Fall Festival hopping

I took advantage of the 80 degree October day by taking what might be my last big bike ride of the year. I would have surrounded myself with trees and gone up the North Branch trail, but I saw a whole bunch of red and orange leaves the day before. So I rode to a few fall activities including the annual autumn favorite: Elston Ave between Montrose and Fullerton.

First stop: The Fall Festival at North Park Village Nature Center. I saw it listed on Metromix and didn't read past "fall festival" before deciding to go (I like the idea of festivals, and the phrase "fall festival"). For a while I rode around the campus not seeing anything close to a festival. I thought I got some detail wrong, but then I saw one too many people carrying homemade scarecrows for it to be a coincidence. Eventually I found a farmers' market and a scarecrow competition.

Utter pandemonium. A big area of hay and clothes, kids scrambling. I really should have asked about the rules (What's with the scarecrows coming from outside the festival? Surely they shouldn't be judged alongside the impromptu ones). I did hear an older couple with clipboards speak rather harshly about how the scarecrows were similar. Oddly enough, the judges didn't have crows in cages.

Then I walked around the wetland area, very cool. It's probably better in full bloom and after a heavy rain for the complete wetland experience, so that's on my April-May 2011 To Do list.
Second stop: The Bucktown Apple Pie Contest. After the obligatory autumn ride down Elston, I locked up outside Holstein Park. Outside: square dancing, pumpkin painting, pony rides, some kind of play, and lots of pregnant women. Inside: complete chaos.
$1 gets you one ticket; three tickets gets you a taste of apple pie... so you do the math. I had two slices which were both amazing. I ate them within ten minutes, felt great, then bad, then somehow thought washing it down with a hot dog was a good idea. I walked my bike to Armitage before feeling well enough to ride.

Noticeably absent: Carl Sagan's Apple Pie.

Third stop: Some vintage clothing sale in Wicker Park. Total anarchy. It didn't have the selection of mens hats I was hoping for, so I pressed on. I could have gone straight up Damen but I've done that so many times this year, so I went east to the lake despite the two pounds of pie crust in my stomach. Webster and Belden to the lake.

Fourth stop: The zoo! Wild. Literally, wild animals everywhere.

I liked this bear, a sun bear. She had surgery on his jaw a few years ago and as a result her tongue protrudes a little. But she's healthy and she's cool about it.

Then your standard ride up the lakefront path.

This is separate from the bike ride, but I wanted to throw this picture in. This is from Saturday when I was at the Wild Raspberry Apple Orchard in Union Pier, MI. I had a great time at their Harvest Festival.
Some chicagobike business: My initial goal was to blog about every big bike ride I went on over the summer. Then I wanted to take advantage of every moment of the summer, which meant not sitting at home blogging. So now, I have a backlog of bike rides and pictures that I can write about over the winter and think back on the nice summer days. So get ready for Ribfest in November.

Hey, I'm Bikin' Here!

It was either that title or: Chicago Bike goes "on the 'road'".

I visited NYC over a long weekend to visit a few friends. On Sunday, I had the day to myself, so I rented a bike to see what it was like to be a NYC biker. Also, it's a pretty good way to see a lot of sights really quickly. I didn't plan to see the Flatiron Building, but I passed by it and Hey there it is! And I probably didn't need to see it for much longer than I did. It is a totally skinny building though.

I looked up bike rental places. There are a lot of them around Central Park. The friend I was staying with lives in the Lower East Side, so I went to Frank's Bikes. It was a New York-y place, really cheap ($30 for the day), and the bike was decent. I asked for a helmet and lock - free accessories! The only downside: this was the lock.

A huge metal chain! It was at least ten pounds. When he got it out I thought he was joking, but he wasn't a funny guy, and it would have to be a pretty elaborate joke to bring out a ten pound prop. I asked "Don't you have a cable or something?" "No, cables don't work." I tried to brainstorm alternatives (Do I just not lock the bike all day?), but instead I spent the rest of my time at the establishment mentally preparing myself to go on my city-wide bike ride with a huge metal chain weighing me down. (I actually did see another biker with a huge metal chain -- he wore it like a Rambo bullet chest belt.)

The night before, I asked someone in our group who mentioned that she biked in the city for tips, biking tips. She mentioned a potential bike ride -- Brooklyn Bridge to Prospect Park in Brooklyn, back on the Manhattan Bridge, up the west side bike path to (I think) the 79th Street Boat Basin. She said "Prospect Park is way better than Central Park", but even then I knew that couldn't be right, that's like saying Radiohead is better than the Beatles -- obviously they're not, but it gives you some kind of cred to say something so ridiculous with a straight face.

But I liked the idea of going to Brooklyn, like I would get a fuller NYC experience than staying in Manhattan all day. And Prospect Park seemed like a good destination since it's not too far away. So I set off to the park from Frank's to see what the hype is all about.

Brooklyn. Mistake #1. I took Willamsburg Bridge thinking it was the Brooklyn Bridge. I might have done that anyways since I wanted to see Brooklyn and the Williamsburg is a few blocks from Frank's, but I did have romantic "Bask in this, this is the mother-flipping Brooklyn Bridge" thoughts as I was going over it which are silly now. The Williamsburg isn't that glamorous, and I think it's much longer and more difficult.

The very first place I rode through was a completely Orthodox Jewish neighborhood. I didn't see anyone that wasn't Orthodox Jewish (and no females now that I think about it). Maybe Sunday morning is special but I saw a lot of boys, in groups or by themselves, who looked like they had been sent on errands. They were coming from shops with bags or carts. At one point I saw only boys, no parents or elders, so it looked like a land run by well-dressed little people with yarmulkes and symmetric patches of curled hair.

Then a sketchy neighborhood. Then Prospect Park. Yeah it's good. The park itself is nice enough, but the biking there is phenomenal, like the park was designed for it. Huge lanes, plenty of room to get around anybody, a long, fast downhill glide, and the return uphill trip didn't seem that bad.

On the way to the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, I found a bus stop with an elaborate bike street map. That was helpful, I took notes.

Just before the Brooklyn Bridge, a construction worker yelled at two other bikers and me. "Hey! HEY!" We were going through a construction area with cones up so maybe it was restricted, maybe we were in trouble? Some instincts of my 12 year old self kicked in. Do I make a break for it? We all rode up to him. "You'll want to take a left up there, then another left, that's how you get on the bridge." As we followed his advice, the other bikers and I laughed at how a helpful construction worker could sound so pissed off about it.

Brooklyn Bridge. That was awesome, I rekindled my bridge basking. All the cables, the view of the skyline, the Statue of Liberty. And did 30 Rock really shoot on this bridge when Liz Lemon arranged to meet Peter Dinklage on it, and then he said "Shut it down!" after she approached a boy from behind thinking it was him? (I don't think so)

Financial District. I did some zigzag bike tourism -- the bull! NYSE! something something Trump! I was on the west side bike trail for a while, but got off that at some point since I want to take it to the streets. My overall concept of the day was to meander through different neighborhoods, but at this point I only had two hours of biking left and I had a lot of ground to cover. Hudson and 8th Avenue are pretty fast roads that lead straight to Central Park. I took those and just did two quick juts on east-west roads that I knew had bike lanes from that Brooklyn map.

Also -- $2 hot dog! Including fixins!

The Gay Pride parade was going on that day. That's one big parade. I ran into it at two points at least a mile from each other, and I was riding against the flow. (That's the most raucous, partying parade that exists now, right? What previous parade held that title?)

Central Park. Whenever I compare Chicago and New York City to myself when I'm alone, I think that NYC efficiently grouped all of Manhattan's nature and put it one big place, leaving the rest of the island to be concrete, buildings, and curbside trash bags. Then I'm thankful that I live in Chicago because trees and nature things seem more scattered throughout the city. That's not true about NYC, but even if it was -- wow, Central Park is amazing. Maybe I could live with that efficient take on nature.

To top it off, at Strawberry Fields (at which I really do go into pilgrimage mode), there was a large group playing Beatle music! And they were doing a good job! And lots of people were around listening. I heard them play From Me to You, Michelle, and Every Little Thing. And really, Every Little Thing is not that great as far as Beatle songs go, so they weren't just going for crowd-pleasers.

Also in Central Park, there were pianos that anyone could go up to and play. I was tempted to go up and play my rough rendition of The Third Man Theme, but everyone I heard play was way too good. These junior high kids would be joking and pushing each other on the piano seat, then would straighten their posture and play this perfect, intricate piece.

On my way out of Central Park, I bought imitation Ray Bans. They were 1 for $12, 2 for $20. I gave the guy $12 for one pair, and he gave me $2 back! And I didn't even small talk with him!

Broadway. When I saw the bike map, I was amazed that Broadway had bike lanes. I guess that's a new addition within the last few years. That's like Michigan Ave having bike lanes which seems preposterous. It's pretty impressive that NYC got behind biking enough to have lanes and traffic lights dedicated to it.

Times Square was the one uber-touristy thing I wanted to do. I don't like billboards, but to be engulfed by them gets to me. I was able to bike down most of Broadway, but had to get out and walk once I got close enough to 42nd. Plus, there was some kind of Times Square outdoor festival.

From there, it was a straight shot down Broadway back to Frank's.

On the whole, NYC is great for biking. I think having multi-lane one way roads help. Plus, the street parking width on those streets seemed much larger than in Chicago, so it wasn't difficult to find bike-friendly streets.

I was out late the night before and only got 4.5 hours of sleep. When I started from Frank's, I thought there was no way I would have a successful ride on that little sleep (and ten extra pounds), but I was able to do it without even much struggle. Then after the ride, I saw a three hour Shakespeare play and stayed awake the whole time! I'm giving credit to New York City itself as the energy source that got me through.

Chicago Bike to Work Week

There's a lot of confusion out there about when Bike to Work week in Chicago is. At the very least, I was confused. I though that Bike to Work week was May 17-21 ending with a bang on May 21, Bike to Work Day. And I didn't just hear from a squirrel or something -- biketoworkweek.org exists and those are the dates it had for national Bike to Work week.

I had the song Five Days in May by Blue Rodeo in my head and had an epiphany that I could make new lyrics so it's about biking to work in Chicago and record it. Then I'd make some video because that's how things spread, and it would raise awareness and unite bikers and all that good stuff.

Once I had the idea, I thought it fit so perfectly that I couldn't not do it. This brought up a lot of issues -- Since when could I write lyrics? What would the video be? Maybe a bear suit should be involved? Should I get actors? Kevin Bacon? But it had to get done, and even it was the bare minimum, like strapping a camera to my bike and riding around not even at the locations mentioned in the song, then that would have to do.

I posted the video on Saturday and expected it to become a Chicago anthem. No, but I thought there would be some buzz in Chicago about the week and I was excited to be in the middle of it. I had TweetDeck up, had columns of searches, saw a lot about Bike to Work week, but none coming from Chicago. (This was fun to watch though; a lot of small towns published stories about it, a nice cross-section of the country).

Turns out there's another Bike to Work Week. This one's organized by the Active Transportation Alliance and is more Chicago-centric. It's June 12-18. So I guess this is the one that Chicago cares about. I don't know what separates this from the national one or if there's any bad blood between them, but the ATA site does look a whole lot nicer. (I actually knew about the ATA week beforehand, but became deluded about which week mattered, possibly by the allure of writing a parody song).

Ideally, my song could be carried over to be about the Chicago Bike to Work Week that matters, but it's all about being in the month of May! Anyways, it was still a lot of fun to do. I could still make a song about the upcoming Bike to Work Week -- like June is Busting Out All Over [on a bike].

Easter Ride to Des Plaines River

First big bike ride of the year. I got out my Chicago bike map and looked for a good goal. I wasn't sure how far I'd be comfortable going, so I decided to get to the Des Plaines River Trail, then decide if I want to go north or south once I get there.

1. St. Joseph the Betrothed Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Cool site. The path out to the Des Plaines was all pretty easy - Lawrence to Higgins to Foster, back down to Lawrence at Canfield. The wind was pretty strong, I think NNE by my inner anemometer, so I'm already thinking that I'll go south and west to set myself up for a very pleasant ride home.

2. The Splaines. The path is a big bright green line on my map, so that seems like pretty good riding. It wasn't though, it was pretty difficult to ride on. I planned to ride down to where the green line turns to a dotted purple line and I could provide some investigative reporting on how developed it is, but instead I got off the trail on Grand in River Grove. At least it was nice being by the river, I could bond with nature for a bit, and the trees kept the wind down while I went south.

3. River Grove. On the left some Easter decorations. On the right is the place I was hoping to get a hot dog, but it closed at 1pm on Sunday. Why even open, Gene's & Jude's?! Also that's a glamor shot of my bike. Stoic, in the sun.

In River Grove, I was still feeling good and decided to keep going south, against the wind, for that glorious ride home thing. Further south is the massive Illinois Prairie Path (first purple, then blue) which spans the entire western suburbs. That would have been pretty ambitious, especially since I'm not usually one to turn around and go back the same way.

I started south, but only got to North Ave. I was really struggling against the wind and reminded myself that I'm supposed to be having fun. Plus by then I was in Melrose Park and became awestruck at the suburban sprawl.

4. Melrose Park.

I babysat my nephew a month ago. He said he went to Chuck E Cheese that day. The first question I thought to ask was, "Where was that?" I thought better before asking it, kids don't care about that stuff, I hadn't talked to kids in a while. But I'm pretty sure that when I was a kid, this is the Chuck E Cheese I went to. On the right, there's a racetrack.

5. Augusta. I watched this last week and was curious to ride down Augusta after the possibly-crazy guy at 0:50 said that it's a "jewel", a "beautiful" superhighway for bikes from River North to Oak Park. Last year, I went due east on Washington from Oak Park and went through some scary neighborhoods, so possibly Augusta was different.

No, it's not different, it's scary, that guy's bona fide crazy. It is cool though that I went from suburban sprawl in Melrose Park to fancy houses in Oak Park to The Wire within a few minutes.

6. Home stretch. Straight up California, wind at my back, very nice and pleasant. I was worried for a second that the winds would change and go the opposite way, what do I know about how wind works? But no, it was nice.

7. For a few minutes, I had the crazy plan to ride from Lincoln Square to the Siskel Center to see The Secret of Kells, but didn't because it looked like rain, I might get cold, and it's playing all week. Luckily I didn't because a cool thunderstorm started a few minutes after I got home.

Grand total: 33 miles. Good first big ride of the year.

Notes:

· I'm a slave to my bike map and for the most part only ride on roads that are at least yellow on the map. A link to it would be very appropriate here, but I can't find one.

· There's probably a really cool way to make maps interactive and clickable and everything. I haven't gotten that far yet.