ChiWhoBike #81
This is one of my bikes. This bike I got from Working Bikes, where we’re at right now. I got it before the pandemic, just as a way to get back into cycling. I’d been out of it for many years after being a messenger and getting into a lot of crashes, and other life stuff got in the way, and then one day I made a health decision to get back into cycling, get back into racing, and I brought a friend here who actually was looking for a bike. He ended up going with a different rig, but he checked this one out and I checked it out with him. I liked it a lot and I ended up coming back for it. And it has not left my side since, even though I’ve gotten other bikes, fancier bikes, racier bikes. I even took this thing down to the frame and built it back up with parts from all over the world during the pandemic when I didn’t have a whole lot else to do, just to make it into the most bombproof city commuting racing bike that I could. And it’s still with me almost seven years later, and it’s almost as old as I am. It’s from 1984, and I was born in ‘83, so I guess we’re meant to be together.
And this is Nova. This is actually not my dog, this is my friend’s dog or, or honestly her son Riker’s dog, and I thank Riker every time I get to borrow her. But she started riding with me, and I wanna say now it’s been three years. It took her about 10 minutes to get used to actually riding on the bike, and as you can see, she loves it. This is the calmest she’ll be all day because she just gets to sit back, relax, do none of the work, but she gets to enjoy all the sights and sounds.
This is one of the bikes that I race on, and I also use it to commute for work. I do clinic operations for a group of veterinary practices and I’m basically an in-house messenger. I’ll shuttle pets and equipment between our clinic locations, anywhere between Lincoln Park all the way to Oak Park and back. I’ll commute on this just to tool around and see the sites. I love doing things like Tour de Chi and Critical Mass, Bike Grid Now and all kinds of social events. I have other bikes too that I use just for racing, and I specialize in Criteriums.
