Yesterday I was in the Pilsen neighborhood on Chicago's southside for the Women-Who-Bike brunch. I decided to take the Lakefront Path for the 10 mile ride home, which I could reach by taking the new protected bike lane on S. 18th Street from Canal to Clark Streets, connecting the Pilsen and Chinatown areas. This protected bike lane is one of three in Chicago and exists in part thanks to Alderman Solis (read more about his Ward's projects and his recent trip to the Netherlands here).
Here is a quick video I mad...
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I ended the year on Saturday with a ride downtown along the Lakefront Trail with my friend Elizabeth. Here's a little video of cycling the Lakefront Trail heading south. I'm riding my Betty Foy and Elizabeth occasionally pops up with a santa hat on her helmet. The video is sped up by 150% and the song is by The Moonlighters from Free Music Archive.
You can see that the car-free trail is a very nice route, especially when it's not crowded. I would take this route to work every day if it were a little more ...
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Earlier this week, I posted a video of my commute along quiet side streets. To show how different the ride is along a busy route, on Friday morning I took Lincoln Avenue, a popular street for both bikes and motor vehicles. I considered this taking one for the team, because I hate this route during rush hour.
A few notes before moving on to the video:
Lincoln Avenue is a major bikeway, with either bike lanes or sharrows along the length of it. As I discussed previously, it's a pathetic set-up for such a pop...
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A couple of weeks ago, I shared photos of my bike ride through Chicago's first protected lane on Kinzie Avenue. I love this lane, so now I'm sharing the experience with all of you. Sorry for the jumpy video - the ride is more peaceful than it looks, but Chicago's streets are bumpy and I was holding the camera in my hand.
Enjoy!
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Teen Witch! I was obsessed with that movie for a bit in 1990, carrying around a pink-papered, heart-shaped notebook in which I wrote all the spells. Somehow I had forgotten all about it, until I saw on Lily and the Muse that Teen Vogue posted a remake of the iconic Top That "rap" scene. The two girls happen to be riding bicycles in awesome preppy 80's outfits.
The Original:
Good stuff. I'm really feeling their outfits and definitely the bikes. The music, not so much. 
You can watch the remake here...
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The Waltz of the Bikes is already making the rounds in the bike blogosphere, but I feel compelled to post it here. The video is mesmerizing and literally put a smile on my face. Although I have seen countless pictures on Amsterdamize, watching video of cyclists in Amsterdam is powerful.
The Waltz of the Bikes from mike rubbo on Vimeo.
This video also made me a bit sad. It drives home how far Chicago is from the ideal - and Chicago is one of the most evolved cycling cities in North America. I so rarely s...
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After posting my Oma video I got several requests for a Betty Foy video. Ask and thou shall receive. (Wait, did I just compare myself to God?)
Anyway, this is for all those interested in the Rivendell Betty Foy. It's a very new bike and there's not much information out there, but there is another video from Velo Fellow of his wife buying her Betty, so any interested parties should check that out, too.
I wanted to write up a detailed Betty Foy review before posting the video, but the darn job really cu...
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Many people come to our site in search of information about Dutch bikes. It's pretty shocking that there's not more out there--even on YouTube, it took a while to turn up videos featuring Batavus bikes. Here are a few of my favorites.
The first is charmingly retro, with a man in a straw hat puttering around on his Old Dutch (step-through!). It presents life as a series of choices and I guess he chooses the bike...but mostly I like seeing the bicycle infrastructure, including designated lights and paths, and the po...
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Hello, I am back. This is the second in a series of slightly shaky videos documenting my commute. Not sure the full fun of whizzing across the crosswalk and ducking beneath the magnolia was captured here, but I had to give it a shot! This is the closest nature enroaches on my fairly urban route. How about you?
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