I Bike Chicago

Polka!!!!

2010-01-31T13:06:00.000-08:00

This past Friday was the Annual Critical Mass Polka Ride. This is the second year in a row I actually do this ride and it is one of the most entertaining rides of the year.

It starts as usual at Daley Plaza, where cyclist congregate at 5:30pm and we start riding around 6pm or so.
Some of the riders bring their trailers equipped with their sound systems and blasting great music.Well, that is if the weather allows it. Mother nature, always so finicky.
I arrived at Daley Plaza with my friend Greta and the first rider we saw was wearing this.

Now, I'm not exactly sure if this gentleman was trying to spell "Doug", which may or may not be his name and he run out of ink before he finished the "G"; or if he was trying to spell the name of a feminine hygiene product and he just happened to run out of space.
In either case I thought it was funny and a great sign to start the day's ride.
Usually during the winter we don't get the same number of cyclist that ride Critical Mass during the summer. Is more of the usual suspects that ride most of the year regardless of the weather.
So when we first arrived at Daley Plaza the scene looked like this.

Notice Santa Willow passing out free balaclavas and gaiters to the riders.
Soon we had at least 65 people ready to ride. A really small amount compared to the 600+ we get during the warm months.
After some trial and error trying to fix a flat my friend Shar's bike, we were off to Lincoln Square Lanes where The Polkaholics were waiting ready to serenade the mass with their music.

I would normally say that the best par of Critical Mass is the ride, but on the Polka ride the destination IS the best part. People arrive at the Lanes ready to dance, bowl, drink and have a great time.

This being my second year doing this ride I can honestly say that if you like having fun, making new friends and overall just have a blast.
Then you definitely have to come along for the ride.

You'll just have to wait till next year if you wanna Polka!

1st Tweed Ride of 2010

2010-01-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about living in Chicago is the network of cyclists that live here.

The Chainlink is, in my humble opinion the one stop place for every cyclist that lives in the Windy City. It provides a wealth of information on rides, and it has a wealth of options when it comes to the preference of riders.

You could be a slow rider and there is a ride for you, you could be a fast, experienced rider and there will be a ride for you.

Best part of it all is that you meet new people every time you go on a ride whether is a neighborhood ride like upcoming South Side Ride, or a fast paced ride like the ones this group does.

Such an example of the type of rides where you can meet new fellow cyclists is the BBC's Tweed Ride.

This ride is sponsored by the British Bicycles Chicago. A group that promotes English made bicycles. Although they do not discriminate if you ride a Japanese, Italian, French or other type of bike. I'm proud to say that my bike for this ride specifically is my pride and joy. A 1968 Robin Hood with a humpback frame. I haven't been able to find any information on this specific frame but I have not seen anything like it.

On Saturday 1-23-10 was the first Tweed ride of the year.

I love this ride particularly because I like dressing up and riding like in the old days when English gentlemen would ride their bikes in knickers, vest, coats and shirt and tie.

Granted this drawing does not do justice since you can hardly see how dapper the old chap looks.

Although I think the seat on that bike looks rather comfortable.
Check out this video made by my friend Aaron. He is also part of this group.
Check out the Chainlink and join the BBC group. I might see you on the next ride.

On Holiday..

2010-01-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

At least until Tuesday.

Since I'm visiting friemds in Pittsburgh and I'm not sure when I will have access to a computer, I will take it as a holiday from writing on the blog.

It seems a little absurd since I just started this and I'm already taking some time off.

This should be me in some tropical island. Instead I'm in a place just a tad less cold than Chicago. I think it might have to do with the fact that the wind doesn't blow as it does in Chicago

This is my interpretation of what creates the wind in Chicago

It looks a bit childish, but I was told this is where wind comes from. I am bound to believe it's real since it came from a very reliable source. The homeless man I found outside Soldier Field the very first time a gust of wind blew me off the side walk.

This actually happened the 4th day of me moving to Chicago from Los Angeles

I'm looking forward to bowling tomorrow. I suck at the game but is all good when it comes to having fun.

I expect to take home the trophy for most gutter balls.

I will take some pictures of the places I visit while in Pittsburgh to post and blog about in a later edition of this blog. It might not be about bikes, but who cares. Ultimately is just about ranting or venting or just trying to get better at story telling.

God knows I need all the practice I can get.

haircut and random thoughts

2010-01-14T12:45:00.000-08:00

Lately in my mind it seems that having short hair during the winter makes more sense than just letting it grow long along with the beard. Why? I'm not sure but here are some random thoughts on that.
1- It dries faster after a long ride. Having short hair prevents my pretty little head from freezing during winter.
2- Wake up in the morning, or any other time with no bed head.
3- I'm just getting lazier and don't want to use a brush or comb.
4- No helmet hair, this is specially appropriate when one of our rides ends at a bar and there are cute girls. Helmet hair is so unbecoming. Even if you get paid big money for riding a bike.

So I went to Hair Cuttery to see my stylist Elena, (yes I did say stylist, not sure lady barber applies). She was telling me about her upcoming vacation in April to Cancun. I was a little jealous since I can't go any where right now. This unemployment thing really sucks.

On my way back I stopped at the library to pick up a copy of "The Nanny Diaries" DVD that I had reserved. Hey Scarlett Johansson is hot! I will reserve a DVD if she is in it, just to see her in my living room. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with a crush on her since I had to reserve the DVD at the library.
Besides after reading the book I decided to check out the movie. Although I have to admit it was more the fact that I'm secretly in love with Scarlett. While in line to check out my copy of "Nanny Diaries", I saw this book on the section "Books we like".

Needless to say I checked it out. Since I'm already making my own knickers for riding my bike. I might as well start stitchin', or should I say knittin' and crochetin' my own scarves, gloves, mittens, beanies and sweaters (that might be a stretch though, I don't think I have the patience for sweater making) and what ever else this little book teaches about knittin', stitchin' and crochetin' fashions for men. And I have a forum where I can actually do the bitchin' part of the book. Here.
Not afraid to admit I have a feminine side (or at least I will find out)

Hey I'm trying to be frugal since there is no work prospects right now, and I need to save money. What with that funny business of having to pay rent and feed myself, anything is pretty good as far as saving money goes. I might as well look for ways to stay warm during the winter for less.Maybe even have fun doing it, or just have it be a horrible experiment.
As I was unlocking my bike a thought came to mind. Yesterday I was ranting about the neglected/abandon bikes along Milwaukee Ave. Well when I looked at my bike I realized it sorta looks like one of the neglected bikes.

Even the saddle looks really beat up! I imagined another fellow cyclist passing by, looking at the bike and thinking what kind of a douche leaves his bike neglected in front of the library. But I know that in reality no one is really looking at my bike, let alone thinking why I'm a douche for neglecting it in front of the library.

Well I will let you know if the movie was as good as the book or not. I shed a tiny tear when I reached the end of the book. Let's see if the movie does the same. If not at least I get to see Miss. Johansson in her underwear.

Neglected Bikes

2010-01-13T13:43:00.000-08:00

This morning as I was making my way down Milwaukee Ave. to meet my friend Guy for afternoon tacos. I noticed something that probably most cyclist notice every day.

All the bikes lining a little stretch on Milwaukee Ave. I was surprised to see how many bikes are left out or abandoned along the stretch from Damen to Ashland. Some are probably left outside because their owners don't have space in their apartments and some are left there to just rot and decay.
I took some pictures of these bikes just to show some of the things I saw.
Being the owner of some bikes myself I felt pretty bad for the neglected bikes.
This is the first bike I encountered right on the corner of Milwaukee and Damen.

Sad as it seems no one even cares to pick this bike up and at least set it upright (come to think of it, neither did I, I know, I'm a bastard)
Not sure if something in my head said forget it since the rear wheel was bent all out of shape. It would seem whoever owned this bike, rode it until they could ride no more, parked it and forgot about it.

Now this one was just left there to be cannibalized and just the frame left there to rot. I bet Cisco at West Town Bikes can make this forgotten frame a useful bar stool. Seriously, go there and ask for the bike stool. Cyclist are pretty good at recycling old stuff that comes from our bikes.

Now some of these bikes are left out but are still getting some use, at least that's what I was told from the friend of the owner of this lovely Dutch bike.
As I was taking the picture I was approached by the friend of the owner of the bike who assured me this bike is ridden during the winter. I specially love the name of the bike, which is decaled on the down tube.

Another thing that I noticed most was that women seem to ride more than men during the winter. I saw at least a good 4 to 1 women to men ratio of ladies riding. Specially this lady riding along Damen. She made riding in style look good, even if she was wearing sweats.

Yes, that is my shadow behind the stylish woman riding in sweats.
I must say that she was riding pretty fast. I was rather surprised I could even catch up with her and be able to take these pictures.

I also had a nice surprise during my little photo adventure. As I was finishing taking this picture of 2 people riding West on Milwaukee I heard some one say as they were riding away "I saw you on Momentum!" to which I promptly replied "Say What?" mind you it wasn't a cool "Say what" more of a I didn't hear/surprised/dumbfounded "Say What"

I really should thank Momentum Magazine, for actually printing my ugly mug on their magazine, John Greenfield for asking me to pose for this picture, my friend Greta for being her birthday and stopping at Reckless Records, and Ryan for the sticker that has brought my very own 15 minutes of fame.
You can find more pictures of these neglected/abandoned bikes on my brand spanking new Flicker page.