ChiWhoBike #67
This right here is a cargo bike. I got it because people say that, ‘you need to have a car to go grocery shopping’, or ‘you need to have a car to go to the hardware store’, which, I mean, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I load up groceries in this thing and can probably take just as much as I could in a normal car ride, a weekly shop. It’s the Aventon Abound. It can take cargo, it can take people, it’s a pretty cool thing.
So this city is designed for cars and the mentality of our elected officials, or most of them at least, just put cars first and foremost. We are on Longwood Drive, which is a designated bike path, but all we have is paint. Whenever I ride on this thing, cars overtake me at 40 miles an hour. The city has so much potential to have protected bike lanes, to have a network of safe paths. And we are close enough together where that network of safe bike lanes would just explode in ridership. And I just don’t like the fact that no one has been visionary enough to have bike lanes throughout the city. I love the ward by ward attempts that people got going, but I don’t like how I could ride a half a mile that way and I’m in a different ward, and there’s protected bike lanes, but I get into this ward and there’s nothing except for dodging cars.
Recently we wanted to explore more of the South Side, which I have to say, please do. But we went down over to the Major Taylor Trail, and if you haven’t heard of the Major Taylor Trail, it is what I describe as the far South Side 606. It’s named after a historically great African-American cyclist who really should have his name out there more, because what he did for the sport is incredible. But it’s a trail that runs down to Blue Island and we, we rode over it and we rode down it over the Calumet River, took a right and just followed the river down. We didn’t know what to expect, but we did it and it was great. So just getting out and exploring is my number one most favorite thing about this. And let’s get more bike lanes in the 19th Ward!
