This is a long one to ponder for me still – and The Bonebell Crew has yet to really talk about this at any length. In 309 days – a decision will be made that will have a significant impact to The City of Chicago. The kind of decision that, if you’re used to the blowhard politicians of our fair city, you will know that many promises will fly out of the woodworks in the name of good intentions and will fail miserably at the door of our neighborhoods. The kind of decision that, if you’re a motivated Chicagoan, can be the impetus to a staying change in our city. The kind of decision – that if exploited in all the wrong ways could become an irreversible detriment to neighborhoods – and if exploited carefully can be the new life to neighborhoods.

This decision I speak of is selecting Chicago as the host city for the 2016 Olympics.

There are numerous implications to this decision – and you’ve probably seen both ads for and against the bid for our city being selected. This is a monumental choice. Personally, I’m not entirely against it, but I do fear that the machine that runs the city, needs to run itself as if the world is watching because indeed, the world will be watching. How beautiful would it be to get more cycling initiatives in place to support the Olympian effort that could come? How much crazier can our lakefront bikepath get? Will all the cycling paths and trails come to fruition before 2015 to create the best cycling city in America? Will drivers still not know that bicyclists belong on the road in 2012?

There is a lot of ambition to drive the Olympics home in Chicago – and my only particular opinion is that they drive this one cautiously. We don’t need more stadiums than we can handle, we don’t need 2 million extra visitors to mandate the need for better infrastructure in public transit, and we most definitely don’t need to elusively pass the cost to the Chicago taxpayer for what should have already thoughtfully and rightfully, be planned for us as citizens, not as citizens of a city lucky to get the Olympics to come.

There are good things that can come out of this – and I’d be hard pressed to think that cycling business’ or cycling minded organizations would think that the opportunity would be less than ideal to promote the best possible change to increase their advocacy or situation.

Will The Bonebell be around in 2016 to discover these changes – just you wait and see.

Here’s a snippet for the 2016 Bid. Positive vibe – from our friends, teammates, and business owners.