Chicago Critical Mass: The Southside Ride

Peace All,

Red Bike & Green + The Pioneers Bicycle Club present...

The Southside Ride for Chicago Critical Mass

This Critical Mass route proposal is a 14-mile tour of some of Chicago's African-American cultural & historical landmarks. Highlights along the route will include the site of the Chess Records studios, the Bronzeville Victory Monument, Ida B. Wells' home, the Harold Washington Cultural Center, the DuSable Museum, the Obamas' house and much more. The ride will end at the new 31st Street marina and beach.

Check out the map at:
http://chicagocriticalmass.org/
Scroll down on the home page and click on the flyer for the full size image.

A special thanks to the lovely Eboni Senai, a true gem in our city. Her work as the Founder of Red Bike & Green - Chicago is energizing bicycling culture in the African American community of Chicago. Also want to share a huge thanks with John Greenfield, Willow Naeco, and Steven Lane for their early, active, and consistent support of this effort.

We will meet up at 5:30pm on Friday, August 31st at the Picasso statue at Daley Plaza. Please join us for a beautiful ride through parts of the Southside of Chicago!

...how about a post-ride afterparty?
Peoples DJs Collective 3YR Anniversary BBQ
2236 S. Marshall Blvd., Chicago
(block west of California & Cermak)
http://www.facebook.com/events/273511979429664/

Rock on,

Oboi
The Pioneers Bicycle Club
@theycallmeOboi

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Permalink Reply by Olatunji Oboi Reed on September 1, 2012 at 3:17am

the pleasure was all mine Willow, thank you kindly for the consistent support!

Crafty Cycling Chick said:

Thanks to everyone who helped pass out Derailleurs before the ride. You did a fantastic job of getting the zines into people's hands!

Thanks, also, to everyone who donated to help offset my costs for publishing the zine. Be sure to take a button as a thank you for donating.

THANKS AGAIN!

xowillow

Permalink Reply by Olatunji Oboi Reed on September 1, 2012 at 3:24am

what up h' - are you ok? for real, is something wrong? your note is completely free of sarcasm (i think)! just kidding, love yur posts and as you know, gave me timely comic relief over the past several days. you are so welcome and thank you for being a source of support and advocacy for a southside ride. yep, we made it to the dj collective party. it was very cool, a chill event outside on the lawn with good music, good people, good food, and good convo. together with CCM, a good night all around! peace...

h' said:

Thanks to Oboi, John, and everyone else who helped pull this ride off.  Had a great time... just home but didn't end up trying to track down the DJ affair. Would be interested to hear how it was.

Permalink Reply by Olatunji Oboi Reed on September 1, 2012 at 3:27am

yeah, loved seeing this lil brother with his eyes wide open, completely blown away and pleasantly in shock after seeing 1000+ cyclists rolling down his quiet, tree lined street. awesome... 

ilter said:

ditto.

Kids were so cute, "what is this happy friday ride for?" asked a boy :)

David Holmquist said:

Great route, great ride!!

Thanks, Oboi, et al.

Permalink Reply by Olatunji Oboi Reed on September 1, 2012 at 3:58am

it was my pleasure. thanks for the support and thanks for riding with us!

David Holmquist said:

Great route, great ride!!

Thanks, Oboi, et al.

Permalink Reply by Olatunji Oboi Reed on September 1, 2012 at 3:59am

loved every moment. far from a cakewalk, yet well worth the effort!

Lisa Curcio said:

That was fun!

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on September 1, 2012 at 4:05am
Thanks, Oboi, for a great route choice! I really enjoyed riding though the historic neighborhoods of Bronzeville, Washington Park, Hyde Park, and Kenwood! Thanks again for helping me get out of my comfort zone and ride though the South Side. Not once did I feel like we were in bad areas, and the people there were all very friendly and welcoming. I would definitely do this again!
Permalink Reply by Olatunji Oboi Reed on September 1, 2012 at 4:08am

wow Gene, love your photos! would you mind if i post a few on FB? with proper attribution of course. thank for the pics and thanks for riding!

Gene Tenner said:

For more photos from the 10-31-12 Chicago Critical Mass: The Southside Ride, click here.

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Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on September 1, 2012 at 4:11am

Of course you may. Thanks for asking. Thanks for your help in all this.

Click on a photo. When it opens up, right click on the photo. Select the size. Then click on download above the photo.

Olatunji Oboi Reed said:

wow Gene, love your photos! would you mind if i post a few on FB? with proper attribution of course. thank for the pics and thanks for riding!

Permalink Reply by Barbra Mann on September 1, 2012 at 4:21am

This was one of my fave masses ever, for the route, the significance of the map points and for the ending spot, and for the outpour of families from doorsteps, coming out to cheer us on!  I think the Southside rocks!  I absolutely loved it thanks so much for this mass!  So glad I made it!

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on September 1, 2012 at 4:25am

It was surprising to witness the muted police presence on this ride.   I saw very few marked cars shadowing us and even the number of bikebacons in the mass itself seemed to be quite low.

I didn't even notice any extra security or cops when we passed the Obama Residence.  I was wondering how they would feel about a mass of people riding by and all the security implications that implies for the detachment that is tasked with protecting the property.  Don't taze me bro!  I wasn't looking forward to a heavy-handed over-reaction by the establishment on our passing but my fears were thankfully unfounded.

By and by a pretty good ride.  

One thing I might suggest is that ride leaders need to be aware that when they pass from a nice wide open street or boulevard and then down a very narrow choke-point that they NEED to slow down afterwards to allow the mass of bikes behind them, still within the choke-point to catch up.  

There were a number of times when the mass got REALLY skinny and sparse in the middle sections and we had a number of incidents of motor vehiciles encroaching into the mass because of this -much more than usual.   There were times when the bikes around me were traveling at excess for 15-16MPH to keep up and close the distance between us and the folks in the lead.  Gaps opened up of 200 feet at times.   15 is  WAY too fast for the average rider who comes to CCM.    These faster sprints happened on multiple occasions and I witnessed many dangerous gaps opening up in the mass.    This is a typical mistake many CCM leaders make.  Things were so much better the last couple of months with regards to this so a bit of slippage is all the more noticeable. 

But all in all it was a nice mass and I don't mean to be overly down on the way it was run.   I've seen it much worse over the years -just a few observations and opportunities to learn for next time.

Permalink Reply by Olatunji Oboi Reed on September 1, 2012 at 4:47am

peace James - i appreciate your note and thank you for sharing it. your points are valid. consider this a post-ride debrief, a learning experience for me. btw, i take full responsibility for the things we need to improve on for next time. thanks again and if you have more evaluative insights, please do share!

James BlackHeron said:

It was surprising to witness the muted police presence on this ride.   I saw very few marked cars shadowing us and even the number of bikebacons in the mass itself seemed to be quite low.

I didn't even notice any extra security or cops when we passed the Obama Residence.  I was wondering how they would feel about a mass of people riding by and all the security implications that implies for the detachment that is tasked with protecting the property.  Don't taze me bro!  I wasn't looking forward to a heavy-handed over-reaction by the establishment on our passing but my fears were thankfully unfounded.

By and by a pretty good ride.  

One thing I might suggest is that ride leaders need to be aware that when they pass from a nice wide open street or boulevard and then down a very narrow choke-point that they NEED to slow down afterwards to allow the mass of bikes behind them, still within the choke-point to catch up.  

There were a number of times when the mass got REALLY skinny and sparse in the middle sections and we had a number of incidents of motor vehiciles encroaching into the mass because of this -much more than usual.   There were times when the bikes around me were traveling at excess for 15-16MPH to keep up and close the distance between us and the folks in the lead.  Gaps opened up of 200 feet at times.   15 is  WAY too fast for the average rider who comes to CCM.    These faster sprints happened on multiple occasions and I witnessed many dangerous gaps opening up in the mass.    This is a typical mistake many CCM leaders make.  Things were so much better the last couple of months with regards to this so a bit of slippage is all the more noticeable. 

But all in all it was a nice mass and I don't mean to be overly down on the way it was run.   I've seen it much worse over the years -just a few observations and opportunities to learn for next time.

Permalink Reply by Anne B. on September 1, 2012 at 4:53am

Thank you so much to everyone who organized this- I had so much fun and so did the first time CM-er I brought with me! Loved the route, loved biking through areas where I don't normally bike, loved all the smiling kids and great architecture we passed by! Another highlight was biking home on the LFT with so many bikers all around and a gorgeous moon going in and out of the clouds. Really appreciate all the work that went into planning this route.

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