So, my first venture on my bike downtown. Perhaps the Tour de France had something to do with it but I think I have for a while been curious about the venture. I do thoroughly enjoy the Tour de France and have the unique luxury of being able to put in some serious time watching it. It is truly a completely unique sporting event - for example - today a cyclist crashed going 30 some odd miles an hour. To get how this might feel, go and get a rope, attach it to your car, get on to your bike, if you don't have strap in boots/pedals, tie your shoes to the pedals, grab on to the rope, give your thumbs up to the driver to get it up to 30 mph, let go of the rope and wipe out ....
And these riders go day after day so what happens one day impacts them thru out the race. For example, today a guy wiped out and trashed the back of his jersey so lots of skin was showing - so, no big deal - YES big deal. It is 90 degrees in Switzerland where the tour has taken a day or two visit, and sunburn is of course a huge concern. These fellows wear jerseys all the time and their backs are pasty. Imagine that un-protected back skin availed to 91 degree sun intensity for 3 or so hours. That would be one hell of a sunburn. So, the medic car comes up to him every so often and reapplies spray sunscreen on his back thru the shredded jersey to keep him from getting a debilitating burn. Another guy most likely just broke his wrist but doesn't want to stop and get an xray because that would put him out of the race.
Tour inspired or not, I decided to ride my bike downtown. It was a lovely day, warm but not stifling. I headed east on the Prairie Path from Elmhurst, and when it ended (most likely due to entering towns that do not have the means to maintain such a luxury as a path thru town which only only exists for the purpose of exercise/entertainment/mental health/ etc - perhaps this should be a serious consideration in urban design for less economically endowed neighborhoods as it is certainly a life enhancing type of landscape), I took to the streets and continued heading east. The Path dumped me on to what I think was Butterfield East, which changed into several other names and eventually, downtown with only a few street changes, I ended up in the west loop on Randolph Street.
I then continued to the lake and took a super refreshing dip in Lake Michigan - the water is still a bit chilly, but it was lovely.
Trained home and the only down point was that I had to wait for the 740 train which accommodates bikes. Earlier ones are in rush hour hours and do not accept bikes.
Selfie at the start - apologies for all the selfies but I do try and stuff a human in most of my images unless it is focusing on part of the natural landscape and I did not have any other humans available. My bike is about 20 years old and just had its first major repair - my back tire and tube went flat and needed replacing. Good, solid bike that I has served me well.
In Route - much of the ride ended up being under the green line. The route had a bike lane on the road for several miles which was great. Pretty amazing the socio-economic changes that take place within such a short expanse of space.
The bike lane under the L. Garfield Park is to the south - on the right.
Pond in Garfield Park.
Well all right then ... Emmerson will be paying a visit here - and maybe Daddy.
Ada Street! Yaaaaayyyy Ada!
And with the Serious Tower in the background for reference.
At the lake. It took about an hour and a half to two hours. I was certainly not pushing it but did ride at a pretty steady pace.
Chicago Yacht Club.
And the view to the south - quite impressive how much the south Loop has developed in recent years.
Sure do appreciate when an interesting subject comes into frame. Lady and pup on a kayak making their way to their boat named ....
Naughty Puppy - the name of the boat barely legible on the starboard side of the stern.
Marina facing north towards Navy Pier. The Ferris wheel is just barely visible amongst all the masts.
Big ass dead fish - sure hope it is not an Asian Carp.
"Monk" getting busted by a cop. She was pretty frustrated with him as he kept trying to give her his speel, but she was demanding his "vendors" id as he was soliciting money for whatever he was peddling. Interesting scene ...
And the Segway herd plods down the path on their tour of the Lakefront.
And then I went for a swim in the lake, air dried, made my way back to Ogilvie and home on the train.
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