Tag: biking

Lena In Chicago

My friend Lena, who used to live in Palatine, and now lives in Ann Arbor, is in Chicago again!

She is my only friend who moved away a while ago, but still,l we not only keep in touch but visit each other regularly. Moreover, through the years, we came up with the annual visit schedule: she visits me for Christmas cookies baking, for the Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid Show in spring, and for one summer weekend, and I visit her at the end of summer.

This time, in spite of completely unpredictable weather, we had an almost perfect weekend. The only item on our agenda that we didn’t check was a Millennium Park concert, and that’s because of the rain – again! Actually, I am sort of proud of us because we waited for the first rain to stop, still went to the Riverwalk, had a nice dinner facing the Chicago River, and then looked at the forecast and saw that the rain was about to start again, and when back home instead of tempting our good fortune :).

We visited the Art Institute, saw the Van Gough exhibit and Japanese drawings, had lunch there, went to the Lurie Garden, then – to the Field Museum for the Kings of Europe exhibit and 3D dinosaurs movies, and then to the beat the rain and still made it to the Riverwalk 🙂

Today, we went for an early morning bike ride, then, after breakfast, went to the Glenwood market and then – to the beach.

Finally, it’s that time of summer when the lake is warm, even in the morning. I think it was the first time this summer that I could lay on the sand and do nothing for an hour!

(I am still three chapters behind in the book, and still have piles of work, but I am glad I am not giving up on my summer :))

A Long Bike Ride

The longest bike ride of this season so far, 25.34 miles. For Bike the Drive, I signed up for a 30 miles challenge, but I should also add about 3 miles to get from my house to the official start and 3 miles back :). I will have at least two stops on the way, including the breakfast, so I am pretty sure I can make it with no problem. Today was not a stretch.

Continue reading “A Long Bike Ride” →

When The Bike Is Slow

Now, I have five bikes in total: thee in Chicago and two in Helsinki. Bois asked me a couple of months ago whether I am interested in a new bike with disk brakes: they were on sale. I said – sure, and he got a bike for me. Meanwhile, the biking season in Chicago was in full swing, and I encountered a problem: my new bike, which I purchased last fall, was slow. Boris kept telling me that I was making things up and it was just the start of the season, and I was a little bit slower than I was at the end of the last one, but the Apple Watch told me otherwise.

When I dropped my new bike for the tune-up, I asked to check what could be wrong and is it possible that the brakes were too tight.

They said that there was nothing wrong, but I didn’t believe them. On the day when I was going to pick up this bike from the shop, I also dropped my old bike for a checkup. Having both bikes right here, I demonstrated the difference in the speed the wheels were spinning. Then one of the shop workers started to look closer. After twenty minutes of exploring the situation, he found the culprits:

He explained that these extra rubber rings were there to prevent water from getting inside (I am not sure what :)), but they were slowing down the axis. After he removed them and tuned the brakes, I got the difference right away! Now I can bike even faster than at the end of the last season!

And my new bike in Helsinki is a real beast! Even though i Helsinki, it’s almost constantly up/down hill, I still get around fasted than in Chicago!

I biked twice so far, once in a rain, and it was fine as well, and my “salamandra skin” worked great. Actually, this time around, when it was very hot during my first bike ride and cold and windy during my second time, it really proved being a second (and better!) skin!

Saturday Morning

On my departure day, I went biking early in the morning, and first time dared to venture from the bike path into the Loop (there is very little traffic thee Saturday morning, and I decided I needed to start from something!)

Not Only The Accidents!

Several different rides on different days.

And One More Accident

Just to complete the list of this week’s horror stories. On Saturday morning, I went on a relatively long bike ride. I had a long to-do list, and my cleaning person was going to come at 8 AM, and another contractor was going to show up at 8-30. I was determined to take advantage of an early sunrise and make it to the Mill and back within an hour or an hour and ten minutes.

Everything was perfect, including the weather. I was on my older bike and was moving very fast (I still need to figure out why the new bike is slower). I made it even a little bit past the Mill and was returning, and almost at the end of the Lakefront Trail, there was a lady suddenly walking with her bike between her legs, bypassing a heap of sand.

Since I had already passed this sand on the way forward, I knew it was fine to bike over it, and I decided to pass this lady on the left (and on the sand), which… didn’t end up well.

I didn’t ever realize at first that I had an injury: I didn’t hit my head at all, and the bike was fine, and then she started to yell at me that I shouldn’t have tried to pass her, and thee was a reason why she was walking and that I need to go to the emergency because I am bleeding.

I thought that it was just a scratch on my knee and waved her off. Only when I mounted on my bike again, I realized that the nail of my left thumb is barely hanging on a thin strip of skin and was bleeding. I tore it off completely (what else could I do?), took a tissue out of my pocket and wrapped it around my thumb, and then continued my ride home.

I didn’t even feel much pain. I came home, parked my bike, went upstairs and watered the flowers on the balcony, and set down to type a short email to Boris. Then suddenly, I felt that I had trouble breathing, and I started sweating, and everything around me went dark. I tried to stand up, and then I realized I needed to lie down on the floor because otherwise, I would fall down. Perhaps, I did fall down anyway because my watch asked me whether I had fallen!

Long story short: it is not fun, but 1) good thing it happened this weekend, not the previous one! 2) Good thing it does not prevent me from typing! 3) it will take a very long to heal, and the surface will continue to be very sensitive for a while 4) but it will grow back eventually!

Long Bike Ride

On Sunday, I went for the first long bike ride of this season: to Buckingham Fountain and back!

Continue reading “Long Bike Ride” →

Morning Biking

A swimmer!!!

Warm Weather Is Back, And Lots Of Work

I found one more biking opportunity – after the evening rush hour. Now, and for the next two months, there will be enough daylight to bike after 6 PM. Yesterday, I left the house at 6-15, and the traffic was much better than it is between 4 and 6, and probably even better than during lunchtime.

And today in the morning – the sunrise from the same place 🙂

I am almost sad that I have breakfast and lunch at work and do not have an opportunity to eat breakfast outside. The closest I can get to it – sit by the window at the cafeteria:

The weather is amazing, and the whole city seems to be outside. I took a stroll after lunch, and everywhere on the Riverwalk, there is people ]sitting, eating their lunches, and enjoying the weather.

And there are so many things I need and what to do that they hopelessly do not fit anywhere, and I do not even have time to write down my to-do lists :). So instead of blogging about what I didn’t do or do not have time to do, I should better tell what I’ve actually done!

And it was this beautiful morning bike ride, and an exceptionally productive day at work, and a walk along the river, and dinner at the ODS (only a partial success since most residents were somewhere outside :)).

The Lake, And Again – The Lake

I know that I won’t stop posting pictures of the lake now that I can bike early in the morning, and I know that all of them look the same. But every morning is a new morning, and sometimes, the lake is stormy, and sometimes – calm, and each time – beautiful.