This post is sponsored by The Bike Lane.
If you’ve been involved with Chicagoland bicycle advocacy for a long time, it’s almost certain that you crossed paths with Kathy Schubert. You may remember having seen a lady cycling in colorful garb, with a mini schnauzer dog named riding shotgun in her handlebar basket.
If you were like me in the Nineties, maybe she rode up behind you and admonished you to always wear a bike helmet. To be honest, I found that a little annoying back then. But a couple years ago, I was glad I eventually took her advice!
Over the years, Kathy has been involved in many, many advocacy organizations; bike rides (especially long-distance ones), and miscellaneous projects. If I described them all in full, I wouldn’t have enough digital ink for the rest of my article. So let me just compile a quick bullet list of stuff she’s done, based on a nice 2019 profile of her by Jeffrey Levine for the Active Transportation Alliance newsletter.
• She was a charter member of the Chicago Cycling Club.
• She was an early member of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, which became the Active Transportation Alliance, who sponsored Bike Week Rally t-shirts and helped out volunteers at Bike the Drive.
• She is a lifetime member of the League of American Bicyclists.
•She is a lifetime member of Adventure Cycling Organization.
• She helped the Campaign for a Free and Clear Lakefront succesfully advocate for reopening the mid-block crosswalk on DuSable Lake Shore Drive between Queen’s Landing / Buckingham Fountain by dressing up like Queen Elizabeth.
• After she slipped while biking on the La Salle Street metal-grate bridge and was hospitalized, her postcard campaign helped lobby the City to install non-skid plates on bike route bridges, dubbed “Kathy plates.”
• She rode 18 RAGBRAI rides across Iowa (don’t tell this Hawkeye State resident/hater) as well as international bike tours.
But recently, a couple of Chicago bike advocates, who noticed they hadn’t seen Kathy at rides and events for years, reached out to me concerned about her welfare. I realized hadn’t been in touch her for a long time myself, so looked up her number and was pleasantly surprised when she pickedup. I’m happy to report that Kathy Schubert is alive and well and (still) living in Lincoln Park, although she’s no longer using two wheels to get around the city.
Three Chicago Cycling Club members and I made plans to hang out with her at her flat, which was formerly home to her Kangaroo Connection emporium, selling Australian marsupial trinkets and other items from Down Under. That afternoon, when I saw her first the first time in years, she just smiled, but did not give me a Vegemite sandwich. But, cycling newshound that I am, I insisted on buttonholing her for a brief interview.
Kathy at home with her schnauzer wall of fame earlier this month. Photo: John Greenfield
John Greenfield: Kathy, you’ve got a long history as a bicycle advocate in Chicago. You’ve retired from bicycling, correct?
Kathy Schubert: Yeah, but I wouldn’t call it retired. I was forced, because I couldn’t balance anymore on the bicycle.
JG: So if it was up to you, you’d still be riding a bicycle.
KS: Yes, I would be.
JG: OK. But you’re still living in the same apartment where you had lots of bicycle gatherings. You’ve been an important figure in the local cycling scene, involved with lots of advocacy efforts and bike rides. Have you been paying attention to what’s going on with the Chicago transportation scene lately?
KS: I get an email from Streetsblog Chicago once a week.
JG: Thanks for subscribing! [You can sign up for the free newsletter at the bottom-right corner of SBC’s homepage.] So how do you get around nowadays?
KS: In a car. Ernesto [Alicea, her friend and housemate] drives me.
JG: Well, it’s great that you still live in the same building and were able to “age in place.” The layout of Lincoln Park makes it a decent place to be a senior citizen.
KS: It sure is.
JG: Well, it’s certainly great that we were able to gather for a little reunion here. How does it feel seeing some of your old bike advocacy colleagues here?
KS: I’m jealous. [Everyone chuckles.] I wish I could still ride a bike.
JG: Do you mind telling me how old you are?
KS: 84.
JG: How many years ago was it that you stopped bicycling?
KS: About two years ago.
JG: So you made it to 82 riding a bike? Well, that’s quite an achievement. That’s a pretty good run for staying on a bicycle.
KS: Yeah, I guess it is.
JG: When did you stop driving a car?
KS: When I had a crash, when I backed into somebody.
JG: How long ago was that?
KS: About two years ago.
JG: Around the same time. OK, But it’s cool that the bicycle gave you mobility up to when you were 82 years old. Do you think still bicycling into your 80s helped you stay healthy?
KS: Yeah.
JG: Do you think it’s good for your respiratory system, your heart rate, and stuff?
KS: It was good for me, yes.
JG: And you seem like you’re you’re still pretty healthy. You’re probably still getting some of the longterm benefits of bicycling.
KS: I guess I am.
JG: Have you been paying attention to local politics?
KS: No.
[“Good, good,” said one of the CCC members. “Can’t blame you,” said another.]
JG: Well there was a controversy one block south of here on Dickens Avenue. There was a Neighborhood Greenway bike and pedestrian route that was installed basically between the river and the Lincoln Park green space. A noisy minority of neighbors didn’t want it, but ultimately it got done.
A bike ride on the Dickens Greenway in January 2024. Photo: John Greenfield
JG: What’s a fun memory of yours from bicycling? What kind of biking did you used to like to do?
KS: I liked to bike across the states, Iowa, but Illinois too.
JG: Very cool. Have you paid any attention to what Chicago Critical Mass is doing?
KS: No, I never was part of Critical Mass.
JG: You weren’t? Are you sure about that?
KS: Okay, I showed up once in a while, but I was embarrassed to admit it.
[Everyone laughs.]
JG: Is there anything else you’d like to say about bicycling?
KS: I wish I could still do it.
JG: All right. Well, I bet you’ve still got a lot of good memories of of being part of the bike community.
KS: Yes I do.
JG: And I’m glad that part of the bike community showed up today to say hello to you again. Good to see you.
KS: You too.
Read the 2019 Active Transportation Alliance profile of Kathy here.
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– John Greenfield, editor