By Alan Carter
 
Arlington Park racetrack in Arlington Heights was home to a different kind of horsepower this weekend as it hosted the 2nd annual Barrington Concours d'Elegance, a showcase for classic antique cars and motorcycles. This was a car show the same way Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew was just another race horse. A truly remarkable collection of 100 vintage autos and bikes was on dislplay, proudly reflecting decades of creative design and technology.

I've been riding my bike for around 7 weeks now, pedaling around 20 to 25  miles a day, weather permitting, except for weekends. I have to stock up on  nachos and beer sometime, after all. I've gotten pretty comfortable with it and  haven't had any major problems. One minor spill, but that was just to satisfy  the guy at the bike store who told me there are 2 kinds of riders- those that  have fallen and those that will. I guess now I'm part of that fraternity.

Our daughter lives in an area of Chicago called Lakeview, one of the many "official" neighborhoods of the city. It's a vibrant place, from Lake Michigan beaches and harbors to historic brownstones and shopping districts. It's also the epicenter of the gay population in Chicago.

I bought a bicycle last week.  I was starting (starting?) to chunk out a little and felt I needed to do something about it.  I had been thinking about it for some time, slowly convincing myself to buy into the whole get-out-of-the-house-exercise-go-green-won't-this-be-fun mindset. I'm fairly gullible this way and can talk myself into all kinds of trouble. Still, this seemed like a good idea so I forged ahead and started looking.