Today, I joined my parents in the Boulevard Lakefront Tour, an annual biking tour in Chicago.

The ride consists of a 15-, 35-, or 62-mile option and takes you around Chicago's surface streets and historic boulevards, from Hyde Park, to the downtown, to the lakefront, and back.

My parents and I opted for the 35-mile choice and hopped on our bikes at 7:30 this morning after driving to the starting line at Midway Plaisance.

Now, a bike tour is an amazing thing, featuring an amazing variety of skill and speed. There are the riders out on their 10-year-old road bikes in jean shorts and a T-shirt. Then, there are the riders decked out in their full biking outfit, with spandex shorts and a jersey that match their thousand dollar, full carbon-frame racing bike.

My family tends to fall somewhere in between those extremes, though our clip-in shoes do add to our coolness.

Then, there are the rest stops, which are an interesting phenomenon in and of themselves. These spots along the ride meant to provide the bikers with a quick respite, a drink of water, and some food can be quite the sight. In my touring past, there was one stop that was so elaborate it had a pig roast and hula dancers.

Now, the ones today weren't as fancy, but they were pretty nice. Scattered as they were in very different parts of Chicago, they each had their own character. One in Chinatown was set up in Ping Tom Memorial Park, a park right on the Chicago River with various Chinese accents, nice pavilions, and bamboo gardens.

Overall, this tour wasn't all that amazing. We rode on some very busy streets, with cars zipping past and an unsatisfactory amount of signage. However, what really struck me and what prompted me to write this blog entry were the changing neighborhoods we rode through.

We first rode through Bronzeville, a poor, rundown neighborhood with boarded up and burned out buildings, empty lots, and a permeating smell of decaying mice.

After that somewhat depressing scenery came miles of indiscriminate businesses, parks, and fancy-schmancy residential areas.

We then rode through the Chicago downtown, an experience I'm surprised I survived. But, it was fun to ride in between towering skyscrapers and race cars through stop lights.

We headed home through Chinatown, a place full of interesting smells. After a few more really nice neighborhoods, we swung towards the lake, riding along the lakefront trail. Finally, we came back inland and ended up where we had started.

Riding along all of those surface streets and seeing parts of Chicago I had never seen before was an interesting and fun experience. The tour was scenic and well worthwhile.