The Chicago Neighborhood Bikeway Campaign is working hard to make Chicago safer for bicyclists with over 100 miles of protected bike paths throughout the city by 2015. The first of these, on Kinzie, will be going in soon.

For me, I like riding in the streets, the implied danger gets the heart racing a little faster and makes the ride a bit more enjoyable. But, with these paths, I could talk my wife into riding around with me, more kids would enjoy bikes as their main means of transportation and less accidents are sure to occur for both motorists and cyclists. And, hopefully, we’ll also see the end of those douche bags who ride their bikes on the sidewalks.

Please go here to support this project with your name.

Chicago’s first protected bicycle lane to be installed on Kinzie Street
Cycle tracks separate bicyclists from motor vehicle traffic typically by using a divider such as a construction barrier, a concrete planter box or a raised median placed to the left of the bikes-only lane. (For this pilot project, flexible posts will be installed.) A sidewalk may exist to the right of the cycle track, but all motorized vehicles, whether moving or parked, are to the left of the barricade.

Read the full article.

Read all about Chicago’s Bike 2015 plan here.

Bicycles are great for so many things. These low impact, meandering expressions of self-sustainability are not only the most elegant way to travel between destinations – offering exercise and a mercurial posture – they also offer a chance to see the fast-forward world with slow-frame-advance eyes. The mere act of riding a bike seems subversive, the wheels of self-propulsion properly dilly-dallying to the great consternation of the all too mechanized wheels of progress, you coast down hills in a particular kind of meditation that can elevate even the thickest necked gorilla, floating her back to the more wayward days of youth. Even the design insinuates a kind of evolutionary step, a self-reliant leap beyond the beastial inclinations of our tool-making past into a future where human consciousness can be applied to the exultation of process as much as progress and mechanical fetishism can develop a strong taste for whimsy as well as engineering.

With the bicycle, it’s almost as if our need for progress becomes alchemically wedded to our need for play, each wheel spinning in generation of it’s opposing pole, defying gravitational inclinations in gyroscopic piracy and emanating a complimentary whole greater than any of it’s individual parts. It seems only appropriate then that on this day in 1943, while chemist Albert Hoffman rode his bicycle home from his laboratory, that the first purposeful consumption of LSD-25 began it’s own first joyride on the neural nets of human consciousness.

Three days later, April 19, 1943, Hofmann performed a self-experiment to determine the true effects of LSD, intentionally ingesting 0.25 miligrams (250 micrograms) of the substance, an amount he predicted to be a threshold dose (an actual threshold dose is 20 micrograms).[6] Less than an hour later, Hofmann experienced sudden and intense changes in perception. He asked his laboratory assistant to escort him home and, as use of motor vehicles was prohibited because of wartime restrictions, they had to make the journey on a bicycle. On the way, Hofmann’s condition rapidly deteriorated as he struggled with feelings of anxiety, alternatingly believing the next-door neighbor was a malevolent witch, that he was going insane, and the LSD had poisoned him. When the house doctor arrived, however, he could detect no physical abnormalities, save for a pair of incredibly dilated pupils.Hofmann was reassured, and soon his terror began to give way to a sense of good fortune and enjoyment, as he later wrote…

“… little by little I could begin to enjoy the unprecedented colors and plays of shapes that persisted behind my closed eyes. Kaleidoscopic, fantastic images surged in on me, alternating, variegated, opening and then closing themselves in circles and spirals, exploding in colored fountains, rearranging and hybridizing themselves in constant flux …”

So here’s to it then: the Dandy Horse, Dr. Hoffman, his trouble-child LSD and all those ways humanity can still be better, more playful, and more compelling to keep around.

Although some of you really brain damaged sods might have been riding through this god-awfully cold and long winter, there are other, less brazen folks who have been relying on public transportation for the past few months. Either way your bike probably needs a little TLC to get it ready for spring riding. Here are two great links that should cover all of your bicycle maintenance needs, one being a series of videos, the other a very handy PDF that makes taking care of your two-wheeled steed beautifully simple.

Check this nutty shit out! The Parker Brothers have built a Green Machine chopper.

Holy crap. Some of my best and first memories of this world were formed while storming the west suburban streets on my green machine, slamming one bar forward and one back so i could flat spin like the bad mother fucker I was. Between my Green Machine and my super fly black satin Darth Vader baseball jacket I was the meanest 5 year old on the culdesac.

I wonder if you could enter this in the Monster Wheel Grand Prix?

Big Wheels have grown up! You may remember the excitement of Big Wheels bikes when you were a kid. There is nobody who wouldn’t like to experience the thrill again. It recaptures childhood, and offers simple, fast-paced fun.

Recognizing the growing number of Big Wheel enthusiasts, we are creating the Monster Wheel Grand Prix. It is a portable track designed by Chicago’s Creation Coalition. It takes Big Wheels into the realm of high art and sophistication. These are metal art pieces from the folks who brought you Hot Carla, Acid Tongue, and Velocipede Volitation.

Racers and their fans will experience an immersive art environment that is part sculpture, part competition, part excitement, part fire art and part theater. The setting will include shock-carnival barkers and an assortment of costumed folk to give the place just the right mix of “danger” and “atmosphere”.

Once participants meet stringent safety requirements, they are free to challenge friends and ride a monster wheel into glory and legend.

This is a bit advanced notice, but our friend Kathleen Ellis is running a beginner’s yoga class designed especially with the cyclist in mind. Expect work on leg and lower back strengthening with some focus on parts otherwise neglected by our two-wheeled friends as well as some energetic work for that special kind of the crazies only cyclists get.

Urban cyclists share many physical complaints: achy backs, tender wrists, tight hamstrings, slumpy posture. Emotionally, riding is by turns taxing and exhilarating – the beauty of the sky and the freedom of the open road mixed with the always-present potential for conflict and injury.

This workshop is designed to support both the body and spirit of the modern cyclist. In each segment we’ll start with a restorative, centering meditation and then get moving: gently stretching and strengthening areas that need attention.

We’ll also work with self-massage, meditation and breathing techniques to help relieve stress and be present both on and off the saddle.

Come on out and try it! I promise it is not too hard!

We’re having a second workshop that day starting at 2:30pm, a second workshop for intermediate/experienced yogis. Take both and get a discount!

Moksha Yoga Center
700 North Carpenter St
Chicago, IL

I know my posts have been infrequent and hovering around the similar and predictable constellation of food and beer as of late. But it’s the holidays and I’ve been drunk, stuffed with food and preoccupied by things more compelling than coifing my blog. I’ve got a back log of info on events going on around the city and some sweet skateboarding videos, not to mention info on bicycle snow tires as well as some interesting eco-friendly snowboarding gear. But, right now, all you’re going to get is this awesome and simple instructional on how to make your own butter.

If you’re disappointed you need to reconsider your relationship to the virtues of fat.

I need to start every morning with this video on Shinya Kimura by Henrik Hansen.

Here’s a great idea that I’m scrubbing from BYO.com, using a pumpkin as the fermenter for your pumpkin ale. I haven’t tried it yet, but this Halloween season may be the perfect time.

Old Pumpculiar
(Pumpkin-spiced old ale)
(10 gallons, all-grain)

OG = 1.059 FG = 1.013

IBU = 20 SRM = 25 ABV = 6.0%

Ingredients
15 lbs. British 2-row pale ale malt
2.5 lbs. US 6-row pale malt
1.5 lb. torrified wheat
1.5 lbs crystal malt (60 °L)

6 oz. dark crystal malt (90 °L)
6 oz. chocolate malt
1 lb. cane sugar
16 fl. oz. molasses

6 lbs. baked pumpkin cubes (in mash)
1.5 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (at knockout)
11 AAU Newport hops (60 mins) 1 tsp. yeast nutrient
Fermentis Safale S-04 dried yeast Step by Step

Mash at 154 °F (68 °C). Boil 90 minutes. Ferment in pumpkin.

Read about the whole process here.

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.