ChiWhoBike #26
Biking allows you to see the city in a different way. I feel like I know so much more about the communities that I bike through - you see the shops more, you see the people. You feel more connected to the community than if you’re just in a vehicle or even the train. I love the train, but it goes by real fast, and you don’t really get to see where you’re going through.
When we do invest in biking infrastructure, it allows more people who are like me to feel comfortable biking - when there’s no bike infrastructure, all you get is kind of really aggressive cyclists. But if you want a kind of risk-averse, unathletic woman to feel comfortable getting on a bike, you need to invest in the appropriate infrastructure. And that gets me out of a car. And if I’m in a car, I’m traffic. So I think the more we invest in bike infrastructure, the more we can improve the whole system.
If you’re new to biking, I think you have to take it slow and do what you’re comfortable with. And if you’re comfortable biking on the 606, come to the 606 and bike! Then maybe try a neighborhood street and bike around your neighborhood streets. Don’t feel like you need to bike up and down Milwaukee to be a biker. And it’s unfortunate, but you have to kind of do your research and know what you’re comfortable with. If you bike on a street and you’re like, eh, I don’t know that I feel comfortable with it, find another route. You don’t need to just give up because the one route you took felt unsafe. There are ways to feel comfortable and safe in Chicago, and I would love to see more people like me biking in the city.
