Kimbercop

Wife and I rolled outta bed this morning at 0400 for bike the drive. Can't believe I got her out of bed that early to excercise. But we had a great ride. Weather was perfect and she did 20+ miles. She really seems to be enjoying the road bike so far. Looks like we're joining our local club and going to Holland MI. for a ride in July. I've got family in the area so it beats staying here for a local ride. Here we are after the ride, (hint, I'm the fat guy).

euphoria

How do you guys stay sweat free? Am I using the wrong deoderant?

Kimbercop

Under Armour under the t-shirt for me. But I did sweat, no doubt. My wife is too pretty to sweat.

Zurich

Sexy (your bike, that is). Didn't make it out this year, awesome weather today!

Nubie

Here's me after Bike the Drive. And I beg to differ about the weather - I thought it was disgustingly muggy and hot. They ran out of water at the rest stop by the Museum of Science and Industry! How on earth can you run out of water when you are expecting 20,000 riders? It's poor planning on their part, I believe. BTW, tell your wife that I love her new Trek 1200!




Heading south on LSD with John Hancock bldg in the background:

pgaulrapp

Wow, that would've been awesome! Did they close the street for that? I live out past the burbs and didn't even know that was going on.

Kimbercop

Lake Shore Drive was closed to all vehicular traffic from 0500-1030. It was awesome. No cars, just bikes, lots and lots of bikes. The whole ride North and South leg was just a hair over 30 miles. Weather was sunny and about 75-80 but a little humid, but I liked it. What a great experience to be heading down that road thats usually really busy, and not hear anything but the rubber on the road.

Nubie- Sorry to hear about the lack of water at the South turn around I was there about 0830 and things were still looking good. I was amazed at the amount of food, (Bagels apples, banannas, cliff bars, cookies) they had on hand. I cant believe how many goodies they needed to have on hand for 22,000 people. My wife says thanks, she really likes her new bike too.

All in all, a great day. I highly recommend this ride. Just check www.bikethedrive.com

Nubie

Yeah, 8 lanes of bike traffic in the middle of downtown Chicago was truly a sight to behold! The turnout was great. My only wish is that it was just a tad cooler and less muggy. Oh well, you can't have it all, I guess.

signal11

I can't believe these comments about the weather for Bike the Drive. I thought it was one of the nicest biking days we've had in Chicago all season---not much wind, clear skies, decent temperature. If you want sucky, go cruise along the lakefront path when there is a cold drizzle and a 25 mph headwind! ;-)

erock

If you know anything about Chicago, the southside always gets screwed.

We went south first and there were hardly any volunteers along the road, when we went up north they were all over the place.

I also think they planned poorly by not having signs telling people that the fast/passing lane is on the left.

There's nothing like seeing some weekend warrior in full spandex and a $5000 bike yelling at a 10 year old to get out of the way.

Kimbercop

I was amazed at the lack of common sense on the part of lots of the riders..There were a few times I passed a group of 10 riders or so, all riding side by side, taking up all 4 lanes of LSD. I thought it was fun tho watching the pace lines scream past, only to get knotted up by slower riders on the left. I was a little disappointed at the lack of signage for turn around spots halfway on each leg. This was only my wife's second ride and she wanted to do the full North leg then half the South. She ended up just jumping off by McCormick place and walking across the median to turn around. Also saw 2 ambulances scraping people up off the road. Was suprised about that too.

Nubie

Quite a few people had accidents - I saw 2 happen right in front of me. One guy hit a pothole and flew over his handlebars - scratched up pretty badly, but claims he didn't hit his head. Another girl collided with another cyclist and broke her wrist. It was pretty bad.

shakeNbake

That was amazing!

I wish they have that for L.A.!

But not alot of really nice flat long roads in here anyways.

signal11

Yeah, it got pretty ugly later in the day. I saw some of the riders being scraped up by the ambulances and they didn't look too good---glad that they seemed to be wearing a helmet. I think the best part of the day might have been my ride at 5:00am from Hyde Park along the lakefront path to get to the start of Bike The Drive. No cars, no joggers, and only a handful of cyclists. With the nice sunrise, it was unusually serene.

oboeguy

IME it's common for these big events -- lots of folks on bikes who don't ride much, all in one place? Accidents are to be expected. Five Boro Bike Tour in NYC is the perfect example (30,000 cyclists).

R900

Wow, my wife is from Chicago, and despite the hiccups, I think we would love the a ride along LSD. Well keep it on the radar for next year. Did they start at one end and loop around, or just ride where ever you could?

Pics look great.

John