The City in Photos

The view from 18th St. Bridge on the way home. This bridge is in one of the shots in the latest Batman movie.

One look at the photos in this site and clearly my favorite subject is the city skyline. Come to think of it my entire portfolio is skyline heavy. When I moved from Hyde Park to Pilsen my bicycle commute changed from lakefront views to riverfront views. Along with the river comes bridges and Chicago has the most movable bridges in the world. On my commute alone I can see 5 and use 2, Roosevelt on the way in and 18th on the way home. The movable bridges are mostly cheese greater style but the new ones have a paved bike lane on the side (below).

Roosevelt (12th St) looking north on my way in.

I was thinking the other day that I pass some pretty cool stuff in my city so I took some time to document my daily ride. Enjoy.Looking south from 18th St.

Commuter rail yard.

Soldier Field. Bear Down Chicago Bears.

My cruiser.

On The Road in the City of Big Shoulders

Jack Kerouac's famous novel which has influenced and inspired so many since it was written has graced Chicago with its presence. Kerouac wrote the "On the Road" on a single scroll 50 years ago. I was enlightened to the tour when the manuscript came to the Denver Public Library in 2007. I read about it on my friend's blog: Denver Dirtbagger his personal account of the book is a far better tale than mine ever could be. The novel also gets a nod in his latest article for the Mountain Gazette The Lost Art of Road Tripping. After reading The Lost Art of Road Tripping I was reminded that Columbia College was bringing the scroll to the Chicago Center for Book & Paper Arts. On my lunch hour that day I took a nice long walk to find the building and have a see for myself. Admittedly, the spur of the moment escapade made a powerful experience for myself. I have never read "On The Road", meaning to in college I purchased Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent instead. Still I was blown away by the exhibit. It also came to my attention that there was a unique opportunity in front of me, the ability to read his first non-edited lines. I was able to read until Alan Ginsberg appears before I had to go back to work. The rest of the day was filled with awe. The quintessential road trip book is a few blocks away from where the Mother Road begins. Check it out its at Columbia College until November 30.

The scroll on display is about 50 feet long and under glass. Sorry no photography is allowed.

Gaper Bike

Back in my ski resort days we had a term for tourists with out of date gear, and folks that wore bluejeans on the slopes. That term was "Gaper" and traditionally April fools day was gaper day. This is a day for "locals" to beat their chests in superiority by dressing up as a tourist. The coveted neon one-si made any local king of gaper day. If there were a gaper day for the MTB world this would be priceless of course this yahoo seems to think a couple grand is reasonable.

Beware of the windowless work van

I encountered a first on my bicycle commute to work a few days ago. I got something thrown at me. As of late I've been feeling a tad confrontational on the road. When I got honked at I'd give a stink eye or when a car would purposely gun past me without sharing the lane my tall finger would appear in all its glory. More times than not shouting match ensued and I was swerved at a few times. I decided that all I was achieving was an adrenaline rush and a sky high heart rate so I chilled out and went to my happy place and had a few weeks of zen commuting. The other day in a construction zone in the Loop I got zipped past by a work van. It scared the shit out of me and I gave in to a shouting match and was swerved at then while 2 lanes away a cardboard box was tossed out the passenger window and fell to the street. Really..? I'm going to get crap thrown at me. Ridiculous. Maybe a new route is in order to limit my Loop time travel.

Build a Gazebo?....Yeah I can do that.

I was once told a story by a friend's dad that started out "So I was a professional truck driver for 20 years one summer." It has gotten out that I know my way around power tools and therefore I became a professional carpenter for 20 years one year in August. This project was requested by my Grandmother who lives in a small town off I-80 named Marseilles (pronounced phonetically). The town is an hours drive from Chicago and has only one hardware store, closed on Sunday. The nearest big box, Menards, is 30min away clearly this is going to complicate things. A two weekend gig is now a month long job. However despite all the challenges a month worth of quality time with grandma was well worth it. This was the largest project I have completed and I am pretty darn proud of how it turned out.

Of course it had to be placed on the least level spot on the property. Nine holes to be dug and the same number of concrete bags to mix.

With no help on framing day I quickly realized I needed a third hand and with a quick look in the garage eureka! better than human hands to hold it level.

2x6's are heavy when they are 12' long and treated. The 16 year old Explorer was loaded down to the max and then some. Definitely the most I have ever hauled.
Put 'yer dancin' shoes on cause thats one fine platform. I should have taken a picture of the bubble level.
Gazebo time. This is the whole reason for the deck. Luckily it was kit and I just had to put the jigsaw puzzle together. Still it took some 12 hours.
I got some needed help from my Dad when it came time for the roof. I had help with the concrete stage at the beginning too from Dad and my Uncle Eddie.
I was told that the whole project was for a tea party, well any thing worth dooin' is worth dooin' right.It looks pretty good from the street too.
A special thanks to my sister for the pictures.