Devil in the White City!

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So I've been reading Larson's "Devil in the White City" about making the 1893 World's Fair, and the serial killer that preyed upon young women during the fair. I can't wait to ride down there and explore the park and imagine the scenes in the book coming to life. The weekend before my visit there will be a cyclocross race down there! So I plan to ride down and get some hot laps in and ride back.

Also, watching all these Olympics make me wanna try a velodrome too. Hmm. There's one in Chicago. Perhaps I will have a go.  http://www.chicagovelocampus.com/

If I want to MTB on my CX bike, I could potentially go here:
Palos Forest Preserves
9800 South Kean Avenue Palos Hills, Illinois 60465

There is also a pump track that might be fun to visit on the ole Redline CX bike:

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Another day in Chicago. Only had time for a quick 2 hour ride along the shore. There was still a bit of fog and haze but the harbor looked lovely.

I found a cool installation of Shephard Fairey murals under an overpass, they were in the style of album covers. I really liked the simplicity of the circular device within a repeating square — it was interesting to see diverse messaging and imagery treated in a uniform fashion.

I also noticed some new school rental bikes at a docking station, cool! They are
part of a bike share program called Chicago B Cycle — which is expanding bike share programs across the country.


Once I got back up north i noticed a cool fence in my sister's neighborhood — it was made of bike frames!

Seeing my sister in Chicago. It was a nice riding along the lake shore. My legs felt great, I was really flying but I had to slow often because there were several running events happening along the Lake Front Trail. This girl was about the same speed as me, so we rode together for awhile. I love that about cycling, I can travel along and meet a complete stranger and pass the time having a chat. She was pretty fast — she was keeping up with me despite flat pedals and a vintage steel frame with wide tires. We rode down to Soldier Field when my rear tire exploded, I think I rolled over some glass.

Then I rode back up through the city, Dearborn to Clark. I was motorpacing in traffic and having a great time hauling ass getting some race fitness when I hit a mean pothole and flatted a second time. Conveniently it was close to a Swedish bakery where I refueled and met some other cyclists who directed me to Johnny Sprockets. The other cyclists were really nice guys and offered a ton of route suggestions.