Look closely: do you notice anything different about my tire?
A ladybug is hitching a ride!
This pair of cuties (one for each tire) is made in Poland and came to me as a gift from Gosia of Bike Belle, who recently visited Chicago from London/Krakow. Bike Belle carries a fun variety of bike accessories, much of them handmade/painted/knitted. From the Bike Belle About Us page: “We design, make and sell designer bicycle accessories to make your bikes easier to use, prettier and more you.” Sounds good to me! Bonus: they ship worldwide. :) These ladybugs (and other designs) are called “jewelry for your bicycle” – love it! I guess these would be Oma’s earnings. More beautiful jewelry: this rosy bell would be perfect for spring.
I also got this adorable, waterproof seat cover, staying with the polka dot trend. (Why do I want this mouse one so much?? It’s mesmerizing.)
If anyone has always wanted a full ladybug kit for her bike, look no further.
Here are Maria of PoCampo, Gosia and me after a lovely brunch.
I’m so glad I had the chance to meet Gosia, hear a lot about bicycling in Krakow (sounds a lot like cycling in Chicago, actually), and learn more about her shop.
She also has a Bike Belle blog, with plenty of beautiful pictures, so you can enjoy it even if you don’t speak Polish.
My wish for bright spring colors came true today, at least a little bit. The amazing 50 degree temperature combined with the bright, lingering sun made the city feel like a springtime paradise. The sidewalks and lakefront were filled with Chicagoans basking in the glory of the weather. The photos below look cold, but the mere fact that I was able to bike on the Lakefront Trail is a sign of the thaw. Most of the snow has melted, leaving behind mounds of dirt, salt and debris. I even warmed up enough to remove my scarf, which looked quite lovely on Oma.
Unbelievably, I heard on the evening news that Chicago may get over a foot of snow mid-week. All the more reason to appreciate days like today, I suppose.
Perhaps a flowing white skirt was not the smartest outfit choice for a wet and windy day, but sometimes fashion trumps function, and this morning I wanted to wear a flowing white skirt, dammit.
I began second-guessing my choice as the lake winds whipped the skirt against Betty’s grimy rack and fender, but by that time there was no turning back.
In a nod to function, here is my head and eye protective gear that rarely makes it into photos.
By the end of the day, the hem of my skirt was lightly soiled here and there, but nothing terribly noticeable from a distance. The real danger was the chocolate cake I enjoyed with lunch, crumbs of which inevitably got smushed on my lap.
Regardless, riding my bike, eating chocolate cake and wearing a flowing white skirt all made me happy, so I consider the dry cleaning bill worth it. :-)
Score one for fashion.
{I picked this skirt up from a Paris thrift store for 2 euros. See it styled for summer here.}
Time to break out the tweed and cashmere – fall is here!
I have a habit of writingeveryyear about how much I love fall, and this year will be more of the same. It’s such a perfect time for bike riding, especially for riding in full work clothes without arriving sweaty.
I enthusiastically pulled out from under my bed the two containers of cold-weather clothes and suddenly I have a whole new wardrobe. This week I will replenish my supply of black and brown tights, then I’ll be good to go through early spring. :-)
This week I burned my way through season one of Scandal on Netflix. Love! The best part of the show is the main character Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington. She’s uber-capable, confident, loyal and smart as hell – and also an amazing dresser.
As much as I love her style, I found myself thinking about the difficulty of wearing her outfits on a bike. She favors crisp white suits, sky high platform heels and wide leg pants.
So I put together my own interpretation of bike-friendly Olivia Popeness. I swapped out her wide-legged trousers for slim pants or a skirt to avoid chain disasters, her towering stilettos for pedal-friendly wedges, and her Prada bag for a Po Campo bag. I had to keep the white trench coat, so watch out for grease!
A few readers have asked me to discuss my favorite places to shop for pre-owned clothing. I estimate that approximately 75% of my wardrobe is pre-owned, as in secondhand/used/thrifted. I love pre-owned clothes for two main reasons: I can buy a lot more/better quality for less and I can minimize my contribution to the fast fashion system, the one that causes stuff like THE DEATH OF 1,000 HUMANS. (Please think about that for a few moments and consider how important cheap new fashion is to your lifestyle.)
Locally, I prefer Salvation Army on Grand Avenue. The goods are grimey, but if you sift through the racks long enough, you’re guaranteed to find some gems, like the $4 Burberry dress shown below. (Remember, “God made dirt; dirt don’t hurt.” Am I the only one who heard that a hundred times in my childhood?)
But since most of you do not live in Chicago, I’m sharing my favorite online shop.
And my choice is The Real Real, a site with daily flash sales of pre-owned designer items. When I say designer, I mean designer, with oodles of options among Chanel, Prada, Stella McCartney, Chloe, Givenchy, et al. (Thanks, rich people who wear a dress twice and then consign it!) This is not just about fancy labels. In my experience, these clothes are generally better made with higher quality materials, resulting in superior fit and longer lifespan. BUT if designer is not your thing, scroll past the flash sales to the “Contemporary Designer Sales” section – that’s where the real deals are: Diane von Furstenberg, Trina Turk, Nanette Lepore, Kate Spade, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Steve Alan, and a crap load more. Of course, these are not Salvation Army-level bargains, but that’s the price you pay for well-edited and dry-cleaned goods.
Through this site, I’ve found that I can buy used, high-quality designer items for the same price as new clothes at stores like Zara and J.Crew. And unlike with eBay, I never have to worry about authenticity and returns are accepted. Here are all of my purchases from the site to date:
(Oh my gosh, suddenly I wish I had my long hair back. Don’t you hate that? Too late now!)
Trust me, on my non-profit salary, there is no way I could ever afford all these beautiful clothes new.
As a caveat, the site can be addicting. Under no circumstances should you subscribe to their daily email – that’s a great way to get sucked into constantly browsing for clothes that you don’t need.
Currently, everything is on sale for 20% off. Woo-hoo! I myself snapped up two Diane von Furstenberg wrap dresses and a silk wrap top, along with a silk See by Chloe skirt. Now I’m ready for spring. :-)
A similar site I’ve been eying – but from which I’ve not yet purchased anything – is Vaunte. They also sell pre-owned designer stuff, but their prices are a bit higher and they do not accept returns. Womp-womp.
Do you have a favorite online shop for pre-owned clothes? Please share!
{If you follow the link to The Real Real or Vaunte and buy something, the site gives me a $10-$20 credit. Not a rigged blogger thing, just the reward they give anyone who refers another shopper. And credits are great because I already spent my clothing budget for Spring 2013!}
Yesterday I had the pleasure of bicycling downtown to see the Joffrey Ballet’s Othello. The ride was about 7 miles each way, along the lakefront trail. The theatre is close to south Grant Park, which looked very nice on this beautiful day.
And at my destination, here is the view from my regular seat in the front row of the balcony.
What these photos fail to show is the wind. It was really, really windy – even by Chicago standards. This resulted in a super fast bike ride down the lakefront trail on the way to the show (I arrived 10 minutes earlier than I expected) and a strenuous bike ride back home with the wind in my face. I popped Betty into an easy gear and focused on spinning. I got quite a workout!
Also, the photos don’t show the black spandex shorts I wore under my dress – necessary, as the wind blew the light silk around like crazy. :-)
I have a fun new accessory for spring: a beautiful vintage silk scarf that Trisha brought me from her recent trip to Italy.
I used to associate silk scarves with my elderly Sunday school teacher from childhood, but Trisha wears scarves with such effortless chic, I realize now how stylish they can be. I drew inspiration from Trisha yesterday morning when deciding what to wear. The Italian scarf called out to me and allowed me to wear an all-black ensemble without veering into Lydia territory.
The 80 degree weather from Wednesday dropped dramatically to the 40’s, so it was back to tights and long sleeves for me. A silk scarf is lovely for warmer weather with a chill in the air. It’s also fun for bicycling, I learned. With the bright scarf whipping in the wind behind me, I felt a bit ooh la la.
Like a toned-down version of this. :-)
When I got to work, I pulled myself together by slicking back my hair, taming my scarf and throwing on heels that live under my desk. As demonstrated with this very classy bathroom photo.
Now I want to seek out more silk scarves. Lucky for me, they can be found a dime a dozen (almost) at thrift stores. Highly recommended for the civilized transportation bicyclist! (Just be sure the scarf is not too long – don’t want it catching on anything while cycling.)
After a very long winter/early spring, truly warm weather has finally come to Chicago. Yesterday was a whopping 85 degrees!
Bicycling in warm weather feels so different from bicycling in the freezing or even chilly weather. Over the past 6 (7…8…?) months, I’d forgotten how it felt. And there are lots and lots of other bicyclists out there, all of a sudden. Love it!
I picked out my lightest silk skirt and blouse to celebrate the occasion. I retired my black, winter Bern helmet for my happy, pale pink Nutcase helmet. (Unfortunately, I had a sweaty helmet hair situation by the time I returned home in the evening, as shown above.) I also pulled out my fingerless gloves, which I wear in warm weather to prevent discomfort from sweaty palms rubbing against cork grips, as well as to absorb some of the road shock.
That’s about it! Just happy to share my warm weather excitement. :-)
P.S. I’m really enjoying reading everyone’s personal take on the issue in the comments of yesterday’s post, Women, Bicycling and Makeup. Reader Bettina in Germany posted her perspective on her blog, Books, Bikes, and Food (hey, three of my favorite things!).
John Greenfield posted an article last week in his Newcity column Checkerboard City, partially inspired by my recent post on beauty videos. I’m reprinting here with permission, as we both are interested in hearing readers’ thoughts on the issue.
Last week Dottie Brackett, co-author of the excellent Chicago cycle-chic blog LetsGoRideABike.com, put up a post that was completely unrelated to bicycling. While spending several days at home sick, too exhausted to even read books, let alone ride a bike, she found herself watching instructional beauty videos online for hours on end. “I’m not that into makeup,” she wrote. “But listening to these women’s voices was oddly comforting and I felt like I was learning something while using very minimal mental energy.” She linked to videos by some of her favorite beauty experts, like Lisa Eldridge and Sali Hughes.
Dottie’s post jogged my memory about a makeup-centric article that I never got around to writing up, so here it is. Last year I got in a debate with my roommate Meagan, a non-cycling Texan who’s a bit of a Southern belle. She spends about an hour on her hair, makeup and grooming each day, and I was ribbing her about it.
Meagan said that her beauty routine was pretty much the norm for women. I argued that my female friends, especially the ones who bike-commute regularly, tend to be lower-maintenance, wearing minimal or no cosmetics, spending little on haircuts and waxing, and only getting manicures and pedicures on an occasional lark. “Oh, they wear plenty of makeup,” she said with a grin. “You’re just not aware of it because you’re a guy.” Meagan was confident, for example, that most of my female bike buddies wear foundation, but it’s subtle enough that I don’t notice.
I emailed a bunch of my longtime pals from the Critical Mass ride for backup, explaining that I planned to write up their responses, and found out that my theory was pretty much correct. “These are my confessions,” responded my friend Gin. “I move up and down the ‘putting on a face’ continuum. Some days I don’t wear any makeup. Many days I do not even shower. I wash my hair about once a week.”
However, Gin said she does spend between three seconds and three minutes a day on cosmetics. She usually applies lip gloss and occasionally wears face powder or a lightweight foundation to even her skin out. Every few months she “tames” her eyebrows. When she feels like doing more, she’ll put on mascara, eye shadow, lipstick and possibly blush. “And I do like a good mani/pedi,” she added.
My neighbor Lisa wrote that her maintenance routine is similar to Gin’s except that she uses a lightly tinted combination moisturizer/sunscreen nearly every day, only applying foundation for dressier occasions or photo shoots. She uses a similar selection of cosmetics as Gin when she wants to get dolled up, with lipstick being a priority. “I’ve always believed (and had drummed into me by the super models and my mother) that if you can only wear one thing it should be some color on your lips,” she said.
“Sometimes I comb my hair,” my friend Ash responded dryly. “Would your roommate be horrified to see our collective armpits?”
Ash and Gin
“I am your gal,” my neighbor Julie wrote. “I don’t own any foundation. Eye shadow is for kid makeovers only. On rare occasions I wear lipstick.” She doesn’t maintain her eyebrows and tries to get haircuts for free. She’s had a pedicure three times, but never a manicure. “I don’t shave,” she added. “I tweeze hairs that appear in odd places. But I have to say I’m surprised that Gin and Lisa sometimes wear foundation—I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
Karen and her husband Kevin, the owner of a bike shop where I used to wrench, are two of the crunchier people I know in Chicago, so I wasn’t shocked to hear she possesses zero makeup. “I owned some eyeliner in high school,” she emailed. “And I know that [our friend] Lauren wears it sometime because I used some of hers in the women’s bathroom at a Chicagoland Bicycle Federation gala years ago when I was drunk. Haven’t worn it since.”
Karen dislikes mascara, but she tried foundation once in school. She stopped using it after a friend pointed out that her face and neck were two different colors. “Lipstick looks good on a lot of women, but not me,” she said. She showers two or three times a week and has never had a mani or pedi. Although most of her haircuts cost $12 or less, she occasionally splurges on a salon cut and partial color. “I am not so unconcerned with appearances that I don’t find hiding a few gray hairs and having a cut with some style to be rewarding.”
“Sometimes I wished I looked different—somehow ‘prettier,’ I suppose,” she wrote. Actually, Karen and all of our friends who responded to my query are quite attractive—all of that pedal pushing certainly doesn’t hurt. “But I’m not convinced that the pursuit of that look would necessarily pay off for me,” she added. “Maybe for your roommate it does. But I’m looking forward to reading your article when it comes out. You could call it ‘Cycling: The Only Foundation Beautiful Gals Need.’”
Personally, I am not a high-maintenance type of person, but I wear at least some makeup almost every day. Sometimes I go through phases when I wear less or none at all, but generally I feel more professional with makeup on. Plus, I have quite bad skin with scars that I prefer to cover. Lately, I’ve been wearing more than usual: foundation, concealer, blush, lipgloss, eye shadow, mascara. In the summer, I tend to pare down to tinted moisturizer, concealer, and lipgloss. I’m always in a rush in the morning, so all of this happens in a slapdash 5-10 minutes.
When I started biking to work, my makeup routine stayed the same, except in hot or cold weather I began carrying my makeup bag with me to apply after arriving at work. If anything, makeup became more important to my daily “look,” because my hair was more often thrown in a sweaty bun. A nice, bright lip takes attention away from messy hair.
Thinking of the women I know, biking and non-biking, (which includes some of those John interviewed) there seems to be an even mix of those who do and don’t wear makeup. The one difference is that the women I know who consistently make themselves up highly do not bike.
What do you think: are women who bike less likely to wear makeup? Do you wear makeup? If so, do you change your routine or products based on your bike commuting?
P.S. After I posted about my favorite online beauty videos, reader Marsha commented, “I tried looking up make-up bike tutorials and came up empty. So I made one.” Love it!
This post has absolutely nothing to do with bicycling.
For days I have been wallowing around sick at home. I did not leave the house, let alone ride my bike. Even reading a novel seemed like too much work. This led to me watching literally hours of beauty videos online. Admitting this feels silly, but it’s the truth. I’m not that into makeup, but listening to these women’s voices was oddly comforting and I felt like I was learning something while using very minimal mental energy.
Most YouTube “guru” type makeup people are way too tacky or cutesy for my taste, but here are some that I like very much. If you feel like wasting some time, enjoy!
Lisa Eldridge is the best (and her voice is lovely). She’s a top makeup artist working with the likes of Kiera Knightly and Vogue. She just did a helpful series on foundation basics. I prefer watching the videos via her website, but she also has a YouTube channel.
Even though I’m 31 and have been wearing makeup for years and years, I still feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing. Tell me I’m not the only grown woman who’s fallen into the rabbit hole of online beauty videos. I’ll feel a bit less silly.
Do you have any recommendations I should add to my list? Not that I need to waste more time on this…
Right about now is the perfect time to bike in a wool suit without sweating or freezing. Yesterday I did just that, as I had a court hearing in the morning.
The early spring weather was chilly (I ended up putting on a light jacket over my suit) but beautifully clear – especially along the Lakefront Trail.
As I biked down the trail, I passed a group of tourists on a rental bike tour preparing to set out and heard the tour leader say, “And this is the lakefront path, over 20 miles of…” This was a good reminder to slow down and appreciate the beauty I’m lucky enough to enjoy on a daily basis.
We here at LGRAB get a lot of questions about which bike bags we use and recommend. Over the years, I have accumulated quite a collection! I’m constantly switching from bag to bag – usually between my two Po Campo panniers, my regular purse and canvas shopping bags. In this video, I go through my entire collection and discuss which styles I like best.
I figure this post will be a resource for new bicyclists searching for ideas about how to carry stuff on their bikes, so please share your bike bag recommendations in the comments.
On Sunday, I biked 20 miles in a Zac Posen dress and four-inch high-heeled ankle boots. My day was full, including a trip downtown for a Joffrey Ballet performance and to the Logan Square neighborhood for my friend Sara’s Oscar party. Getting ready in the morning, I considered throwing on jeans, flat boots and a wool sweater, but decided to stay strong and dress appropriately for the occasions.
The (second-hand) dress conveniently zips all the way down the back from both ends, allowing me to create more leeway from the bottom while on my bike.
The weather was sunny and 30 degrees. For the ride, I threw on a cardigan, trench, cashmere scarf, gloves, and winter helmet. The trench coverage was helpful because the dress did ride up a bit while biking.
Once I got downtown, I was able to take the Dearborn protected bike lane for the final mile and a half. The city has a special snow plow to use for protected lanes and the lane was plowed, but sloppily and some areas were more clear than others.
And look! An SUV parked in the lane. This was the second one I saw. The city needs to: 1) create better signage; 2) build real barriers; and 3) ticket these drivers.
Okay, back to my happy place…
The ballet, American Legends, was beautiful and thought-provoking as always, as was the view from my first-row-balcony season ticket seat. (Thanks, Groupon!)
Leaving the ballet, I mounted my camera on Betty Foy’s handlebars and made a video of my ride on the Dearnborn protected lane and the connected Kinzie protected lane. I’ll post the video soon.
The Oscar party was fun (despite the host’s lame “jokes”) and I enjoyed biking home on empty streets at the end of the night, 12 hours after I left. My dress and heels were fun for the day, but I was happy to change into flannel pajamas. :-)
As you may have noticed, I enjoy wearing skirts and dresses, which means that I often cycle in skirts and dresses. Last summer, I posted about cycling in a long dress on a bike with a chainguard and soon made a part II video on a “regular” bike with no chainguard. In both cases, I was wearing ankle length dresses and had to be careful that the hem would not catch in the chain.
Recently, I found myself wanting to wear a new long(ish) skirt on my regular bike. This skirt stops about 6 inches above my ankle. I thought I would have to gather the skirt to keep it from the chain and back wheel, but discovered that the skirt hem stayed far from those danger zones once I’m up on the saddle.
I made a quick video to demonstrate how easy bicycling in this long skirt can be – no special accessories or preparation needed.
Earlier this week, I was sitting in Heritage enjoying a muffin and cappuccino, watching the morning bicycling traffic on Lincoln Avenue, when suddenly I saw my friend Maria (of Po Campo fame) cycle by. I’m always excited to see a friend in the wild, so I texted her. A couple of minutes later she responded that it could not have been her: she was still at home eating breakfast. Either she has a doppelganger (it’s possible!) or I was fooled by someone who looked kinda alike and sported the same Chicago Bicycle Uniform.
As you can see by perusing the portraits on Bike Fancy, there is no set Chicago style (except for editing). But recently I noticed that there are some accessories that show up often on Chicago’s bicycling women.
Nutcase helmet, Po Campo bag, fall/winter/spring boots, steel-framed bike, and a certain Audrey-esque casual elegance. :-)
Of course, not every woman wears these accessories – not even close – but I’ve enjoyed watching them become more common through the years. The prevalence seems to signal that more “regular” people (as opposed to kids looking for an adrenaline rush) are bicycling in the city now.
Have you noticed a sort of bicycle uniform developing where you live?
P.S. Biking home that evening, I spotted my friend Sara cross my path from afar. When I got home I texted her, wondering for a moment whether I would be wrong again, but I was right. I’ve yet to see another blue Pashley Poppy in the city.
Kirsten Dunst stars in some of my favorite films: Virgin Suicides, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Marie Antoinette, and Melancholia. I’m also a fan of her personal style. Naturally, I was excited to stumble upon these photos of her riding a bike.
“Heels on Wheels” is a phrase that makes me cringe when used in the media to describe women riding bikes. Since, you know, women should not be defined by a shoe type. Yet here I go, using the phrase. In my defense, this is only one post in a blog filled with varied topics about women and bicycling. Also, the rhyming is irresistible. :-)
Moving along to the point, a couple of Sundays ago the weather was unseasonably warm and as I headed out the door to a baby shower, I threw on an old pair of heels instead of my usual flats. I rarely wear heals, preferring to tromp around the city with the steadiness of a mountain goat. But I’m going through a wardrobe purge/overhaul of sorts and figured I should give these heels one more chance before throwing them in the ebay pile.
Turns out they are actually quite comfortable, provided I don’t stand for a long time. And biking in them felt pretty bad ass. The shoes created no logistical problems; as you can see in the photo below, there is plenty of contact between the pedal and the sole. So these survive the purge, even though I probably won’t wear them often.
Now I’m drawn to the idea of stiletto heels in theory and what better way to play with this idea – sans wasted money and sore paw pads – than incorporating it into my Fashion Friday collage of imaginary outfits. :-) Now that the weather is straight-up cold, I winterized the concept.
I like this outfit because of the overall librarian feel (carried through to the Bowery Lane bike with its leather, cork, and wood), but with a kick of awesomeness from the heeled suede boots. (Manolos are supposed to be the most comfortable heels, right? Anyone have $600 I can borrow? No? Jerks.) Of course, the stylish leather gloves would have to serve merely as the lining under my ski mittens with warmers.
So what say you: are you a heels on wheels type of person?
p.s. I really want that Everlane tote, made in Texas of Illinois canvas, priced at only $35! (Everlane is my new style love, borne of a very cool concept.)
Check out Kerri Russell casually riding a Gazelle in NYC. I was so excited to see these photos on Pinterest! I love seeing people in the public eye who bike to get around. Her relaxed but chic style goes perfectly with bicycling around town.
These ladybugs (and other designs) are called “jewelry for your bicycle” – love it! I guess these would be Oma’s earnings. More beautiful jewelry: this rosy bell would be perfect for spring.
Let's Go Ride a Bike 
