ActiveTrans.org has set up what seems like a great resource for Chicago bicyclists should you need it.

The Crash Support Hotline is a tool for bicyclists and pedestrians that have been in a crash. We provide resources and help determine the next steps after a crash; such as finding a lawyer, submitting property claims and even directing people to financial aid for victims of hit and run crashes.

People can call the Crash Support Hotline 24/7 and any missed calls will be returned within 24 hours. The hotline is currently being answered by staff, but we will soon be training several volunteers to field calls. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Rebecca@activetrans.org.

Instructables has an interesting article on building a bicycle powered USB generator so that you can charge or run USB driven devices (like your iPod, Garmin, etc) while you are pedaling through the city (or countryside as it were).

“The basic idea for the USB Bike Generator is to use a suitable stepper motor as a generator and a voltage regulator circuit to maintain the 5 volts needed for the USB ports. In this instructable I will show you how to build this generator and through testing show that it is 70% efficient at converting the power from the generator to the power needed for the USB port. “

Sounds cool, I’d be interested to see how it works in practice. Keep in mind also that, as with most all Instructables, the comments section is as important and enlightening as the article itself.

This looks suspiciously hippie-like to me, but, regardless, I may roll down and check out New Belgium’s Tour de Fat at Palmer Square on Saturday. That is if I’m not too beat up from the Ween show the night before.

Shit, I still need to post the review of the Beer Hoptacular.

I’ve spent the last few weeks fighting general malaise, mostly with general anesthetic, who is much more interesting if less useful than general semantics. Love that joke. Anyway, I don’t mean to get overly personal but I’ve had trouble finding much inspiration recently which is not a happy place to be. Last night I was digging around on Netflix and found 180 Degrees South. It’s a documentary chronicling a six month journey to Patagonia taken by a young man named Jeff Johnson. Jeff and some friends are following a path that was laid out on a journey undertaken 40 years earlier by Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins, the founders of Patagonia and The North Face respectively.  The stated goal of both trips was to climb the treacherous peaks of Patagonia and find some tasty waves to surf but both journeys ended up being something more for the travelers.

The film really got my juices flowing, it reminded me that an untamed and untouched world still exists out there.  That adventure and experience can still be had if one seeks it out.  It was precisely the kind of thing I needed to see and has helped to re energize my spirit of adventure.

A major focus of the film is on the abuse and depletion of the earth’s, and in particular, Patagonia’s natural resources which is never an uplifting thing to see.  Despite those saddening conditions the main thrust is that of a wild eyed freedom and engagement with the natural world.  It was very cool to be able to see old footage and  hear present day interviews with Chouinard and Tompkins.  Always fascinating to  get into the heads  of old seekers.  Check out the website, you can dig thorugh some old footage and interviews and then go watch the movie.  Did me a world of good.

Holy crap, apparently it’s bike to work in here in Chicago. I suppose that means I should drag my ass out of bed and bike to work. Shit! Shit! Shit! Well, I’ll be happier once I do.

I may also go try and check out David Byrne talking at Daley plaza on the 18th.

Happy riding!

After returning from two weeks in the beer-puddled paradise of Belgium, coming back to the well worn grooves of my ‘real’ life, I’ve found myself in a very real and tangible depression.

I’ve had to stop drinking due to some unsurprising health concerns (‘stop drinking’ = only drink 3 days a week, though this will probably become full time for a spell very shortly) leaving my pleasure centers very thirsty and equally furious at me. Aside from the gaping maw of my empty and angry opiate receptors, or perhaps because of them, my attention span resembles that of one of these 20-year olds running around today, you know the ones, they breast fed on Mountain Dew, came of age after 9/11, think Nirvana is classic rock and have never even heard of Minor Threat.

I feel like a neon, self-reflecting bug zapper, like a rave toy reconditioned for evil. This is a grim prognosis, my friends, these waters are indeed very deep.

So, as I fill my face with pizza and chocolate and cigarettes and sleep, and as I continue to sit inappropriately close to friends while they drink their beer, hoping, in vein, to smell the sweet serpents kiss of effervescent excellence that is my beloved barley beverage, I’ve been trying to come up with new ways to bide my time until death envelopes me in it’s sweet, forgiving embrace. I thought, off hand, I might take some melodrama classes being offered by the local summer stock theater here in the city, but, upon further reflection, it’s probably no use.

Instead I think I may return to a source near to my heart, one that has not been properly dipped into in far too long. Yes, long distance bicycling. Sure, I ride my Jamis to work everyday and occassionally use it as transport to weekend activities. But I miss the days of 30, 40, 60 mile rides. I even miss the centuries now and again. To this day – and I’ve involved myself in many strange and memorable acts – few memories hold as much water for me as the times I’ve travelled between cities and towns with only my bike and what I could carry on it.

And instead of continuing to wait for my lazy and cross-eyed friends to get into bicycling, I do believe it’s time for me to reach out to a group of people already into cycling, people I don’t know, people I can learn from. It’s time to step a little outside my comfort zone and be a stranger amongst humans once again. It’s time I push myself out of this mid-life malaise and rediscover activities to make my nervous system sing once again.

In service of that I’ve found the Chicago Cycling Club. Their website describes them as a varied group of bicycle enthusiasts who participate in 3-4 rides per week of varying intensity. Everything from social rides at a 12-14 mph pace to training rides at a brisk 16-18 mph for 60 miles or more. Their site features a nice scheduling page allowing you to search by dates and types of rides. They offer a decent description of each ride, the average speed and the level of difficulty.

I’ll report back after actually participating in their ride, but right now, that mess of tangled christmas lights laying around upstairs in my head is glowering a little lighter at the prospect of clocking in some real hours on my bike once again.

From the Chicagoist blog:

Here’s the entire top 10:

1. Minneapolis
2. Portland
3. Boulder
4. Seattle
5. Eugene
6. San Francisco
7. Madison
8. New York
9. Tuscon
10. Chicago

The magazine cited Mayor Daley’s enthusiasm for cycling, a growing network of bike lanes, and amenities like valet bike parking and indoor bike racks as its reasons for including Chicago at number 10. It also considered availability of bike racks, bike culture and bike shops, the opinions of national and local advocates and experts, and the Bicycling and Walking in the United States 2010 Benchmarking Report.

Google Maps has added “bicycle” as an option for map routing, theoretically helping you avoid hills, traffic, etc. It also has trail options as well. That’s a nice surprise to get spring jumpstarted a bit. Now we just need to see if it will work.

I recently got back from a trip up to northern Michigan and on the way we drove through a few small towns built on the shores of lakes. It drifted me back across the frozen landscapes of my childhood, staring out at tiny little houses dotting a barren white expanse, hard water as they call it. In South Dakota and Minnesota, where I grew up, this time of year ushered in a whole new season of sports, not of the exciting alpine variety but more of the head shaking, why the hell would anyone do that variety. There was snowmobiling, which is fun and makes sense if your not drunk and its light out, guidelines when not followed result all too often in decapitation by barb wire fence. I’m not kidding, nearly happened to two kids in my high school but luckily they both lived to tell the story of the rakish scars across their neck.

Here’s a pretty rad video of a guy carving like crazy on a snowmobile:

There were other stranger sports like trapping, which could be quite frightening.

The traps are generally set in places that are hard to both see and reach and are often occupied by understandably upset woodland creatures. If their not, than your not a good trapper. The all to common result is that you end up lying on your belly in three feet of snow, reaching under a fallen tree on a frozen creek and running into a pissed off and dying skunk. Believe me it’s a bad scene and hard to understand what makes it worth it.

There was also ice racing. Something I never did but a lot of the burnouts who used to beat me up in high school swore by it.

Basically it’s just racing with real long spikes on your tires. I think it comes in all sorts of classes, motorcycle, ATV, snowmobile etc. I suppose it’s fun but it strikes me as absolutely nuts to be racing at top speeds on ice with what essentially amounts to little spears on your wheels.

Really the only sport I ever got into much was ice fishing, more on tht later.

From TransWorld Snowboarding:

SALT LAKE CITY, UT (January 13, 2010) Snowboarder Kevin Pearce (Norwich, VT) is continuing to recover at the University of Utah Hospital. He consistently encourages his doctors and family with the strides he is making.

Elaine Skalabrin, MD, Medical Director, Neuro Critical Care, and one of Kevin’s doctors, states, “Kevin continues to improve and is actively participating in his therapies. He is making progress on a daily basis.”

Pia and Simon Pearce, Kevin’s parents, have been by Kevin’s side at the hospital since his arrival. They would like to share: “ We cannot say enough good things about the doctors, nurses, and support staff here at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. They have shown Kevin and our family the best of what modern medicine can offer and have been completely caring and supportive throughout this entire process. We extend our heartfelt appreciation and admiration to everyone involved Kevin’s recovery.”

Kevin’s Facebook Fan page, Well Wishes to our Frend Kevin Pearce, is still the preferred site for people posting their get-well wishes and for getting the most current and reliable information.