Biking Around

By Amanda Holmes

Last Saturday was my favorite kind of Saturday, one in which I had nothing in particular that I had to do. I woke up around 9 a.m., biked over to campus and spent the morning by Lake Marion eating chocolate granola and reading some essays for my gender studies course. The campus was quiet and I was able to finish most of my reading assignments for the weekend by noon.

I decided that I wanted to go on a bike ride. So I grabbed my bike and started heading east on 95th Street. It took about an hour and a half but I ended up biking to Lake Michigan. There is a beach and a great park right on 95th where I spent most of the afternoon reading and napping. Mostly napping.

I had such a good time last Saturday on my bike ride that I decided to make a list of the top 5 places to bike to from campus.

• Barraco’s Pizza on 95th- This bike ride takes like 5 minutes. It’s just north of campus and you can bike through neighborhoods all the way without going on any of the main roads.
• To the Red Line down 95th or up to the Orange Line on Pulaski- So the rides themselves aren’t too great, mostly big roads and the ride itself is less than pleasant. But you can get anywhere in the city if you bike to either of these spots. I prefer the route to the red line because it’s closer and you can spend most of the ride in neighborhoods. Also, it’s helpful if you are going up to the city at night to take the bike because the bus stops running around midnight.
• Beverly Arts Center on 111th and Western- There are always cool things going on there. I think there is going to be a Grateful Dead Tribute Band there this weekend. They also show movies on Wednesday nights. Next week they are showing one I’ve wanted to see Food Inc. I’ll definitely be riding my bike over to that.
• Bookies Paperbacks bookstore- Well, I go here a lot but that’s mostly because I work there on the weekends. Even if I didn’t work there though I think I would still be riding there quite often. It’s a small used book store on 103rd and Western with a maze of bookshelves. Most of the books are mass market paperbacks- mysteries and romance- but there is tons of other stuff too. The people who work there are also really cool.
• Lake Michigan- It’s a longer bike ride but definitely worth it.
  

Amanda Holmes is a junior philosophy major from Atlanta, GA. She is vice president of the Philosophy Club. Consideration for the student bloggers is provided by Saint Xavier University.