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Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on November 22, 2009 at 12:30pm

For those that want to see what the tour is like the Uptown and Andersonville Tour is online in virtual tour form and there is also a photo album detailing some of the buildings we will see on our ride. Plus, you can see where we are going exactly by visiting the map my ride page.

Cheers and hope to see you out there on Saturday! - Lee Diamond

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Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on November 25, 2009 at 7:37am

This Saturday, work off some of that Thanksgiving gorging with a winter bike ride through Uptown and Andersonville with Chicago Bike Winter and Big Shoulders Realty. This is the first ride of the 4-part Big Shoulders Big City Bike Winter Classic. We will hold a casual pace, make sure noone gets dropped, and ride through some of the most beautiful neighborhoods of the northside of Chicago.

There is a plentiful supply of interesting and unique homes, churches, civic buildings and monuments to examine, and we can't see them all, but the route will take us past the lion's share of the best stuff. The weather actually looks to be a little on the warm side for the first winter ride, but that just means there is less excuse not to come. The Bike Winter folks will be on hand to give away free gaiters, balaclavas, stickers, water bottles, ride maps and advice. After the ride, feel free to join us at the post-ride get-together at Konaks for drinks and grub, but bring your ID and wallet....the ride is totally free, but the get-together is just a place for us to gather....no open bar/buffet or anything.

In any case, below are the essential details and links. Hope to see a bunch of you out there.

Happy Thansgiving and take care.

Lee Diamond


Big Shoulders Big City Bike Winter Classic Ride#1
Uptown/Andersonville
Meet at Graceland Cemetery at the intersection of Clark and Irving Park
Saturday November 28, 2009 at 1:00 PM


Chainlink Event Page
Chicago Neighborhood Bicycle Tours
Ross Felten's Poster
Uptown/Andersonville Virtual Tour
Uptown/Andersonville Photo Album
Starting Spot

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Permalink Reply by dan brown on November 27, 2009 at 8:53am

Lee - these look great. I really like the graphics a lot.

Dan

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Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on November 30, 2009 at 7:00am

Thanks so much to all who came, rode, corked, drank, ate and had a blast with us on a day that could not justifiyingly be called Winter. It was stupendous. Thanks very much for making it so.

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on November 30, 2009 at 7:28am

1 down, 3 to go to get my free shirt!

Lee Diamond said:

Thanks so much to all who came, rode, corked, drank, ate and had a blast with us on a day that could not justifiyingly be called Winter. It was stupendous. Thanks very much for making it so.

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Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on December 2, 2009 at 3:00am

Hey Julie,

Not only will you get a limited-edition t-shirt if you complete all four tours, you will also get a limited edition Winter Rides poster too! Sweetness!

Post-ride summary coming shortly.

Cheers - Lee

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Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on December 2, 2009 at 5:18pm

The first ride of our second Winter Cycling Series was awesome. As you know, this was our first partnered ride with Bike Winter. Santa Willow was on hand to pass out the complimentary fleecy goodies, maps and get people registered. Aaron and Brian helped as well and as usual, Brian did his excellent job sweeping for the ride. There were a variety of spontaneous and generous aids in keeping things together throughout the ride, corking and the like. Much appreciated everyone.

In previous Uptown rides, they never had a problem with us entering the entry point of Graceland Cemetery, but we were far too many to do so this time. We had 62 registrations with 4 minors attached to 4 of them for 66 riders plus me. Pretty awesome for a winter ride, but then, that day could hardly be called winter. The joke of the day was that we would call off the ride because it was too nice out.

Because of the start being a little FUBAR with the no-entry into Graceland, we hiked up to the second spot to kick things off. People could hear me ok I am told, and we were able to take all of the stops and explanation of the stops and break them into 13 total stops, which helped keep the crowd going. We started the ride at 1:35 and finished at 4:50. Our attrition rate was steeper than usual, which makes sense as it got colder throughout the ride.

The planned potty stop was ixnayed by the city's budget cuts and was replaced with an unplanned potty stop at the gas station, resulting in us trying to "look like we were getting gas" which some of us did better than others. In any case, the ride continued and ended as it began, at an old Victorian Cemetery, this time Roseland. It was just a hop skip and a roll to the after-ride get-together at Konak's. Beer was drunk. Pizza was eaten. Cyclists definitely like their cheese fries and french fries...there were like 400 orders of them. I personally had a great time and it seemed like the riders and revelers did as well. What a great kick-off event. There are many pictures posted by Aaron here.

The next event is in a couple of weeks due to the holiday. Here are the details.



Hope to see some of you out there.

Best Regards,


Lee Diamond

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Permalink Reply by Vilda on December 2, 2009 at 7:01pm

Great Ride Lee :-). Now how the heck do i safely bike to 5531 S King Drive? ;-(

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Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on December 2, 2009 at 7:59pm

Thanks Gabe. Great to see you.

We'll organize a north side meet-up to all bike to the ride together. I like going south on Racine, and cutting over to Michigan. Beautiful houses. The other simple option is lakefront path, exit at the Museum of Science and Industry, take Midway Plaissance west to Washington Park, park paths to the field house.

Either way we will do some kind of a meet up before the ride.

Gabe said:

Great Ride Lee :-). Now how the heck do i safely bike to 5531 S King Drive? ;-(

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Permalink Reply by Vilda on December 3, 2009 at 6:57pm

Meet up works great! Now what are the odds it's 50 degrees and sunny again? ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on December 14, 2009 at 10:05am

NORTH SIDE MEET UP FOR HYDE PARK RIDE

Hello, hopefully the questions I have been getting regarding the north side meet up are a good indication of the interest in the ride. The total trek from the meeting place at the intersection of Elston and Milwaukee (THE SOUTHERN ONE RIGHT HERE) to the start of the tour at Washington Park is about 19 miles. Therefore since the tour starts at 1, it seems logical to make the meeting time at 11:30 AM, which gives northsiders 90 minutes to hike to the start of the tour. Remember, the tour itself is a 17-18 mile journey, so you could be looking at a pretty high mile day if you aren't used to that. Plus, it may be several miles of biking to get to the northside meet up which is near north side.

Just saying....

I have to haul at least two of my loaner bikes to the ride, plus my own so I can't join you, but I know of at least 3 riders who will be at the meet-up so there will be a group going down for sure. You can go anyway you like of course and a lot of people choose to take the lakefront path, which is easy enough, but if you are up for some cool architecture, you might want to try this:

Milwaukee south to Ogden
Ogden south to Racine
Racine south to 18th St.
18th St. east to Halsted
Halsted south to 35th St.
35th east to Michigan
Michigan south to Garfield (55th)
Garfield east to Martin Luther King Dr.

The field house is the mid-century modern brick building of no acclaim or pedigree. If you are standing in front of an impressive looking structure in Washington Park, you are in the wrong place.

Here is a map my ride link.

I am quite excited for this! I will post some public transportation info shortly and put a photo album of the area's architecute that will be featured on the tour together. No promises about having the virtual tour done before the tour, but it is being worked on.

Can't wait to see you all! _ Lee

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Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on December 14, 2009 at 10:38am

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:

Trains:

Basically, from wherever you start, you want to get on or transfer to the Green Line and then get off at Garfield. You then ride east to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, turn right going south and there you are.

Bus:

Just take the green line. Or take the bus to the green line. Trains allow bikes all day on Saturday, but only 2 to a car, so arrive early a smidge.

Cheers!

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