Bike the Trail set for Saturday in Frankfort - Southtown Star

Bike the Trail set for Saturday in Frankfort - Southtown Star

Suburbs getting bike racks as part of Lincoln Highway grant - Southtown Star

Suburbs getting bike racks as part of Lincoln Highway grant - Southtown Star

Ride to Pierogi Fest

Saturday I lead a Folks on Spokes ride to Whiting, IN for Pierogi Fest. Pierogi Fest is a huge festival celebrating the town's Polish heritage while poking a little fun also. Seriously, there are people dressed at Pierogis.

The ride started at 8 am at what we affectionately call "Old Target" parking lot. It's a lot right off the trail on Cicero in Matteson, IL. Two people joined me at the lot and our illustrious President met us ten miles in.

We rode a really nice route into Whiting. There was a lot of zig zaging, but it kept us off the main roads. Mr. Lazarus had one flat on the way in and another at the festival.

I had a good time, but we lost a member. I had his home phone, but not his cell. After waiting a while, we decided to leave. We knew he had a map, so all was well.

We took some different road back, but after the forest preserve, stayed on the same route.

In the end it was around 55 miles total. A good ride. Hope to see you next year!

Metra and Bikes

I recently posted to the Chainlink about my opinions on rule inconsistencies on Metra. Check it out.

Also, check out a post about Metra's new cars.

Jane Healy spoke at June Folks on Spokes Meeting

On Thursday June 28th, Jane Healy gave a great presentation on getting kids to bike. There was a huge storm right before the meeting so the attendance was low.

Some of the things I took away was the you need to get a few kids riding with either a bike train (group of kids riding to school) or a bike club. Once you have a few the word spreads.

I hope to have the slides soon. This presentation had many questions from the audience and I was really glad to hear it. If you start kids off riding for utility, in addition to fun, early, you can build a life long habit.

Afterwards we made our way to Flossmoor station and had some drinks. I particularly liked the Red Rye.

Trails for Illinois

At the last Folks on Spokes meeting Steve Buchtel talked about Trails for Illinois, a little know advocacy group that he is revamping into an Illinois power house.

He talked about the benefits of trails to the surrounding communities and how many trails can be improved. One image stands out in my mind. The only connector from a box store to the trail (I think target) is out an emergency exit.

I'm excited to see the group and wish it well. Check out their tumblr.

Big thumbs up for Tinley Park’s active transportation plan

"Tinley Park’s Village Board passed its active transportation plan this week with flying colors.

The village board’s unanimous approval of the plan seems to reflect widespread interest in the community about bike facilities. One village official said this plan had more interest than almost any other plan up for village board approval in recent years."

From Active Transit Blog.

Middle School staff ride to work

"Hickory Creek Middle School staff members recently rode their bikes to school wearing “Go Green: Pedaling with Purpose” signs. Eighth-grade student Jake Juracka joined the staff by riding his unicycle to school. "


Picture and more info at http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/neighborhoodstar/tinleypark/13007674-521/around-town-for-june-10.html

First sight of complete streets near me

"A Cook County project to rebuild 108th Avenue from 163rd Place to 179th Street in Orland Park will begin Monday, and detours will be in place starting Friday, according to the village.

The project is slated for completion in early October. While most of the county road will be rebuilt, some newer sections will only be resurfaced.

The two-lane road will not be widened but wider paved shoulders — wide enough to accommodate bicycle traffic — will be installed, the village said...."

From http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/news/13014545-418/road-work-to-start-on-108th-avenue.html 

emphasis mine

Nice ride to Joliet last Sunday

This last Sunday I joined Folks on Spokes for a ride along the Old Plank Trail out to Joliet.

I rode from home on my way to the meeting spot. Someone had placed lettuce on the path every 20 feet. So I had to be on the watch for rabbits. In total I saw dozens dart off the trail as I approached.

I met up with the other riders around 9am Sunday at what we like to call "Old Target". The Target parking lot on the West side of Cicero right off of Old Plank Trail. We decided to break into two groups. One fast and one medium.

It was a nice morning and had a wonderful chat as I rode next to another FOS member as we made our way from Matteson to Joliet along the trail. The medium group caught up with the fast group and stopped in Joliet and had a delicious lunch of a turkey salad on crossant and salad at "Joliet Restaurant". From what I understand the name being somewhat a controversy in the club because, while the window says Joliet Restaurant, the sign above the place says "Hotel Plaza". I'm pretty convinced that the plaza is the name of the building, not the cafe.

After leaving our lunch stop we meandered through Joliet downtown. The rider I with having two flats in 500 feet of each other. After the first tube replacement, then a patch, we made our way East. I cut off near my home in Mokena and said my goodbyes. I ended up making it home with close to 40 miles for the day.

Grid Chicago on getting around in the suburbs

Grid Chicago has posted a nice roundup of ways cyclists must sometimes get around in certain suburbs.

First suburb snow ride.

Winter has come to Chicago.

The ride into work today was fine, no snow of course. It was starting to come down when I got into the city and rode through downtown from the Metra station.

I stayed in the city late today for a nerd meeting. So my plan was to catch the 11:15pm train down to home. Riding back through the loop was easy. The roads were covered with snow, but it was slush and not slick.

Mokena, in the suburbs, was a different story. The roads were covered and very slick. Mostly from the few cars passing over them. I took my regular route down back roads past the cemetery, pristine snow there and easy to ride through.

Coming down 195th street a cop pulled up beside me and asked if I was ok. I think after I told him I was coming from the train his fears that I was a drunk were swayed, and he told me goodnight. He was a really nice guy.

He's to seeing what the plows do tonight.

Cruise the Creek

A while ago I participated in Cruise the Creek. A great bicycle ride and festival near my home. The day was a little brisk, but nice. The ride was short by my standards, but unknowingly full of adventure.

My home was on the opposite side of the forest preserve where the ride started. So I had to make my way against traffic to the beginning. This was a bit of a challenge considering the number of small children on the trail, but I made it.

First off. after starting the ride I ran across the couple pictured. They had earlier been down to the local grocery store raising money to fight breast cancer. They had moved up to the Mokena Food and Wine festival, which the ride passed.

Next we made our way though the forest preserve. The rolling hills and deep woods made me feel at home as it reminded me of where I grew up in West Virginia.

We came out of the woods to Frankfort Township's community building. There I talked with someone from the Forrest Preserve and found that the building is LEED certified and has a green roof.

Frankfort Township Center

Soon after this began the adventure. The police who were directing the bike traffic across Wolf road sent us in the wrong direction. Instead of ending up back on the path, we went down a sidewalk along Route 30 until it ended at a subdivision. There we were directed by some of the residents that we could cross their yard and follow a dirt path through the woods to the Hickory Creek Bike Path.

The "path" through the woods

After trudging through the woods, across the creek and through a field we made it back. After this the ride wasn't any more eventful.

After the ride I enjoyed the carnival. There were Smores, food trucks, and pumpkin carving. The highlight was a BMX tricks show.

All in all it was a fun day.

Balloon Biker and Indiana Dunes

A friend of mine has started her trek across the United States. Her first post was about the camping trip I accompanied her on to Indiana Dunes.

Where would you put bicycle lanes in the suburbs?

A discussion was started today over at The Chainlink asking, "Where should protected bike lanes get installed in the suburbs?"

I weighed in myself. In my opinion, if cycling is ever to be a viable day to day utility for people in the suburbs, decision makers must identify the connector streets. The roads that people must use. In Mokena, this is Route 30, Saint Francis road, Wolf, and a few others. Once these are identified, then a lane or separated path can be built.

Many roads in the suburbs are fine for cycling on, but if that 10% of the route is dangerous, then someone will just take their car.

If I had business on the other side of interstate 80, I have little or no safe options to cross the interstate. If just one of the roads crossing it had a shoulder, the issue would be moot.

If you build the infrastructure, what has been shown again and again.

Go on over and tell us your opinion.

Google maps and craft beer

Last week I attended the BOSS (Brewers of South Suburbia) meeting. It was my first meeting, and what excited me even more. I could ride to it!

So I plug my addresses into Google maps and get a route. Mostly along a bike path. Along the way I discover something interesting. More bike paths! There were not on the map.

Earlier I had discovered Google maps now provided a map maker. This wonderful tool allows you to make edit to the map. After review and approval, then get pushed to the map for everyone to use.

I knew about one "path". The sidewalk near my street is signed as a bike route, and it's used a good bit, so Google should know about it.

At first, I bring up the satellite images, trace out these paved sidewalk paths and submit them. Come to find later that Google considers a side path marked as a bicycle route, that doesn't diverge from the street marks the street as having a bike lane.

This is one of the things that I've learned differ in the suburbs. Here, as opposed to the city, they will rip out a sidewalk, pave it, put a dividing line on and it sign it as a bike route. In a way it is a separated bike lane.

They almost never show up on a bike map, but now that Google allows edits, they can. Google also allows you to mark sidewalks and the cycling suitability of a road.

I urge everyone to check your local routes and mark any missing information with Google. It helps us all out. Find a road is really bad for cycling, mark that. A short path, mark that too.

Now, if you look at my neighborhood. You'll see many more "bike lanes" then before. Hopefully helping out other cyclists. I just hope these paths are taken care of in the winter.

Can this be feasible?

That is the question I wondered to myself for a couple years. As my move came closer, I had no idea if I would be able to survive what other people love, the suburbs.

Some backstory first. I grew up in the middle of no where. In the hills of West Virginia. It was the situation where going out for bread, or ice, was a hour round trip by car. While nature is wonderful, that kind of life wasn't for me.

Then came college. Afterwords I stuck around the city of Chicago for almost a decade. There I work, there I met my wife. One of the things my wife insisted upon, and which I eventually agreed to, was living near her family. Her family, was in the suburbs. So far that some people would consider them exurbs.

We had one car, still have one car. In the city, I sold my car and used my bike as transportation almost exclusively. I was for the move from an environmental standpoint. By moving the weekend trips to my in-laws would be cut to a few miles, and my wife could work very close to home.

Chicago has a wonderful commuter train system. Since my type of work is almost always going to be downtown or by telecommute, I could use the train.

So, I've lived in Mokena for over a month, is it feasible? I think it is, if you choose the right suburb. Someone from Active Transit once told me that they considered all suburbs the same, till they started working with them. They soon found that there was a wide variety.

I think suburbs supported by good rail systems can be quite green. If they are built around strong downtowns. This, in my experience, tends to be the older suburbs. Ones establish before the idea of strip malls, large shopping centers. Before it was required to drive everywhere. This towns tend to have small streets emanating from a downtown where you can get 99% of the things you need.

It's not as easy as the city. In Chicago, I could get to every place I needed, comfortably, by bike. Down here, I will choose one grocery store over the others, based very much on where it is at. Luckily, my downtown has a nice grocer. There are benefits to the suburbs though. There is much more green space, and there is much less bike theft. I won't call it safer, cause I know the traffic fatalities even out any benefit from the lack of violent crime. It is a good feeling though knowing that with my city quality locks, it is very unlikely my bike will get stolen.

We will see what happens in the long run. I see other commuters and utility cyclists in my suburb. I think the area is ripe for a bicycle culture to spring up. Many people ride, but they don't know of others, or don't care. I know not which.

In the city advocacy is reaching diminishing returns. Out in the suburbs is the new frontier. As gas prices rise, as they are prone to do, the political will may materialize. When that occurs, we advocates must be there to promote the correct direction.

Frame Switch

Over a year ago I moved from my old apartment and in with my future wife. At the time, I very lazily left my beater bike locked under the back stairs. Recently I needed a beater bike for the winter, so I decided to take a chance and go by the old place to see if it was still there. To my surprise it was.

So I was sitting there staring at my beater bike and something came to mind. My main commuter bike was too small for me. It was a 17" mountain bike frame, while I needed an 18.5" to 19" frame. My beater bike was a 20". Slightly too big for everyday use I thought. I decided, what the hell. I'm going to switch frames. So I did. Below you can see the finished work.



I was mistaken about it being too large. There are few times I notice the top tube being too high.

I took the opportunity to put on my new crank that has been sitting in a bag forever. I originally got it off Nashbar for $10. The downside being that the crank length is 145. Which I don't mind at all, so good deal. I needed a new seatpost and stem, all of which were easily gotten at West Town Bikes.

The frame has much more rake than my previous one. When I ride it feels like I'm driving a truck. I do enjoy this, it lets me imagine I'm riding a Long Haul Trucker. :)

Touring Resources

For those that were interested in touring resources, I'll start by pointing you too a few sites. First is crazy guy on a bike, probably the biggest touring site featuring many videos and blogs. One can spend hours on this site. Most touring journals can be found on cgoab.

Next up is the touring forum on bikeforums.net. I like to keep up with the RSS feed. There can be a lot of repetition, usually over choosing equipment, but there can be some great conversations.

Next is BicycleTouringPro, this site can be a little to commercial, but it supports a tourist. He sounds like he knows what's up. His videos can be some of the best touring guides out there.

The final resource is the largest touring organization in North America, Adventure Cycling provides wonderful routes, maps, and tours.

Next I'd like to point you too some inspirational videos, the first is the Cross Canada project. This is over an hour long. It includes some of the best touring footage I've ever seen.

Then there is Bike2Oz. This is long, and full of information. My only issue is that the intro gets a little old.

If you want to follow a tour from basically the begining, check out The Path Less Pedaled.

Bicycling on the Interstate

DC adds bike and pedestrian lane to interstate bridge

here

I see this being a big part of the future of bike transportation in America. Jerry Rigging it onto our past transportation mistakes.

What kind of Jerry Rigging do you think will happen in the future?