The scene

Volunteers from Bike Winter, a grassroots org pushing all-season pedaling, spread out near a mountain of bicycles in member Julie Hochstadter’s cozy Ravenswood home on this rainy fall night, cutting patterns from sheets of fleece printed with snowflakes and polar bears. They’re making balaclavas, warm headgear that fits under a helmet, essential for bicycling through Chicago’s deep freeze. They’ll be handing out a thousand of these face masks at Critical Mass (last Fridays), various winter riding workshops (go to bikewinter.org for an events calendar) and, says organizer Willow Naeco, “Wherever there’s a cold cyclist.”

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