Humanize the Earth!

Metra’s bikes on trains program is a fraud

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation tells us to … visit the Metra website for details about the program including rules and regulations, [and] blackout dates … which would be fine if Metra would tell the truth. Yesterday, I followed the CBF instructions, and visited the Metra Bikes on Trains page specifically looking for blackout dates. This what I found:

Bicycles are permitted on all weekday trains arriving in Chicago after 9:30 AM and leaving Chicago before 3:00 PM and after 7:00 PM, and on all weekend trains, with the following exceptions:

• Blues Fest (June 7 - 10)
• All days during Taste of Chicago (June 29 - July 8)
• Independence Eve Fireworks (July 3)
• Venetian Night (July 28)
• Air & Water Show (August 18 & 19)
• Jazz Fest (August 30 - September 2)

Great, I thought. August 4th isn’t listed. So I went to Ogilvy Transportation Center and attempted to board a UPN train at 2:35pm. The conductor told me “No Bikes on Trains this weekend.” When I asked why not, he said “Lollapalloza, Cubs game, Bears game.” When I told him that I just checked the Metra website and this weekend wasn’t listed as a blackout weekend he said, “Too bad.”

If I cannot count on the information on the Metra website, why would I ever use this program again? I have places to go and have to be able to count on the means to do so. If there’s a chance there is a stealth blackout, that means I cross Metra off my list of options for getting where I need to go. This program is useless!

Today, I’m going to Wilmette again. Will I try Metra? No way!

Praise for Doing Extra

I want to thank Ann, who works at Infection Disease Associates & Travel Medicine in Downers Grove, Illinois. 

I received a Yellow Fever vaccination from them in August of 2000.  Many African countries will not issue an entry visa without proof of Yellow Fever vaccination, so the certification form is quite important.  I’ve lost mine twice since 2000.  This thank you is about this second replacement, which was actually accomplished today, with Ann doing way more than her job requires.

As a result of some personal and personnel issues in their office, they weren’t able to act on the phone messages I’d been leaving intermittantly for the last 3 weeks.  I finally go ahold of Ann yesterday and she agreed to meet me at a train station near her house to hand off the document.  This is really amazing, because their office is quite a bit further outside the city (and not near a train station) and I have no car, so going all the way out there would’ve been a major hardship.  As it was, I was able to ride my bike 3 miles from my house to the Metra, take the bike on the Metra (remembering to bring a rag to wipe it down from the road grime so the conductors would let me on), get off to get the paperwork and ride 3 miles back east to get on the el (our subway system in Chicago), which was necessary because Metra didn’t have another train back inbound for well over an hour.

Anyway, the point of this is: Thanks Ann!

Bike the Drive on Sunday

Michael reminds me:

Enjoy a morning of peaceful, car-free Lake Shore Drive with amazing views of Chicago’s lakefront and skyline. This Sunday is our annual (legal) opportunity to take over the Drive with our bicycles. C’mon out and join us!

And where we gonna meet up, Ted?

I actually haven’t ridden this ride since the very first year, when meeting up with Michael was planned but sadly didn’t happen. Let’s try it again! I have to get myself registered and check ou the logistics. Let’s make a plan by phone and then publish so others can join us.

new (to me) Burley Django recumbent bicycle

Written today at work:

I bought a used Burley Django last fall and with the exception of riding it home, haven’t ridden it since then … until today. My Dahon needs new pedals and my commuter needs a wheel true that I was too tired for last night, so I dusted off the Django and off to work I rode. About 5 miles. To downtown Chicago. Foolish? Yes, probably.

Anyway, it doesn’t seem to fit right. The handlebars are so close to my chest that my elbows were a bit sore from being so bent, nowhere near the 90 degree recommendation.

I’m not sure how to fix that.

Then tonight:

Okay, I rode it home in that crunched position, then took out some allen wrenches and found the bolt you mention. I was able to adjust the stem so it’s quite a bit further from my body. Then I found another adjustment place that made the stem shorter, because with it more upright, it was too long to see over.

How far away from my body should the handlebars be? And how high should my hands be when riding?

update 4/14/06:

I got about two pedal strokes from the house this morning when I realized this wasn’t going to work.  My knees were hitting the brake levers.  So I increased the stem-tilt further, and lengthened the stem (opposite yesterday’s adjustment).  The difference it made today to have my hands away from my body was amazing!  I felt so much more stable and able to manuver. 

I also noticed that I was sitting on a metal bar.  Turns out I was sitting more upright than the seat was adjusted for.  When I slouched down, I found I was actually sitting on the seat!  This meant the seat needed to be moved away from the pedals so I stopped to do that, too.

I’m thinking this afternoon’s adjustments will be to rotate the handlebar toward me to provide a more natural placement for my wrists.  I may also need to lengthen the stem a bit more as my knees were still making contact with the brake levers just a bit.

Today was a really fun ride!  Totally different from yesterday.  What a difference a few adjustments make!

account of arrest

A bicyclist was killed.  During a memorial for him four people were arrested.  Here is a piece from one of them:

The Constitution of the United States of America
Article One
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or;
prohibiting the the free exercise thereof; or  abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Let me rephrase that as it concerns me; Congress shall make no
law…..Prohibiting the freedom of speech……or the right of the people to
peaceably assemble.

I participated in a Memorial for a fallen biker.
Someone I feel was just like me. I forget that this was  a fifty year old
Hispanic male, with a completely different history and religion. And I am a
36 year old white woman from a completely different background.

This man Issah was just like me. I never met him, but he was my brother.

Why would anyone expect his brothers to do anything else but to memorialise
Issah. He was just like most of us. We are all different. But we all see
that bikes are fun, bikes a a reasonable way to navigate these city streets.

I gathered with people just like me.  To honer Issah.  And I was arrested,
handcuffed,extremely tightly,and thrown into a paddy wagon. In front of my
step daughter- who cried.
What happened to my right to peaceably assemble? ??????????????????
Yeah the cops wanted us to disperse. But We Have the Right to Peaceably
Assemble. Blah Blah they have to protect us from ourselves, Blah Blah.
Whatever law they cite is superseded by The Constitution of the United
States of America. I have the right to peaceably assemble. I was peaceably
assembled. And I WAS ARRESTED.

A lot of  people want to know about the handcuffs. I come from a cop family.
Yes I do. And I asked about the handcuffs. Apparently it is police procedure
to handcuff tightly. So a prisoner cannot escape the cuffs easily. There is
another function of handcuffs- that you lock them in place so they don’t get
tighter. My handcuffs were not locked. As many of you know, I was the first
arrested. Yeah I have a big mouth. So what. All I said is ” A man just got
Killed here, he was torn into three pieces.” That’s enough to get arrested
in 14. As they separate prisoners, and I was the only woman in my private
Paddy Wagon Compartment, I got plenty jostled around By Evil KenEvil on the
trip back to the station. The cuffs were tight to begin with. They were
unbearable before we even left Western and Cortez. I kept thinking “Well
they will remove them soon, as soon as we get to the station.” They did not.
They kept the cuffs on and they kept their prisoners waiting. I also should
mention I was wearing a messenger bag. My wrists were not tight to my back,
but a few inches from my back. I was in pain. I also asked my cop family
about the acoustics of a Paddy Wagon. Specifically, could an officer hear me
outside of the Paddy Wagon asking for help. I was told that it is indeed
certain that a prisoner can be heard from inside the Paddy Wagon. My cries
and those of my companions who tried to get help were unheeded. It bothers
me greatly that those sworn to serve and protect would ignore a cry for help
by one in pain. In desperation I started kicking the door. I was threatened
that I would be charged with criminal damage to government property. Again I
pleaded for someone to loosen the cuffs. At this stage my hands and fingers
were stone cold- from lack of circulation. A nice lady cop, I think
Wojokoski, finally assisted me. I was still the last taken out of the wagon.
The officers turned the lights out before allowing me to exit “to save
electricity.” They kept me cuffed longer inside the station while they
tracked down the arresting officer-the Sargent -to issue instructions. He
ordered I be cuffed to a rail during processing. So while I was being issued
tickets for “Obstructing Traffic” (I never left the sidewalk) and “Refusal
to cease and desist” (?) I was cuffed to a silly rail. My Wrists were red
and the skin compressed from the cuffs. Three days later, I have small
bruises on my wrists. I think it was obvious that I posed no danger to law
enforcement officials. Thanks again to lady officer Wojokski  for stopping
the pain.

What’s the big deal? What”s illegal or wrong about a memorial? What is wrong
for that matter about meeting in a public place and going for a fun bike
ride with fellow citizens? NOTHING I SAY!  And I plan on doing it MORE
FREQUENTLY in the future.
Congress shall make no law….Probating the Freedom of Speech…….or the
Right of the People to Peaceably Assemble.  Any other argument is Bullshit,
pure and simple. I am guaranteed these rights as an American Citizen.

Brenda Eileen O’Connor

bike potlatch 28Jan06

Recieved email on the Working Bikes list. No website so giving it all:

Greets, folx,

Got bike tools? Got a problem bike? Bike questions, bike answers?

Bring ‘em!

Yeah, bring ‘em to:

The Humboldt Park Bike Potluck
Saturday, January 28th
12 pm to 8 pm
942 N. California Ave, first floor

This is a dayish-long gathering for folks with all degrees of bike-love.
We’ll be sharing what we know and the tools we have. We’ll be helping
anyone with any degree of knowledge and a bike.

So bring any tools, spare parts, portable stands–especially portable
stands!–you’ve got. Let’s wrench.

Oh, and when I say “we,” I mean “you, too.”

Yours in bikes,
Ben B.

build your own bike class in Chicago

I took this class last summer. It’s awesome! Here is the intro paragraph from the announcement:

During this 8-week course, each participant fully rebuilds a bicycle, learning about each task along the way, ending up with a new-to-you, low-cost, reliable, well-adjusted vehicle. This workshop is for people who are excited to gain confidence in their mechanics skills and demystify the process of building a bike–no prior knowledge is needed. The instructors are Sarah Kaplan, a League Cycling Instructor, and Sam Van Dellen, a mechanic at Rapid Transit. Workshops take place at West Town Bikes, where each participant has the use of a professional bike stand and full set of tools. West Town Bikes also provides storage for your project bike. Participants provide a bicycle and any new parts you may need. We will make a group trip to Working Bikes to help choose bikes, or you can go to Working Bikes on your own or get a bike from another source. We would like to discuss your choice of bicycle beforehand to make sure it will be a good choice. Project bikes must have multiple gears and a derailleur and hand brakes (not coaster). Participation is limited to six (6). Workshop participation is subject to approval by the instructors.

CTA To No Longer Accept Pace Transfers

Could this be true? This is a terrible decision. CTA To No Longer Accept Pace Transfers For those not familiar with transit in the Chicago area, CTA is our Chicago-focused agency. They run busses and the el trains. PACE is the suburban bus service. When I comute to work from Regula’s house in Wilmette, I sometimes take a PACE bus for $1.50 and then transfer to the el for $0.25. After work if I do the reverse, it’s $1.75 for the el and then $0.25 for the tranfer onto PACE.

Recently I started leaving a bike at the Wilmette Metra (the 3rd of our 3 agenies, they run commuter trains) station in Wilmette and then ride to her place. That’s necessary because Metra doesn’t place nice with the other agencies. Seems CTA is going that route. This will make it much less likely that I’ll be ever taking the el to Wilmette again, since it’s a mile walk to my bike, and I’m sure as heck not going to pay full fare for just that distance, or walk it very often. Much faster to take the Metra in the first place. So PACE loses bigtime with this decision, and CTA loses as well. Ugh.

edited to see if I can ping CTA Tattler’s story about CTA and paratransit which doesn’t mention this Pace/CTA transfer issue.

updateI wrote about this at the Chicago El livejournal and the answers that came back indicate that if a rider is using the Chicago Card (which I am) proximity card, then there is actually no change in policy. So that’s good news for me.

bike winter!

Last night was one of my best bike rides of the year so far. It started snowing around midday and by the time I left my downtown Chicago office around 6:30, it was really starting to pile up. It wasn’t too far below 30 degrees so wasn’t icy, just wet. The cars had a really hard time with slippery pavement, and I actually could go just as fast as they were going in traffic, when they were moving. Most of the time they weren’t moving because there were so many of them, however, and I was able to either ride between the two lanes going my direction (in the 4-6 inch deep pile pushed there by the cars), or in the on-coming lanes (mostly wasn’t any traffic there at all, so was able to ride in the ruts of the previous traffic). I sure was wet when I got home. What fun!

When I got home I shoveled snow for the first time in my new place at the Hub Co-op. We have a huge area to shovel, living on a corner (lots of sidewalk) with a big courtyard we use to get bikes in and out of the basement, and then the sidewalk back to the alley. There was probably 6 inches on the ground when I did my shoveling and I’m guessing another 2 when Sam went out later to do it again. Looking now at the unshovelled walkways, I’d guess we got a total of 8 or 9 inches. We’ll see how the snow-riding is today after things have frozen after yesterday. Maybe the roads will be cleaner due to salt and plowing. I’m guessing I’ll have to really ride in the traffic lane and not much to the right because it’ll be too snowy/icy over there.

tonight’s critical mass

sent to the Chicago Critical Mass email list:

Had a bit of a surreal ride tonight. First off, a friend of a friend whom I hadn’t met yet (we’re supposed to have coffee on Wednesday) contacted me this afternoon to see if I had a bike I could loan. I actually had an extra bike at work that I thought would work so she met me and while it was big, she made it work. So here she is knowing no one, first mass, on my too big bike, so I felt resposible to stick by her, ya know? Which is great, talking a bit and getting to know each other. Then a former roommate starts talking wtih me and telling me some really horrible crazy stories about what’s happened in his life since I saw him last. He really needed someone to talk with and there I was. For miles and miles. I kept my eye on Sarah to make sure we were still together but couldn’t really talk wtih her as Matt really is in a bad spot.

Often my mass conversations go back and forth between non-biking stuff and noticing cool things about the mass itself and neighborhoods we’re going through and interacting with cagers and peds. Tonight was none of that. Tonight was just about avoiding running into people while I tried to focus on what Matt was saying and trying to find something helpful to say.

And then at one point he was gone. Up ahead, I think. Don’t really know. Got to see Kelly and Travis and Evan. And then after seeing the smashed in cage windshield on Irving, Sarah and Sam were on the corner saying they were heading home. Sarah (with my bike) was ready to leave as well so I bid her farewell and she took my bike to the Irving Brown Line stop while Sarah and Same and I rode south on Damen, all the way to Cermak, meeting Ross and Julie (did I get those names right?) who live in McKinley Park, quite near our place at the Hub in Little Village.

Anyway, Matt, I hope you’re okay man. Send me a note if you see this.

Everyone else, thanks for the great night!

peace,
ted

–
Humanize the Earth! http://tedernst.com