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.
Chicagoans Bike the Drive
Copyright CHIST - SunTimes