A smashing success!

Saturday,
23 January 2010

The BBC's
Cozy Hearth Tweed Ride
from Aaron Bussey
on Vimeo

Let your tweed flag fly!

on the Cozy Hearth
Tweed Ride...

Once again, the Central Committee of the BBC chose an unseasonably warm day to gather together nearly 40 ladies & gentleman for a fab tour of the Windy City's posh fireplace pubs. As always there were a lot of new punters who joined last Saturday; but a lot of cheery ole' timers and Ocean Pearls as well. We also had a journalism student along to vid the first stop at Jack's Bar & Grill on Southport just below Lincoln.

The growing interest in our little collective reminds of an article that appeared in The Spectator a few weeks back. It so often happens on the opposite shores of the Atlantic. The Brits despair over the passing of a well-worn tradition just their American cousins herald its rebirth. This time around it's the demise of that dowdy English fashion sense: the threadbare, genteel poverty so valued by the upper classes since the late 18th Century. Harry Mount writes,

The idea was born that it should always take a few seconds to notice if someone is well-dressed. Nobody who was really smart wanted to appear so — that would be ostentatious. Enter those frayed shirt collars, jumpers with the elbows gone, battered chintz rather than fresh new seat covers.

The usefulness of things, no matter how old or time-worn, is what mattered. But now both the masses and classes of Merry Olde are in the thrall of the new, the minimal, and the modern. Think of London's Millennium Wheel and Beetham Tower, both representing the UK's squeaky clean embrace of the 21st Century.

For the first time in history we live in a civilisation where, the richer you are, the fewer things you have, and the newer, cleaner and more stripped-down those things must be.

When I read this I looked around the genial clutter of my apartment and realized that shabby chic is indeed alive and well in this colonial outpost. It's even catching on among the punters on Madison Avenue. Back in November last year, The New York Times described the new wave of hipsters giving up their skinny jeans for tweed trousers and spotty t-shirts for high-lapel vests. And here our Tweed Rides are attracting more bikers than the venerable Midnight Marauders.


Perhaps it has something to do with George Bernard Shaw's observation that England and America are two countries separated by a common language.

Passeo Guernika

journey of discovery
Part II

I wrote, back in November, about my new journey of discovery in the Boricua neighborhoods of the West Side. My intention was to start a series of posts focusing on interesting things I discover on my daily commute to and from my new job at North Avenue & Rockwell.

My first discovery, so far, is this community mural along the viaduct at Rockwell & Bloomingdale. I have no idea who or what organization might've painted it but it's a beautiful adaptation of one of my favorite Picasso paintings, Guernika. I first viewed the original in Madrid at the Museo del Prado about eight years ago.

All along the wall opposite Guernika there is long and wide, light blue smudge about three feet from the floor. When I asked a guard what it was, he replied wryly smiling, blue jeans. It seems that so many people lean their asses against it, lost in contemplation, that they've left a faint, collective reminder of their awe. I won't belabor Guernika's history or meaning here. There are plenty of links that already do that quite well. Suffice it say, I appreciate the personal connection it creates with my new neighborhood .

Bike community 2.0

the rise of
the vélosphère

A major facet of my nostalgie de décennie in The Windy City has been comparing my life in 1999 to that of 2010; especially the differences. Perhaps the biggest is the subtle change in the bike community here. When I did my first Critical Mass in May 06 I was aware of only a few bike groups. There were organized clubs like UIC's College of Cycling and the Chicago Cycling Club. More underground groups included The Rat Patrol and our city's chapter of the Scallywags. Then there were the more informal groupings, organized around regular monthly or annual rides. The Midnight Marauders and Santa Cycle Rampage come to mind. All were supported by a diverse range of bike shops and co-ops; the most famous being Working Bikes.

I even tried my hand at organizing The Square Wheelmen. My efforts, beyond a nifty graphic and some bike caps given to friends, didn't get that far. It didn't fail as much as sputter because nobody but me got the connection between Lincoln SQUARE (my 'hood) and a none-to-subtle anti-hipster dig. Also, it may've had something to do with the lack of a proper website. Blogs I could do in 06 - HTML was still a mystery. Perhaps things would've been different if I'd had a social networking platform like the one that appeared a year ago: The Chainlink. Since its inception, nearly 3,000 bikers have started and joined over 100 groups. And like in 06, they're spread along a wide spectrum of themes, rides, issues, self-help, and the just plain silly...


What really fascinates me is that I'm not all that sure if The Chainlink promoted this blossoming of Bike Community 2.0 or is merely a reflection of it. Either way, it's definitely a fact that the city is a far richer place for our idiosyncratic bikers than when I first moved here!

10 Years of Chicago BikeWinter

by the
numbers

Total Seasonal Snowfall
in inches...

1999-2000
30.3
(with 11.1 on 18 Feb 2000)

2000-2001
39.2

2001-2002
31.1
(with 12 between 30-31 Jan 2002)

2002-2003
28.6

2003-2004
24.8

2004-2005
39.4
(with 11.2 between 21-23 Jan 2005 )

2005-2006
26.0

2006-2007
35.6

2007-2008
60.3

2008-2009
52.7

South Side Ride

and a surprise
3 mins, 36 secs in...

from Aaron Bussey
on Vimeo

Happy New Year!

some
thoughts

It took me a while to realize two things about 2010. It not only marks the start of a new decade. It marks my first ten years in The Windy City! When I first got here I wasn't planning on staying that long. I had come with enough baggage to sink the Titanic. I had just given up on academe. I was newly divorced and a typical 1st post-divorce relationship was typically imploding. I wasn't all that sure where my future was going. The drift didn't bother me all that much though. This was the first big city I had ever lived in. I had a great job with enough money to enjoy the night life here. I travelled overseas for work quite a bit. I got to see India, China, Eastern Europe, and even Central Asia. These were certainly enough distractions to keep me occupied as one year became three. Then I found another job then another and the 1st three years became ten...

Slowly; almost too slowly for me to notice, I stopped drifting. I became rooted in my neighborhood - I've lived in the same apartment over the last decade. I made friends - perhaps the closest I've ever had. I came to think of this place as my home - perhaps for the first time since I moved away from the home of my awkward adolescence in Upstate New York. In a word, I think I've become a Chicagoan...

South Side Sledding

gravity's
a bitch!

What a better way to celebrate the arrival of BikeWinter as well as the New Year but with a bit of sledding? On Monday a bunch of us headed down to join this month's South Side Ride. Of course gravity and a slippery slope can and will conspire against you at the end of the run ... especially if there's a fence waiting for you!

Merry Xmas!

another vid from
the Vulgar Lad

Tweed in the 21st Century!

by the
Vulgar Lad

Let it snow!

and thanks to
The Capitol Fax Blog
for this!

On 28 December 1953, Windy City kids were introduced to the whimsical story of Suzy Snowflake "tap, tap, tappin'" on every windowpane, seen on Garfield Goose and Friends then on WBBM-TV. Suzy too was brought to life by the stop-motion animators of Centaur Productions. Norma Zimmer was Suzy's voice and the song was sung by The Norman Luboff Choir, a premier studio group who recorded with well-known artists, such as Frank Sinatra and Harry Belafonte.

Bike with a little extra somethin'

whether you
like it or not!

From
Chicago Craigslist...

A new bike adventure

gone but
not forgotten!

Today marks my last official day of work until September 1, 2010. It was a balmy September afternoon when I sprung the idea of an eight month sabbatical on my boss as we biked back to the office from a downtown meeting. She was reluctant but willing to listen. I presented a detailed plan for how my duties could be carried out during the proposed leave. I would like to think my well thought out proposal convinced her to agree, but the prospect of forgoing most of my salary in the upcoming tight budget year probably played a role as well.

So writes Michael Burton, fellow biker and the guy who got me my new gig at Bickerdike. He, his wife Gin and son Miguel are all on their way to join another scion of The Windy City's bike community, Jim Redd at his Eco-Hacienda in Ecuador!

Both Jim and Michael were rather influential in getting me into the bike community; the former by his example and the latter by his enthusiasms. Even though he and his family will be returning, it's sad to see them go. It marks yet another small generational turn among those who've made biking here fun. On the other hand though, their departure on a new adventure is hardly surprising. Having contributed to the ballet of the streets for nearly a decade, I think they've earned it. Besides, it's time for some others to influence the folks coming up ...

Michael, Gin & Co.
Good Luck & Bummel On!!!

Pierogi cult?

a timely
warning

Many of you, my exceptional readers, know that my best friend here in The Windy City is Pierogi John. But that relationship has taken a serious turn of late. His growing popularity at our Annual Polka Rides has created such a groundswell that he know has his own cult, err ... group, over on Chainlink. Unfortunately, his well intentioned though blinkered followers don't know him as I do. He has an uncanny, if not evil, ability to be in the wrong place at the right time. I humbly submit my evidence. You decide ...

Dallas
24 November 1963

Jerusalem
31 AD

Germany
1946

World Series
2003

New Jersey
1937

Shoppers Beware...

cycling Santas
are coming
to town!

The Windy City's Annual Santa Cycle Rampage
Plows into Tenth Year

The tenth anniversary Santa Cycle Rampage will roll out from Twisted Spoke Bar and Grill at noon on Saturday, 12 December 2009. Several dozen cycling Santas will make their way toward the magnificent mile in a boisterous, spirited procession, and descend on holiday shoppers in a blitz of toasted holiday cheer to remind one and all of the joy of human‐powered travel. The Santa Cycle Rampage is an annual event promoted by Chicago Bike Winter as part of a campaign to promote the bicycle as year‐round transportation.

According to Martin Hazard, 2010 Bikewinter co‐chair, the ride is intended not to befuddle bystanders, but to send a clear message that one does not need to buy a large, expensive, emissions‐heavy vehicle in order to tank up for the holidays. Hazard reports that, under the influence of the Chicago Santa Cycle Rampage, other cities such as Milwaukee have wasted no time in starting their own Santa Cycle Rampages, and that this year’s ride has been carefully tweaked in order to make sure its message is hammered home to holiday shoppers.

Participants will meet at 11 A.M. at the start venue to slop up for the ride; anyone with a working bike and a Santa suit is welcome to participate. In past years rogue Dreidels, Elves, and Reindeer have also ridden along.

Contacts/info: Chair@bikewinter.org
773/710‐4143
www.bikewinter.org/events/rampage

Back in the land of the living...

and time for a nap!

The annual report is done. The annual meeting is over. The fundraising cycle is finished. And I've passed my 3-month probationary period at the new job! Here comes health insurance, business cards, and keys to the building. Time to rest then get back to my bikey lifestyle, including this blog. The winter is shaping up to ba long one; cold and dark. I want to send The Steel Bitch off for a powder-coating ... something in a navy blue or dark maroon. I'm giving it a rest after 5 years as my commuter bike and restoring it for next year's 3speed Tour. So I'll put Mike Bullis's Robin Hood together for my new commuter. Given the temps, I figure I'll have to covert my home office into a bike shop!

Full Moon Fiasco XII

Silent Night...
My Ass!!!

Whether snow, sleet, rain, flood, or just cold as shit:

Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Gannon's Pub @8pm

Though sometimes late, we never cancel a ride.

Journey of discovery

just 6 miles
from home

A few weeks back, Roger Cohen wrote about The Big Apple's local peculiarities in his NYTimes op-ed column. He pointed out something that I've also noticed about The Windy City. You only have to go a few blocks in any direction and the city completely changes both in terms of culture and economics. I've been aware of this lately because og my shift in work from the high-rise Loop to the low-rent near North Side. Cohen experienced the same thing when the NYTimes moved its Times Square offices a couple of blocks southwest into the Garment District. As he describes it,

The former headquarters was trapped in the neon tentacles of Times Square, a once seedy part of town re-imagined as the tourist-filled set for a movie called “New York,” a place where people from out of town loiter six-abreast gazing at the flashing lights while New Yorkers try to dodge the phalanxes of flesh.

The new premises, as I’ve gradually learned, placed us just within the garment district, an area where zoning laws have protected apparel manufacturing space and so held off the developers who would otherwise have turned clothes factories into condos and created yet another gentrified district bereft of seediness, tawdriness, community and that strange high-low alchemy essential to any great city’s mystery and charge.

Unlike Cohen's, my new digs are defined less by industry than by ethnicity. It's the heart of the city's Puerto Rican communities which are generally much poorer than my former workplace just off North Michigan Avenue. However, like Cohen's Garment District, it's an incredibly vibrant area, despite carrying more of the weight of our current economic crisis.

It's an area I knew little about beyond the usual fears and prejudices of your typical Northsider. To be frank the first few weeks were a shock. I take regular smoke-breaks along the street next to our building. Most of the buildings opposite are abandoned or inevitably for rent. There's a city ordinance sign on the corner reminding me and my fellow citizens that its illegal to solicit prostitution in public (I guess then it's OK in-doors?).

But like I said, much of my initial shock resulted from being in a strange, new part of a very large, diverse city. I've started to discover all kinds of hidden, fascinating facets. Hopefully, I'll be able to write more about this as the months go by. For now, I've got to finish this year's Annual Report.

Burning Guido Fawkes

...the tweedy way!

The Guido Fawkes' Bonfire Tweed Ride was a rousing success last Saturday. Thirty tweedy lads and lassies made it all the way down to Bubbly Dynamics outside Bridgeport. Special thanks to Viscount Wallace for organizing the route and Clan Lloyd for hosting the bonfire. Folks had suggested a November ride so we could wear the full tweed monty without sweating our arses off. But true to style, the weather was unseasonably warm ... perhaps we'll do our next ride in March to force a thaw!

Me & Viscount Wallace
by Heather

Me & Bob
by Allan

A lot of civilians took favorable note of our procession. This from Chainlink Chicago:

This afternoon my friend and I were sitting in a window seat at the Irkosium Cafe on Clark and Foster when my friend said: "Look, there's a guy on a bike who's dressed like Sherlock Holmes!" Before I could turn my head to look he said, "Wow, there's another one." Then the whole posse cycling by.

"Oh, that's a tweed ride," I told him.

"A what?" he asked.

He was impressed that I knew what it was all about.

You all looked very natty biking down Clark Street.

Lovely Lauren certainly thought
it was pithy success
by Aaron

Our honoured guest!
(thanks to Allan)

Burning the bastard!
by Sarah

Chicago seen

really seen
by Vivian Maier

She looks rather dour, this French immigrant who came to the States sometime before WWII. After a brief stint in The Big Apple, she settled in Oak Park, working as a nanny for a solidly Windy City, suburban family. Her immigrant story would've remained rather ordinary if it weren't for her photographic work (consisting of 20,000 negatives and about a thousand rolls of undeveloped film with 12-14 images on each) and John Maloof who bought it at a local estate sale. You can see here what he's gleaned from the vast collection. And you can read the story here of his attempts to meet her; she died days before he finally discovered her whereabouts, and then his efforts to discover who she actually was.

Though her life's details are spare, I think you can get a sense for Vivian from the sheer humanity (and sometimes humor) of her photography. It also reminds me that once upon a time, not all that long ago, The City of Big Shoulders was mostly working class folks little more than a generation removed from The Old Country.

She definitely had the eye for the great contradictions of our Prairie Metropolis. The photos of monumental buildings always include the human beings they supposedly served. More often then not, the foucs is tight, filling the scene with on the margins of successful, rich America in the 1950s and 1960s: the kids, the black maids, the bums flaked out on shop stoops.

It's a shame her artistry lived in obscurity. When I showed Vivian's photos to a co-worker here at Bickerdike, she mentioned that they would have made wonderful visuals for Studs Terkel's Division Street. As he wrote,

The nomadic, transient nature of contemporary life has made diffusion the order – or disorder – of the city….I guess I was seeking some balance in the wildlife of the city as Rachel Carson sought it in nature.