Fox River Trail, Plano, Bike Film festival

My weekend started well with a trip to Pilsen to visit art galleries and get free wine. After that, Clare and I headed over to the Bike Film Festival at Columbia College.

Over all the films were pretty cool, but New York was way over represented. I think the folks running it were from there, so no surprise I guess. If you look at the program of all the movies, you'd think the only city with bike messengers was New York.

One of the films in the program I saw was imaginatively titled Bike Messengers. In the film, they took footage of messengers riding around the city and animated the messenger over the real back drop. It was kinda like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but hipper. Apparently, it was supposed to illustrate the relationship between the messenger and the city. It ended up looking like a clownish and unrealistic glorification of bike messengers. I guess it didn't help that the main messenger they follow through the five minute film is wearing spandex from head to toe. I was sitting next to a friend from my messenger days who is still a messenger. He felt it was ridiculous too. At one point, the messenger gets doored and flies over the door and tumbles head over heals on the pavement. Then he gets up, wipes the blood off his leg, grabs his bike and keeps riding. Most of the audience cracked up at that point. I leaned over to my friend and said, "You would do that for your company right? Just wipe off the blood and get the package delivered, right?" He had a more realistic view of the situation and replied, "I just want to know how he didn't bend his wheel."

Don't get me wrong. I think the festival is a great idea. I did enjoy all the films even if it was only for comedic value.

The last film in the program was one about the Midnight Ridazz a critical Mass type group in Los Angles. Part of it was how the group overcame being constantly hassled by the LAPD. When the film ended someone in the back (I assume one of the organizers) yelled, "They had over a thousand riders last month and they ride tonight in an hour." You know like someone was going to yell back, "Lets go to LA, we're going to ride with them!! Quick to the jet!"

The thing I'm disappointed about was how under-represented Chicago was. We have a very strong bike culture here. Can't someone pick up a camera and film something?

Whenever I see something like that I get the urge to do something about it. I start thinking things like, "I should make a film about Chicago bike culture." Then I realize I have no idea how to do something like that. I'm sure someone in Chicago does.

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Clare and I biked for a short time on the Fox River Trail on Saturday. Previously, we've ridden the path north from Aurora, but this time we headed south. It's not quite as nice and it ends a few miles away in Oswego. We had to take some country roads until we reached our destination in Plano, the Farnsworth House. By the way, I use the term country road pretty loosely. There we probably once surrounded by cornfields, but now they are surrounded on both sides by blooming new subdivisions. Luckily, most of them were still under construction, so the traffic wasn't that bad.