Hangin' with the Sis in Chicago - Part 1 - Thursday June 23rd
Here's my first attempt to start catching up on recent weeks events. Flew down to Chicago to visit my little sister jojo. She had a weekend of bikey events lined up, most notable being the June Chicago Critical Mass, and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation's entry in the Gay Pride Parade.
Arrived late afternoon on Thursday after ducking out of work early. The ride from O'Hare to jojo's hood was pretty painfree ... a 45 minute ride on the Blue Line train, followed by a 10 minute walk got me to the Handlebar (bikey bar restaurant of which jojo is quite excitedly a part-owner.)
Jojo met me there for dinner, and we chatted for a while w/some of her CBF friends. I couldn't stick around forever though, as I planned to head downtown to see folksinger/storyteller Utah Phillips that night. Jojo set me up with one of her bikes to ride ... her Mint Julep fixie. This was to be my first time riding a fixie, and I was already running a little late so I hoped the learning curve wouldn't be too steep. Thankfully it wasn't. I wist I could say the same of Julep's gearing ... 53x16 makes for a tall ratio - just under 90 gear inches. Pretty sick. Not a problem on the flats, but even moderate hills are a challenge, especially when starting out from a standstill. Julep has a front brake, so stopping isn't an issue, although I practiced using the brake as little as possible, and found that it sometimes took as much as a half-block to get'er stopped if you're moving at a good clip. Jojo commented that she really needs to learn how to bust skids - I think she's more likely to bust her knees - it would take a ton of torque to skid with that gearing, and she'd need superhuman knees.
It was about 5 miles to the Utah show at the HotHouse, and unfortunately the show wasn't that great. There was singing, and storytelling, some of it very good, but the truth of the matter is that it was more of a labor rally, as the show was in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Industrial Workers of the World union (IWW or otherwise known as the Wobblies). I didn't realize it would be a union rally ... all I knew was that the Ani Difranco/Utah Phillips album "The Past Didn't Go Anywhere" is really, Really good, and I wanted to go see him. Oh well.
Ran into Jojo on the street a few blocks from the Hbar (they were closing up, and she was walking home). Met her roommates John and Mia back at her place, who seem really cool, and were super gracious to let me crash on their couch and monopolize their living room all weekend. Not that I was there much, but still, Thanks!
Arrived late afternoon on Thursday after ducking out of work early. The ride from O'Hare to jojo's hood was pretty painfree ... a 45 minute ride on the Blue Line train, followed by a 10 minute walk got me to the Handlebar (bikey bar restaurant of which jojo is quite excitedly a part-owner.)
Jojo met me there for dinner, and we chatted for a while w/some of her CBF friends. I couldn't stick around forever though, as I planned to head downtown to see folksinger/storyteller Utah Phillips that night. Jojo set me up with one of her bikes to ride ... her Mint Julep fixie. This was to be my first time riding a fixie, and I was already running a little late so I hoped the learning curve wouldn't be too steep. Thankfully it wasn't. I wist I could say the same of Julep's gearing ... 53x16 makes for a tall ratio - just under 90 gear inches. Pretty sick. Not a problem on the flats, but even moderate hills are a challenge, especially when starting out from a standstill. Julep has a front brake, so stopping isn't an issue, although I practiced using the brake as little as possible, and found that it sometimes took as much as a half-block to get'er stopped if you're moving at a good clip. Jojo commented that she really needs to learn how to bust skids - I think she's more likely to bust her knees - it would take a ton of torque to skid with that gearing, and she'd need superhuman knees.
It was about 5 miles to the Utah show at the HotHouse, and unfortunately the show wasn't that great. There was singing, and storytelling, some of it very good, but the truth of the matter is that it was more of a labor rally, as the show was in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Industrial Workers of the World union (IWW or otherwise known as the Wobblies). I didn't realize it would be a union rally ... all I knew was that the Ani Difranco/Utah Phillips album "The Past Didn't Go Anywhere" is really, Really good, and I wanted to go see him. Oh well.
Ran into Jojo on the street a few blocks from the Hbar (they were closing up, and she was walking home). Met her roommates John and Mia back at her place, who seem really cool, and were super gracious to let me crash on their couch and monopolize their living room all weekend. Not that I was there much, but still, Thanks!
posted by equipoise at 5:41 PM
1 Comments:
OK, one of the bar-end lights came off the Julep while I was riding her. But I don't think it was my fault ... it was fate.
And yes, the Julep probably is the cutest bike I've ridden ... with the exception of your green banana seat bike that I always used to steal from you as a kid :-)
Post a Comment
<< Home