free bike riding lessons for teens and adults on 8/15

 You don't need to have a bike to participate. Bikes will be available for use during classes. :)

free bike riding lessons for teens and adults on 7/18

 

free bike riding lessons for teens and adults starting 6/13

 

special event on the Major Taylor Trail on 6/6

On Saturday 6/6, we'll have a special event on the Major Taylor Trail at 111th St. Join us from 11 am to 1 pm for a ribbon cutting to celebrate a new temporary art installation and a look at a natural area restoration in progress. 

This is a family friendly event where you can see see Holding Space by Chicago-based artist Nnenna Okore, learn more about the new natural area along the trail south of 111th, make some art of your own, and enjoy some light refreshments with your neighbors.

If you're not familiar with the location, here's a map link.

Major Taylor Trail Earth Day trail clean-up on 4/26

  

We hope you'll sign up for our Major Taylor Trail trail Earth Day clean-up on Saturday 4/26 from 9 am to noon. The sign-up link is below.

Please dress for yard work. If you have work gloves and/or yard tools (rake, loppers, saw suitable for tree work, etc.), please bring what you have. There will be a limited amount of gear available for use during the workday.

 

Click here to sign up. 

Major Taylor Trail clean-up on 4/26 for Earth Day

 

We hope you'll sign up for our Major Taylor Trail trail Earth Day clean-up on Saturday 4/26 from 9 am to noon. The sign-up link is below.

Please dress for yard work. If you have work gloves and/or yard tools (rake, loppers, saw suitable for tree work, etc.), please bring what you have. There will be a limited amount of gear available for use during the workday.

 

Click here to sign up. 

Bike the Hood ride on Sat. 10/9

This is happening tomorrow afternoon, starting from the Jewel parking lot at 95th & Ashland, 2-4 pm. Come out and ride!

Major Taylor Trail community ride with Divvy tomorrow (Sat. 10/12)

Have you been curious about where the Major Taylor Trail goes?  Have you tried Divvy? This Saturday morning you can try both.

Friends of the Major Taylor Trail are partnering with Divvy to offer a few short, easy tour options on the trail.

Start location:  119th and Halsted, southeast corner
Hours:  9 am to noon
Routes:  to Whistler Woods, to 105th St. or to Dan Ryan Woods - and back
Pace:   leisurely

All rides with Divvy bikes with be guided. Adults will need to leave a driver's license or state ID as a deposit for a bike. No one under 18 rides a Divvy with out an adult sponsor.

We hope you can join us on Saturday.

Coming soon to a location near you

Friends of the Major Taylor Trail meeting Mon. 9/17

If you're interested learning more about future events and helping to work for better conditions on the Major Taylor Trail, please join us on Monday night (9/17, 7 to 8:30 pm) at Ridge Park fieldhouse.

https://www.thechainlink.org/events/friends-of-the-major-taylor-trail-meeting-732

Friends of the Major Taylor Trail meeting on Mon. 7/16

If you're interested learning more about future events and helping to work for better conditions on the Major Taylor Trail, please join us on Monday night (7/16, 7 to 8:30 pm) at Ridge Park fieldhouse.

https://www.thechainlink.org/events/friends-of-the-major-taylor-trail-meeting-439

Friends of the Major Taylor Trail meeting on Monday 5/21

If you're interested learning more about future events and helping to work for better conditions on the Major Taylor Trail, please join us on Monday night (5/21, 7 to 8:30 pm) at Ridge Park fieldhouse.

https://www.thechainlink.org/events/friends-of-the-major-taylor-trail-meeting-998

give and take

The local business gods giveth and taketh away.

Longer hours at Wild Blossom Meadery - yeah!

Shorter hours at Bridgeport Coffee (6 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekends).  :(

Vincennes update

I posted recently about a hazard created by a half-finished project along the Vincennes bike lane.  A few days I noticed that one of the spots was fixed. I took a trip over the weekend and confirmed that ALL the trenches have been filled. 

Thank you to Alderman Brookins and CDOT for taking care of this hazard..

hazard in Vincennes bike lane - or - a job half done

A few weeks ago, I spotted something on my Metra ride home that was baffling and disappointing.

In some spots along the east side of Vincennes, there are little areas of concrete that aren't connected by any sidewalk. They look like they might have been bus stops at some point. Are these used at all now, or are they just remnants?

One of several new ADA ramps with unfilled trenches in the northbound bike lane

At several locations along the northbound side of Vincennes from 95th to 89th, new ADA curb ramps were installed at these concrete remnants. There's a narrow trench along the right edge of the bike lane at each of these locations. Someone threw a bit of loose asphalt in the trench right at the bumpy part of the ramp, but the rest of each trench is unfilled - a potential hazard if someone riding in the bike lane doesn't see it before they hit it.

The thing that makes it more baffling is that the curb ramp installations on the west side of the street were completed with asphalt that was properly packed down, as seen in the photo below.

Vincennes at 89th St

I reported this to contacts at CDOT and never got any response. This week I reported it again - to CDOT and the 21st ward office. No response so far.

C'mon folks, can't this job be finished properly before winter to eliminate this hazard? Please make the northbound Vincennes bike lane safe again before we reach days of early darkness, when those most likely to get hurt are low income people of color who are riding for transportation.

If you're bothered by this, please share - on Twitter, Facebook or both. If you ride Vincennes or live in the 21st ward, please contact the 21st ward office.

when ADA creates new problems

The installation of new ADA curb ramps across the city has definitely been a mixed bag. Some of them are very well done. Some create moats whenever there is any significant moisture - counter-productive when you're trying to improve walkability, and even worse in winter when the moats turn into mini skating rinks.

Then we have the special case of corners where a multi-use trail crosses a busy street, like the intersection of 87th, Damen and Beverly Blvd.  Sometimes large groups ride through this intersection, and these newly installed ramps create potential hazards.

Crosswalk for Damen - nice wide ramp, safer design
I rarely see anyone crossing here.

Ramp for crossing 87th, following Major Taylor Trail -
forces a sharp turn. Traffic waiting to turn (just out of frame to the left)
usually limits opportunity to use EB ramp as spillover space for riders
trying to go SB and get across 87th during one light cycle.

If you're riding with a group of people trying to get across
87th during walk signal, competing with turning cars,
does having this edge that could cause someone to fall
seem like a good idea?

Southwest corner - 87th at Beverly Blvd.
If you were riding from the opposite corner with a group of people
trying to get across 87th,  would you want this raised corner
in your path of travel, or would you want something like the corner shown below?

No hard edges next to curb ramp
Doesn't an installation like this make a LOT more sense 
for a location where a trail is crossing a busy street?

We need MUCH better oversight over contractors doing these ADA curb ramp installations.  Too many mistakes like this are made, causing close calls, accidents and injuries that could have been avoided.

a bit of summer sweetness

I've been enjoying Wild Blossom Meadery's expanded Friday and Saturday hours (now until 9 p.m.) and new Sunday hours  (1-6 p.m.). Today they had mead-lemon slushie, a refreshing for a hot summer day. Now they have cheese plates, too. If you haven't been there yet, I hope you'll treat yourself soon.

Major Taylor Trail Roll to the River on Saturday 5/21

Everyone is invited to join Major Taylor Cycling Club Chicago and Friends of the Major Taylor Trail for a ride on the trail on Saturday 5/21.  There will be pre-ride social time and bike check.  The event offers 3 ride options:

1 mile (or distance of your choice) on trails in Dan Ryan Woods - something for the little ones and their parents

18 miles (easy pace) - the full length of the Major Taylor Trail, then heading west into Blue Island and back north through Morgan Park and Beverly on neighborhood streets

40+ miles (faster pace) - the full length of the Major Taylor Trail, then continuing through the south suburbs to Major Taylor's grave site and back

We'll meet up at the Dan Ryan Woods parking lot on the north side of 83rd St. between Western and Damen - north end of the trail.  (map link here)  Please arrive by 8:45 a.m. so we're ready to roll by 9:00.  

can we get some help for these trees, please?

At a distance, this view looks so beautiful.  When you get closer, you see the results of years of neglect and unanswered 311 calls.

Over the last few years, most storms with high winds have brought down dead or weak branches or entire trees along this section of the Major Taylor Trail.  Each time, one or more people has called 311, trying to get the city to remove the fallen branches.  We've rarely gotten a response.  At least the smaller branches were easier to move.

The largest one, shown below next to my bike, blocked the trail and extended quite a distance across the grass.  A few 311 calls were made about this one.  On one call, I spent over 5 minutes trying to persuade the 311 operator that, yes, this is city property - CDOT property, not Metra, not park district, not forest preserve.  I spent more time describing the location in detail.   That effort was wasted.

A friend who lives next to this section of the trail ended up doing as he has in the past when trees have fallen and the city failed to hear them.  He brought out his chainsaw and cut the tree into pieces so that he could drag the behemoth off the trail and make it passable again.

Why should this location be a black hole for city services?  I understand that this is a ward boundary between the 19th and 21st wards.  Should that deny us any hope for ever getting decent service at this location?

As you can see from the photos, there are many years worth of fallen trees and branches here.  Several of the standing trees are dead or diseased. Some of them are quite large - large enough to kill someone if they're unfortunate enough to be nearby when these finally fall.  In yesterday's high winds, I was listening carefully while taking these pictures, just in case it might be the day for the next one to fall.

This section of the trail is used regularly by people walking to and from the Jewel, people running for exercise, people riding their bikes or walking their dogs.  Can we get some help, please, before someone is injured or killed by a large falling branch - or an entire tree?