CHICAGO’S ONE OF the more cycling-friendly cities in America, from its profusion of park paths and marked bike lanes on major thoroughfares to a host of activist and support organizations to the wide availability of affordable parts. The city’s own transportation department site, which includes a frequently updated map (www.egov.cityofchicago.org/Transportation/bikemap/keymap.html) of marked lanes, is a good place to start planning your routes. For an exhaustive guide to biking, including info on shops, activism, safety, and more, see the well-maintained portal bikechicago.info.
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The local chapter of Critical Mass(chicagocriticalmass.org) hosts free rides that start downtown at Daley Plaza (Washington and Dearborn) and emphasize the group’s takeback-the-streets message. Part community- building exercise, part activism, and part happening, the rides draw motley crowds, from corporate types on mountain bikes to purple-haired messengers on doubledecker homemade jobs. The next one’s scheduled for September 29.
The gay and lesbian orientedWindy City Cycling Club (windycitycyclingclub.com) partners withdykediva.com for Dykes Pedaling Bikes, a slow ride down the lake from the Loop to Hyde Park, Saturday, October 7, at 9 AM.
SUPPLIES When it comes to gear and maintenance, there are plenty of choices. Kozy’s Cyclery (kozy.com) has several locations, all good if you’re looking for new bikes or gear or have maintenance issues. Likewise Upgrade Cycle Works(1130 W. Chicago, 312-226-8650,upgradecycle.com) has a knowledgeable service staff and stocks high-end new models.
Friends of the Cyclist
ROB SADOWSKY As head of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation since July 2004, Sadowsky has led community-building and outreach programs, such as the annual “Bike the Drive” ride.
LEE RAVENSCROFT A longtime humanitarian who worked in Central America in the late 80s and 90s with the National Engineering University, Ravenscroft founded the Working Bikes cooperative in 2001, modeled on similar organizations in Toronto and Boston, to supply communities in developing countries with two-wheeled transportation.
JOHN GREENFIELD The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s bike parking coordinator is also a member of the band Illinois First!—a frequent presence at cycling benefits—and a familiar face in cycling advocacy circles. He coordinates Bike Winters’
annual Frozen Snot Century ride in late February, a trek to Milwaukee and back in two days, and the Perimeter Ride in August, a daylong, 100-mile amble. In winter 2004 he and Steve Marsala began an attempt to visit every bike shop within the Chicago city limits: the results are the Chicago Bike Shop Database at chicagobikeshops.info.
MATT THE RAT One of those behind Chicago’s preeminent freak-bike gang the Rat Patrol, who specialize in repurposing alley trash to build some of the funkiest choppers in Chicago. You’ll find him at Critical Mass, at the many freak rides that happen around town, and at rat-patrol.org, which he keeps updated with pictures, event info, and various rat arcana. | TD
Many shops offer discounts to Chicagoland Bicycle Federation members. Check out chicagobikeshops.info for complete listings, and be sure to pick up a helmet if you haven’t already got one. In case you haven’t noticed the spectral memorials posted around the city by Chicago Ghost Bikes, our car culture often makes city biking difficult: they’re bikes locked in place and spray painted white to raise awareness of bicycle-related fatalities. The first ghost bike, outside the Empty Bottle at 1035 N. Western, is a chopper of the kind often ridden by Isai Medina, who was hit near that spot.
