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

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!

Darkness...

the cure?

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went--and came, and brought no day

Lord Byron

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.

The proper anti-freeze...

for Chicago
Bikewinter!

Chicago bikewinter approaches

and with it
our 10th Anniversary

To get things rolling, we're aiming to encourage ALL fair-weather bikers within our propaganda's grasp to stay in the saddle through the longest, coldest nights. We'll meet on Tuesday, 22 September, 7 p.m. at the newer Billy Goat - 309 W. Washington (a nod to BW winter meetings of the past), directly following the One Million Less Cars Rally.

So done with winter...

perhaps it's
almost over?

Winter’s cold twilight
With Spring’s lightly fevered dawn
Summer can’t be far…

False spring continues...

with its
ups and downs

Living in The Windy City is a lot like having a difficult lover. It takes a whole lot of patience. Every upside - miles and miles of lakefront - has its downside - 1000s of bikers & peds on the Lakeshore Path. Bikewinter is also a good example, particularly when there's a False Spring like the one we're getting now. So here's my own personal compilation of the up ... and downs ... to our amazing 60+ degree weather today.

The upside -
It stops snowing

The downside?
It starts raining.

The upside -
Bike shorts weather!

The downside?
Now where the hell
did I put them last fall?

The upside -
The sun on newly exposed pale, skin

The downside?
Neon Lycra-clad
guts & buts all around you

The upside -
There’s a warm breeze
blowing steadily out of the south.

The downside?
My daily commute downtown
goes 8 miles due south

The upside -
I can see, hear, and feel
the world around me again.

The downside?
How long has my
rear SA hub been making THAT sound?

The upside -
No more snow & ice in the bike lanes.

The downside?

...just lots of
pot holes, piles of pebbles,
and small, sharp pieces of glass

The upside -
The young ladies switch
to less bulky coats & shorter skirts.

The downside?
There ain't no downside!

False spring

but I'll take it
anyway

It's going to be in the 50s today with a 30% chance of rain later in the day. That'll be the 4th day of what we Windy Citizens call False Spring. It wasn't coined here. Out on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, the early settlers used it to refer to those deep winter warm spells brought on the Chinook Wind. Chinook means snow-eater in the language of the Chehalis, the local Native Americans. They can melt over a foot of snow in a single day and raise the temperature as much as 40 degrees in less than an hour. This is caused partly by warmer temps and partly by the evaporation caused by these dry winds.


Back here in the City of Big Shoulders, False Spring gives most of us a big boost. In general the relief from sub-temperatures makes everybody feel better. Folks get energized and hit the streets in greater numbers. Unfortunately, some suffer headaches, depression and nervous disorders. It's rather easy to deceive one's self that Spring is on its way. Yet when False Spring recedes, as it most certainly will later in the week, winter is back with all its fury.

Good lord!

Bikewinter
comes to the Brits

London buckles
under worst snow in 18 years

Mid-winter Bhaiku

brrrrrrrrrr...

It ain't over yet:
temps at 6 degrees below,
where are my thermals?

Vintage British 3 Speed Bicycle, Very Nice! - $30 (Dover)

from Craigslist
in Boston

Date: 2009-01-18, 11:49AM EST

Perfect for commuting and just leaving outdoors. Great for everyday use. Great "Winter bike" I cant remember if it is a Mens or a Womens, but I know its a 3 Speed. Pick up only. Bring a shovel.

• Location: Dover
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 997600199

How cold is it in Chicago?

the Chicago Way

So cold
that the politicians have their hands
in their own pockets.

Winter riding blahs

from Yehuda Moon's
Kickstand Cyclery

Bikewinter haiku

take a deep breath

Darkness retreats now
Temps are rising slowly too
Bikewinter pauses

My wintry city

love it or
leave it

The day after New Year's, The Boston Globe ran the article, How the city hurts your brain. It's author, Jonah Lehrer, cites the latest research to declare that city life ain't easy.

Just being in an urban environment, they have found, impairs our basic mental processes. After spending a few minutes on a crowded city street, the brain is less able to hold things in memory, and suffers from reduced self-control. While it's long been recognized that city life is exhausting -- that's why Picasso left Paris -- this new research suggests that cities actually dull our thinking, sometimes dramatically so.

Really? I just simply love when the social sciences state the obvious. But my biggest beef isn't with green (nostalgia) tinted research like this.

One of the main forces at work is a stark lack of nature, which is surprisingly beneficial for the brain ... fleeting glimpses of nature improve brain performance, it seems, because they provide a mental break from the urban roil.

Instead, it's his conclusion. Over the last couple of months, me and my neighbors here in The Windy City have been up to our navels in nature ... very, very frigid nature. Its benefits are not so obvious. Aleksandar Hemon, an author and transplant from Sarajevo, writes in today's NYTimes Op-Ed Section,

Once, on a very cold winter day at a North Side El stop, I saw three or four freezing Chicagoans huddled together under the heating light like newly hatched chickens. It was 30 below zero, with wind chill, the kind of cold that makes your bones hurt because the frozen flesh is beyond the reach of pain. There was closeness in the huddle, but no touching; there was solidarity, but no eye contact. And I realized I, too, could huddle along and partake in the scarce warmth; I was no longer a tourist. At 30 below zero we were all Chicagoans.

Another transplant and longtime Chicagoan once told me that weather extremes were just fine for him. Surving winter's sub-zero lows and summer's sticky highs always gave him a sense of accomplishment. One that's not easliy experienced in other locals. Besides, while we all may be operating at reduced brain power, at least we're all in this together!

The indignities of walking

yep, I'm
a wuss

Now is the winter of our discontent, so penned the Bard. Though Richard III wouldn't have made it until our glorious summer this January. It's cold; Dr. Zhivago cold. The kinda' cold that freezes your milk on the 15 minute walk home from Jewell. That's why I, the 24/7 all weather biker am walking. Like any citizen of The Windy City, I tell folks it ain't the cold; it's the ice. To be a wuss is one thing. To admit it ... is quite another.

It certainly doesn't help that last Sunday I arrived home toasty-warm from the hottest place in The Philippines. So except for Sunday's Full Moon Ride, I've joined the lofty ranks of ... pedestrians. Certainly there are times when wending my way along the fascinating thoroughfares of The Second City would be thoroughly stimulating. This is definitely not the time.

This is the time to hunker down. Imagine a world without cages. Life flows at a slower pace. Folks are routinely late for appointments because they can't find a free place to lock up. And during an extreme winter, for those of us above the Mason-Dixon Line, the bicycle-powered snowplows haven't been cleared the secondary streets. What would you do? Velo-passion is one thing ... insanity is quite another.

When the going gets tough...

the tough
get going

The very first Full Moon Fiasco ride took off Sunday evening as I was suffering from jet lag. New friends, good conversation, and even a wee bit exposure!

Though it was anything but a hot day, the first ever Fiasco in Chicago turned out even better than expected. Some inroads through thechainlink.org and bikewinter.org helped get the good word out. The final count was 10 helmets, all frozen. Click the spoke card to see the pix.

Ricochet’s brought discussion of themes for future rides, how to get more people involved and the usual banter associated with pitcher after pitcher of PBR. The PBR also inspired the Full Moon over Lincoln Ave photo as a double entendre. I’ve got to tip my helmet to Ammo for that idea.

I'm back!

now this
is the Chicago
I love

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST TONIGHT. A BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 12 PM CST TUESDAY. THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN CHICAGO HAS ALSO ISSUED A BLIZZARD WATCH... WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT.