Chicagoans Bike the Drive

About 20,000 bikers participated in the MB Financial Bank’s Bike the Drive event Sunday morning on Lake Shore Drive.

“Everything is going fantastic,’’ said event spokesman Ethan Spotts at 8:30 a.m. “It was pretty foggy this morning, but the fog really isn’t a safety hazard and it’s a little cool but we have about 20,000 people enjoying a wonderful ride,’’ Spotts said.

No major injuries were been reported.

"A lot of people use Bike the Drive as a kickoff to their summers,’’ said Spotts.
Bike the Drive is a 15- or 30-mile bike ride along Lake Shore Drive, which will be closed to vehicular traffic from Hollywood to 59th Street until 9:30 a.m.

"It's about four hours of car-free Lake Shore Drive,'' Spotts said.

Bikers were invited onto LSD at 5:30 a.m. and are allowed to bike anywhere from Hollywood to 59th Streets.

“You can bike as little or as long as you want. We have 1-year-olds in trailers and 80-year-olds -- and everyone in between,'' Spotts said.

There are two rest spots, one at the Museum of Science and Industry and another at Bryn Mawr Avenue.
A post-event party is planned from 7:30 a.m. until noon which includes an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast and a Blues Brothers tribute band, in the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park, Spotts said.

The event began winding down at 9:15 a.m. when bikers began to move to the Lakefront Trail, according to a police News Affairs statement.

All  bicyclists must be off LSD by 9:45 a.m. and LSD will be reopened  at 10:30 a.m., according to the statement.

The event is a fundraiser for Active Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit that works on behalf of people who walk, bicycle and use public transit in Chicagoland, the release said.

Copyright CHIST - SunTimes
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