On Your Left

ROS Honor Roll

garybicycles — Wed, 18 May 2011 01:26:54 +0000

ROS Honor Roll
May 17th 2011

Dear fellow cyclists,

As the Ride of Silence approaches — Wednesday night, May 18, 2011 for most communities — let’s take a moment now to reflect why we ride in silence and for whom. As someone commented on the Ride of Silence’s Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/rideofsilence – “the great thing about the Ride of SILENCE, it’s the same spoken in any language.” Silence is truly a universal and powerful language.

Below in the comments, please list the name of a bicyclist (could be yourself as a crash survivor) that you honor and wish to always be remembered.

Then please take a moment to also add this honoree info here: http://bit.ly/jssjV1 (which will be collected by official ROS organizers for possible inclusion on the memorial page, which hopes to soon include injured cyclists). To see a list of all cyclists who have already been memorialized on the ROS site, visit the “In Memoriam” page.

Now – fellow bike bloggers… help us make another “silent” statement before the night of the ROS silent procession. Please re-post this exact post on your own blog asking the same of your readership (to comment with the names of bicyclists they honor and remember and to repost).

This is our “honor roll” for all bicyclists that the Ride of Silence (the global bike community) will never forget! We honor in this “silent” way all those who have been killed or injured by respectfully saying nothing at all… as we put a name to all cycling crash victims who we will never forget.

Let the Silence ROAR.

Cloudscape

garybicycles — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:00:08 +0000

After the successful Ride of Silence Planning Camp this past Saturday, the out of town folks took a brief tour of Millenium Park in Chicago. Ben took this photo of Tim, Dave, Oren, and Gary reflected in the polished surface of the bean.

Ride of Silence

garybicycles — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 17:00:16 +0000

I hosted the Ride of Silence 2011 Midwest Planning Camp at my home this past weekend. It was an afternoon of breathing, thinking, and living the Ride of Silence among 14 fellow local ride organizers, participants, and board members. We streamed the session live on the internet and recorded it for those unable to participate.

Post camp photo and participants:

Left to Right:

Tim Potter, Lansing MI, Ride of Silence Executive Board Secretary

Benoit Valin, Singapore, Ride of Silence Advisory Board Asia

Dave Duffield, Westland MI

Gary Gilbert, Arlington Heights IL

Dave Barrish, Evanston IL

Sara Jo Briese, Joiliet IL

Christine Van Dornick, Rolling Meadows IL

Elizabeth Adamczyk, Chicago IL, Ride of Silence Advisory Board US

Oren Kennedy, Lansing MI

Dave Van Dornick, Rolling Meadows IL

Kathy Schubert, Chicago IL

Terry Witt, Bartlett IL

Participating via telephone were 3 honored contibutors:

Chris Phelen, Garland TX, Ride of Silence Execution Board President and Founder

Mark Hagar,Grand Rapids MI , Ride of Silence Executive Board Vice President

Steve Magas, Cincinatti OH, Bicycle Lawyer, http://ohiobikelawyer.com/

Participating via webcast were Ride of Silence organizers and supporters from Washington, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan, Texas and Illinois. Many viewers chose not to identify themselves but we know that there were 18 live viewers for all or portions of the camp.

Niagara Falls

garybicycles — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:00:14 +0000

Niagara Falls is stunning. We were there on a sunny Monday morning in June. This is one place where the photos cannot possible due justice to the wonder of the falls.

Get Adobe Flash Player

A fish bicycle wrench

garybicycles — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:00:35 +0000

A friend sent me this link. I’m not quite sure what to make of it.

Toronto

garybicycles — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:00:29 +0000

A modern symbol of Toronto is the CN Tower. With its position near the harbor, it is difficult to photograph the entire tower from land.

Toronto is long known for its neighborhoods.

We visited several during a recent trip.

Toronto Harbor

Toronto sits near the western end of Lake Ontario. The harbor area is close to downtown. Due to several small islands which sit opposite to Toronto, views of the lake are limited.

Distillery Historical District.

The Distillery District was once The Gooderham and Worts Distillery and is an example of Victorian industry. Today it is home to botiques and art galleries.

Kensington Market.

Kensington Market is an electic shopping area. On the edge of the market is the Free Times Cafe where we enjoyed a great Jewish Brunch along with listening to a Klezmer band. I recommend this place if you are in Toronto on a Sunday morning.

Gov. Quinn will sign 2 cycling bills on July 5

garybicycles — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 20:27:55 +0000

From: League of Illinois Bicyclists [mailto:lib@bikelib.org]
Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 5:21 PM
Subject: LIB Alert: ADDRESS CHANGE for bill signing

TIME AND ADDRESS CHANGE FOR MONDAY’S BILL SIGNING – (My apology – just after we sent notice of our bill signing, the Governor’s office let us know of a location and time change.)

We just received late notice that Gov. Quinn would like to have a bill signing ceremony for two bike-related bills THIS MONDAY at Campbell Street Bicycle Shop, 13 W. Campbell St., downtown Arlington Heights, at 9:00am. We need a bunch of bicyclists to attend! If your schedule permits, please drop by – and let us know via email so we can ensure good attendance and let you know of any changes to the schedule.

He will sign the following into law:

1) LIB’s bill creating permanent Share the Road license plates for Illinois. Plate income would sustainably fund our statewide education campaigns for both motorists and bicyclists. The plate design itself delivers the message, with a Share the Road sign and the phrase “Same Rights, Same Rules”.

2) Sen. Silverstein’s bill establishing penalties for motorists driving recklessly and unnecessarily close to, toward, or near a bicyclist. Depending on whether serious injuries result, this will be either a Class A misdemeanor or Class 4 felony.

More details here.

Thank you!
Ed Barsotti, LIB

2550 Cheshire Drive | Aurora, IL 60504 US

Dutch Bikes

garybicycles — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 15:00:34 +0000

The Dutch Bicycle company has been importing bicycles to the US for a couple of years. I’ve read about them on the internet but hadn’t seen one up close. Last month I was at the Green Festival at Navy Pier and a Dutch Bike was on exhibit.

The bike on display looked perfect for using around town and hauling groceries and more. The front cargo container looked pretty large. I wonder how the bike handles with a bunch of weight up front.

Dutch Bike Company sells a variety of Dutch imported bikes in Seattle and in Chicago. I’ll definately put it on my summer agenda to stop by the store and check out the bikes. They even rent bikes by the hour so it is possible to try one out.

Ann Arbor

garybicycles — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

I had a short visit to Ann Arbor mid-June and took a walk around campus. It had been at least 10 years since I was in Ann Arbor. Things change over the years, some buildings disappear while others are built. Walking around campus brought back memories of events and people. Summer time is quiet there and quite a bit different than the end-of-August through end-of-April school year.

Long before I was a student there, the Michigan Union was a men’s only building. By the time I showed up, such sillyness was long over. I took a required PE class (bowling) in the basement.

JFK arrived in A**2 early in the morning on October 14, 1960 and announced as part of his campaign for president the formation of the Peace Corps. There is a plaque and marker at the Michigan Union commemorating that event.

Michigan Union

Around Campus

Campus area is surrounded by shops, mostly catering to students. The bagel place, which was a huge hit when it opened, is gone; so is PJs and the sandwhich shop that had cream cheese and olive sandwiches for $1.45 is gone too. Nichols Arcade still has the antique shop but the post office is closed.

Movies

There were at least 4 movie theatres near campus. Most are gone now, the buildings remain and are occupied by other shops.

Hill Auditorium.

Engineering

Engineering Arch (Although Engineering has moved out to the North Campus). In the days when women students had hours and were required to be in their dorm rooms by midnight, one campus tradition was to kiss under the arch at midnight and race back to the dorm before the last strike of 12 of the bell.

East Quad

I lived in East Quad my first year. On the third floor, second window from the left in the photo.

Forest Avenue Apartment

I lived in an apartment on Forest my last two years. Again, on the third floor.

Black Hawk Colorado Bans Bicycles

garybicycles — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:00:29 +0000

A town in Colorado has banned bicycles from all streets in the town. Cyclists are upset and angry. Bicycle Colorado is staging a protest at the state capitol on Tuesday evening June 29.

Adventure Cycling is putting out a warning since one of their published routes goes through Black Hawk.

The League of American Bicyclists too is making a lot of noise.

Part of me says this is outrageous. How dare they ban cyclists!!!

Another part says to get a grip. Black Hawk is a gambling, hotel, and restaurant town with casinos being the big draw. They advertise to leave anyone under 21 at home. If you’ve seen photos of the tour busses coming into town and all the traffic, this isn’t a place I would want to ride. I rode into Gatlinburg TN while doing BRAT in 2008 and that wasn’t a place I wanted to ride either.

The ordinance seems to say that they are simply asking cyclists not to ride the 0.5 mile stretch. Walking ones bike is allowed.

There are lots of places where cycling isn’t allowed: most interstate highways, some streets in Wilmette, portions of Sheridan Road, on the Mackinac Bridge, some tunnels near Yellowstone National Park, etc.

Is this ban more egregous since it is the only way though town with no alternate routes? Let me know what you think.