The Chainlink

I rode today. Did you?

Nice first ride in the COLD.

 

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Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on February 6, 2014 at 8:32am

This morning's ride was a good demonstration of the subordinate status of bike commuting and the southside in this city. I'm in a foul mood.

Permalink Reply by Ryan Stahlman on February 6, 2014 at 8:44am

Yeah, no kidding. I found the LFP uncleared and all the bike lanes on inland streets were a sloppy mess.


Simon Phearson said:

This morning's ride was a good demonstration of the subordinate status of bike commuting and the southside in this city. I'm in a foul mood.

Permalink Reply by Robert Underwood on February 6, 2014 at 9:06am

Hello The Grizz,  that's what happens when people get in a hurry.  They loose there sense.  Glad no one was hurt.  Dadgum fool is right.  My ride was LOVELY, so glad to ride and not travel in a stinky steel box with rock hard seats.  I wore ski goggles, it was about zero degrees when I left and I didn't want my eyes to be watering.  Yay for bicycles. 
 
The Grizz said:

Dadgum fool passed me this morning when there wasn't room (due to snow pile up) & clipped an on-coming car...in a school zone with kiddies walking around all over the place. Everyone was ok, so I just kept on riding. I didn't want to get involved bad enough to be late for work.
Permalink Reply by Robert Underwood on February 6, 2014 at 9:09am


Yes I conquer, I kicked a boulder sized clump as I coasted by just to see how hard it was, and it was like a boulder.


Deet 4.5mi said:

The liquid slush of yesterday is not so liquidy today.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on February 6, 2014 at 9:09am

I had no problem getting in, though was was pretty slush covered by the time I reached the office. LFT was pretty good, though between Diversey and Fullerton it narrowed down pretty far (single-trackish narrow) for a bit. One driver thought about passing me on Wells just south of Wacker, right as I was about to roll across the little bit of metal grating. He thought better of that though, and decided it wouldn't kill him to wait a second or two for me.

Permalink Reply by Robert Underwood on February 6, 2014 at 9:30am

That's a good thing he didn't try and pass you especially on that metal grating.  In my experience its a very unstable surface.  I had one car do the whole pass within inches of me.  I always check to see if it was necessary for them to have been soooo close to me, and no this one was just reminding me who owns the road.  
 
Skip Montanaro 12mi said:

I had no problem getting in, though was was pretty slush covered by the time I reached the office. LFT was pretty good, though between Diversey and Fullerton it narrowed down pretty far (single-trackish narrow) for a bit. One driver thought about passing me on Wells just south of Wacker, right as I was about to roll across the little bit of metal grating. He thought better of that though, and decided it wouldn't kill him to wait a second or two for me.

Permalink Reply by David Altenburg on February 6, 2014 at 9:38am

I rode this morning after taking the CTA yesterday. It was a slow, stressful, commute on the bike - all sorts of new potholes and frozen slush meant I couldn't break concentration. I'm guessing the ride home will be similar.

Has the city of Chicago completely given up on snow route parking bans? Lots of cars parked in them, which means the slush spills over quite a bit. 

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on February 6, 2014 at 9:59am

Rode today. Lake Front Trail was mostly okay. A Park District employee got his plow stuck around North Ave., so I had to drag my bike though a snow bank. Bike lanes though River North were okay, but slushy. It's almost a perfect match up where the slush and bike lane starts. Dearborn PBL is a disaster. It's been plowed, but not enough. There are still a lot of frozen spots and the southbound lane is full of snow from the sidewalk. The intersections have unnavigable piles of snow likely pushed from other plows.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on February 6, 2014 at 10:19am



Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

Dearborn PBL is a disaster.

FYI, Wells was fine. There is a sharrow and signs periodically telling drivers that bikes may take the lane. Might be a reasonable alternative (or Franklin if you're headed north).

Permalink Reply by Idiot who lost their keys on February 6, 2014 at 10:34am

Last night the LFT was unplowed from 39th south. I idiotically sholdered my bike from 39th down to 47th in the hope that the trail would clear up and when it didn't I bailed to local streets. Snow was well past my knees for most of the LFT hike.

This morning I took Drexel up to 39th and it was fine. Bike lanes were buried, but basically claimed a lane from HPB north.

I'm really surprised the LFT was in such horrible shape. I saw two trucks working on this area yesterday morning, but it looked like they didn't even bother going south from there.

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on February 6, 2014 at 10:43am

Silly south-sider, bike lanes are for rich yuppy hipster north-siders.

Simon Phearson said:

This morning's ride was a good demonstration of the subordinate status of bike commuting and the southside in this city. I'm in a foul mood.

Permalink Reply by Ryan Stahlman on February 6, 2014 at 10:51am

Thanks for this update. I will try the LFT south from downtown this evening and hopefully they will have cleared it south of 39th by then.

Idiot who lost their keys said:

Last night the LFT was unplowed from 39th south. I idiotically sholdered my bike from 39th down to 47th in the hope that the trail would clear up and when it didn't I bailed to local streets. Snow was well past my knees for most of the LFT hike.

This morning I took Drexel up to 39th and it was fine. Bike lanes were buried, but basically claimed a lane from HPB north.

I'm really surprised the LFT was in such horrible shape. I saw two trucks working on this area yesterday morning, but it looked like they didn't even bother going south from there.

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