obviously at the end of bike&build, everyone on the trip exchanged contact information so we could share pictures and general updates on life. the other day i sent an update, some of which is copied below. occasional explanations are bracketed.
[at first i talked about doing the chicago perimeter ride with anna, and linked to my post on here about it.]
ok, back to the fall. with one last century under my chamois, i was off to a new quarter of schooling! i'm almost done with my degree; i just have this huge thesis left to write, then one last class to take in the spring. my winter plans involve writing said giant paper and finding a "career" job. eep. if anyone has any ideas about what i want to do with my life, do let me know!
other than the perimeter ride, i have continued to ride my bicycle like it's my job. [a couple of other people had said in their update e-mails that they don't ride much, or at all, anymore] (sigh, i must say i'm disappointed, though not entirely surprised, that some of you now have expensive dust-collecting bicycle sculptures! get out there kids; live the dream, ride your bikes!!!)
indeed, a bicycle is definitely THE way to get around chicago&emdash;free, reliable, and it always goes exactly where you want, unlike the two-bucks-a-pop, where-the-fuck-is-the-bus, gee-i'm-here-now-i-get-to-walk-a-half-mile CTA (aka chicago public transit). and i think it goes without saying that bikes>cars... healthy, non-deadly, non-polluting, etc. you don't get legs like these pushing a gas pedal, know what i'm saying? OF COURSE YOU DO!
in the spring, i was already using my bike to get almost everywhere i needed to go, but this fall i had the added bonus of a bicycle commute to campus! for reasons of claustrophobia and money, i moved out of the UofC's neighborhood of hyde park to the adorable (cheaper!) neighborhood of bridgeport, home of the sox. bridgeport's about 6 miles from hyde park, so i had a really nice half-hour commute to class and back all fall. i definitely enjoyed the chance to clear my head and mentally prep for learning, and the adrenaline burst isn't a bad way to start the day, either.
i've been doing some bike advocacy things, too; working a lot with BikeWinter.org to plan events and whatnot. i encourage everyone to take a minute to look at the website. it has a LOT of helpful tips for staying in the saddle year-round, everything from what to wear in the bitter cold to how to keep your bicycle from getting eaten alive by salt. there's also a great calendar of events for chicago, and a couple of other midwestern towns have calendars as well.
i've been critical massing, of course. [i talked a bit about post-bike&build adventures in san francisco, and recommend fine SF establishments to two b&b alumnae who now live there]
some UofC friends and i started a smaller, local critical mass in hyde park on the third friday of every month (so as to not conflict with chicago critical mass on the last fridays). we've been getting crowds ranging from 10-40, which i consider a great success! i'd really love to see more of a bike scene happening in hyde park; a lot of folks have bikes but hardly know how to ride them, let alone do any maintenance or mechanical work to them. and just a few weeks ago, i helped a friend of mine plan and execute an alleycat in hyde park to benefit a project he's involved with. you see the flyer he made, and read more about it up on my flickr.
yeah, so alleycats are super-fun, and y'all should definitely ride one sometime. my first one was this fall, before the hyde park one. the theme was sadie hawkins, and it was partnered, though most alleycats are not. female registration was $5, and male registration was $40(!), or $10 if you had a female partner. so lots of girls asked guys to be their partner, and the guys, happy to save $30, came along for the ride. proceeds went to a local women's health clinic, which was groovy. the afterparty was one of the best parties i've ever been to ever, though the next morning was rough. maybe that had something to do with their beer pricing: the first beer was $1, and subsequent beers were 25 cents. you just turned in your empty and gave some fine folks a quarter in exchange for a new beer. makes party clean-up a snap! note to self: next time, after sprinting for 20 miles, have a more substantive dinner than a clif bar and 8 (?) PBRs.
despite the rampant cheap beer, the alleycat scene is something i'd like to get more into. there's a series of 6 alleycats called the Tour Da Chicago staring in january; i'm going to do my best in those, though i will be at a big disadvantage because of the bike i'll be using. i've taken my b&b bike to my parents' house in lancaster, PA, where i am right now. why, you may ask? i was in no hurry to expose sancho to a chicago winter, i was always paranoid about theft, and it was getting to be a pain carrying him up and down my apartment steps all the time. so he's in PA, where there are actually HILLS for all those gears. i'll probably leave him here when i head back to chicago in january, since i have a good-enough "other" bike in chicago.
that other bike is called murray, and you can also find him on my flickr page. the bike is made from cheap (aka HEAVY) steel, or steelish something, has only 6 gears, and has no clipless pedals. not ideal for racing, but i'm not exactly in it to win it. my goals for Da Tour are to ride every stage (they're spread over 6 weekends), finish every stage (no DNFs!), make at least 4 new friends whose names i remember, and stay rubber side down (aka no wipeouts).
in other related news, just yesterday i had to maintain the chain bracelet i've been wearing since amarillo, TX for the very first time. the chain was ridden halfway across the country by breanna, and had one link that was sticking. i put a single drop of purple extreme lube by the pin, and now all is well. btw, that thing makes going through airport security a blast! i beep through the metal detectors every time, tell the guards it's because of the chain on my wrist, explain that, no, i can't take it off, and then get searched. every single time, woohoo! i do kinda like the attention, though; nothing like a good pat-down before your flight! everybody wins!
whew, that's about all i got for you. with any luck, i'll be in NYC for december's critical mass on the 28th, and sticking around for new years. [here i give a shout-out to fellow rider laura, who lives in NYC] anyone else around nyc for the holidays, or pennsylvania for that matter?
FINALLY, if any of you kids ever make it out to chicago, give me a holler! or if you want to visit and need a couch/floor to sleep on, also let me know! i love showing off my city :)
now if you'll excuse me, i'm gonna go ride my bike now.
lauren
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