Results tagged “biking”

• Sen. Burris continues to be in the health care debate spotlight thanks to his stance on a public option. Well, sort of.
• The Sun-Times discovers commuting by bike.
• Clean-up continues of a major freight train derailment in the Glenview area.

The story goes that when Talking Heads were planning the concert that would be captured on film as Stop Making Sense, frontman David Byrne asked a stage designer friend for pointers. She told him that on stage, everything needs to be bigger. He took her advice literally. Thus was born the Big Suit.

             

A few things we learned over the weekend:

The CPD and Chicago Department of Transportation are dispatching "bike ambassadors" tonight, Thursday and Friday to remind cyclists to follow the city's safety rules. Tonight, they'll be in Wicker Park reminding people to use headlamps when biking after dark. Thursday afternoon, they'll be in Lakeview reminding people to obey traffic laws, and Friday in Uptown, asking folks not to ride on the sidewalk. (Argh! Yes! I hate that.) No one will be getting tickets—just friendly reminders. [CDOT]

Get psyched, pedal-powered people: October 5 and October 26, parts of main boulevards in the city will be closed to cars to create a thoroughfare for people on bikes, scooters, folks pushing strollers and plain-old pedestrians. The Sunday Parkways program builds community, combats obesity, relieves congestion and noise pollution, and encourages people to explore their neighborhoods, according to the Chicagoland Bike Federation.

, sadly. Passes for the whole fest are $27, and for specific nights $10.

• More Graham Elliot feedback, this time from Erin Shea, who's settling in nicely at FohBoh.com (Full disclosure: Shea was part of the dinner party that accompanied this writer in his review of Graham Elliot that ran on Monday).
• Rob's our resident Tiki God here and forwarded to our attention news that Trader Vic's looks to be re-opening at 1030 N. State in October. Moreover, many of the decorations and flair that made the Palmer House Trader Vic's such a kitschy place will be at the new location.
• The Beer Drinker's Light Beer is doing some serious promotion in Wrigleyville tomorrow with their 10-seater Dutch Beer Bike (pictured, above). The bike will be making stops the Irish Oak (3511 N. Clark), the Cubby Bear (1059 W. Addison), Casey Moran's (3660 N. Clark) and the Mystic Celt (3443 N. Southport) throughout the afternoon.

The CTA is building four new structures to meet increased demand for pedal-powered parking. The Midway stop on the Orange Line, the Sox-35th stop on the Red Line, and the Jefferson Park and Damen stops on the Blue Line will each be home to covered, three-walled bike ports that will house a combined total of 382 bicycles. [S-T]

There are many things to like about New Belgium Brewing. All employees are also owners in the company; they practice open book management; they're a sustainable company using wind power and methane from processed water treatment to produce their own electricity, recycle waste water and utilize the latest green practices in their buildings; they give their employees a bike after one year of employment.

Mayor Daley suggested over the weekend that if our city improves bus efficiency, bikers could use bus lanes and everybody would win. He mentioned the plan Friday at a Bike to Work rally.

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation is on a mission to get our butts out of our cars and off the CTA’s new upholstery, and onto a bike seat pronto. They’re teaming up with the City of for the first official Bike to Work Week which aims to open Chicagoans’ minds to becoming full-time bike commuters.

Bike the Drive is Sunday, and registration for the annual event closes tomorrow at 5pm. Registration is $40, though sneaking in isn't unheard of.

A bike-rental program may be in the works....[S-T]

The biker who was hit by a car and killed over the weekend was Matthew Manger-Lynch, 29. He was racing in the Tour Da Chicago, an alleycat street race.