Night Rides and New Neighborhoods

I rode a good 30 miles yesterday. First I took my regular 8 mile commute to work on the Lakefront Path, then after work I took a ride into Pilsen. Pilsen is about 3 mi south west of the Loop. This neighborhood is traditionally Czech and in the most recent decades populated by Mexican immigrants. With each renting season more and more hipsters seem to be calling this place home due to it's cheap rent and proximity to Skylark and Irv's bike shop. Then I got a call from my sisters that we were having some dinner at my brother's place in Logan Square. Logan Square is about 12 mi north west of Pilsen. I took Ashland north to Milwaukee which led me right to my destination. Along the way I really broadened my bicycle tour of the city. This route travels through Little Italy, past the United Center, and Union Park where the Pitchfork Music Fest is held, through Wicker Park and finally into Logan Square and its European style round about. If you find this traffic phenomenon confusing in an auto it will blow your mind on a bicycle. I navigated without issue or horns and when it was all over I had no idea how I got where I wanted to be. After dinner I took a leisurely cruise down the Lakefront path, a stop in Millennium Park for some stunning night views and all the way down to Hyde Park. This city is tops when the weather turns.

The Not So Seneic Route

It will come as some surprise to any one who hasn't been riding the Lakefront Path that construction season is here. The path however is not undergoing any facelifts. The Shedd Aquarium is enlarging their office space and access to the path that goes near the site is detoured around the front of the Field Museum. This seems to be only a weekday scenario as every Friday afternoon the barricades are removed for the path cruisers on the weekends. The reroute isn't marked well and has the potential for some high speed collisions.



Then there is this random construction that has been going on for almost a year now. It is at Oakwood Blvd. and it seems to be part of a larger beach front project. Throughout the day heavy duty trucks cross at this point to bring materials to and from the site. The trucks wait for cyclists and I've never had a problem with it, however they have left two ruts the width of a truck axle in the path. Beware of the quick 1 2 bob as you pedal over and the nasty S curve right after.

Cycling Excitement

The past few days have been good ridin. I caught a flat comin to work on Friday. I was on the lakefront path heading north and just before McCormick place when that all too familiar hiss appeared at every revolution of my wheel. I was able to get to the Museum Campus where I threw the bike on the bus rack and got a ride in. It was nice to have a support vehicle just a mile or so down the road. During lunch I went into the Millennium Park Bicycle station and introduced myself to the resident bike mechanic, Dan and picked up a tube. Dan it turns out used to work at Breckenridge Ski School the same time I was working lifts at Breck and we knew some of the same people including the only Macedonian I've ever met, Marion. It was a nice blast from the past. Today I gave my Raleigh the day off and took my fancy Specialized in. Wow what a difference lightweight aluminum makes in constant headwinds, plus everything works on it. The Raleigh is in dyer need of new calipers.

Nerds at Indy Film in Madison

I have a few friends that I made while in college and we used to work on each other's video projects. It was fun for myself but for real when it came to Dan Lamoureux. He made his first full length in 2002 called "My Very First Meth Lab" which yours truly had a role in. Dan's latest project is "NerdCore for Life" a documentary about nerd rap. Yes nerds who rap about nerd culture, Hobbits and computer code along with lots of video game references. As a way of life, not for me, when it comes to entertainment I'm all in. The world premier was this past weekend in Madison, WI. at the Wisconsin Film Fest. They put on a NerdCore preshow before the movie where it was rumored that the film was picked up for yet annother film fest. My buddy Dan was interviewed a number of times and had write ups in all the daily publications in town. It was a wild weekend.

MC Router Performs at the preshow at The Cardinal

NerdCore for Life