Bike the Drive 2011

Early this past Sunday morning six members of the cycling group, in three separate pieces, ventured downtown for the annual Bike the Drive event along Lakeshore Drive. This was our first attempt at participating in a large group ride, so we ended up having the typical challenges of getting and then keeping everyone together. The main concern was to keep each cyclist with the person who would be their ride home, so we at least managed that part! We never ended up getting together with Ken and Pat, but that was okay because they had made arrangements to ride with some other friends who live downtown.

Somehow we did manage to get four of our members plus my dad together for a quick group photo next to Buckingham Fountain. This was after Nelson, my dad, and I had made arrangements to meet Jon and Eric at the Bryn Mawr turnaround at the north end of the ride; and after losing Nelson along the way; and after Jon and Eric had been waiting 15-20 minutes for us to get there; and after waiting for me to get off the phone with my office which needed someone to come in and help watch a line of severe storms moving into northwest Illinois (not really feasible in my situation); and after losing me when I told Eric, Jon, and my dad to go ahead without me; and after I met up with them again but still without Nelson; and after ignoring the Chicago Police and slipping through a barricade as they started to close the southbound lanes of Lakseshore Drive at 9:00 AM; and after happily reuniting with Nelson again in front of Buckingham Fountain. So in short, this picture captures the 5-minute period when all five of us were together at the same time.

I am guessing you probably can't tell all that by the photo:

After the picture was taken, three of us headed to the car while Jon and Eric headed south on the Drive. They ended up getting about 8 blocks away from the south turnaround before being moved onto the Lakefront Trail. I'm sure they would have finished the whole ride had they not spent so much time waiting for our half of the group! (Sorry guys!!)

What you may notice in the photo is the lack of a skyline. The point of Bike the Drive, of course, aside from getting up in the wee early hours of the morning, is the spectacular view to behold as you ride along between the city and the lake. Well, this year turned out to be cold and drizzly and so foggy you could hardly see a block down the street. (And just for future reference, an air temperature of 55 or 60 degrees is really quite uncomfortable when you are riding a bike, and even more so with overcast skies and a light drizzle.) So we didn't exactly get to take in the scenery this year. But it was still fun to have the entire eight lanes of LSD completely devoted to cyclists, and it was a good first effort at getting the cycling group together for a big organized ride. Let's just hope for better weather next time!

Here is the ride summary as recorded by my Garmin watch: