Photos by John Greenfield.
I'll never complain about a bicycle ride on a gorgeous spring day that starts with tasty pastry from Chinatown's Wentworth Avenue, and wraps up with a delicious Vietnamese feast on Uptown's Asia on Argyle strip, served family-style.
That was my experience last Saturday morning on the Ride for Solidarity, hosted by the AAPI-focused running group Family Style RC and low-stress bikeway boosters Chicago, Bike Grid Now! The purpose of the casual bike parade was to honor Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
"The Ride for Solidarity began three years ago," CBGN! steering committee member Sahal Ansari told Streetsblog's Cameron Bolton last week. He also is involved with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and back then he was lobbying with the group in Springfield on Asian American Action Day. He noticed that another AAAJ member, Huy Nguyen, biked to the group's office for the bus ride to the state capital. "I was just talking to him about how [CBGN! does] bike rides often," Asari said. "He was like, 'I have this run club that I'm with, Family Style Run Club, and we'd love to collaborate."
This year's ride assembled at Ping Tom Memorial Park, 1700 S. Wentworth Ave. in Chinatown, know for its stately riverside pagoda. As I arrived, probably coincidental to the bike event, some ladies were practicing traditional Chinese drumming and dancing.
There I spoke with Nguyen, who helps lead his running group. "We started in 2022 during AAPI Heritage Month in May," he explained. "It was an effort to help out more businesses after the pandemic, because they lost a lot of business. We have at least 20 or 30 people show up, meet at the restaurant, go for a run, and then come back and support them... We do a lot of our runs from Chinatown or Uptown's Asia on Argyle neighborhood. Our name comes family-style dining, which is so important for community building in Asian cultures."
Here's a gallery of photos from the ride, followed by a bit more discussion.
Before a group of riders headed to Nhà Hàng Vietnam Restaurant, 1032 W. Argyle St., for sumptuous array of dishes selected by Nguyen, I asked ride participant Tim Ng what he thought of the event. He replied that the route highlighted the fact Chicago needs more low-stress north-south bikeways in Chinatown, the Near South Side, and downtown. But he said he had a great time cruising in the sunshine. "The ride brought people together to have a fun time with your neighbors, as well as people you don't know."
Indeed, I had a long conversation at lunch with sustainable transportation advocate Austin Busch, whom I'm not sure I'd ever met in person before. We discussed the region's looming transit fiscal cliff, which led to me recruiting him to write an article about the subject for Streetsblog Chicago. That was the garnish on the pho of an excellent ride.
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