When I went to Lollapalooza one of the groups on Green Street was the Working Bikes Cooperative. They're an interesting non-profit organization in Chicago that "diverts bicycles from the waste stream in Chicago by repairing them for sale and charity."
They fix old used bikes and also combine discarded bike parts to make what they call "frankenbikes." Profits from bike sales in the US help them send bikes to third world countries where bicycles are likely to be a persons only mode of mechanical transportation. Pretty cool, huh?
Since I recently took a job about a mile from where I live, I decided that I have no excuse not to bike to work. I got rid of my old bike years ago when I decided I didn't want to haul it to Tennessee when I moved there. I've been wanting a new bike for a while and I finally picked one up at Working Bikes this weekend. My car gets pretty good mileage but you can't beat the efficiency of a bike.
I kind of liked the idea of a freakish Frakenbike but they didn't have one that appealed to me. I ended up getting an old Schwinn mountain bike. It didn't cost much I absolutely love it.
Their shop is run by volunteers and only open three days a week. One worker told me they have more bikes on Wednesdays and Saturdays because the bikes come in daily and are sold quickly. But, I had no trouble finding one I liked on Sunday.
I'm very excited about having a bike again so you'll probably see me riding around town soon. In case you missed it, be sure to read last week's Illinois Times article about biking. On this trip to Chicago I noticed how many bike lanes there are around town and how many people use a bike for their daily commute. Local elected officials can look forward to me bugging them soon about things Springfield could be doing to promote bicycle ridership.