The Church of Oude Granny

After reading the above title, I'm sure someone, somewhere has just placed me on a list of persons soon to be excommunicated.

Don't worry, I'm not attempting to start a new religion or offering up a discourse on my personal beliefs about my organized religion or the mass of people that it comprises.

But, it doesn’t mean that there won’t be some pontificating.

We've all attended or worshipped in or on many different "churches of the road," for the religion we know as cycling. These edifices can be as grand as the biggest cathedrals, like the Pyrenees the Crankset experienced during the 2003 Tour, or as quaint as a small chapel like the secluded back country route we head out to time and again.

For me, one of those places of worship is the City of Broad Shoulders, Chicago. The Windy City was my home for the better part of my adult life. Unlike the places where I grew up, Chicago was my choice of where to live and it ended up being the place where I actually stayed the longest. In fact, if you asked me about my hometown I would most likely describe Chicago.

On one of my recent trips back, I was pleasantly reminded of the first time I went out on two wheels to take in the city's glorious lakefront. At certain times during the early morning hours, the lakefront can be as mystical as any imaginable locale as you watch the fog linger on the water, or it can be as serene as when you wake up in the morning and sit down to your first cup of coffee.

And, like that peaceful morning, when you’re ready to let the world in by turning on the radio or television, the cityscape can invade your senses with the vibrancy of a kaleidoscope.

This summer, the lakefront was home to the Cool Globes art exhibit. Similar to the Cows on Parade exhibit, but not quite that extensive, the globes were decorated by local artists and personalities. An innovative public art project of 124 extraordinary globes, each was designed to create awareness and inspire practical solutions to global warming.

Although several globes were cycling related, one outlined the City's 2015 Bike Plan (see inset above; click to enlarge). For all intents and purposes, that plan is slowing coming to fruition today as more streets are incorporating bike lanes [with some of those lanes being painted at intersections], more educational materials are being produced, and outreach programs are being provided.

Photos: Leonard Basobas

Mayor Daly, for all that he is or isn't, has certainly remained true to his vision of making Chicago one the most bike-friendly metropolises in the United States. In 2001, Bicycling Magazine ranked Chicago as one of the Best Bike Cities in the population over 1 million category.

Although I have since moved from Chicago, recently selling my condo, it will forever remain my home and one of my favorite churches of the road.

NOTE: The photos above were recently featured in the magazine Urban Velo (page 40; Issue #3), which can be downloaded HERE or at their URL, http://www.urbanvelo.org/.

For those who care, I found a church [in my newly adopted MI home] for my organized religion which incorporates the contemporary music and cerebral sermons I experienced in recent years, but still holds true to the services of my youth.