The Chainlink

Tour of West Town Discussion



This is a discussion page for the Tour of West Town, picture posts, map updates, and all matters and events related to the Tour of West Town. Here is the chainlink event page for the site:

http://www.thechainlink.org/events/tour-of-west-town

This is the final tour of the second season of Big Shoulders Realty's neighborhood bike tours. Next month begins our second Winter Cycling Series, more details on which will soon come. In the interim, one can vote for the four rides for the Winter Cycling Series here:

http://bigshouldersrealty.com/winter

Back to the point...Tour of West Town. This is our first partnership with West Town Bikes and Ciclo Urbano. We are very proud to work with an organization(s) that we are ardent supporters of. It is our hope that this ride gives them another opportunity to be visible and raise some much needed funds. As always, our neighborhood tours are completely free, but we are also asking for donations for West Town Bikes. They do a lot with a little, and every bit of help they can get goes a long way. Donations will be accepted onsite, or you can donate right here, right now:

http://tinyurl.com/donatetourofwesttown

If you are unaware of the great things that Alex Wilson and West Town Bikes have done for the city of Chicago, for bicyling and in particular for the young people of the west side of Chicago, than please take a moment to visit their website and see all of the great programs they have ongoing, and all of the great things they have done.

Here is their website:

http://westtownbikes.org/

and Ciclo Urbano’s:

http://ciclourbanochicago.com/

This tour is our most ambitious to date. Some of the features beyond the typical 15-esque mile tour of a wonderful west side community area with loads of architecture to oogle and gape at and a historical narrative on the ride include:

- 60 second-bike tune-ups and pre-ride checks courtesy of West Town Bikes
- This is Halloween so it is of course a costumed ride with prizes for best costume, best Halloween themed-helmet and best bike costume.
- Early ride time allows us to end directly in front of Ciclo Urbano to witness/participate in the Haunted Paseo Boricua parade.

This is also the day after the Halloween mass, and a perfect opportunity to get a little extra-mileage out of your Halloween efforts, have fun on a Saturday morning/afternoon, join the party at Haunted Paseo Boricua, and still get off in plenty of time for Halloween evening. To that end, we are hoping a large group of folks find this a good opportunity to bring their children and make it all a great bike-filled fun day. Hope to see many families, costumes and cyclists of all stripes for our season finale.

If you would like to get a first-hand role in shaping the tour, we encourage you to join us for the planning rides. Our first one is tonight at 6:00 directly outside of Ciclo Urbano. Here are the details on the Chainlink event pages for the rest of the planning rides:

West Town Planning Ride #2 - Monday October 12 at 6:00 PM
http://www.thechainlink.org/events/planning-ride-for-tour-of-west-1

West Town Planning Ride #3 - Sunday October 18 at 2:00 PM
http://www.thechainlink.org/events/planning-ride-for-tour-of-west-2

West Town Planning Ride #4/Pre-Ride - Saturday October 24 at 11:00 AM
http://www.thechainlink.org/events/planning-ride-for-tour-of-west-3

Thanks for checking this out and sorry for the lengthy post! Stay tune for some pics and map for tonight's planning ride. - Cheers - Lee Diamond

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Permalink Reply by jen on October 13, 2009 at 2:25pm
but its right next to the lincoln steet bath house thats totally rad!

http://forgottenchicago.com/features/chicago-architecture/public-ba...

Lee Diamond said:
Hmmmm....I completely missed that somehow. Fortunately, it is hardly architectural...phew!

jen said:
dont forget about the "shit fountian" next to the angel barn at augusta and wolcott

http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/out-there/12086/fountain-of-waste
Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on October 13, 2009 at 2:34pm
You win!
Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on October 14, 2009 at 11:45am
Hi everyone,

Some more pics from my solo research rides......cheers! - Lee










Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on October 18, 2009 at 1:29pm
Today's research route with many on the spot variations. Cheers:

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/il/chicago%2c/974125589049795809
Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on October 18, 2009 at 5:25pm
Howdy all. Here are some pics from today's research ride. This ride was completely about getting the shots that were terrible in previous outings and about 4 missed properties, including the Shit Fountain, which is indeed right by the Lincoln Bath House.

The next research ride is Saturday the 24th at 11:00 AM in front of CicloUrbano. Here's the info:

http://www.thechainlink.org/events/planning-ride-for-tour-of-west-3

Cheers - Lee






















Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on October 18, 2009 at 9:02pm
can't wait for this ride!
Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on October 23, 2009 at 4:04pm
Here is tomorrow's route....time to pare down.....

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/il/chicago/823125633176294599
Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on October 26, 2009 at 1:12am
I have had a great deal of fun planning what is thus far 14 different tours around Chicago. It has expanded my awareness of this splendid city. It has really opened my eyes to a how wonderful we have it when it comes to a great built environment, a fascinating history, and a rich tapestry of neighborhoods and cultures that rivals anything in the world. I know Chicago has its faults, but doing these tours allows me to take a different perspective and see much more.

It is not nice to pick your favorite child, or play favorites, or anything like that, but I must say that this will certainly be the finest tour so far. It is the most densely packed setting I have explored in the city in a place I thought I knew pretty well, having lived there repeatedly over the years. I knew nothing.

I have a spreadsheet of over 2,500 seperately cataloged homes and buildings that merit discussion. My first attempt at whittling down the list resulted in 14 pages of a notes over two columns, shrunk down to quarter page size for riding. The final go round of the attempt at a route was an attempt to trim 18 miles down to about 15 in case we had more children and families or costumes made pedaling difficult, or whatever. In the end we could only cut 1 mile because it is all so essential and vital.

It is something on order of a architectural religious experience, mixed with a very amazing series of unique neighborhoods that span a space so wide and vast, it doesn't seem real that it can all be...West Town.

I have to think that this alone would be enough....combined with West Town Bikes, combined with Halloween and Haunted Paseo Boricua and costumed riders and contests and Bike Winter and everything, it is almost too much to wait for.

I really hope to see you out there.

Cheers - Lee
Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on October 26, 2009 at 5:01pm
Here is the route map. Cheers - Lee Diamond

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/il/chicago/636125659445153039
Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on October 27, 2009 at 6:09pm

Permalink Reply by Michael M on November 1, 2009 at 7:43pm
Ditto that. I had a great time. Thanks to all involved!

John Donahue said:
A Great ride; lots to see, good people and fun!
Happy Halloween --
Permalink Reply by Lee Diamond on November 2, 2009 at 1:47pm
Thanks everyone who came! What a great time! Cheers - Lee Diamond

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