The Spaces Between nighttime bike tour

Mary Bartelme Park in the West Loop

By John Greenfield

[This article also appears in Time Out Chicago magazine, timeoutchicago.com.]

Time Out recently invited me to test ride the following bike tour which you can ride in later this month:

GUIDE Martin Hazard
LENGTH 12 miles, 2.5 hours
STARTS Billy Goat Tavern (430 N. Michigan Ave.)
TOC EXCLUSIVE TOUR June 18 at 8:30 pm; free. Bring your own bicycle, helmet and lights. Future tours TBD. (Call Hazard at 773-885-0900 to sign up, or just show up.)

“We’re going on a tour of places that are all around us but are two steps off the beaten path,” says Martin Hazard with a Marlboro clenched in his teeth as we unlock our steeds outside the subterranean Billy Goat Tavern (430 N. Michigan) on a Tuesday night. He’s president of the Midnight Marauders, a nighttime cycling group that does saucy late-night excursions on the third Saturday of every month, including the notorious Porn Ride tour of strip clubs, sex shops and S & M dungeons.


Soon Hazard is leading me through the labyrinth of the Loop’s multi-leveled streets including Michigan, Wacker and Randolph. We whiz up and down ramps, around steel pillars, past ragged homeless people and lonely security guards outside loading docks. After a brief jaunt on a path along the Chicago River, we’re at a pretty little green space at the center of the new Lakeshore East development (430 E. Waterside Dr). “I love this park because you can’t see it from most of the surface streets so nobody knows it’s here,” Hazard says.


Climbing a hill past the development’s gateway, a pair of stainless-steel sails, we cruise across the eerily calm Central Business District to Mary Bartelme Park (115 S. Sangamon), opened last year in the West Loop. It boasts an undulating landscape and huge gateways that look like tilted silver picture frames. “They spray mist during the summer so it’s a great place to cool off,” says my guide.


Returning east, as we wait for a red among the neon signs of Greektown someone asks us for spare change. “I’ve never been panhandled on a bike before,” I note. We head down Wells street past Bertrand Goldberg’s curvy River City condo building (800 S. Wells) and peek through a fence underneath arching Roosevelt Road. Just beyond it is a large piece of barren earth bordering the river which Hazard calls the Brownlands – a popular spot for bonfires.


We make our way under the half-moon to Roosevelt and Michigan and the creepy 9’ trunk-less legs of Magdalena Abakanowicz’s “Agora” installation. We take the pedestrian bridge at 11th Street and a series of curving paths under Columbus and Lakeshore Drive to the Shedd Aquarium and then over to the Children’s Garden (1330 S. Museum Campus Drive) in the shadow of Soldier Field, featuring a geodesic climbing net and a large stone sphere that you can you can spin slowly with your hands. “I like that this park is hidden by the surrounding dirt embankments,” says Hazard.


As we roll down Solidarity Drive to Northerly Island Park, a coyote crosses our path(fear not: The animals roaming the city help control our rat population). We take a lap on the paved paths circling the former Meigs Field which will forever symbolize Richard M. Daley’s love of parks and autocratic governing style. “There’s no better place to check out the skyline at night,” Hazard says.


Soon we’re zooming back up the Lakefront Trail with a tailwind and cutting west on the riverside bike path back to the cozy confines of the tavern. With mugs of Billy Goat Dark we toast the end of an awesome urban assault.

So You Want to Be a Chicago Bicycle Messenger?

Industry veterans offer tips on breaking into the biz

By John Greenfield

[This article also appears in MOMENTUM magazine, www.momentumplanet.com.]

It’s hard out there for a courier. Business is down in Chicago due to the sluggish economy, and building security is tighter than ever in the wake of 9/11. And of course there’s always traffic dangers and weather challenges.

But for long-time messengers the work is its own reward. “Riding a bike and being free is the best part of the job,” says Andre Gordon, warming up at Cal’s Liquors, a courier hangout at 400 S. Wells, after a day working in cold December rain. Steve Kuntsler, Gordon’s co-worker at Dynamex, agrees. “I like not being stuck in an office all day,” says Kuntsler. “There’s no one over your shoulder cracking the whip.”

With dozens of companies and hundreds of riders, Chicago has one of the largest bike messenger populations in North America and couriers play a key role in greasing the wheels of commerce. “If every messenger stopped working one day the Central Business District would cease to function,” Gordon says.

Receiving orders by two-way radio, couriers crisscross the Loop, picking up and dropping off packages at office towers and loading docks. Most are paid commission, usually 50% of the delivery charge, which varies according to the urgency, distance and weight of the delivery.

Mark Hirsch with Faster Messenger

Although it’s been a slow winter, if you’re interested in checking out the lows and highs of the job, this spring might be a decent time to give it a spin. “March and April is a good time to get hired because it’s tax season,” says Scott Sons, a dispatcher at Arrow Messenger Service.

Arrow’s one of a handful of companies, including Standard, Chicago Messenger, Apex and Chicago Messenger Service, which hire newbies. “We sometimes prefer people with no experience because then we get to train people to do the job the way we want it done,” says Sons. Before applying for a courier job, he recommends wannabe couriers study a map of the Central Business District (between Division, Halsted, Roosevelt and Lake Michigan) and ride around downtown for an afternoon to get the lay of the land.

Marshall Arnold, who dispatches for Dynamex (which doesn’t hire rookies) adds that anyone who wants to messenger should learn basic repairs. “You’re not going to make any money if you’re going to a bike shop every time you get a flat,” he says. Arnold also recommends applying to companies where the bikers are employees, not independent contractors, because the latter are required to pay their own social security taxes and are not covered by workers’ comp.

Once you’re ready to apply, try hitting up local messengers for leads on who’s hiring, says courier Josh Korby. During the daytime you can often find them “standing by” in the outdoor plaza or basement food court of the Jim Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph, AKA the “Tom-Tom.” After work, Cal’s and the Blue Frog Bar & Grill, 676 N. LaSalle, are popular, especially on Friday payday.

Korby’s an “owner-rider” with 4 Star Courier Collective, a cooperatively run messenger company where everyone bikes as well as dispatches. “A good messenger always shows up on time or early, and always ‘10-4’s all work, no matter how challenging,” he says.

He recommends being agreeable and polite at all times – especially with the building security guards who sometimes delay couriers by demanding they drop their bags at the front desk, leave an ID and sign into the building log. “If you’re too pushy that goes against you sometimes,” he says. “A smile goes a long way.”

Julian Benitez with U.S. Messenger

Korby says it’s important to put some thought into what to wear while working so you can stay reasonably comfortable in nasty weather. He recommends a wool base layer and waterproof jacket and pants for cold and wet conditions. “I spare no expense for gloves and socks,” he says. “If your feet get wet that’s one thing, but if they get cold that’s a problem.”

It’s also key to invest in a comfortable, waterproof messenger bag that will keep the packages dry, says Korby. “It makes such a difference,” he says. He uses a Shag Bag, made in Milwaukee, and also recommends Chicago-made W.I.G. bags, as well as bags by Freight, Seagull, RE-Load and Bailey Works.

As for your vehicle, Korby recommends a single-speed road bike, either fixed-gear or freewheel, as lightweight, cost-effective and low-maintenance, although he prefers fixed since freewheels sometimes freeze up during the winter. “A fixed-gear with a hand brake and full fenders is your best year-round bike, the most miles for your money,” he says.

But aren’t hand brakes on fixies considered un-cool? “There’s a certain machismo to riding brake-less, but a front brake is a good thing to have because it allows you to stop with both wheels,” Korby says. “There used to be a stigma to having a brake, but nowadays I don’t think anyone would make fun of you – at least not to your face.”

A proposal to fight street congestion

By John Greenfield

[This piece also runs in New City, www.newcity.com.]

It should be easy to travel Chicago, especially the Loop, without a car. The flat grid makes walking a breeze. We’ve got over 100 miles of bicycle lanes and more than 10,000 bike racks. CTA, Metra, taxicabs and even water taxis and pedicabs offer eco-friendly options for getting downtown and around town.

So why is the Central Business District clogged with cars that foul the air and endanger walkers and cyclists, while transit faces perpetual budget shortfalls? Answer: while the City of Chicago fails to invest in green transportation (Federal money paid for those bike lanes and racks, and the city spends a measly $3 million per year on the CTA), it continues to encourage driving, especially downtown.

Mayor Daley lifted a longtime ban on new Loop parking garages and built Millennium Park on top of a three-level garage with room for more than 2,000 cars. Recent zoning changes force developers to provide a parking spot for every housing unit. The Traffic Management Authority has changed traffic signal times to favor cars over pedestrians, and removed crosswalks on Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, making it easier to drive and harder to walk.

Instead, Chicago needs to start discouraging driving and promoting healthier modes by charging motorists a toll for the privilege of driving into the Loop, and using the cash to fund bike, ped and transit projects. Sounds crazy? This scheme, called “congestion pricing,” is nothing new.

In 2003 Mayor Ken Livingstone took a big risk by instituting a $12 congestion charge for motorists entering gridlocked central London. The policy is enforced with video cameras and drivers who don’t pay face stiff fines. At the same time the city added hundreds of buses to its fleet to make transit more appealing. Traffic flow and air quality improved significantly and bicycle use skyrocketed. The gamble paid off—Livingstone won the next election by a comfortable margin.

Hizzoner has shown that he can bulldoze Meigs Field in the middle of the night and still get reelected by a landslide, so why not take bold action on this? Slap a hefty fee on commuters and tourists who selfishly choose to drive into the Loop, or better yet the whole Central Business District between Division, Halsted, Roosevelt and the lake. Sit back and enjoy the results: a safer, greener, friendlier Chicago.