop, just to name a few.

Part of the ride through the Loop incorporates a slightly insane, mostly harrowing, and somewhat reckless bomb up Michigan Avenue, heading North. Riding alongside the gawking rental cars, slicing taxi cabs, and impatient bus drivers who seem to transform into ferocious tribal warriors atop twelve ton metal elephants that are purposely trying to crush you and your bike below, you start to understand that you are now in the machine: you are the city. As I go barreling down the hill between Ohio street and the Hancock building, survival rests on comprehension. Rapt with heightened awareness, I rise up from under the brick and steel shade and navigate from above: the streets, the sidewalks, the people, the traffic lights, the crosswalks, the cars, the turn signals, the potholes, the more people! All a flash of a moment and a blur through my eyes, but all worthy opponents and dangerous obstacles that become even more real when riding alongside them.

Atop my bike, these become my most lucid moments, and this is when I love my city the most. Riding on Michigan Avenue is one of the best adrenaline rushes you will find around here. And after being thrust out of the Loop and finding the winds at your back, when you finally get to Mariano Park where Rush and State meet, it's like you've stumbled upon a slice of heaven that lay completely unaware of the madness below.

And that's the Michigan Avenue Bomb.
Cheers!
@thegratefulone