Fun at the CCM

Here are a few things I picked up at the CCM ride. Courtesy of all the volunteers and donations of the people. Thank you for making that such a fun event!

Chicago Critical Mass 15th anniversary tshirt. Funny that it says Lake Geneva on the sleeve. Hmm.

Nifty cloth hoody that will come in very handy for some fall bike rides. When I tried it on I thought that maybe next was the chainmale and sword. Hehe.

15th Anniversary of the Chicago Critical Mass

The September 2012 Chicago Critical Mass ride also happens to be the 15th anniversary of the first gathering of CCM.

 We all gathered in Daley Plaza as the starting point of the ride.

 CCM tshirts were handed out to the lucky first 700 or so people.

Shortly after we began we came to a halt. Just enough time to get a picture of this Penny Farthing and its owner.

Here is a video of the whole CCM crossing Clark at Webster.

I took the below picture just before the end of the line of bike came.  At the end of the line was a few Chicago Police on bicycles. And one of them saw me corking the street and told me I didn't have the authority to do that. :)

The end of the ride on Kinzie.

The ride was approximately 17 miles long. My mileage from the car and back to the car after the ride came to 23.17 miles. That was a very enjoyable bike ride.

Finally! I got in a century ride!

I have been riding alot for a couple of years now. And this year I had been planning to ride 100 miles or more in one day. The summer slowly rolled by and still no century ride. Well here it is.
I started at 8:00am on Saturday September 17th. The temperature was 46 degrees Fahrenheit. The ride began at the Main Street Bicycles shop at the intersection of Main St and the Fox River Trail in Carpentersville. I headed South on the trail for about 8 miles where the Elgin branch of the Illinois Prairie Path intersects. I turned onto that and headed to Maywood. As i merged with the Stearns Rd Trail I fell in line behind a couple of guys riding road bikes. It was interesting to note that when I told them about my destination and the distance, one of them said they were going to do one more mile than that. Haha!!
When the IPP trail is near West Chicago it merges for a short distance with the Eastern portion of The Great Western Trail. When the IPP diverged again, I stayed with the GWT. I forgot how desolate, quiet and uneventful this section of the GWT is. While you are still on a very good trail, there arent too many attractions or distractions at the intersections and crossings.