Click for larger images.
Pictures numbered below.
3D Picture Map
(1) Took this shot while riding, just out of excitement
over the 180* turn the weather took today.
Showing posts with label riding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label riding. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
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
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
Thursday, March 18, 2010
ISO: One Charismatic Solar Deity
6th ride of the season so far. That season being Springter (or Winting as some prefer, though most have trouble with the pronunciation). A rough mash up of almost all four seasons, March can provide quite the sensory experience while riding through the city. The sun warm and new, inviting; after months of hibernation it only takes seconds to remember. I bow. The moving air still crisp, remnants of Autumn and reminders that this isn't California, this is Chicago: a city of four seasons, today we get to see them all. People in shorts wearing sandals, people in scarfs and wool jackets; squirrels searching through dirty snow mounds, a bit confused... but happy nonetheless.
Shortened my ride today in favor for a slower pace: we're supposed to get some good old cold rain and snow this weekend, so I went zen. Mental health is just as important as physical health.
One part of this ride I would like to point out really quickly is a section of brick houses near Wrigley Field called Alta Vista Terrace. The district was built in 1904 in imitation of the rowhouse style of London (this sentence was copy & pasted directly from Wikipedia). It is an awesome street with a super homey feel, probably one of my favorite blocks in the Northside neighborhoods, and definitely worth checking out. There are pillars on both entrances to the street that point it out.
And here is the route I took today, pretty spot on to my old school, and I guess new school, half route. 12.5 miles.
I only took one photo on the go today. The photo I did take, however, is from the exact same spot at which I took a photo during ride number 3, which you can find in this blog, from March 10th. The photo was taken from a walking path behind The Nature Museum off of Fullerton and Lake Shore. In the 8 days since the 1st photo the small lake has thawed. I'm going to try to document the spot over the year.
Alright, that is all for now.
I'm ready for the snowstorm: go springter!
Cheers!
@thegratefulone
Shortened my ride today in favor for a slower pace: we're supposed to get some good old cold rain and snow this weekend, so I went zen. Mental health is just as important as physical health.
One part of this ride I would like to point out really quickly is a section of brick houses near Wrigley Field called Alta Vista Terrace. The district was built in 1904 in imitation of the rowhouse style of London (this sentence was copy & pasted directly from Wikipedia). It is an awesome street with a super homey feel, probably one of my favorite blocks in the Northside neighborhoods, and definitely worth checking out. There are pillars on both entrances to the street that point it out. And here is the route I took today, pretty spot on to my old school, and I guess new school, half route. 12.5 miles.
I only took one photo on the go today. The photo I did take, however, is from the exact same spot at which I took a photo during ride number 3, which you can find in this blog, from March 10th. The photo was taken from a walking path behind The Nature Museum off of Fullerton and Lake Shore. In the 8 days since the 1st photo the small lake has thawed. I'm going to try to document the spot over the year.
Alright, that is all for now.
I'm ready for the snowstorm: go springter!
Cheers!
@thegratefulone
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
5th Bike Ride of Pre Spring
Just Mere Hours Before Announcement, Without a Worry in the World...
Took off on my fifth bike ride of March earlier today around 5 o' clock in the afternoon. First ride of daylight savings.
I almost completed my 22 mile OG Summer Run from last year, coming just 2 miles shy: I stopped at Millenium Park and turned right on Monroe instead of continuing down to the Adler Planetarium.
The sun was hot but the air was cold, the smell of burning leaves in the air and snow still on the jetties; it was as if all four seasons were sharing the sunlight of the same day.
Here is the route I took.
And here are some pictures I took on the go, though take caution: tweeting while biking is not recommended and is a highly dangerous activity.
I only took pictures during the North part of the ride. Once I got into the loop I wanted to focus more on the road (obviously); first ride down Michigan Avenue of the season. It was fucking stellar!
Took off on my fifth bike ride of March earlier today around 5 o' clock in the afternoon. First ride of daylight savings.
I almost completed my 22 mile OG Summer Run from last year, coming just 2 miles shy: I stopped at Millenium Park and turned right on Monroe instead of continuing down to the Adler Planetarium.
The sun was hot but the air was cold, the smell of burning leaves in the air and snow still on the jetties; it was as if all four seasons were sharing the sunlight of the same day.
Here is the route I took.
And here are some pictures I took on the go, though take caution: tweeting while biking is not recommended and is a highly dangerous activity.
I only took pictures during the North part of the ride. Once I got into the loop I wanted to focus more on the road (obviously); first ride down Michigan Avenue of the season. It was fucking stellar!
Taking advantage of daylight savings, ~5:30pm
at Homer Park, California and Montrose
Heading South on Ravenswood, old Bowman
Dairy factory on the right.
Controlled fires, brush clearing at Winnemac
Park on Foster and Damen
Now back to tour planning!
Cheers!
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