I rode today. Did you?

Nice first ride in the COLD.

 

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on February 6, 2014 at 5:19am



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 5:34am

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 5:43am

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 5:51am

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.

Permalink Reply by The Grizz on February 6, 2014 at 6:03am
I had a bit of a chuckle. It's the automobile, really, that makes cycling interesting. If everybody rode bikes I'd probably commute by some sort of homemade flying contraption.

Robert Underwood said:

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 Skip Montanaro 0mi on February 6, 2014 at 6:19am



Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

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

The north side bike lanes I encountered were occasionally pretty iffy...

Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on February 6, 2014 at 6:21am

Yeah, I might try that tonight. Thanks!

Skip Montanaro 12mi said:

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 Simon Phearson on February 6, 2014 at 6:41am

It'll be a party. If it's not clear, we'll probably stomp all over each other's frustrated snow-prints to the nearest exit.

Ryan Stahlman said:

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.

Permalink Reply by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on February 6, 2014 at 8:06am

I complained to Chicago Parks (via their twitter account) last night, and they responded today that they are attempting to address these problems with heavy equipment.  I had the same experience as Simon last night, but was forewarned about the problem at 39th.  After verifying the problem was still there, I exited at Oakwood and rode south on Ellis.  (Which was not great, but was fine.)

Anyway, while I don't really understand ChicagoParks' explanation (if the heavy equipment they need to remove drifting snow south of 39th wasn't available, how did they remove so much of the drifting snow that existed north of 39th -- the LFP had some deep snow banks from the great snow removal from the Loop south to 39th), I am hopeful that they will address the issue today.  I will say that the LFP on the ride home last night was surprisingly clear from the Loop south to 39th.  On that stretch, it was some of the best snow removal I'd seen so soon after a relatively heavy snow.

If it isn't clear, exiting at Oakwood and heading south on Ellis, or Drexel, or some other street worked well to get me into Hyde Park.


Simon Phearson said:

It'll be a party. If it's not clear, we'll probably stomp all over each other's frustrated snow-prints to the nearest exit.

Ryan Stahlman said:

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.

Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on February 6, 2014 at 8:27am

Not to mention which this has been a fairly snowy winter (60 inches so far?) with a month or so left to go.

Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on February 6, 2014 at 8:45am

Yeah, their explanation didn't make sense to me, either. Are they prioritizing clearing drifted snow elsewhere over just clearing the trail south of 39th? It would have made a world of difference if the path had been cleared at some point - you'd have to deal with drifting here and there, but it'd be loose and intermittent. 

Joe Studer 8.0 mi said:

I complained to Chicago Parks (via their twitter account) last night, and they responded today that they are attempting to address these problems with heavy equipment.  I had the same experience as Simon last night, but was forewarned about the problem at 39th.  After verifying the problem was still there, I exited at Oakwood and rode south on Ellis.  (Which was not great, but was fine.)

Anyway, while I don't really understand ChicagoParks' explanation (if the heavy equipment they need to remove drifting snow south of 39th wasn't available, how did they remove so much of the drifting snow that existed north of 39th -- the LFP had some deep snow banks from the great snow removal from the Loop south to 39th), I am hopeful that they will address the issue today.  I will say that the LFP on the ride home last night was surprisingly clear from the Loop south to 39th.  On that stretch, it was some of the best snow removal I'd seen so soon after a relatively heavy snow.

If it isn't clear, exiting at Oakwood and heading south on Ellis, or Drexel, or some other street worked well to get me into Hyde Park.

Permalink Reply by Robert Underwood on February 6, 2014 at 9:56am

I take the LFT on the northernmost stretch from Ardmore to Montrose every evening, and its been plowed/ride-able every time this winter (don't take it on weekends, but i've only missed two weekdays so far so I know they plow it consistently).  Too bad they don't do that all the way south.  All the rich yuppie hippsters can move south as far as I care if that would help things.  I'm not a yuppie or rich, but some might call me an aging hipster... because sometimes I wear skinny jeans. but I don't have a beard.    

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