Mike Conklin is a retired Tribune reporter who now spends his time penning “The Bicycle Diaries” column for GazeboNews, and riding his bike around the North Shore.

Nick Christofalos riding at Fat Tire; photo by Marathon Photo

By Mike Conklin

While bicycling may seem, and is, an idyllic, calorie-burning activity, there is a competitive side that goes unseen by the general public and the majority of bikers as well. Welcome to off-road racing, or the world of mountain biking.

The Lake Forest/Lake Bluff magnet for area enthusiasts is Activator Cycles in Lake Bluff, where Nick Christofalos both competes and serves as a Pied Piper for events, introduction, and training. There is a slate of yearly races and Nick and local riders are just now coming down from one of the circuit’s crown jewels.

This would be September’s Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival in the Hayward, Wis., resort area already well-known to cross-country skiers as home to the American Birkebeiner race. The showcase race for the weekend is a 40-miler, a course using the area’s miles of hilly trails that include some of the Birkie route.

“Most of us train locally on the bike paths, roads and Des Plaines River Trail with weekend excursions up to Kettle Moraine for the hairy technical stuff,” said Activator co-owner Sheila Christofalos, who raced in the 40-miler for the first time. “I made a regular routine of riding the loop from Lake Bluff to the Wisconsin border on the trail. Most folks don’t even know you can do that. It’s a real haul, 50 miles or so and good endurance riding, but no climbs to prepare you for the roller coaster ride at the Cheq 40.”

The event is limited to 1,850 competitors, meaning thousands more jam the resort area for the weekend. Started in 1983, the Fat Tire Festival is equal parts family carnival and riding that creates shared experiences often difficult to explain to non-enthusiasts.

One year, organizers reported a couple promised to get married if they could get highly-coveted entry spots in the big race. The ceremony was performed after Chequamegon officials agreed to the request, and now the couple returns each year to celebrate their anniversary.

This year’s feature, 40-mile race was won in a record time of 2 hours, 59.9 seconds. Typically, flat tires and mud puddles [...]

Rainbow over the golf course. Photo by Katherine Leider

Katherine Leider was on her way to teach a restorative yoga class on Monday when she shot this photo of a rainbow arcing over the golf-course tent at the Lake Bluff Park District. She didn’t have time to chase the leprechaun who surely was hiding at the 9th hole. So … not pot of gold this time.

U.S. Congressman Robert Dold (R-10th) announced the winning team, Big Pig Little Pig

Here’s the lineup of winners from last Saturday’s Ribfest:

Best Decorated Booth: Smokey & the Pit Crew: Team Nielson
Peoples Choice: The Circle Jerks–Team Clifford with 700 points (=$700) Note: Shields Township raised $2,238 from the Peoples Choice Award plus extra money on donations for coffee/etc. All proceeds go towards the Shields Food Pantry.

5th Place — Smokey & the Pit Crew: Team Nielson
4th Place — Wholly Smoke: Team Wojda
3rd Place — Smokey Bones: Team Mattson
2nd place — Pork Place: Team Rogers
1st place — Big Pig Little Pig: Team Workman

And here are some Ribfest 2011 photos by John Crowley of Lake Bluff. He’s got more than 100 more on his Picasa site–please click here to get there.

Photos by John Crowley of Lake Bluff

Unless you’re a teenager who’s still wearing flipflops, now is the time to inventory the winter wardrobe. Do the boots still fit? Can you get another year from the same coat? Does anyone in the family still have a matching pair of gloves?

You may think it’s premature to be thinking about winter–afterall, the trees are just starting to turn. But there’s been a damp chill in the air lately. Total rainfall this month through Sept. 28 is 5.13 inches, and most of that–4.1 inches–fell between Saturday and Tuesday, according to Lake Forest resident Carl Noble, who measures precipitation for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network. And this total doesn’t include Wednesday’s sogginess.

The average for September in the Chicago area is 3.19 inches.

Thursday’s expected to be partly sunny, but there’s a 40% chance of rain in the afternoon. Here’s the forecast from the National Weather Service:

A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 70. Breezy, with a west wind 5 to 10 mph increasing to between 20 and 25 mph. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.

From Friends of Karen May

Highland Park, IL- State Rep. Karen May, D-Highland Park, on Wednesday announced she will not seek re-election next fall to the post she has held since January 2001.

After serving as a member of the Highland Park City Council and Highland Park Historic Preservation Commission, May first took office as state representative after winning election to the office in November 2000. Area voters have re-elected her overwhelmingly since then, but after serving more than a decade in the Legislature, May decided now is the time to finish her legislative tenure.

“I’m so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to serve my community in a number of ways over the years, and having the honor of representing people as their advocate in our state’s capitol certainly tops the list,” May said. “This job allows you to have such an incredible impact on people’s lives. It has been a lot of hard work, but so gratifying and rewarding.”

Since taking office, May has maintained a full-time constituent service office to help meet the needs of local residents. May said that public service begins at home, and that helping to improve access to often complicated government programs has been a priority for her.

“Helping people navigate state bureaucracy and deliver critical services is the most important part of being in public office,” May said. “I’ve strived to be open and accessible. Our jobs involve an incredible amount of constituent service and with the help of an amazing and dedicated local staff we were able to provide resources for people to get the help they need.”

With more than 10 years in office, May has worked on a number of legislative issues, including environmental protection, ethics reform, property tax relief, common sense gun control laws, better access to more affordable health care and state budget reforms.

In light of exponentially growing state pension liabilities, May has spearheaded changes to the state’s pension laws to rein in abuses. Last year, she pushed for significant pension reforms, including banning those receiving public pensions from also receiving taxpayer-paid salaries and reducing the maximum pensions that retired public employees may receive. The reforms in the law are expected to save the state as much as $100 billion over the next 40 years. May has also pushed for new limits on pensions this year by passing legislation to stop abuses at the local [...]

This comes from the Lake Forest admin office:

Residents of Lake Forest are encouraged to attend the Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at City Hall, 220 E. Deerpath, Lake Forest. Beginning at 7 p.m., the informal discussion will give residents an opportunity to share their concerns and questions about City services and learn more about projects important to the community.

The agenda includes timely topics in Lake Forest, such as City finances, Woodlands Academy/Barat property and Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital plans.

It is anticipated that the meeting will conclude at 8:45 p.m.

GazeboNews file photo of Forest Park by Cyn Sansing Mycoskie of www.cynimage.com

By Adrienne Fawcett

At last week’s public meeting about the Forest Park Project, one question stood out above the others: Who designed Forest Park?

Make that two questions—because after you ask “Who designed Forest Park?”, the next thing you want to know is: “Does it matter?”

Two of the three Forest Park Project advisory committees that presented to the Lake Forest City Council last week arrived at very different conclusions about the origins of the city’s oldest park. But they agree that the answer matters — a lot. Here’s why:

If the park was designed by historically significant 19th Century landscape architects, as the Forest Park Project’s Historic Preservation Committee’s research indicates, it therefore is a “Cultural Landscape” as defined by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. And as such, any proposed changes to Forest Park must abide by federal standards for Cultural Landscapes.

If the park wasn’t designed by anyone, but instead evolved naturally over time with the influence of generations of City leaders, as the Forest Park Project’s Landscape Design Advisory Committee contends, alterations to the design and/or plantings can be made independent of federal guidelines.

This is a contentious but important bullet point among many contentious but important bullet points regarding the Forest Park Project, a landscape plan that the Lake Forest Garden Club donated to the City of Lake Forest to restore and enhance the park. The Garden Club paid for the drawings and chose a landscape architect from Boston, Stephen Stimson. His drawings caused controversy because they eliminated the “ring road, banned vehicle traffic, opened up the tablescape and introduced stadium-like seating built into the bluff.

The City responded to the outcry by creating a Forest Park Project Board comprising an Executive Board and three Advisory Committees charged with researching historic preservation, landscape design and engineering of Forest Park.

I’ve been following this story for months; I’ve read the reports; and I watched the Public Meeting on Sept. 21. (click here to view the meeting on Youtube. ) Yet I still couldn’t understand how two very competent committees could arrive at such differing opinions about who designed the park.

This article is not going to answer that question. Ultimately, it will be up to the Forest Park [...]

GazeboNews received several emails over the weekend about an accident on Route 60 in Lake Forest involving Lake Forest High School students last Friday. Here’s the info from LFPD Deputy Chief Glenn Burmeister:

View Larger Map
Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 at 12:45 p.m.

A jeep driven by a 17-year-old male, Lake Forest resident pulled out from southbound Suffolk Lane onto Route 60 in Lake Forest and was struck by an eastbound vehicle. Driver was issued a ticket for failure from a stop sign. Investigation is continuing. Offending vehicle was occupied by four passengers, three from Lake Forest and one from Lake Bluff, all of whom are school students. All were transported to the hospital, none with life-threatening injuries. The victim driver was not injured. Each vehicle was towed from the scene.

Submitted by Baytree Bank & Trust

Lake Forest, IL – Chairman of Baytree National Bank & Trust Company Willard Bunn III recently announced that the Baytree Board of Directors unanimously elected Robert T. Isham, Jr., to its board. Rob will also be serving on Baytree’s Loan Committee as well as its Investment and Asset/Liability Committee.

Rob is a longtime resident of Lake Bluff and the former general counsel of Billing Services Group, an AIM-listed telephone billing company with operations in San Antonio, Texas; Frankfurt, Germany; and London. He currently has his own law practice in Lake Bluff, worked in merchant banking in Chicago, and was a partner at McDermott, Will & Emery. He received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. with honors from the University of Montana Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the law review. After law school, he clerked for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the circuit court’s emergency motions panel. Among other organizations, he is a member of the Turnaround Management Association, the Lake County Republican Federation and the Northwestern Hospital Foundation’s Council of Philanthropy.

“We feel fortunate to add Rob Isham to Baytree’s bank board,” Mr. Bunn said. “Rob and his family have a long history in this community. He understands our marketplace and also brings a distinguished business and legal background to the group.”

About Baytree
Baytree National Bank & Trust is a full-service Lake Forest bank serving Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, and the greater North Shore and Chicagoland area. Baytree specializes in personal banking, commercial banking, treasury management services, mortgage lending and equipment leasing services. Baytree is a member of the FDIC and is affiliated with EB Financial Group, Inc.

About EB Financial Group
EB Financial Group, Inc. is led by successful, self-made entrepreneurs who understand that hard work and sacrifice builds successful businesses and communities. Founded in 2008 as the holding company for Baytree National Bank & Trust Co., EB stands for “Entrepreneur’s Bank” and was established to build a brand of banking that supports the spirit of entrepreneurship. EB’s acquisition of Baytree gives Lake Forest and Lake Bluff entrepreneurs the support needed to turn their vision into a vibrant and profitable enterprise.

Now that it’s fall, what are people wearing to fend off the chill without getting overheated? GazeboNews photographer Cyn Sansing Mycoskie visited the Lake Bluff Farmer’s Market to get some ideas (and fresh flowers … )

This is part three of a new feature that GazeboNews started over the summer, showcasing real people going about their days while looking good in what they’re wearing. Click here to see the previous installments of Fashion847!

Kim
Where do you live? Lake Bluff
Where did you get this fun jacket? Not sure–was a Christmas gift last year!
What’s your favorite store in Lake Forest or Lake Bluff? Voila!

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Sue
Where do you live? Lake Forest
Where did you get this chic & colorful jacket? Arizona
What’s your favorite store in Lake Forest or Lake Bluff? Voila!

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Ashlan (left) and Carolyn (right)
Where do you live? Fort Sheridan and Homersville, GA
Where did you get your cool animal-print scarves? Ann Taylor
What’s your favorite store in Lake Forest or Lake Bluff? Voila!

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