The Loop is the very center of downtown Chicago, filled with courthouses, office buildings, theaters and shopping. Unfortunately, biking in the Loop anytime between 7:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. is very stressful. Bicyclists have to take the lane and haul ass. The wide, one-way streets are a free-for-all of buses, speeding cabs, personal vehicles of those with enough money to pay for parking, police SUVs, and pedestrians. I dislike biking in the Loop so much, When I have to go to court, I park my bike at my office and ...
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Imagine my surprise when I visited the main page of the Chicago Tribune this evening and saw the big lead story: City to rent thousands of bicycles. Apparently, city officials just announced plans for a large scale bike-sharing system. Oh yes yes yes!!
The system is still in the planning stages and a company has not yet been picked to implement it, but it's expected to start in the summer of 2012, with 3,000 bikes at 300 stations around the city, most 1/4 of a mile apart in the most dense areas. By 2014, t...
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I see things on the road that strain my credulity pretty regularly, but today's traffic rudeness took the cake.
There I was: riding Kermit Allegra at a moderate pace in the bike lane in front of Belmont University, just around 5:30 in a misty drizzle that has a Pacific Northwest feel. As I approach the corner by the Circle K, I notice a car stopping for a ped a few car lengths up. I slow, even though the ped has plenty of time to cross the bike lane before I reach him, and as I do I see the car that had passed me ...
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One of the most popular and vital bike routes from downtown Chicago to neighborhoods on the north side is Lincoln Avenue. I've read that 25-40% of the rush hour traffic on Lincoln is people on bikes. I certainly see lots of bicyclists along the way.
One day last week I decided to take this route to work, since I was on a tight schedule and Lincoln Avenue is by far the most direct and quickest route. Perhaps I have been spoiled by my super long and winding but super calm route of side-streets, but I was appall...
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Mayor Emanuel and I have something in common: we both took the Brown Line to work yesterday. I took it because threatening thunderstorms kept me off my bike and the Mayor took it to demonstrate how great Chicago's public transportation system is.
"Got on the train and got to work in 30 minutes, short order. That is a competitive advantage for the city," he said.
Next he should ride his bike to work. Would that be something? I think so! His people should call my people and we can work it out. (News st...
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From an article in the Trib today:
About 80 percent of vehicle-pedestrian crashes in Chicago occur at intersections and commonly involve people crossing the street with the walk signal, according to a new city study.
As a frequent pedestrian in Chicago, these statistics are not surprising. What's noteworthy is that the city commissioned a special study on pedestrian safety and plans to do something about it.
The exceptionally high rate of pedestrians being struck, predominantly by turning vehicles, while ...
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Last week John Greenfield interviewed me for a cover story in Newcity, a Chicago news and arts weekly. I enjoyed chatting about bicycling with him over a beer and the story came out quite nicely. Apparently, I am the Martha Stewart of Chicago biking! I want business cards with that title.
One funny thing about the paper layout, though. The Pitchfork bike cut-out is grouped with two photos of me and before reading the interview (which mentions the objectification issue), people may think it's also a re...
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As someone who rides my bike everyday, I get a lot of questions and comments about bicycling in the city. When people tell me (so many people do, especially women!) that they wish they could bike BUT they do not feel safe and are afraid of being hit by a car, I do not launch into a stump speech about the benefits of bicycling. I may say something like, "It's not so scary once you learn the rules of the road and get used to riding in traffic," but I always say something like, "Yeah, it can be scary, I know."
Al...
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As I read Grid Chicago's recent post about event bike parking this morning, I came across the photo on the right. It depicts the Chicago Reader's bike parking for Pitchfork music festival. As you can see, the Reader chose to mark its bike parking lot with a naked, faceless woman stuck between two Reader banners.
If I were looking for bike parking at Pitchfork and saw this, I would have turned around and kept looking, feeling uncomfortable and unwelcome. Something as relatively minor as this is like...
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July's women-who-bike brunch in Chicago on Sunday was a lovely little affair. (I believe most of our ladies were resting up after the annual overnight L.A.T.E. Ride.) We set up a picnic on the banks of a river just off a recreational bike path. Everyone brought a little something to share and there were lots of fresh berries, homemade pastries, and refreshing spiked drinks.
The weather was a bit hot and there was a flat tire at the end, but n...
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