Author Archives: Lee Diamond

Von Steuben? Gompers? Of course you can. Tour of Albany Park.

Von Steuben High School

Von Steuben High School

Saturday at 11:00 AM, I will be at the southwest corner of Pulaski and Foster by the Samuel Gompers statue in his namesake park to lead the Tour of Albany Park.  This is a tour I have lead quite a few times and is still one of my favorite areas in the city to ride around in.  I traverse it quite often in normal workaday life, but it remains truly exceptional in layout, diversity of topography and its exemplary compliment of Chicago residential, institutional, religious and commercial architecture.

Albany Park is community area #14.  It is situated 8 miles northwest of the Loop.  The area’s modern history began in the 1860s when Richard Rusk built a farm and a brickyard. Today, the area is a pleasant mixture of commercial strips along its major streets and classic Chicago residential neighborhoods on the side streets.  The residences range from the neo-Classical and Victorian revival styles of the late 19th century to the indiginous brick flats and bungalows of the 1910s-1930s.  Streets are tree-lined and follow the traditional Chicago grid.  There are noteworthy landmarks and works by well-known names in architecture, but like so much of Chicago, the every day beauty in the non-pedigreed homes and shops up and down its streets are the real reason for the show.  The tour will look at all of these things.

The tour begins at Gomper’s Park, a two-sectioned park named for Samuel Gompers, the longest serving president of the American Federation of Labor.  The north section was built first in the 1920s on the north side of Foster and features a Tudor field house by Clarence Hatzfeld.  South of Foster, the park was expanded in 1938 as a WPA project.  It is one of Chicago’s most beautiful parks, with beautiful landscaping designed by Henry J. Stockman that introduces streams, bridges, parkland, wetland and sports fields in a large expanse.  They are especially lovely to see on a fall day.

The tour will take in the sites of many extraordinary architectural works.  Amongst the stops will be Von Steuben High School, pictured above, the Henry V. Peters House by Walter Burley Griffin, the landmark homes of Ravenswood Manor, the old Mayfair College which is the current Irish American Heritage Center, and the National Landmark gates of Bohemian National Cemetery.  It should be the perfect mixture of local history and bike riding to celebrate the start of the new month.  There are more details in the links immediately below and I look forward to seeing some of you there.

 

Tour of Albany Park
Saturday November 1, 2014 at 11:00 AM
Gompers Park at the southwest corner of Foster and Pulaski by the Samuel Gompers statue

 

Tour information | Buy Tickets | Buy Poster | Virtual Tour
Route | Starting Spot | Facebook | Chainlink

Bike Fall is Best

Gompers Park in the fall

Gompers Park in the fall

Every year we say fall came suddenly.  It is always gradual, but annually we are stunned by the change when taken together at a moment in time.  Yellows, greens, oranges, browns amongst the remaining green appears seemingly all at once and lasts briefly.  Every time.  It always feels unique and it always inspires.  It is my favorite season and the best time on the bike for me.  I am a year round cyclist, but Bike Fall is where it is at, as far as I am concerned.

It is the time when the tires crunch as much as they smoosh.  Both sounds add an aural warmth to the ride as the air cools. The visual stimulus is almost overwhelming.  A bike ride on the Des Plaines River Trail or along the Skokie Lagoons or through the Forest Preserves along the North Branch is like flying through a kaleidoscope.  The grasses are graying.  The grains are browning.  Beneath the earth, the green grass, the bed of leaves, the trees are magnificent.

At this time of year, I like putting on the layers.  This is the brief period of time just before I don’t like putting on the layers.  This is when you are good in jeans and a t-shirt.  Maybe a fleece.  Or, depending on the ride you’re doing, your kit with arm and knee warmers.  In a little bit, you might need a set of wool gloves and a cap  which will be just perfect with long sleeves and maybe a jacket.  We’ve had brief bits way below this already, and we’ve had days of exceptional and unseasonal warmth, but in general, everything is within the manageable temperature variance now.  When I am on my fourth and fifth layers and beyond, I wax less eloquently over the process and experience, but in the fall, it is in balance and dry days are fit to be ridden.

I like that being on a bike allows me to enjoy the brilliance of every season better.  It flashes by in a car, on a bus, in a train.  The bike is the ideal transport for the gradual expansion of your field of view.  The perfect pace is achieved at any miles per hour, and in the fall I revel a little more in the ride.  When I am training, I can ride faster and better in the cool air.  I can layer and un-layer to stay comfortable.  I can relax while I work in the canopy of autumn.  If I am commuting without hurry, I can opt for a route through any number of parks, forest preserves, main streets, side streets, wherever and enjoy the season, the beautiful trees and the crunch smoosh of the ride.

The picture above was taken at Gompers Park several falls back.  That is a beautiful place to bike through in the fall and the park planning that went into that park is particularly impressive this time of year.  We’ll be starting the Tour of Albany Park there this Saturday.  This park is one of my favorite places to visit in all of Chicago, and in my favorite season.  I am quite looking forward to the tour this week, and quite looking forward to all of my rides between now and then as well.

Fall biking is truly the best.