Urban Cycling

Every Memorial Day since the mid-eighties we get together with our friends Susan and "Elvin" Hayes. We used to go camping in Manistee National Forest, then we started hanging out at their cottage on Lake PawPaw. This year, because of crazy schedules, we visited them at their home near Lincoln Park in Chicago. On Sunday Elvin, Mary and I rode the Lake Shore Trail north up to Evanston. The very well used paved trail follows the shore of Lake Michigan through most of Chicago. Traveling north the trail jogs inland for a few miles along surface streets. However it is well marked with signage and bike lanes (or at least sharrows). When we got to Evanston we rode around Northwestern University's campus and past some gorgeous homes. On the way back we stopped at a little beach bar for a snack and a beer. It would have been great had the sun been out and the temperature wasn't dropping. Sunday was one of those rides that started in the mid 60's and just a bit overcast and ended with temps in the 50's with rain starting. Luckily we got back in before it rained hard or we got frozen. In all we put in 30 miles of dodging pedestrians, other cyclists, and sand blown over the trail. It was a very different experience than our usually Memorial Day rides on the other side of Lake Michigan.

Tom and Mary in front of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.