ChiWhoBike #62
I’ve been biking in this city for eight years. Eight years ago, I crashed my car and was living in a city where you couldn’t go anywhere if you didn’t have a car. I got this little bike from Walmart and was trying to get around there with it, but there weren’t really sidewalks or anything. So I realized I needed to move to a city where I didn’t need a car, and I could cycle for transportation, and my sister was living here, so I decided to move to Chicago. Then when I got here, my roommate sold me his bike and I started my cycle journey. It was out of necessity, in a way, where in the city I was in it was really hard for me to get to work or do any sort of daily life functioning. And in this city it’s really easy to get around. If you have a bike rack, you can move furniture on it, you can move groceries on it, anything really. And it makes it a lot easier to get around when I don’t have money, or access to, or a desire to drive a car.
When I first moved here I didn’t know anybody. And I like that with biking I can put some music on, bring a little picnic with me and go to a fun spot in the city by myself. The independence of it is something that I really like. And part of it too is being able to get myself where I need to go, which was something I really struggled with before I moved and wasn’t in a city that was friendly to cyclists like Chicago is. I also enjoy that Chicago has a lot of group rides that go out, a lot of community organized rides and those are really fun to meet new people that you already have something in common with and find new bike friends. So cycling with friends is something that I enjoy too.
If you’re getting started biking, I would find a buddy and bike around your neighborhood at first, and try and figure out what roads in your neighborhood you feel safe on. I’m always trying to convince all my friends to bike and that’s how I try and get them to go ride with me. I’m like, we’ll take it easy, we’ll use the protected bike lanes first and go from there, because I think it’s cars that make people nervous. So if you get a little more comfortable, know your way around a bit more, that can be really helpful.
