Chicago Bike Blog

Bike if you want to

With Labor Day weekend around the corner, summer seems to be drawing to a close.

In fact, there are still more than three weeks of summer left on the calendar.  And even after that ends, Chicago often experiences some of the best cycling weather of the year. Fall days can be sunny, mild, or pleasantly cool, and turn the sweat-drenched cycling of the summer months into a truly refreshing experience.

Don't see yourself as a bike commuter? That's OK. I happen to believe that you do not have to "become" anything if you just want to try riding your bike. My mother-in-law and her 80-year-old husband recently started riding their bikes to the grocery store. I don't think they ever stopped to figure out if they are "bike commuters".

The best tip I have for riding a bike is to do it when you want to. Here are some other tips for incorporating biking into your routine this season and through the fall:

• Keep your bike where it's easily accessible, with all your gear near at hand (helmet and lock at a minimum). This will reduce the frustration of trying to find a key item when you're in a hurry to get out the door.
• Carry a backpack. It will turn any bike trip into a potentially productive one without a major investment.
• Don't bite off more that you can chew. Rather than trying to build your whole day around the bike, start by planning short trips: post office, library, coffee shop, small shopping errand.
• If you were planning a major shopping expedition, see if instead there are a few things you can pick up locally, and put off the big trip until you have to be out with the car for another reason.
• If you are traffic-averse, ride your bike to places you can reach using small neighborhoods streets.
• If needed, give yourself a small push once in a while.

Here's the thing: just because you drove your car or got on the bus today doesn't mean you can't ride your bike tomorrow. Conversely, if you ride your bike today, It doesn't mean you have to cycle everywhere for the rest of your life. It only means that you will use your bike sometimes, when it makes sense to you. Personally, I am much more likely to use my bike if there is no external pressure on me to do so, such as a guilt-trip from someone who cycles more than I do.

Off-road attitude

When we went on vacation earlier this month, Chris loaded our son's new mountain bike on the roof of the van.
"What's she gonna ride?" I asked, thinking of our daughter, who, as we just discovered, has outgrown her 16" girlie bike.
"I dunno. We don't have a bike for her."
"Can she try Peter's old bike?"
So, fifteen minutes before we went on the road, with the car already loaded to a bursting point, we had Nadia try  her brother's mountain bike.
"That'll do" we said, after giving her a crash course in hand brake and grip-shifter operation.
Later, at the lakeside cabin Chris unsuccessfully lobbied our son and his friend to join him on an off-road expedition to the lighthouse. But Nadia was more than eager to accompany dad on her "new" bike.

Here is all the special gear this 7-year-old needed for her first four-mile off-road romp:

• 6-speed kid's mountain bike (hers was a 20" wheel Jamis bike, a few years old)
• helmet
• one-piece bathing suit from Target (two-piece would be practical for trail-side calls of nature)
• nylon board shorts (unlined, unpadded) from Old Navy
• "mock-crocs"

The one thing we really should have outfitted her with was her own water pack. She drank more than half of dad's water. That's how we knew the two-piece swimsuit would have been a better choice.

What's in your bag?

This post comes to you from Boblo Island in the straits of Mackinac. I am siting at the only public establishment with wi-fi available on this small snippet of land.

ChicCyclist has invited some people to disclose the contents of their bags. Here's my contribution.

We can debate the relative merits of messenger bags, backpacks and panniers all day long. If you've read this blog before, you already know that my favorite bike bag is the humble grocery pannier.

Because I almost always use it when I bike, and certainly every time I run errands with my bike, I keep the most necessary essentials it it at all times.

Here's a close-up:

And some debris, it seems.

If you take away the debris, these are the essentials that are left:

• Two bunji cords for carrying unexpected loads.
• Kryptonite Evolution mini-lock.
• I can get away with the mini-lock, because I use locking skewers on my wheels. But that means I must always carry the wheels removal gizmo with me, I case I get a flat. That gizmo is attached to my bike lock key, which always lives in the grocery pannier.

Speaking of flats, you doubtless noticed that any flat-repair items are conspicuously absent from my bag. That is because, attached to the seat of my bike at all times, is a bag that contains the flat-fixing necessities. I don't have to remember to bring it. It's always there.

Of course, when I go places with or without my bike, there are other items that I inevitably need.

• Notebook (after trying every day planner in existence, I have settled upon a blank, plain paper Moleskine pad (link) to contain my tasks, to-do's, shopping lists, phone numbers, directions, recipes, and letters to be mailed tucked into the little pocket on the back cover).
• A few business cards, if I happen to remember them.
• Energy bar (a current favorite is one made for kids)
• Tea tree oil (for mosquito bites)
• Nail file
• Tea bags
• Lip balm
• Pen
• Cell phone

But I don't have a special bike bag. Sometimes I use a small shoulder bag, sometimes a canvas sack, other times a purse. Any bag I happen to choose fits conveniently inside my grocery pannier. Which is why it's my favorite bike bag.

Could Chicago look like this?

Today, I am recycling some of my favorite images from last year's trip to San Francisco: the DuBoce Bike Mural.

Chicago is becoming a city of cyclists, and as more and more drivers give biking a try, I believe attitudes will change, and the use, enjoyment and safety of bicycles on the streets of our town will grow. Since biking (and walking) encourages closer contact with our surroundings and fellow humans, I hope this will lead to creating stronger and more engaged urban communities within the city.

Here are some efforts underway to turn Chicago into a more livable city:
Bike 2015 Plan
Bloomingdale Trail
Healthy Streets Campaign

Bicycle laws: the good, the bad, and the... unclear

It's always a good time to refresh your memory about the laws and regulations governing the use of bicycles in Chicago and Illinois. The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation has a page where these laws are clearly spelled out.

Most of these laws are already familiar to anyone who has spent any time commuting by bike on the streets of Chicago:

• You are given the same rights as a driver of a vehicle, and are subject to the same laws.
• Bicycle riders are not allowed on expressways, and cyclists over the age of 12 are not allowed on sidewalks.
• While there is no specific speed limit for bicycles, you must keep your speed reasonable and prudent under the existing conditions.
• Ride as close as safe and practicable to the right-hand curb, or vehicles parked on the right side of the roadway.
• Signal your turns and lane changes.
• Ride single-file.
• If you ride after dark, you must use a headlamp and a rear reflector.
• Do not carry more people than the number for which the bike, or the equipment attached to it,  was designed.
• If you are a parent, you are responsible to see to it that your child obeys the rules of the road while cycling.

Even though I thought I already know these rules, I found a few things that surprised and astounded me:

• Although cycling on sidewalks is prohibited in the city of Chicago, it is not specifically banned in the state of Illinois. If you ride your bike on a suburban sidewalk, you must yield to pedestrians.
• A bicycle is defined as a human-powered vehicle having two tandem wheels (scooters are specifically excluded from this definition). This begs the question of the adult tricycles. Are they legally allowed on roadways?
• The Illinois law (sec. 11-1510) requires cyclists turning left at intersections to execute a "box turn" (travel straight across the intersection on the right of the road, stop and turn when you get to the curb, and proceed on the right along the intersecting road). Yet elsewhere (sec. 11-1505) it seems to imply that cyclists can move to the left of the lane when preparing to make left turn. Since the city of Chicago does not have a special rule for executing left turns, does this mean that cyclists can or cannot turn left from the center lane or left-turn lane?
• The same Illinois law apparently permits adults to travel by bike with a child or infant securely attached to their person in a backpack or sling. This is too horrifying to even contemplate.
• The Illinois law prohibits cyclists from carrying packages that prevent them from keeping both hands on the handlebars. The Chicago law prohibits cyclists from carrying packages that prevent them from keeping at least one hand on the handlebars. You decide...
• The Illinois law specifically requires bikes to be equipped with a brake that will enable the operator to make the braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement. What are the implications of this for brake-less fixed-gear bikes?

So, when we say "obey the law", it is perhaps not always so clear what we mean. Use your eyes, ears, common sense, and even your sixth sense to stay safe!