Your city/hometown

[Polly]

littleblackduck - wow! what a fantastic place to live.
I live in Rugby UK - and is the place with the famous school, where the game of rugby was invented. We have lots of historic buildings, though the town itself was medi-evel it grew much larger in Victorian times. There isn't much riding around here, a few bridle ways - you have to strap your bike to a car and drive about an hour in any direction to find somewhere decent to play

Just found this on the web - told me things I didn't know too! Cool

Rugby UK

[westendgirl]

This is my first post here. I have lived in numerous places. Born in Ireland, moved to Nova Scotia, high school in Victoria, BC and have called Vancouver home for almost 10 years.

It is a beautiful city, and the Capilano Suspension Bridge is nowhere near as scary as ziptrekking at Whistler - though not as fun either!

[crazycanuck]

Hey polly-are you a rugby fan by chance???? I just figured out where the Ellis trophy originated!!!!

Westendgirl-where in NS did you live?? Still can't get enough of halifax nor the east coast-Def want to visit nfld again...Welcome!!!

c

[betagirl]

Lise, cool story.

I realized the other day riding up north on Oak Park Ave that the Mars candy bar factory is up there (technically in Chicago though). I knew it was in the area, but didn't realize it was so close. I wonder if they have free tours Another favorite on the border of Oak Park and the next town (Forest Park) is the Ferrara Pan Candy company, maker of the Lemonhead, Atomic Fireball, and Boston Baked Beans (ew). They do have a reject store and on certain days you can smell them making the candy of the day.

Oak Park-is the whole area around Chicago v windy??? (only know chicago from ER)

Lise summed up this part of town nicely. I experience less wind around here than when I ride out in the farm areas. Which it doesn't take very far to get from Chicago to farmland. The basic saying is there's Chicago, and the rest of the state (which is mostly corn and soybeans). But downtown, especially when the wind is blowing off the lake, look out. The waves get pretty big as well, where Lake Michigan is usually pretty calm especially compared to the ocean. We also get something called "Lake effect snow" in the winter when the wind blows across it, generating huge snow storms that only happen up to about 10 miles inland.

The hospital that ER is based off of is Cook County hospital, which is a public "free" hospital that serves those without insurance. You could go there if you have insurance also, though I'm not sure why you would. There's a couple private hospitals right next door to it. It was housed in this cool looking, but old building up until a few years ago when they built a nicer, more high tech hospital. The bureaucracy didn't stay in the old place unforutnately, and the waiting times and other crap that people have to go through to get care remain. I took my friend there in college and they had a "take a number" system like at a bakery, and we got ours and it was 143. I asked the lady what number they were on and she said 39. Our wait would have been approximately 9 hours. We went to another hospital and she figured out all the bills later. So the good thing about cook county is free or cheap care, the bad thing is the wait and the quality of what you get. The craziness that ER shows going on isn't that far off, but I don't recall the medical staff being as hot as Noah Wyle

[westendgirl]

Hey polly-are you a rugby fan by chance???? I just figured out where the Ellis trophy originated!!!!

Westendgirl-where in NS did you live?? Still can't get enough of halifax nor the east coast-Def want to visit nfld again...Welcome!!!

c

I lived in Halifax for a year, then Wolfville for 4.

[eofelis]

I live in Grand Junction, Colorado. I've been here for about 3 years and I love it here. I'm a (non-traditional, 38) student at Mesa State College, majoring in geology.

Before that I lived in Sheridan, WY for 7 years. It's pretty nice up there too.

I grew up in Ipswich, MA. I love living out west and I don't plan on moving back east. I'd like to go back there, with a bike, to visit more. School keeps me very busy right now, year round.

[bikerchick68]

This is my first post here. I have lived in numerous places. Born in Ireland, moved to Nova Scotia, high school in Victoria, BC and have called Vancouver home for almost 10 years.

It is a beautiful city, and the Capilano Suspension Bridge is nowhere near as scary as ziptrekking at Whistler - though not as fun either!

Hi Westendgirl and welcome to TE! Oh... Ireland... I got to do a 6 day cycling tour of the Connemara region in 2004... it was AWESOME!

OK... so explain "ziptrekking"... I know about Whistler (someday I WILL snowboard there!) but haven't ever heard of ziptrekking...

I love Stanley Park too... first time I went this little rodent was scurrying around... I asked my sister what animal it was and she said it's a squirrel. HUH? I knew it LOOKED like a squirrel, but it was the wrong color! That was my first experience ever seeing a BLACK squirrel Here they're all brown...

can't wait for my trip to Australia this summer... should see all sorts of animals I'd never see here!

[arnaew]

I live in Adelaide, which is nestled beween the Gulf St Vincent (which flows into the Great Southern Ocean and the Mt Lofty Ranges (aka the Adelaide Hills). I live in the foothills. Adelaide is the cycling capital of Australia, with the Tour Down Under and the Australian Championships held here each year. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) cyclists train here, and amazing world and Olympic champions like Kerrie and Anna Meares live here. Stuart O'Grady is also from here, as is Lleyton Hewitt (tennis) and Jason Gillespie (cricket, a game we former colonials play with gusto). Oh, and Andy Thomas is our astronaut (flew on last space shuttle).
We host the Adelaide International Festival For The Arts which includes Writers Week and Artists Week, and the Adelaide Fringe Festival, which is huuge - Edinburgh Fringe in Scotland is the only one larger (we suffer from a tyranny of distance). We also host WOMAD, a world music and dance festival held in particular countries aross the planet, initiated by Peter Gabriel. With all that music, it's quite appropriate that we're also a sister city to Austin, Texas (I went to SXSW in 2002 - fantastic!). Um, there's a big car race too, but I just don't get it. Early next year we're hosting the World Police and Fire Games - all those big strong cops and fireys - swoon!
An hour north and south of here is the Barossa Valley vineyards and the McLaren Vale vineyards respectively - a trip the locals make quite regularly! The TDU runs through both these regions, while the Aust champs are in the Adelaide Hills (which also boasts a very strong viticulture history).
We enjoy what is termed a mediterranean climate - long hot summers, balmy autumn (fall) and spring and quite cool winters (which feel bloody cold to me!). Thousands of bikers for about nine months of the year, from the hills to the coast. Then hundreds.
And why are we known as the City Of Churches? South Australia was the only free colony settled in Australia - the others began as penal colonies for the British. Lots of very radical thinkers flocked here from all over Europe, and one of the cornerstones of the colony was that every person, regardless of their religion, had the right to worship whom they pleased, and to build places of worship to that effect. Hence, amongst the first substantial buildings, were mosques, synagogues, temples, and eastern and western churches. Very soon, tis true, the public houses far outnumbered the churches, but the sobriquet is about the variety, rather than the number, so all's well! If you ever decide to come to the Tour Down Under (remember there's a century for the public to ride over the same route as the pros), give me a hoy.

[DirtDiva]

Very soon, tis true, the public houses far outnumbered the churches...

Well, it is Australia...

[crazycanuck]

Bikerchick...(i'm going to get hit for this....) be careful of the drop bears & hoop snakes...

*ducks n runs...***



c

[Lise]

bikerchick--we have black squirrels in the northern suburbs of Chicago--I grew up seeing them cavort, so they're normal to me. They're rarely seen "down here" (50 miles south) in the city. A friend saw one recently, and it really freaked him out. He decided it was a sign of the apocalypse. So far, so good, but you never know.

Arnaew--if I'm still single, I may need to fly > halfway across the world for those World Police and Fire Games! Sounds like some good viewin' and shoppin' !

[VenusdeVelo]

Hometown is Chicago, but lived in Milwaukee since 1985 (except for last few yrs in Europe). I second what SJCzar said, Milwaukee gets a bad rap for it's beer and cheese notoriety. They have a great lakefront -- the east side of the city is very nice. Ethnic restaurants, many of them and quite good, abound.

I still love Chicago, always will, but Milwaukee is a nice city to live and close by to Chicago.

And SJCzar, if you need riding partners, a couple of friends and me will likely startup our women's only riding club (once a week, after work) again as I am moving back in June. Was based on the Terry Bicycle's "Betty" group, but we're now half Velo Bella... We go for the cute jerseys.

Let me know, send a PM!

Renee

[bentforlife]

I grew up in Thomasville, GA. It's a small town in SW GA about 40 miles north of Tallahassee, FL. I've been living in Fort Worth, TX about 26 years now. I love this city. It has history, the Stockyards, a world class Art museum, a beautiful performance hall, and a small town feel to it, friendly people, nice neighborhoods.

What I wish is that it was friendlier to bikers. There are no bike lanes and very few bike trails. The drivers around here "own " the road and aren't afraid to let bikers know it. I do live in the the suburbs and can find safe streets to bike on but it is challenging. The one main bike trail along the Trinity River is nice but there are pedestrians, roller bladers, and dogs that have to be avoided. And with my long recumbent that can be hard sometimes.

I can't image living anywhere else right now.

Donna

[bikerchick68]

Bikerchick...(i'm going to get hit for this....) be careful of the drop bears & hoop snakes...

*ducks n runs...***



c

oh lord... do I need to google these two to find out what they are??? cause what I'm picturing is bears dropping down onto the sidewalk to grab me and snakes wrapped around me like a hula hoop

LISE- HAHAHHHAHHA! A sign of the apocalypse... oh my... too funny! Glad I'm not the only one who was completely caught off guard by those... once I thought about it, it made sense that in a cold region the animals would have darker colored coats to absorb any and all heat from the sun... but I was not thinking about that when it came scampering over the first time

ok... off to google snakes and bears...oh my!

[yellow]

So unglamorous...

I grew up in a coastal town (Pacific Ocean) with a name when translated is "Big Ditch" (Arroyo Grande). Actually, our house was in the gap between the Arroyo Grande and Oceano (so that would be the gap between the big ditch and the ocean), in a little hippie enclave called Halcyon. But my folks weren't hippies. It was and still is a very strong agricultural community. I am (was) a 9th generation Californian. My ancestors settled on a Rancho in Nipomo, California, back in the 1700s when I believe CA still belonged to Mexico.

I don't think there's much notable about the Ditch other than it's proximate to Pismo Beach, once famous for its clams (and mentioned by Bugs Bunny in at least one cartoon). I spent my childhood in or near the water and with one ear infection after another.

maillotpois...did you participate in any sports in El Paso de Robles? I'm wondering if we were ever at the same swim meet or water polo match...

Since I have only been in Salt Lake for about 6 months, it still doesn't feel like "home" to me. And I certainly don't need to elaborate on all that is Salt Lake. I do love the mountains, and we have lots of those. I don't think I'll ever live too far from skiable terrain ever again.