October is fire prevention month all across the country. October was chosen because of the psychological impact of the Great Chicago Fire. In memory to the lives lost in that horrific disaster, and to promote fire safety awareness, I propose we use the burn perimeter of the Great Chicago Fire as our route for the September, 2014 Critical Mass Ride.
Please make suggestions. I don't think I made any wrong-way mistakes.
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WHERE: Daly Plaza at the Chicago Picasso
WHEN: 6pm, September 26, 2014
WHAT: CRITICAL MASS Great Chicago Fire burn perimeter ride
Route:
West on Washington
R on Wabash
L on Jackson
R on Columbus
E on Balbo
L on Michigan
R on Roosevelt
R on Jefferson
R on Taylor
R on Clinton
R on DeKoven (origin of the fire)
R on Jefferson
R on Taylor
L on Canal
R on Jackson
L on Wacker
L on Franklin
R on Orleans
L on Hubbard
R on Kingsbury (becomes Cambridge)
R on hobbie
L on Cleveland
R on Division
L on Wells
L on Goethe
R on Sedgewick
R on Schiller
L on N Park Ave
L on Concord
R on Sedgewick
L on Eugenie
R on Willow
L on Fern Ct.
R on Menomonee
L on Orleans
R on Wisconsin
L on Clark
bear R onto N. Lincoln Park West
R on Fullerton
End at Nature Museum (Fullerton and N Cannon Drive)
(May continue ride farther, but this is the end of the perimeter).
Jeff
Tags:
In August, the mass went east of Michigan and onto Columbus south, or am I mistaken?
Good points. YES, E on W Washington---that was ambiguous. Sorry.
Obviously, if this is to be a fire perimeter themed ride, we at least need to get to the O'Leary property at DeKoven and Taylor, and then up the East bank of the river. The route I made up is pretty close to the real fire, but we could modify the route as we want/need to.
Yes, we did go to Roosevelt recently, but that's where the fire started!
There are a lot of turns in the approximate perimeter, and I agree the circling the fire origin is unwise. That needs to be cut.
Is the Franklin street bridge over the river one way North? or two way?
The ride has gone east of Michigan a couple times recently. BUT, the police were subtly posted at Columbus to make sure we turned onto Columbus instead of continuing east to LSD!
This is not a very long ride, it could be added to at the end, after a short break at the park to mass up. Good thing is the park is very large and can accommodate 4,000 riders in the grounds/parking lot East of Cannon Drive, or between Stockton and the ponds.
When we finalize the turns, I can get route diagrams on a 1/4 sheet of paper made.
Jeff
I think the right turns around the Jefferson/Taylor/Clinton/DeKoven block are an interesting suggestion. With a strong leadership helping to organize things up front, this might work. Riders coming off DeKoven would merge into NB riders on Jefferson, and everyone would need to decide at some point whether to continue EB on Taylor or SB on Clinton. Some might never ride on DeKoven and some might do several rides around the block. It'd be fun to see, but it would definitely muck up traffic on these (albeit low-volume) streets.
And the Franklin St. bridge is technically the Orleans St. bridge, and it's one-way northbound.
h' 1.0 said:
Jeff, wondering if the specific suggestions I tried to make didn't come across?
Jeff Hazzard said:Good points. YES, E on W Washington---that was ambiguous. Sorry.
Obviously, if this is to be a fire perimeter themed ride, we at least need to get to the O'Leary property at DeKoven and Taylor, and then up the East bank of the river. The route I made up is pretty close to the real fire, but we could modify the route as we want/need to.
Yes, we did go to Roosevelt recently, but that's where the fire started!
There are a lot of turns in the approximate perimeter, and I agree the circling the fire origin is unwise. That needs to be cut.
Is the Franklin street bridge over the river one way North? or two way?
The ride has gone east of Michigan a couple times recently. BUT, the police were subtly posted at Columbus to make sure we turned onto Columbus instead of continuing east to LSD!
This is not a very long ride, it could be added to at the end, after a short break at the park to mass up. Good thing is the park is very large and can accommodate 4,000 riders in the grounds/parking lot East of Cannon Drive, or between Stockton and the ponds.
When we finalize the turns, I can get route diagrams on a 1/4 sheet of paper made.
Jeff
No, no, you've been very helpful. And I took all your suggestions, except would like to stick to using Columbus.
Yes, I will wait until Sunday and then put out a revised route incorporating all the suggestions.
Jeff
Good stuff. I've cross posted a link to here on the "CCM Forecast" group on Facebook.
PLEASE Google Map it.
So, this month marks the 17th anniversary of Chicago Critical Mass, and some of us thought it would be cool to end at a spot where we could have a fire, and it looks like NW corner of Kedzie & Carrol may be an option.
This doesn't seem like a long route, perhaps we could take the ride west for a fire and space to hang out?
Greetings;
Yes, starting a new thread for my revised route was a mistake. I will stick to this thread now, and will try to delete the other one. I rode the proposed route and need to make a few changes. Also, I will be glad to take the ride to Kedzie and Carrol, but I don't want to be involved or responsible for starting a fire there. I would leave that to others, and, anyway, I will not be able to stay around after the ride.
Addressing the issues brought to my attention:
The ride around the origin of the fire is cut. We would have gridlock.
The portion of the ride through the small St. Michaels neighborhood is streamlined and reduced.
All the rest of the streets are open, and we are observing one-way streets, where are they are posted.
The construction at Grand is not ideal, but "doable" for us.
My new(est) route in a couple minutes.
Jeff
Route:
East on Washington
R on Wabash
L on Jackson
R on Columbus
R on Balbo
L on Michigan
R on Roosevelt
R on Jefferson
R on Taylor (origin of the fire at DeKoven and Taylor)
L on Canal
R on Jackson
L on Upper Wacker
L on Franklin Street Bridge (which is Orleans Street)
bear R on Orleans
L on Grand
R on Milwaukee
R on Elston
R on North
R on Clybourn
L on Mohawk
R on Blackhawk
L on Sedgewick
R on Wisconsin
L on Clark
bear R onto N. Lincoln Park West
R on Fullerton
Mass up and 10 min break at Nature Museum (Fullerton and N Cannon Drive) parking lot
THEN:
North on Cannon
R on Sheridan
L on Oakdale
L on Racine
R on Cortland
L on Ashland
R on Wabansia
L on Damen
R on North
L on Kedzie
END Kedzie and Carrol
Any more input?
Jeff
Just to google map it I am curious how long the route is... cool idea btw!
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