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| Lake Michigan after the Sunday storm . . . open water near the horizon as the storm clouds move east (JWB, 2011) |
One of the great
annual events in Chicago comes on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend when the
powers that be shut down Lake Shore Drive, north and south, and allow bike
riders to navigate a 30-mile circuit down the middle of one of the great urban
roadways in the world.
There ain’t no road
just like it . . . anywhere I’ve found.
The experience is
always a blast, no matter what the weather. Weather-wise, we had a little bit of everything this past
Sunday. My daughter, Kristen, and
I headed south from Diversey at 5:45 with our wristbands prominently displayed. We were at the Sullivan Arch at
Columbus and Monroe by 6:05, where we picked up my friend, Ron, who had driven
in from Channahon in heavy fog.
The fog never
lifted. It was hard to tell as we
headed north to the Hollywood turnaround where we were at any point. The city was shrouded in a thick cloud,
and we were cycling through the middle of it. It made the sense of peaceful quiet that always comes from
thousands of cyclists zipping along one of the busiest highways in the city
even more pronounced.
The fog continued
throughout the morning as we discovered at 57th Street when the
Museum of Science and Industry suddenly appeared out of the mist. Fortunately, the winds were light and
the going was easy. It was another
great day, shared with thousands of other Chicagoans, all of them up early and
prepared for rolling along between the great lake and the city they love.
You work up a big
appetite after 30 or 40 miles on the road, so the three of us headed for the
Cosi on Michigan Avenue and had ourselves some good coffee and a nice, hot
breakfast. There are few things
better on a Sunday then casual conversation, lots of laughs and good
coffee. That’s especially true
after planting your rear on a bicycle seat for three hours.
Just as I was
headed for the second cup of coffee, Kristen held up her I-Phone and said,
“Hey, guys, you better look at this.”
On the screen was a blotch of red and yellow that had not been there a
half-hour before. Thunderstorms
were on the way.
So the three of us
scurried back to Grant Park to pick up our bikes, and after saying good-bye
to Ron, Kristen and I started back north to Diversey, four miles away. In the rain. In really heavy rain.
By the time we
cleared the Roosevelt Bridge and rounded Oak Street, the real heavy-duty action
began. A person feels very
vulnerable, riding along a large body of water on the seat of a bicycle, the
tallest object in the area, with lightning flashing all around.
We made it to the
North Avenue beach house . . . alive.
I paid seven bucks for a yellow plastic poncho that Kristen used to keep
the I-Phone alive, and we moved on, finally arriving back home, soaked to the
skin and covered in the sand our wheels threw up as we pedaled along the beach.
On the Inner Drive
the water was so high that ducks were swimming next to the curb across the
street from the Diversey driving range.
The rest of the
afternoon was a mixture of heavy storms and a strange fog that repeatedly moved
west from the lake and fell back again almost as if the lake were
breathing. The above picture gives
a good idea of how strange that afternoon was as the storm clouds once
again head east and the lake sends forth another layer of fog.
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1 comment:
What an amazing shot... It is amazing when someone can capture the power of nature, like you were able to in this picture... Kind of makes me happy to see something like this, knowing I am usually upset that the storm has ruined my plans.
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