Firecat is going down on Saturday, June 29th at 6pm. Roll to the Water Tower (835 N Michigan) at 5 to register, race your little hearts out for prizes (including donations from our homies at Trash Bags & Tati) and know you’re contributing to a valid cause.

What happened to Mikey and Steve sucks. Like, the fucking worst, dude. The least you can do is come out, swig some Malört, eat a donut, and show your support to two members of the community.

Check back at the Firecat Facebook event page for more details and updates.

Photo by Bernt Rostad

On Behalf of Cut Cats Courier, here is the FIRECAT. It will be a speed/poker race. You will be hitting Fire stations, thrift stores, donut shops, and a bottle of Malort. So bring your best spirits, a couple of bones, a bag, a helmet, a lock, and a pen. Invite all of your friends. This race will be competitive and fun. Come race for a cause, and there just might be something in it if you can take first or bribe the dealers. Registration and manifest handouts will begin at 5. Race at 6. And a damn good after party. More details to come.

On May 29th in the early hours of the morning, a fire started in our friends Steve and Mikey’s apartment in Lakeview, while Steve was out and Mikey was sleeping. Smoke quickly filled the apartment as the fire started to spread. Steve came home to find all of his personal possessions engulfed in flames, his home destroyed and his best friend stuck in a burning, smoke-filled apartment. He tried to go inside and get him out, but once the fire department arrived, Mikey was taken to the hospital to receive treatment for severe smoke inhalation.

This race is intended to get some cash in their pockets and some clothes on their backs. These two lost a lot. Steve’s room sustained most of the fire damage and aside from a few clothes and his bikes, the rest of his belongings, including his savings, were destroyed. Smoke damage ruined the rest of the apartment as well. Everyone’s main concern right now is Mikey’s health and recovery, but also the financial and material losses our friends have suffered.

Sifu Design Studio will be hosting a five-week class on DIY Bike Accessories for $155 on Mondays, from June 3rd to July 1st, 6 to 9pm.
 

If you already know the basics of knitting OR crochet , and want to make some amazing accesories for your bike, then this is the class for you. We will be makeing a seat cover, handel bar tassels, U-Lock cover, and your choice of a skirt guard, or panier/basket cover. In this five-week, action-packed class you will learn how to cable, increase, decrease, work in the round using new tools, using new kinds of yarn and lerning how to fix mistakes in both knitting and/or crochet. Some materials included.

This looks like a ton of fun and if I wasn’t incredibly inept at doing anything G-rated with my hands, I’d definitely want to make one of those u-lock covers.

The main point of the KittenKat Mini Cat is to make sure bike-less kids in Chicago have a  bike to get them through the summer.

Here’s the idea, from the host himself:

You’ve got roughly a month and a half to find, buy, or salvage a child’s 16″ bicycle and get it in working order… Then on July 20th at 3:00 p.m, there will be BBQing and mini bike riding.

Events will include:
a mini alleycat,
mini sprints,
boozing,
a mini cross,
more boozing,
and a mini bike battle (popping balloons on other mini cyclist)!!!

also, maybe some swimming.

You got it? That’s a little over one month to get your shit together and make a kid’s summer. We’re entrusting y’all with that responsibility.

If you’re interested in donating a working bike rather than participating in the alley cat itself, that can also be arranged!

THE BREAKDOWN:

Date: 7/20/13

Time: 3pm

Where: Humboldt Park, Chicago IL 60622

Bring a bike.

For more info, see the facebook event.

Race the Mario Kart Krit in Milwaukee, WI on Saturday, August 17th.

Time: 10:00 am

Location: Estabrook Park

$10 to race

Why is it awesome that the Bike Messenger Emergency Fund gets the money raised? Because: “The Bicycle Messenger Emergency Fund is a 501(c)3 non profit public charity organization that provides emergency compensation to bicycle messengers who are hurt on the job. Currently the BMEF allocates a $500 emergency cheque to help messengers anywhere in the world during the first week of injury. This provides a boost, to both the financial and the mental/emotional state of the injured messenger. The goal is to help the injured cope and recover.”

This looks like a great group ride to get your first century in, but it’s not a fully supported ride! Bring all your bike essentials for potential flats and maintenance needs along the way, as well as your camping gear. A bunch of people have RSVP’d yes on Facebook already, so you could meet three dozen new bike friends if you join them!

More info from the event page:

“Join us as we cycle 100 miles for sustainability from Milwaukee to Chicago. The time to create a happier healthier planet is now and what better way to do that than to cycle together on a summer weekend as we plant native wild flowers and clean up trash along the way.

This will be a 2 day trip, pedaling about 50 miles/ day, and and we’ll camp on lake Michigan. Everyone is welcome to join and we will be pedaling leisurely so that anyone can keep up.

Start: Bradford Beach, Milwaukee June 15th.
Meet at 9:00 AM depart at 10:00 AM
End: Millennium Park, Chicago
Evening of June 16th.

Also there will be a party on Friday the 14th in Milwaukee. Details to come! And for Madison people a party on the 12th, details to come for this as well.

Together we can make a difference! The actions of one individual can and do make a difference.

Rob Greenfield is cycling 4,500 miles across America off the grid this summer and this leg between Milwaukee and Chicago is forecasted to be the most enjoyable inspirational 100 miles. Don’t miss out.
Learn more about his Off the Grid Across America tour at www.GreenfieldAdventures.org“

The Milwaukee Underwear Bike Ride is a group ride that has four dates you can join them to revel in the summertime fun of biking in your undies and donating clothes to charity:

Thurs, June 13
Thurs, July 11
Thurs, Aug 15
and Thurs, Sept 12

From the event page, where you can get full info:
“This is a group ride just for fun, and to promote positive self body image. Anyone and everyone is welcome!

The ride meets at the empty lot on the corner of Brady and Warren at 8pm, and leaving soon after.
We encourage everyone to ride down in clothes that they’re willing to strip out of and donate to ST. VINCENT DE PAUL.

WHAT TO BRING: smile, positive attitude, underwear, lights, bike lock, helmet, your ID, radios, face paint, construction worker vests!
WHAT NOT TO BRING: negative attitudes, reckless behavior, sandals, rollerblades”

The dirtiest dogs in cross are throwing themselves a little fundraiser Saturday June 29th at 7pm at Joy Machines Bike Shop (1836 W 25th St). Get scum.

This is mostly a party but also a small fundraiser for the team. There will be beer as well as a band or two and some grilling out. Come hang. More details TBA.

More TBA at the Facebook event.

Want to live in Logan Square, but don’t want to have to sell your plasma to make rent? Always wanted to live in an “emerging neighborhood” before it becomes overrun with whiskey-taco bars and jogging strollers, but not keen on getting shot in the face? Welcome to Avondale, mon frere. Let’s be roommates.

You can see this ad on Craigslist, and you can email me letting me know a bit about yourself to see if we’d be a good fit. Read on for my entire life fucking story.

NITTY GRITTY:

-Looking for one roommate for an apartment just north of Logan Square in Avondale, at Drake and Milwaukee. Stone’s throw from the Milwaukee bus and half a mile from the Belmont and Logan Square Blue Line stops. The rent is $400 a month. Gas & electricity & internet not included, but relatively cheap.

-One time security deposit is $600, which you would almost certainly get back; our landlord is really laid back.

-Flexible July 1st or August 1st move-in date. My current roommate wants to move in with her boo, but will not move out until I find someone new. You would be able to move some stuff into the apartment prior to the first.

-You would have your own room (which easily fits a queen size bed), a separate walk in closet, and share a bathroom with me. We have free laundry in the basement, but no dishwasher. There’s a ton of room in the living room for furniture that you may or may not have.

-We’re in walking distance of an insanely cheap liquor store with a good craft beer selection, a mercado, Foodsmart, a Simpson’s-themed dive bar, soon-to-be-opened coffee and sandwich shops, and an awesome Polish store that will satisfy all your sausage and cheese needs. Tony’s Finer Foods is a short bike ride away. Logan Square-the actual square, with the Illinois Centennial Monument-is only a 10-15 minute walk.

-Incredibly bike-friendly location since we’re right off Milwaukee. It takes me about a half hour to commute downtown every morning. 

-Our lease is month to month, with the caveat that we need to provide 60 days notice and that we can’t move out November-February. I am looking for someone who is willing to stay until at least spring.

-You would be living with one roommate (me, Cupcake) and one dog (mine, Fixie).

THE BACKGROUND STORY:

I’m a 26 year old bike kid who works at a bank full-time. I could live alone if I needed to, but I prefer a roommate so that I can still afford fancy cocktails, tattoos, sneakers, and candy.

I enjoy drawing, squatting on my kitchen floor working on my bike listening to punk rock and drinking cheap beer, painting my nails in elaborate patterns, grilling in the backyard, hanging out on the stoop, and cooking dinner for me and my boyfriend while getting stoned and watching cartoons.

LIVING WITH ME:

If you want me to clean the sink out or be quieter when I wake up in the morning, instead of sending passive-aggressive psychic death rays at me you’ll say “Hey, can you be a little quieter when you wake up in the morning?” and I’ll say “No problem, you should have said something sooner, sorry, dude.” Then we high-five. 

I like to cook for people and do it well. I’m an omnivore with a wide palate, but I’m respectful of food sensitivities/restrictions/allergies/etc. I own a vast array of kitchen gear you’d be welcome to use, from standards like a Kitchenaid to esoteric appliances like a Indian wet-grinder.

I like to think of myself as a little-messy-but-not-filthy. I try to buckle down once a week and make the apartment a wonderful lovely place to live, but in the meantime there may be the odd mess here and there. Ideally you would not be incredibly anal about cleanliness, but also believe that our lives are so much nicer when there isn’t a crust of scum on every surface and chip in to keep the bathroom/kitchen/living room clean. I will probably never even see the inside of your room, so you can go buck nutty in there.

I have learned that if I don’t spend a couple nights a week home cooking, cleaning, sleeping, and doing laundry, I very quickly turn into a malnourished, sleep deprived ragamuffin shambling about in filthy rags like an extra from a Dickens joint. The rest of the time you can find me drinking $5 liters of Żywiec at Staropolska, feeling incredibly old at hardcore shows in dirty basements, or plotting to take over the world with my bike gang ( tinyfixbikegang.com). Preferably, you also have an active social life so that we can both have occassional alone time in the apartment. If you need an apartment to play Halo in the middle of the living room 24/7, this is maybe a bad fit for you.

We’re both adults and ideally we’re both getting some. The apartment is large, but it’s not a soundproof bunker. I promise to throw on a fan and some Barry White when it’s my turn, and be a mature adult about it when it’s your turn, if you promise to do the same. 

If you’re a girl, awesome. If you’re a dude, well, I’m kind of a dude too, so it works.

I won’t judge you for bringing someone home at 5am, just try to keep the jungle noises to a minimum. I’m queer-friendly, vegan-friendly, bike-friendly, just all around friendly, actually. I will not call the narcs on you.

Like every single one of these ads says, “we don’t have to be best friends” but I’ll probably make you a friendship bracelet anyway.

THE DOG:

My dog Fixie weighs 8 pounds, which means he’s about the size of a shaved cat. He’s mostly housetrained, never bites in anger, doesn’t mess up furniture, and is heartbreakingly cute. He is not a dumb yip-yip Chihuahua, he is a stone-cold little gangster. I’m not going to pretend he’s not a dog-though he will be 110% my responsibility you might have to not leave the front door wide open for hours or your priceless limited edition sneakers where he can nibble them-but he really is very well behaved. Your bedroom will be a dog-free zone, no problem.

If you have pet/s, we can arrange a date where we can see how desperate they are to murder/hump each other, and possibly work out an arrangement where we share some of the caretaking responsibilities for the little dudes and thereby make both our lives easier.

HELLO, IS IT ME YOU’RE LOOKING FOR?

Write me an email and we’ll grab a beer/coffee/chocolate milk/kombucha-kale-shake and see if we click. If so, let’s live together.

Every year the old boy messengers throw a memorial birthday bash on the south side to honor the memory of Andre Gordon. I never got the chance to meet Dre, but I’ve heard from everyone who knew him how he took them under his wing and showed them the ropes. He’s the fallen father figure of Chicago couriers, and he will never be forgotten.

If you want to take part in the annual Memorial Bike Ride this Saturday, June 15th, show up at Union Park before 11:45. From there, everyone will ride down to 1951 W 21st Street. The music starts at noon, and the barbecues will be firing up a little bit after that.

CBMA Facebook Event for Ride from Union Park
Facebook Event for BBQ/Bands

Band schedule inside!

Come celebrate Dre’s life the way he would have with music beer and BBQ.

 Bring lawn chairs or whatever you need to be comfortable since its a long day. Messengers and anyone who wants to take part in a memorial bike ride from Union Park meet there before 11:45 then head down to 1951 w 21st street where the music starts at noon and grills are fire up shortly after that . As of now we haven’t decided on kegs or byob but I will update that info in a week or so . Here we Go Dre Day ! Cheers.