The Chainlink2024-03-29T05:15:43ZThunder Snowhttps://thechainlink.org/profile/Thunder_Snowhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/63600046?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://thechainlink.org/group/evanstoncriticalmass/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=2jjn42a8wde50&feed=yes&xn_auth=noEvanston Critical Mass, November 5, 2011--Ride Reporttag:thechainlink.org,2011-11-05:2211490:Topic:4761412011-11-05T06:36:14.209ZThunder Snowhttps://thechainlink.org/profile/Thunder_Snow
<p>I started out at 5:45 in Tommy Nevin's Pub, thinking some of us may be hanging out there for a pre-ride libation, but I walked all around the crowded bar and didn't see anyone I recognized--not that I'd necessarily recognize anyone, but, you know. So I headed up to Fountain Square and met up with John, who was beginning to panic a little as he was the only one there in the chilly November plaza. The two of us chatted and were soon joined by Vic, Aaron, Paul, Jared and others (my apologies…</p>
<p>I started out at 5:45 in Tommy Nevin's Pub, thinking some of us may be hanging out there for a pre-ride libation, but I walked all around the crowded bar and didn't see anyone I recognized--not that I'd necessarily recognize anyone, but, you know. So I headed up to Fountain Square and met up with John, who was beginning to panic a little as he was the only one there in the chilly November plaza. The two of us chatted and were soon joined by Vic, Aaron, Paul, Jared and others (my apologies for missing a name or two). We waited until almost 7:15 for one other fellow who had been messaging us all evening and was stymied by the CTA's rush hour bike ban, but he never showed up, so we took off.</p>
<p>Our little band of bikes headed west down Davis, north on Oak and east on Church. At Church & Maple, we stopped off and met with the little group that was Occupy Evanston. They seemed quite pleased to have us drop in on their demonstration as we basically instantly doubled their numbers. They declined our offer of cold beer from the bike trailer, pointing out the police officer across the street sitting in his cruiser and staring in horror at a gang of bicyclists joining up with the Occupiers for <em>who knows what nefarious purpose?</em> I would have loved to hear the panicked police radio call on our arrival. One of the women there was dead set on having Jamie Dimon, chairman of JP Morgan Chase, thrown in jail, and repeatedly told us so, so we all nodded in agreement. Another fellow told me I absolutely had to help prevent the privitization of city forestry and street snow plowing jobs, as private companies would never plow the snow from our streets as well as the city workers do. I had to disappoint him by telling him I thought Evanston spent far too much already on automobile infrastructure and I'd be just as happy if we left the snow in the roads all winter to melt in the springtime. He seemed deflated, but soon decided that I'd have to support clearing the roads for ambulances and fire trucks, so we left it at that. After five minutes of chitchat and camaraderie, we left the Occupy Evanstonians, who sent us off shouting "Critical Mass! Critical Mass!"</p>
<p>We rode north on Maple, then east on Clarke, turning south on Sherman. We had no map, but since everyone in the Mass (except me) was from Chicago, we'd head the Mass that direction to get the majority of us in the direction home. At Dempster, we cut east to Chicago Avenue, rode a few blocks down that and turned east again to Sheridan, which we rode down to Rogers Park and Uptown. Along the way, we picked up two additional riders, who rode with us for a while and then headed their own way.</p>
<p>We ended the ride at a taqueria, El Ranchito, at Clark & Wilson where we had a nice chat over enchiladas and huaraches, Jarritos and beer. One of our group fed the jukebox and soon the walls were shaking with Ennio Morricone's theme to the Clint Eastwood movie, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Surprisingly, no one in the place came over and punched us.</p>
<p>One by one we left until only Jared, John & I remained. The three of us rode north on Clark. At Lawrence, the other two headed west to their respective homes, and I continued north on Clark, through Uptown, Andersonville and Rogers Park. It always amazes me when I cross the Howard street city border into Evanston, how much darker the streets suddenly are, particularly along the cemetery up to South Boulevard.</p>
<p>It was a nice Evanston Critical Mass.</p> Evanston Critical Mass, October 7, 2011--Ride Reporttag:thechainlink.org,2011-10-08:2211490:Topic:4643062011-10-08T04:30:48.069ZThunder Snowhttps://thechainlink.org/profile/Thunder_Snow
<p>Beautiful clear Indian Summer weather tonight, in the 80's, dropping down only to the 70's. This month's Evanston Critical Mass was 100 per cent larger than last month's: Tank-Ridin' Ryan graciously joined me on this October version of Evanston Critical Mass. We met up at Fountain Square, where the fountains were all drained in anticipation of winter, the square looking a little forlorn. Surely summer can't really be over...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>By 7:00 it became clear that tonight's Mass…</p>
<p>Beautiful clear Indian Summer weather tonight, in the 80's, dropping down only to the 70's. This month's Evanston Critical Mass was 100 per cent larger than last month's: Tank-Ridin' Ryan graciously joined me on this October version of Evanston Critical Mass. We met up at Fountain Square, where the fountains were all drained in anticipation of winter, the square looking a little forlorn. Surely summer can't really be over...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>By 7:00 it became clear that tonight's Mass would consist of two cyclists, so we set off up Sherman, east on Church and north on the Northwestern campus trail system along the lake. It was much darker this month at 7:00 than it was in September, leaving some of the bends and turns in the path a little difficult to see at times. I've gotta get a better headlight. We rode to the northern portion of campus, then headed west to Sheridan Road. We rode north past Wilmette harbor, still full of boats, and past the magnificent Baha'i Temple, glowing white in the lights against the darkened sky.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When we reached the Plaza del Lago Shopping Center, we headed west across the Metra tracks, then headed north on Green Bay Road to my favorite ice cream stop in Wilmette: Homer's. I've now got my legal staff writing up a clause in my Critical Mass contract, that states that from now on, I'm required to stop for really good ice cream at the halfway point in every Mass I ride, from now until eternity. Really.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Surprisingly, the serviceable bike rack in front of the yoga studio a few doors south of Homer's had vanished, leaving only two small marks in the sidewalk to indicate it had ever existed. What's the matter with these yogis, don't they ride bikes? Do they now all arrive on flying carpets? No parking meters to be found, no bike rack in Homer's dark parking lot. No other option but to lock up to a park bench out front.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I got a scoop of cappucino chip ice cream, Ryan a milk shake--I'm not sure what flavor, but he seemed happy enough with it. We sat outside for a short while, watching families and groups of high school kids come and go in the summer-like weather.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When it became time for the return trip, we set off southbound on Green Bay, then as soon as possible, east across the tracks to the dark sidestreets of Wilmette. As the rattling along on the brickwork roads was unpleasant to part of the Mass, we headed west along Lake, which is paved in standard asphalt. Then Ridge south to Central, to Sherman, to Church, east again to Judson, then south through most of southern Evanston to Main. Finally, over to Custer, ending at Howard, on the Chicago-Evanston border. The Mass shook hands, agreed it had been a fine ride and set off on our separate ways: Ryan south to Rogers Park, and me west to Asbury for the trip back north to downtown Evanston.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p> Evanston Critical Mass Ride, Ride Report: 9/2/2011tag:thechainlink.org,2011-09-03:2211490:Topic:4368482011-09-03T06:02:03.046ZThunder Snowhttps://thechainlink.org/profile/Thunder_Snow
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<p> The weather was perfect for a bike ride. I'd lived in Evanston four years and had never ridden the Evanston Critical Mass Ride, so I headed down to Fountain Square around 6:40 PM. I had read that folks gather at 6:30 and usually ride out at 7:00. I got to the square to find all the fountains dyed a deep Northwestern University purple. I perched on the edge of one of the fountains and waited expectantly.</p>
<p> And waited. No other bicyclists showed up. …</p>
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<p> The weather was perfect for a bike ride. I'd lived in Evanston four years and had never ridden the Evanston Critical Mass Ride, so I headed down to Fountain Square around 6:40 PM. I had read that folks gather at 6:30 and usually ride out at 7:00. I got to the square to find all the fountains dyed a deep Northwestern University purple. I perched on the edge of one of the fountains and waited expectantly.</p>
<p> And waited. No other bicyclists showed up. Several bikes rode by or through the square, including one recumbent I was sure had arrived for the Mass. But no. No one else stopped. It got to be 7:00, so I decided to <strong>be</strong> the Evanston Critical Mass, composed of exactly one bike. </p>
<p> Now on the one hand, massing up with myself was very easy, as I absolutely couldn't physically separate myself to let any cars through, so the Mass was near perfection. On the other hand, with only one bike in the Mass, the force in numbers was somewhat lacking, so this was the most courteous and defensively ridden Critical Mass in history. This Mass stopped at each and every red light or stop sign. I'm expecting no cranky complaints from motorists tomorrow morning, no flame wars from pedestrians who were delayed by this Evanston Critical Mass ride. There were some perplexed looks from passersby as I jauntily shouted "Happy Friday!" Oh, well, they just don't get it.</p>
<p> The Mass headed north to Church Street, then east to the lakefront path. This Mass, being somewhat smaller than usual, decided to zoom around the Northwestern University Campus for a while, as no map for the ride was in evidence and keeping away from heavy car traffic seemed prudent for the evening. The Mass glided and swept from path to road and back again, almost as one bike--ok, literally as one bike.</p>
<p> The Mass paused to listen to a group of band students playing drums out on the lawn, likely in preparation for the coming season's football games.</p>
<p> The Mass searched for the old brown cabin with screen windows, which served as the original <a target="_blank" href="http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/fall2011/feature/amazingrace.html">Amazingrace</a> music club on campus, back when the Mass himself was in college. Many a pleasant evening was spent in that little club listening to blues or folk greats from around the world, though <a target="_blank" href="http://youtu.be/mTW8uTNu6JQ">Brian Bowers and his autoharp</a> were usually the warm up act for everybody, for no apparent reason. Maybe he worked cheap.</p>
<p> The Mass then watched an enormous relay race of some sort with seven or eight teams denoted by different colored shirts. The Mass has no idea what that was all about, unless it's some sort of freshman get-to-know-each-other event.</p>
<p> The Mass made the obligatory dip of the toe in Lake Michigan, but didn't stop for a swim.</p>
<p> Next, the Mass headed northwest, toward Wilmette, via Lincoln and Green Bay Road. The Mass then stopped at Wilmette's legendary ice cream parlor, Homer's, and thoroughly enjoyed a hot fudge sundae. Disappointingly, the Mass could find no bike racks or parking meters near Homer's, but did spot a nice bike rack a few doors down in front of a yoga studio, which sufficed.</p>
<p> It was getting quite dark as the Mass finished its ice cream, so it headed home for the night, along darkened tree-shaded brick lanes that made the Mass's bike bounce and its teeth rattle.</p>