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The defunct Chicago Cycling Club (CCC) was University of Illinois at Chicago Circle's (UICC's) first bicycling club. The club began in the late 1970's and ended in the late 1980's. During its ten-year stretch, the UI administration enacted policies and performed actions that discouraged sustainable, bicycle club membership.
When I was a student, I joined UICC's first bicycle club when it first formed in the late 1970s. It was great fun. We'd hold weekend rides and tours, sponsored a UICC bicycle racing team with jerseys and everything, sponsored a sanctioned race around UICC, and ran a bicycling buddy system for UICC commuters.
As one of the last presidents of the club, by the end of the 1980s, the club died due to a lack of membership. The first blow to club membership happened when the administration
destroyed the upper-walkway system and Forum area. All the parking racks were removed for more than a year. Then the administration posted "No Bicycles" signs and enacted policies that prohibited UIC bicyclists from entering buildings. The final straw to membership occurred when the administration switched from a quarter system to a semester system. The Spring Quarter would extend into June. The club recruited most new members during this early part of Chicago's short bicycling season. In the current semester system, Spring semester ends in early May just when Chicago's bicycling season is gearing-up.
In the 1990s, another UIC bicycle club was formed. However, that club did not last long either, probably for similar reasons. As of 9 November 2002, a new UIC bicycling club has formed, the Circle Cycle Club. Please visit its site if interested in becoming a member. To get there, just click the 'Back' button on one's browser and click the link below the link that led one to this page.
To promote a viable, UIC bicycle club, I advocate:
1. go back to a quarter system,
2. install bicycle lockers and/or 24-hour bicycle parking lot, manned by a person to prevent theft and petty vandalism,
3. install bicycle lanes around and bike paths within the campus,
4. remove "No Bicycle" signs and bicyclist prohibitions, and
5. restore the green space and environmental protection that the original Campus Core once provided.
Enjoy bicycling while we can,
J. Fazio