Great Lakes - I really don't mind this place...

I often find myself complaining about where i live and when it's -2...-26 with windchill, as it is today, it's not difficult. But a few days ago i was driving into the loop via 90...the sky was blue and man...what a site :)

Give it up for chi-town my fellow FIB's :D.

That said, who wants to move to CO with me ;)

Colorado may have the mountains, but its major city (Denver) has nothing on Chicago except for locale. For food, music, art, jobs, and almost anything else, I'd say Chicago is world class.

I used to live on Chicago Avenue right at Wolcott. There were days when staring eastbound down Chicago Ave one would see a massive bank of stormclouds moving out over the lake and the setting sun from behind would just set the downtown buildings ablaze against a steely black background. An astounding site.

Don't get me wrong, I love Colorado. I loved it from the time I first clicked into skis at Steamboat when I was five years old. I wanted to live there. A midwestern boy like me (grew up near St. Louis) thought that Colorado was all I'd ever need. Heck, I even lived in Fort Collins for a while, but the timing was off and I landed in Chicago. Chicago. A place in which I had a bit of fear growing up. Big bad Chicago. You know what? Chicago rules. You can get anywhere without a car. You can ride a bike in traffic on almost any arterial street. Music? It's was never "Is there a show?" it was always "Which show to go see?"

Chicago in the summertime. The cool temps along the lake. Two baseball teams. Street festivals in the neighborhoods. Free concerts during The Taste. Yeah.

Even the sub-zero temps seem right.

There are downsides (Chicago politicians, parking, real estate taxes), but any town filled with corner taverns, as Chicago is, I can look past the downsides.

/appreciation

I was kind of thinking the same thing while I was snow blowing and I stuck the engine on the blower. As I grabbed the shovel I thought, "am I ever going to move out of here so that I don't have to deal with this crap anymore?"

Then I thought about all of the great things about Chicago. I also thought about how my nephews and nieces get so excited when they visit form Texas and see snow. I think about my son giggling while trying to help shovel. Marshall Fields (cough - Macys - cough) windows at Christmas time, the museums, parks, culture, food, etc......

Rides during fall when the leaves are on fire and you get to wear a vest and arm warmers. Spring rides with the killer headwinds that make you able to rip highlanders' legs off when you hit the flats.

I love chicago. I have lived in many, many places over the years (at least 11 different cities) and I would choose Chicago out of all of them.

You know I tell my wife that if her job re-locates her to any other office in the region, it'll have to be Chicago. Sadly, San Antonio is far more likely.

Yeah...San Antonio sucks....;)


....actually it's beautiful. Near Texas hill country as well. You could sell all of your tights, arm warmers, jackets and vests though...

^Plus you are close enough to use beautiful Wisconsin as your playground when sick of the ugly city.

Just be sure to sell them here :) Having moved from San Marcos (basically San Antonio) up here in August, I thought a balaclava was a sweet and sticky pastery...


Yeah...San Antonio sucks....;)


....actually it's beautiful. Near Texas hill country as well. You could sell all of your tights, arm warmers, jackets and vests though...

WTF??!!! You mean it isn't a sweet and sticky pastery??!! No wonder the dude in Dunkin Donuts told me off.

Most beautiful city I've ever lived, and I have the pictures to prove it. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alforque/sets/72157594259952810/) ;)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/136/323444548_4705c4c42a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/alforque/323444548/in/set-72157594259952810/)

Can't beat Chicago blues for live music. Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Sunnyland Slim, Mighty Joe Young, James Cotton, Eddie Clearwater, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown...just to name a few. Man those people put on some kicka#* shows. That record-setting 26 degrees below zero and wind chill of MINUS 83 degrees in the early-mid 80's...I came out of a club at 2:00am and had to deal with a dead car battery:eek: But skiing, Steamboat, and mountains wouldn't be so bad either. At Keystone back in November, I saw a guy on a homemade ski-bike. He made it from a mountain bike frame, had suspension and everything. Very cool.

I've lived in the Chicago area (not the city, but South and SW suburbs) my whole life (I'm 28). Except for 4 years in Central Illinois for college, that doesn't count though. My wife is from Rockford (far NW suburb) and that's where her family still lives. I love the temperate spring and fall, summer isn't bad - I can tolerate the 90 degrees and 99% humidity days alright. But winter is getting worse and worse for me. November and December are cakewalks. 40s, 30s, even 20s are tolerable. This "negative" stuff has got to go though.

If I were to relocate to a city I could afford to live in (so not San Diego), I would probably have to say something like Portland. I've always wanted to see the Pac Northwest. Mountains, forests, the most bike-friendly city in the U.S, winters are not brutal. Sounds great. I've never been there though.

But of course, Chicago has the Cubs!

Rockford (far NW suburb)

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:



like Portland.

You might want to set your sights a little higher. While Portland is indeed beautiful you would soon be writing threads about how much the rain is getting to you. Seriously the stereotype is correct. Everytime I have been in Portland or Eugene it has rained at least a little every single day. Sometimes 4-5 times a day, and othertimes all day with no breaks.

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

Just like Indy is a SE Suburb and Milwaukee is a near north suburb.

;)

Sorry, should have said exurb, not suburb - although we have a lot of friends in that area that consider themselves to live in a Chicago Suburb.

But of course, Chicago has the Cubs!

And thats supposed to be a perk how??? :rolleyes:

I'll take the Phoenix area myself.

I often find myself complaining about where i live and when it's -2...-26 with windchill, as it is today, it's not difficult. But a few days ago i was driving into the loop via 90...the sky was blue and man...what a site :)

Give it up for chi-town my fellow FIB's :D.

That said, who wants to move to CO with me ;)

Timmy, those are just the ice crystals in your brain talking, when you thaw out you will come to your senses...

Down where it is nearly 80 today - like always. :D

I'll take the Phoenix area myself.

Have you been there in August? 118 degrees is HOT. They have stretches of 100+ for days or weeks.:eek: Yes, it's a "dry heat" but so is the Sahara desert. At least when it's cold you can put on more clothing. You can only take OFF so many clothes (before getting arrested:p). I have a sister out there, so have visited a number of times...and no thanks.
Any votes for Albuquerque? Not as big, but a nicer climate because its a higher elevation (a different sister lives there). Great cycling weather. Skiing is a cable car ride away. You ride up one side of the mountains on the edge of town, and you're at the top of a ski area that goes down the other side. Nice.:D

Rockford :roflmao::roflmao::roflmao:

I'd say the same thing. I'm not from there but I live next to it.

I have a hard time even considering Elgin a suburb. That said the border if the Chi suburbs could have arguably been Randall Rd.

Now I think you could easily include everything out to 47. West of 47 and no chance......yet....give it 10 years.

Psimet. I see you solved your bike forums access problem at work or are you on lunch at a cyber cafe ?

Shhhhhhh....Be verwe, verwe qwi-et.

My silence doesnt come cheap... You gonna be around tonight?

Yes. Yes. I will....

I'll give you a call later and try to get my Pinarello to you tonight or this weekend.

I guess it's true what they say - if it weren't for Chicago's winters, there'd be a billion people trying to live here. My friend has a 62' company yacht anchored right behind Soldier Field. I'm lucky enough to get to go out with him a few times a year. I attached a picture from last August. I have some really neat shots of the shore, buildings, skyline - but not here on this computer.

Some 45% of my fellow students here at the University and although only about 30% of them are ACTUALLY from the suburbs, they all say they do.

I'm not...

I just moved to the South Loop from South Florida back in April - this forum was very helpful in acclimating me and my road bike here - and absolutely love it...even the cold weather. Just this week I bought cold weather cycling gear for the first time.