The Chainlink

Impressions of Chicago biking from the head of the Boston Cyclists Union

Pete Stidman, director of the Boston Cyclists Union, recently came to town for meeting of the Alliance for Biking and Walking. Pete crashed on my futon and gave me his impressions of bike conditions in Chicago. Spoiler alert: he thinks there's room for improvement.

 

Pete also told me about some of the cyclists union's initiatives, including a cool Bike to Market program that has fixed over 600 cycles for underserved youth at farmers markets in "bike shop desert" neighborhoods. Might be something to consider doing here.

 

Read the interview on Grid Chicago.

 

Keep moving forward,

 

John Greenfield

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Mokena, bike shop desert. I'd would be down for doing this in my community.
Yeah, bike shop deserts are almost as big an issue in Chicago as food deserts. Even counting the great work done by Blackstone Bicycle Works and Working Bikes, there are big swaths of the South Side and West Side where you have to travel miles to find a place to get a flat fix. That's a big deterrent to cycling in many neighborhoods where residents need more choices for affordable transportation.

Ill be honest, I didnt think the guy had much that was terribly insightul to say judging from the article, most of the answers seemed pretty vanilla.  The most interesting thing I took from it was that apparently Minneapolis is more of a bike town then I realized and I should read up on it.

 

 

Minneapolis is a great bike town. It is however more difficult to meet other bikers in Minneapolis. Chicago is socially the best bike city in North America in my opinion.

Haven't been to the Twins for a couple years but I'm going next month. I'll try to give a report on Grid Chicago.

 

From what I've read, MNPLS is great for useful off-street commuting trails, has a good bike-share system and lots of interesting bike-y businesses, like coffee shops where you can get your bike tuned.

 

I've also heard that flip side of the Twin Cities friendliness called "Minnesota nice,"

is "Minnesota ice" - unlike Chicago you'll never feel like a local if you weren't born there, since many Minnesota residents are lifers.

 

 

 

Paul Bracht said:

Minneapolis is a great bike town. It is however more difficult to meet other bikers in Minneapolis. Chicago is socially the best bike city in North America in my opinion.

Yah I have a few friends from Minneapolis - they have lived in Chicago for a long time but both take a lot of trips back home and talk frequently about their home town and how great it is; I get the feeling they would rather be there if it werent for the good jobs they have here.  

 

I look forward to reading your report after your trip John.  If I might make a request an update on the Blaine velodrome would be nice as well - its the country's only wooden outdoor track (I think?)...just north of Minneapolis.

John Greenfield said:

Haven't been to the Twins for a couple years but I'm going next month. I'll try to give a report on Grid Chicago.

 

From what I've read, MNPLS is great for useful off-street commuting trails, has a good bike-share system and lots of interesting bike-y businesses, like coffee shops where you can get your bike tuned.

 

I've also heard that flip side of the Twin Cities friendliness called "Minnesota nice,"

is "Minnesota ice" - unlike Chicago you'll never feel like a local if you weren't born there, since many Minnesota residents are lifers.

 

 

 

Paul Bracht said:

Minneapolis is a great bike town. It is however more difficult to meet other bikers in Minneapolis. Chicago is socially the best bike city in North America in my opinion.

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