ChiWhoBike #55
So I’ve been biking pretty seriously for maybe five years. And one of the reasons this park is special to me is I have a genetic disorder, which means that my body goes in and out of being super functional. And so for a long time when I was younger, I was in a wheelchair and I was non-ambulatory. So then relearning to walk, big, big deal. And I never thought that one day I could bike, and then my doctors and my PT were like, that might be really good for you, it’s low impact, give it a shot. And so I started riding around this park, building up my stamina, building up my comfort with it. And then I was like, what if I could commute, maybe not far, just local, like the grocery store. And it went from there, being able to do these little baby commutes to fully commuting to school. I went to DePaul, so that’s I think four or five miles. And at the time that was mind blowing to me.
And then as that went on, like Femmes and Thems, is a great collective that bikes around, it’s super accessible and accommodating, and they do longer bike rides. And I started being able to do those, and it just felt so empowering and exciting to be able to do something under my own control, under my own power, and be able to feel my body working. So it was a huge deal for me, in self-confidence and in feeling more connected to the city and more capable as a person.
We obviously have very much a partial bike infrastructure. In some places saying even partial would be generous. I think a lot of us who have experienced biking on the West side, in particular, where you start to have the larger viaducts, the larger highways, can say that the infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired. Even when they put in bike lanes, you’re like, buddy, this is, this is almost a freeway. Come on. That is the one negative of biking, it’s a blessing and a negative, that it’s literally me and my body out here in the air. So I am more vulnerable. So when you have partial infrastructure or where you put in a signifier for biking, but it’s still very much a car space, and the cars very much feel like they have the right to the road and you don’t, that’s super nerve wracking for most cyclists.
