Bike Traffic - December 2006/January 2007

December 2006/January 2007

Board Members Bring Lifetime of Bicycling Experiences

by Claire Micklin

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation kicks off 2007 with two new board members, Sherry Daun and Rubani Shaw.

Rubani Shaw doesn’t know if it was receiving his first BMX bike as a youngster, or being surrounded by the largest urban park system in North America that made him love bicycles. Shaw said his hometown, Edmonton, Canada, “doesn’t seem to have a bike culture. Bicycling is part of the culture.”

In junior high, he got his first 10-speed bicycle. He took it out on the trails and “biked beyond exhaustion.” When he attended Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, Shaw left his bicycle behind, but soon missed it. His grandmother shipped the bike to him and he was soon making regular 20-mile rides to the Lake Michigan shore.

While studying graphic design at Andrews Shaw visited Chicago frequently, taking in art galleries, ice-skating and theater, and falling in love with Chicago’s culture. He decided that someday he would live in this vibrant city.

Faced with looming college debt, Shaw took a year off to teach English in Korea and earn money to pay for his schooling. In Korea, he switched from bicycling to inline skating. He traveled in what he thought was a lane designated for skaters and bikers. “The last week I was there, someone told me, ‘That’s the bus lane,’” he remembers. “So I was reclaiming it for the non-vehicles.”

After graduating from college, Shaw moved to Kentucky and worked as a graphic designer. It was there that he started biking again. He biked to and from work on two-lane freeways with no shoulder because there were no roads to take him another way. Several times people threw beer cans at him and ran him off the road.

In 2001, Shaw moved to Chicago and became excited about the bike-friendliness of the city. He noticed the bike lanes, the lakefront path and bikes on trains and became aware of the Chicagland Bicycle Federation’s involvement in bringing these amenities to fruition. Soon after, Shaw began donating to CBF.

One of the first issues Shaw would like to address as a board member is safety. “People would bike more if they weren’t afraid of being run over,” he said.

Shaw sees his board membership as being part of a larger process of change, not as a series of distinct accomplishments. “I don’t see it (being a board member) as means to an end; I think of it as a process–a continuing to help CBF expand,” he explained.

When not atop his custom fixed-gear bicycle, Shaw loves to listen to music, read, write and attend various food connoisseur groups and brunch clubs.

One particular passion he has is making chocolates, especially during the holiday season. He is also interested in general sustainable living–specifically recycling, using renewable resources and working for cleaner air.

Sherry Daun grew up in a car town without a car. In her hometown, Kiel, Wisconsin, Daun traveled to babysitting gigs and softball practice by bike, setting in motion a life of bicycle commuting that continued through high school, college and her career as a lawyer.

Daun worked several jobs to put herself through the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. After graduating with a B.S. in social science and sociology, she attended the University of Chicago Law School. In the summers, she returned to her home in Minneapolis and biked 13 miles to work every day.

“It was cheap and I didn’t go to the gym,” Daun remembers.
She wants to get more women to bicycle, make the streets safer for bicyclists and to form partnerships between CBF and other bicycling advocates.

“Chicago has a great grassroots biking scene; and I think I’m pretty-well integrated into it. I’d like to integrate CBF into these grassroots communities,” she said. Stronger working relationships between the CBF and other bicycling groups could be mutually beneficial, she said. “I’d like to see these groups using each other more.”

When she’s not in the saddle, Daun occupies herself with a variety of interests. She likes to cook, read ‘soft-core’ sociology books, which she explains as “non-fiction at the 100-(class) level,” and barstool philosophize.
But Daun spends precious little time without her bike. She is a regular participant in Critical Mass; the self-titled “parade princess” and organizer for CBF’s float in the Pride Parade; and a regular rider in the annual Frozen Snot Century ride to Milwaukee.

As a lawyer, Daun often finds she can apply her legal skills to bike advocacy. She has done pro-bono work for CBF and more informal, impromptu work during Chicago Critical Mass. “I tried to ride a tall bike (to) a police station where I was trying to get Chicago Critial Mass arrestees released, but I was wearing a dress and heels.”

Claire Micklin is a Bike Traffic volunteer editor and contributor