take your machine to the airport

In a few days I'll be in Europe. My friend (and former student at Iowa) Quentin will be there during almost the same period as me. He left Wednesday from O'Hare and had a few hours before his flight, so I went out to hang.

I was in Andersonville, which is not on the Blue line, the most efficient way of getting to the airport. I had my bike, so I thought I would bike to Wicker Park, pick up the Blue line and then hang out in the WP with Laura afterwards. But then, the time changed and I decided to ride straight west, picking up the Blue line wherever I crossed it.

But then I crossed it and kept riding, making it all the way there.

To be honest, I did some research on biking to O'Hare finding this page. I took Foster straight west and then followed most of the suggestions, taking Higgins to Mannheim. Here's the route I took.

Higgins was fine at first--low traffic, 35 mph limit--but started to cause me worry when I saw some narrow bridges and other highway features. But, just like in the picture, there was little traffic. When the speed limit got to be 45, I was even more cautious but almost never felt unsafe. There was one SUV driven by some apathetic, life-hating SOB that left less room than I would like--when cars are passing faster, they should leave more room--but most were quite considerate.

Higgins to Mannheim isn't maybe the most direct route--a crow could do better--but is probably route that uses the most straight lines. I turned left on Mannheim, to the confusion of drivers and truckers, but since I turned with the left arrow, the bulk of the traffic stood still waiting at the light. I only stayed on Mannheim for a block, turning right at the first light and getting on Bessie Coleman drive going south.

The Higgins part was the worst; Bessie Coleman and the subsequent access road had much slower traffic, more lanes, and a really nice shoulder. I think it's funny that O'Hare is one of those few places in Chicago that you can't really get to without using some machine--car or train. Human power transportation--walking, biking--is somehow incongruous to airports--near the top of the industrial food chain. [A similar incongruity to when I rode my bike into and through the steel mill--marauding.] When I got to the terminals, there were a couple guys who had, apparently, passed me and who said "hey it's the bike guy." Whatever, sure. Das bin ich!

Then I met Quentin and had a coffee at one of the few places to buy anything to eat or drink not past security and talked about music, relationships, divorce, bikes, and meeting in Prague.

To leave, I was thinking of just taking the train to Wicker Park to meet Laura. But it was 5:40. There's a ban on bikes from 4-6pm on CTA trains (and 7-9am), which, ostensibly has something to do with rush hour. I was hoping to cheat the system (by 20 minutes), especially considering I was headed into the city--a reverse commute.

But no. The letter-of-the-law CTA peon checked his watch and barred me from entering. Well shit. I tried asking him how else I could leave O'Hare on bike but his only response was to wait 20 minutes. Not my M.O.

So I biked. Took the access road and then took Mannheim south (see photo at top) but jut for a few blocks (wide shoulders are key) and got on Irving Park going east. Irving is not the best bike road either but the best I could see on myPhone. I played with the lights a little to avoid riding in heavy traffic (~45mph) but mostly rode in the gutter like the disaffected minority I am. It's much more stressful, taking much more energy, riding along such roads. But I made it, only cursing under my breath at a few impatient drivers. Then, beautifully, like the sun piercing through the clouds after an afternoon thunderstorm, a guy in a metallic red pickup truck gave me a thumbs up. It totally worked, changing my whole perception of drivers from nameless, faceless tailpipes and license plates to people operating machinery. He turned somewhere behind me and then passed me. Then I passed him. And so on. It was super cute. Then, on Milwaukee, I passed him definitively and passed a long line of cars never to look back. Milwaukee progressively became better for biking, and I could feel the tension float away as the neighborhoods got more familiar.

So yes. It's possible to ride your bike to and from O'Hare, but it's not for the faint of heart (literally and figuratively; it's over 10 miles and you should go ~20mph so as to mimic the speed of traffic).

[It only took me 50 minutes, which is about the same as driving (with traffic). Bikes FTW!]