thought much of the way it looked. I heard him mention he was 'considering painting it red', so I went with that, but did it in a Candy Apple red color. Basically a gold basecoat color, with a deep, transparent red mid-coat color (so you can see through it, down to the basecoat), and then clearcoat on top of it all. Looks so much better in person, and in bright sunlight. I also added in 'ghosted' Chester Cycles logos; I used a different-sized metallic flake for the logo, so it shows up as you tilt the frame, or see it at different angles.
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Added by Duane Waller at 7:44am on January 27, 2013
inents will join their local Ride of Silence.
This ride is not about ability, or training, fundraising, or competition - it is about our rights as cyclists to share the road without fear of injury or death. This ride is to memorialize our fellow cyclists who were taken from us by distracted, drunk or otherwise impaired, negligent of just careless motorists. This ride is our ride to show, as a ROS organizer in Orlando so well summed up, that motorists must Share The Road!
The Chicago Ride of Silence will start gathering at 6 pm at the eternal flame in Daley Plaza. We invite you to bring an armband (black for all fallen cyclists and red if you are a crash survivor) to the ride with you. Everyone will be welcome to write the name(s) of a cyclist they want to honor tonight on tags that can be pinned to your clothing/bike. ROS buttons and reflective stickers will be available tonight ($1 donation welcome); Illinois Bike Attorneys will be distributing red blinkie lights as well - so no one need be caught without lights after dark.
There will be time for brief remarks and a prayer prior to departure, and then the ride will depart Daley Plaza promptly at 7pm. Last year we had nearly 200 cyclists, and we hope to have many more this year. Everyone who plans to attend should invite just one more person to join us this year; you will remember this ride.
In addition to the Chicago location, other IL communities hosting a Ride of Silence include Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Downers Grove, Evanston, Joliet, Oak Park, Peoria, and Urbana. Please join where you can or organize your own. Details (including a map) about all of tonight's local Rides are on the website www.rideofsilence.org/chicago
We all share the same roads. I've shared the roads with you. As both a daily commuter and weekend cyclist, I know first-hand the close calls we all face in our encounters with motorists.
The route is about 10-11 miles, departing from Daley Plaza and passing several ghost bikes - white bikes placed in memorium at the location of a fatal cycling crash. Our route concludes at corner of Damen and Wellington - at the ghost bike dedicated to Liza Whitacre. We will stay at a 10-12 mph pace. All cyclists of all abilities and bikes, and ages are encouraged to come out and share the moment, and make a statement. Afterwards, we will gather at Hamlin Park - an opportunity for fellowship and renewed friendships. Please pass this on to someone you know who rides, and we'll....
See You Out There Tonight!
And if it rains tonight... then we will be riding in remembrance "with the tears from the sky."
~Elizabeth
GROUP: http://www.thechainlink.org/group/chicagorideofsilence
EVENT: http://www.thechainlink.org/events/chicago-ride-of-silence…
at some are offering:
John Barleycorn's in Lincoln Park: $1 off drinks.
Emmits agreed to give us $1 off Guiness pints which usually go for 5.50
Paramount Room has 2.50 PBR's and $5 shot and beer specials
Billy Goat said they have 3.50 domestic beers
Twin Anchors has $3 bottles of Brooklyn Ale or something like that...
Gold Star Bar - opens at 4. $2 Schlitz and Hamm's; $3 Old Style; $4 Dead Guy Ale; all taps are $4. We will have to show ID as only the bartender will be there. Ghost info - and two of the greatest review quotes I have ever seen - are here: http://www.chibarproject.com/Reviews/GoldStar/GoldStar.htm
Rainbo Club - $2 PBR; that is their special every day. They are also cash only, so the plastic-preferring riders should be warned. Also very crowded the later it gets in the evening. More at: http://www.chibarproject.com/Reviews/RainboClub/RainboClub.html
Inner Town Pub - no specials and they don't care. They have an interesting history, but BOO to them!
Club Lucky - won't know about the specials until that day, BUT the owner would love to have us come by. Eric will be the Manager working that day, and we are to ask for him to see the bullet hole in the bar and hear about the murder that took place there. The earlier we can get arrive (5-6pm) the better it will be, as the place gets really crowded on Saturdays. Other good stuff here: http://www.chibarproject.com/Reviews/ClubLucky/ClubLucky.htm
Lottie's Bar and Grill - Beer of the Month (TBD) for $3 or $3.50; 25 cent wings. Highly entertaining info on Lottie's at: http://www.chibarproject.com/Reviews/Lottie's/Lottie's.htm…
on the street- as long as its not someone else's property, (not sure how it works with city property) ghost bikes are just more bikes parked on the street and nobody really can say how long they can be parked there. There are plenty of abandoned bikes around and I haven't heard nearly as much discussion about taking those down- the fact is people like this Mr. Complainy-Pants notice some people taking matters into their own hands, and using public space for something the community actually wants and needs, and they feel helpless themselves so they have to bitch.
Interestingly, I replied when he posted that his daughter had died from a drug overdose, and asked did he have the right then to put a memorial to her on the street? In my opinion, of course he does. And if it helps the community to have a reminder about drug use and the dangers it poses, that would be great. I'm not saying that every person who dies tragically *needs* or can have a public monument. Rather, that we have the right, as a community, to come together and publicly mourn, and also react to something that the consensus is, is a problem. We have that right because we decided we did.
So, it seemed to me that the OP just didn't want to be left out, of the decision making process, or of the public mourning for the dead (in light of his daughter's death). I tried to be helpful and remind him he is not powerless and no one is trying to trample on his rights. Don't know if that makes sense or if it was helpful at all.
Some people don't like it when other people take initiative, that's all.
End rant. …
Jackie Michon's boss to find out if there's a plan for a GB for her in the works (forgot the number at home today)-- it's not much harder to crank out two bikes than it is one once you get the people and supplies together.
I'll put some "how-to" notes together tonight. In terms of making a bike the basics are to use a bike that has no useful life left in it, secure the parts such that they can't be stripped off or are effectively worthless (spot-welding has been done on many of the past bikes). The bike should be reasonably like something the victim might have ridden (e.g. probably no step-through frame or BMX bike for an adult male). Tires on the rim looks much better than no tires. In terms of paint, the name brand ($5-6) can cover a bike with one can, wheras the budget stuff ($1-3) will take 2-3 cans. Stay away from reflective or otherwise "fancy" paint-- it almost always has undesired consequences (e.g. glow in the dark paint goes on kind of yellowish and doesn't glow enough to be noticeable, reflective paint is expensive and ends up not looking "white" when the light hits it.)
Despite the ordinance, many Ace stores do have spray paint in stock but you have to ask for it.
Otherwise there's Cicero/Evanston.
Bikefreeek said:
This can be done at WTB on Thursday evening if someone else can organize.
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ke up the space of a few songs. Stop and start recording on-screen, with your earphone remote, or with automatic stop detection. Also track heart rate, bike speed, and bike cadence using the Wahoo Fitness ANT+ system (purchased separately). VISUALIZE
See your results on maps, graphs, and a calendar, and organized by routes and activities. Summarize your statistics by day, week, month, year, and overall. Analyze your split, interval, and zone performance.
Automatic stop detection removes stopped time from your statistics.
Remote control using your earphone remote keeps you from fumbling with your iPhone at the start and finish.
All of your workouts may be viewed by route or on a calendar, and summarized by day, week, month, year, and overall.
Import allows you to preload routes, or import other people's workouts to compete against.
Export allows you to save detail and summary information in CSV, GPX, and KML formats.
Ghost racing lets you compete against your best, median, and worst workouts, or against imported competitors.
Twitter, Facebook, dailymile, and email updates enable your friends to view your progress.
Google Maps are updated every few minutes to keep your friends and family informed of your location.
Spoken comments from your friends on Twitter, Facebook, and dailymile encourage you during workouts.
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on N Mil. Maybe 2-3 other commuters N of Addison, but it's rare. There is a girl who i've see riding on a touring bike near Portage Park, but we haven't connected. Not sure if she is commuting or just joyriding.
I am usually wearing a grey cycling jacket, grey shorts and black long underwear, I ride a dark Grey Salsa touring bike w/ loaded black panniers. I have a beard, but quite a few of us do in the winter. You can also see me running errands with my black '69 Schwinn Racer in that neighborhood. Or possibly on my tomato red Schwinn Homegrown with my daughter in tow. I am what they call "bikesexual".David crZven said:
I virtually never see other commuters on my route even at the height of the summer in perfect riding weather. The Northwest Side out toward Harwood Heights and the like is a real ghost town for commuter bicyclists. I finally saw someone last night, but I had to get all the way to Bryn Mawr and the North Branch Trail for it to happen. I am the big person in the bright yellow upper garment and the blue tights and black bike shorts on the lower half on the old ancient breaking down 1980's road bike.
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n March.
I've got an idea for stabillity to the set-up you've posted here - it involves building something like training wheels (or a variation of them) to stabilize the back wheel of the bike being towed. Bikefreeek said:
I've been interested in this idea of towing a bike by bike (and not necessarily on or by trailer) and I've seen and heard of mounting a fork block to a rack and towing like a kids trail-a-bike. So I tried it today and was impressed by how easy it works. I will say that it does effect handling, especially walking or at slow speeds and tight maneuvering. Compared to ghost riding, infinitely better.
Easy to set up, stop by Open Shop at WTB tomorrow if you're interested. Bike needs to have a rack, $20 for the fork block part + a donation for the shop time. Have a look...
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tion. As I stated it would need to involve towing the bike somewhere close to horizontal to be safe.Even with a good shoulder I wouldn't consider carrying a bike or even ghost riding to be a safe option.
Would lend you a trailer if you live reasonably close (2400sx2600w.)
spencewine said:
It's not that I'm hell-bent on the idea of towing rather than carrying, I've got a messed up shoulder (see post above) which means that I can't carry. Besides there are probably a lot of other people interested in how to tow because they may not be physically able to carry a bike while biking.h' 1.0 said:
If you're hell-bent on the bike being "towed" rather than just carried, the only way to do so safely would be to rig something that allows the towed bike to be reasonably horizontal and has only the back wheel on the ground. I think Alex W had fork mounts on the back of a trailer at some point in the past and it worked to tow two additional bikes behind the trailer, IIRC.
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nothing needs to be changed. Maybe something does. And, of course, the easiest way to get killed is to assume that the other guy is taking the greatest care -- particularly when they have the vehicle that can cause the greatest damage. And that's why the BICYCLE needs to take the greatest care, because the bicycle must assume that every driver on the street is ultimately distracted. That's called good safe defensive riding. Should Car drivers take greater care? Sure. But there is a reason for nearly 1000 traffic deaths this year in Chicago. But hey, if you want to ride with those rose colored glasses and assume that the Cars are taking care, go ahead. I am sure someone will be willing to scrape you off the pavement and put up a Ghost Bike for you.... Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:
Who said Michael was disobeying any laws? And I disagree – the person who is capable of inflicting the most harm is most responsible for safety. Of course when I ride, I have my own safety in mind and ride in a safe and predictable manner, but it ultimately is the responsibility of the person driving the car to act in a safe manner because they are operating the machine that is capable of inflicting far more damage. You don't give someone a gun and say that it's everyone else's responsibility to get out of the way of the bullets.
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