Spring Thaw and Bud

First, a shot of the bench from which a lot of my twitpics are taken from. This is facing North, just shy of Fullerton.

And since I was near Fullerton I took another picture of North Pond. Here are the four shots collected, showing late winter into the spring thaw and budding.

Click for enlarged image

Here is the single shot from today-

Other three originals, from the entry on North Pond.

@thegratefulone

Chicago, Illinois April 6th, 2010

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.

(2) Chicago, Illinois April 6th, 2010

@thegratefulone

Oh High on the City Trail

7th ride of the season, first ride of Spring! And my first completion of 2009's full route. Which, when google map'd, came out to 23.2 miles, 1.2 miles longer than I thought. If I'm hitting up this route in March, which is the route that capped my season last year, I can only assume it will grow from here.

Northern most point: Foster and Damen. Southern most point: Roosevelt and Lake Shore Drive / Adler Planetarium.

Ride Number Seven:

Click map for magnified image. 

Took lots of pictures. I tweeted the hell out of the ride, too. Click any of the images for slightly bigger pictures. To be able to see so much in one ride, from the Northern suburban-like neighborhoods, all the way down to the grandeur of the new city, it's a pretty awesome sensation.  I want to start exploring the world on my bike.

 Old Chicago College. NM point of ride: 

Foster and Damen

Crew putting up a Toyota sign at 

Wrigley Field

Fullerton and Lake Shore Drive,

facing South

Flipside: about 12 minutes later from the Shedd 

Aquarium back lawn, facing North

From my Chocolate: an amazing 1.3 megapixels. 

Great shot of #chicago

I used the gravitational pull of Adler Planetarium

to slingshot myself back into the city!

The Trump Building. One of my favorite new 

additions. From Wabash & Wacker.

A true "on the go" snapshot! In Old Town

at Menomonee and Sedgwick.

First ride of Spring went well. Things are warming up here in Chicago, although we'll probably get at least one more snowstorm before it really starts to get warm out.

Happy City Trails!

Cheers!

@thegratefulone

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!

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!

@thegratefulone

Getting Closer to the Loop

Took my fourth ride today, Thursday, March 11th. The day started out cloudy and raining again, but by 3pm the sun had broken through and has yet to retreat. I extended my route further South today, riding to Oak St. Beach from Addison on the Lakefront bike path. I did not, though, add the Northern part of the the ride, so it still ended up being only about a 12 mile round trip.

Here is a map of my ride:

And, of course, a few pictures from the ride:

Heading South on the Lakefront Trail, just South of Addison and Lake Shore Drive.

The Hancock Building with the famous Drake Hotel in front. Facing South.

Oak St. Beach. Facing North, with Lake Shore Drive on the left. Walked out on to the sand, pretended for a moment I was back in California. Twas nice.

Warm Spring Strong Winds

Took my 3rd ride yesterday, Wednesday, March 10th, around 3:30pm. The first real nice day out here in Chicago: sixty-four degrees and sunny. Rained all morning but around two o'clock the sun broke through and hung out for the rest of the day.

Got to the Lake Shore Drive bike and running path for the first time this year. Got on at Addison and took it South to Fullerton and Lincoln Park Zoo. Lots of people out and lots of visible smiles, a general excitement just to be outside, the lake winds a reminder of the summer to come. 

Here is a rough sketch of the path I took:

My bike needs a lot of work. The spokes are completely rusted on both wheels, the wheels don't run straight, the front brakes don't work, the back brakes are extremely loud, and the gears don't change at all. Stuck on 2/6. I'll get some pictures up soon.

Here are a couple twitpics from the ride:

@thegratefulone