-- By Kate & Zia, visiting from St. Louis
Photos by Dan Kliman & Cigdem Ludington

From Kate:

Hello all. I will do my best to give a semi-coherent report about the rampage in Chicago.......here it goes.....

Dan, Zia, and I finally got out of St. Louis Friday night and arrived in Chicago around 3am. We were fortunate to be able to stay with a very kind and generous chap named Howard, who was so kind to open his house up to us. After crashing around 5am, the alarm went off all too soon at 9:30, to prepare for a 10:30am departure. We headed to the Twisted Spoke which was filled with chatty cycling Santas, a few elves and 2 dreidels!! We had breakfast and then the pack of north pole misfits took off around noon. It was a great sight and there were a wide variety of interesting bikes, as well as people!

Our first stop was a liquor mega-store, where people stocked up on spirits of all sorts. As we went through the streets of downtown Chicago handing out materials, and giving holiday cheer to the stunned shoppers, many people stood along the road with cameras and didnt quite know what to make of us. The cameraderie in the group was fantastic. I felt very welcomed by the Chicago massers and chatted with many interesting people.

Our next stop was at the Lord and Taylor's at Water Tower......we got about 10 feet in the door and there was a wall of security there to greet us. We were threatened with jail or the door......so we left, but definitely not quietly. I was totally pumped, and reeling in the excitement of subversive action!

We moved on, and toured around Michigan Ave, and then headed to Navy Pier. We took a pit stop at the pier, for drinks and various other party favors. Then we rolled on back to downtown, circled the House of Blues a few times, and wandered inside Carson's, up and down the elevator, trying to find Santa! We finally found the ol jolly man, and we had a group photo with him. One of my favorite sights of the mass was Dan Korn asking shoppers to spin him, and him twirling on the street! Another was the trailer with the "Live Free or Drive" poster, which was towing cases of Old Style and pine tree branches.

After Carsons we rode around a bit and then ended at the Billy Goat Tavern, which was a great hole in the wall (my favorite kind of place) and the beers flowed and they make a mean egg and cheese sandwich! A reporter from US News and World Report found us in there, and took a lot of photos. He said we may make next week's issue.....

The Santas parted ways around 6pm. I hope next year we can take a caravan of people up.....it was the most fun I have had in ages, and I hope to make it to Chicago in the upcoming months for more activities. Who wants to go?? Bikes up!!

From Zia

The rampage was a blast. A slew of festive (and a handful of tipsy) costumed santas/elves/dreidels was greeted with much interest by shoppers, camera-toting tourists, and motorists. Rolled with a penny farthing, several chunkers, and a trailer decked with Andy Singer's carfree art. It was awesome to finally put some faces to names that I've become familar with through Critical Mass -- Bob Matter, Dan Korn, Josh Deth, Lisa, T.C., Cigdem, Alex Wilson, Mark, Travis, et. al., it was NICE to ride with all of you, and nice to see John Greenfield again. Alas, didn't get to meet Jim Redd this time.

Aside from the rampage, sprinting through Chicago traffic in rain was euphoric -- running red lights and beating on cars that tried to side us off. On Fullerton, a frappucino-sipping man in a Benz pulled right out in front of Dan and we all nearly went endo. This kind of riding I'll never experience in St. Louis. Motorists actually appeared somewhat guilty when they nearly killed us. I think it was on Halstead when a pedestrian on the other side of the street shouted to Dan: Nice helmet! Thanks, Dan shouts back. Man responds: The girls look better than you! (Kate and I were sans helmet) Wish I had been wearing a helmet, as it would've justified some of the crazy riding.

Thanks to the Chicago velo-community for the warm reception. Completely enjoyed the time spent in the city of ubiquitous bike racks.