www.biketraffic.org


Get involved!

This Man Wants to Install YOUR Bike Rack! John Greenfield and the CDOT Bike Rack Program have dozens of shiny new racks ready to install RIGHT NOW at the site of your choosing. THEY COST YOU NOTHING, and beautify any establishment. Request one! Request a dozen! Fill out the
on-line form at cityofchicago.org!

Every year, the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation honors a very special individual with the Volunteer of the Year award. This year, the award is going to a real nerd. It's true! In her own words, Cornelia Ann Bailey is "nuts about database modeling." But all of us here at the Federation are very thankful for that. Without Cornelia's hard and dedicated work, we would all be stuck in the stone ages, using outdated and inefficient techniques for managing, storing, and retrieving the massive amounts of data we work with on a daily basis.

In late 2002, Cornelia began working with then-office manager Neile Rissmiller on the total redesign and integration of our membership, events, and volunteer databases. After five months and many late night data development sessions at Cafe Boost, a streamlined model emerged, just in time for Bike The Drive 2003. With this new database, we now have the ability to not just manage tens of thousands of records in one central repository, but we also have the flexibility to analyze and report on membership, volunteering, donations, and events trends in ways never before possible.

Wondering how you can be a star volunteer? Take a cue from Corny. She sent us an e-mail saying "Hi, I build databases and ride bikes and want to help." That's all it takes. Why don't you do the same? Drop us a line and let us know what you do. We could probably use your help.

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation held its first lunchtime "Bike Culture" lecture on Thursday, January 8, in the Claudia Cassidy Theater at Chicago Cultural Center.

Nearly 200 curious folks showed up to hear Nick Jackson, Director of Planning for the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, highlight European street design and traffic policies.

What could've easily been misinterpreted as a boring topic resulted in a larger-than-expected crowd getting pointers on ways Europe can teach cities such as Chicago better ways to accommodate pedestrians and bicyclists.

According to Julie Burros, Director of Cultural Planning for the Chicago Cultural Center, attendance was larger than they normally see for a lunchtime lecture. And even those people who jostled for a seat in the crowded theater seemed to agree that it was a worthwhile way to spend their lunch hour.

"Hopefully it is a question of when, not if, we will have such streets and concepts here," said Chicagoland Bicycle Federation member Noah Scott Warman, who gave the lecture series "two handlebars up." The discussion series is part of the Chicago Cultural Center's new "Creative Living in the City Lecture Series," which focuses on issues and initiatives affecting the quality of life in Chicago, such as innovative design, urban development and conserving the environment. It is presented in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Friends of Downtown, Friends of the River and the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. Lectures are free and open to the public.

Future Bike Culture lectures include "Urban Cycling Secrets" presented by Mr. Bike, aka Dave Glowacz, on March 11, and "Chicago Critical Mass: It's Not Just About Bikes" presented by Alex Wilson on April 8.

For more information about "Bike Culture" lectures, contact me at dan@biketraffic.org or 312/427-3325x24.

Bike Town Bash & Photo Contest
This colony lens itself to a great party

There's lots we can learn from our exoskeletoned brethren, but the all-work, all-the-time, colony-first ethic can stay in Class Insecta.

After brainstorming for the good of the bicyling community at the Chicagoland Bicycle Conference Thursday & Friday, we're risking Saturday morning conference attendance by celebrating our own damn selves Friday night at the 4th Annual Bike Town Bash, March 19. Conference attendees will get half-off the $60 ticket price. The venue beats the ant hill: the Chicago Cultural Center, well-appointed to host a semi-formal evening of dancing, eating, drinking and overall looking marvelous.

And with much tongue-wagging at Hymenoptera, we'll glorify individual achievement: The 4th Annual Bike Town Bash will host the 2nd Annual Bike Town Bash Photo Contest. A celebrity judge will choose the best of each category--Utility/Lifestyle, Recreation/Racing, and Abstract/Non-Traditional--and every artist submitting work GETS TWO TICKETS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE TO THE BASH.

And yet even in our self-aggrandizement, the ethos of colony hold: all submitted works will be auctioned off to the benefit of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. ENTRIES ARE DUE MARCH 1, 2004. Register for the conference or buy tickets for the Bash at biketraffic.org. Contact Anne Hatcher at anneh@biketraffic.org or 312-427-3325 for more information.

THE bicycle event in 1891 Chicago was the fifth annual Pullman Road Race on Memorial Day. Sponsored by George Mortimer Pullman, owner of America's preeminent railroad sleeping car company, the 15-mile race started in downtown Chicago and ended in Pullman's newly built industrial community at 111th street on the shores of Lake Calumet.

One hundred seventy-five riders lined up for the start on Michigan Avenue. Some were on the traditional high-wheel bicycles while others rode the newfangled safety bicycles with smaller wheels and chain or gear drives. Before the start, riders were placed into handicap classes based on their speed and equipment. The five fastest racers, riding safety bicycles with the new pneumatic tires, left last.

Bikes raced down Michigan Avenue to 35th Street, east to Grand Boulevard, south to Midway Plaisance, and then east to Stony Island Avenue. On Stony Island, racers went south to the Pullman dirt road. After traversing the infamous sand hill they crossed the finish line at the new Hotel Florence.

Thousands of friends and fans gathered at the starting line to see the start of the race. Many of them would catch a special ten-coach Illinois Central train to be whisked south to Pullman in time to join the 10,000 viewers cheering the riders over the finish line. According to the Chicago Tribune, the whole 15-mile route was lined with policemen, crowds of viewers, and all types of [horse-drawn] coaches.

The pneumatic riders posted the fastest times, finishing between 50:17 and 50:39, while the fastest solid tire rider came in at 53:12. First place went to a relatively unknown rider with the Chicago Cycling Club, R. M. Barwise on a safety bicycle, the first time a safety had taken first in a Pullman Race. The next day the front page Tribune story attributed his victory over the favorites to unreasonable handicapping.

Chicago cyclists in 1891 faced almost as many dangers as they do today. One racer on a high-wheel ordinary was only 100 feet from the finish line when he took a header and broke his shoulder. Another ordinary rider broke the solid tire of his small trailing wheel as he turned off Michigan Avenue onto 35th street. By the time he reached Stony Island Avenue he had a half dozen broken spokes and his wheel collapsed. Seeing a spectator leaning on a new safety bike he made a quick swap and rode off at such a clip he soon had regained his previous position. He went on to finish in 11th place.

When depression struck America in 1893, the race had grown to 271 starters. In May 1894, the workers at Pullman went on strike. The Associated Cycling Clubs of Chicago took over the ride and ran it north along the lake. The Tribune reported 50,000 fans in Lincoln Park and crowds packed along every street of the route to watch the 400 riders.

By the end of July, government troops and court injunctions broke the strike. Pullman also lost; the state forced him to sell his model town, Congress investigated his firm, and he died but two years later. Bicycles, bicycle racing and the great Memorial Day Road Race also faded, replaced by a new fad: automobiles and automobile racing.

Having previously tracked the movements of Johnny Payphone and the Rat Patrol for Bike Traffic, I felt it natural that I should pay the same respect to their worthy and devoted rivals in the north. This for the sake of parity and the opportunity to observe a rare collection of bicycle fanatics, the topic of whose evangelism extends well beyond mere bike politics. Chicago's Scallywags bike club is one of the newer ministries of Jesus People USA (JPUSA), a Christian community in Uptown. The seed for the club was planted early last year by the Minneapolis club of the same name.

I caught up with a few members at their hideout, the Friendly Towers on Montrose as they shared dinner and company with fellow community members. At the table was a motley cross-section of the congregation, ranging in age from 19 to 60ish--angst-ridden teenagers seated alongside venerable, grey-bearded fogeys.

Like other JPUSA ministries, the Scallywags' primary function is to spread their faith, and community-building plays a large role. Upon gaining full-fledged membership, each Scally' dons a set of colors emblazoned with "Jesus is Lord" across the back.

After dinner, Bill Tucker, Derek Perkins and Mike Phippin took me for a tour of the Scallywag lair, a large gymnasium-cum-workshop with bikes, bike parts, scrap metal and assorted debris piled to the ceiling. The Friendly Towers present the perfect venue for such a club: all the facilities they need for modifying bikes, and all the space they need for storing both raw materials and finished creations. It hums with activity.

At the shop we met Scallywag president, Robert Goodwin, who talked about the bike club, the war with the Rat Patrol, and the restlessness of the Friendly Towers.

"JPUSA is like Las Vegas in the sense that people never sleep and they're always busy doing... something," he said. "They may not be hittin' the slots and playing keno, but they're up to something." Evidence of this was ubiquitous. One of the first bikes I stumbled over appeared to have been a Schwinn Breeze in its former life-- a perfectly shapely, handsome bicycle in its own right. Its frame and forks were stretched and deformed, and it was fitted with a heavy metal caster, which Phippin told me had come from an industrial kitchen cart. This, I discovered, was only a minor grotesquerie when compared to the twisted stables beyond.

Among the others were Phippin's bright green 8-foot triple tall bike, "Little John," 10 or 15 double-high tall bikes, Perkins' distended kiddie bike, "Megatron," and his newest creation, "Strawberry Tall Cake"-- whose frame incorporates five of the former.

Upon visiting the workshop, it might occur to someone that the Scallywags, themselves, were playing God with these poor bicycles. They are a collection of reanimations, the near-dead brought back to the world of the living.

Tucker gave me his take on this reversal of roles, saying, "A lot of us were in some pretty hurtin' positions when Christ came into our lives, and these bikes kind of resemble the way that we were." Most of the bikes, he explained, were rescued from the trash. "When we build them," he said, "it's kind of like God has done just what we were able to do to the bikes to us." Like the Rat Patrol, the Scallywags spend much of their time reappropriating junk. Indeed, the two bike clubs borrow much from one another, and most recognize the two as having a common mission. The Scallywags, however, are alternately cagey and dismissive on the topic of war with the Rats.

Goodwin acknowledged the idea, saying, "Yeah, we feel a little bit of competition with the Rat Patrol. A little bit... I think they started it though." Perkins and Phippin laughingly admitted to playing a part. "I try to breed competition with the Rat Patrol," Perkins said. "I think it's a good way to get crazier bikes made-- longer choppers, taller tall bikes." "If some day," Tucker said, "it seems like the Rat Patrol has become victors, that's fine with me. If it makes somebody feel better that they've won a war, then that's cool." In the meantime, the Scallywags go on using their outlandish bikes to meet new people, spread good cheer, and churn out bizarre new concoctions. And they manage to do it without the fanaticism or megalomania of their verminous counterparts to the south.

Copyright 2004, Chicagoland Bicycle Federation
650 S. Clark, Ste. 300, Chicago, Ill. 60605
Ph: 312/427-3325  Fax: 312/427-4907 E-mail: cbf@biketraffic.org