Biking south on Lake Shore Drive...

     This past Sunday, as everybody was getting ready for Memorial Day, Lake Shore Drive was closed down for 6 hours.  Why?  For your information, it wasn't because the city likes closing roads down(though it sure seems like that sometimes).  It was actually to facilitate the 13th annual Bike The Drive, an event that is put on each year by the Active Transportation Alliance to generate advocacy and raise awareness of alternate modes of transportation.  The ride stretches the whole course of Lake Shore Drive, going from 57th Street all the way up to Bryn Mawr Avenue.  Riders start out in Grant Park and then proceed either north or south, turning around at either terminus and heading back in the other direction.

     For this year's event, 20,000 people registered, making it the 2nd most well attended event in Bike The Drive's history.  The cyclists ranged in age from 11 year olds, all the way to married couples with grown children.  One of the riders said that it was "tiring, very tiring...[but] It's fun.  It's kind of weird to think you're biking somewhere cars normally go down at like top speed".  Even though organizers exercised their best efforts and screened a pre-ride safety video, there were a few bumps and scrapes.  But for the most part the ride was fine, as said another rider "It's a long road and there's a lot of space, It's very surreal to be out here on Lake Shore Drive with no cars.  I'll definitely do it next year".

Divvying it up

     Chicago.  We're the city that works.  But we're also rapidly becoming the city that bikes to work.  The recent explosion of dedicated bike lanes downtown(as well as of bikes downtown in general) are certainly indicators of a trend on the rise.  And now with Mayor Emanuel's well-publicized support of the expansion of biking, it seems like all Chicagoans are on board with the ascent of the city biker(Well, with the exception of a certain well-known Tribune columnist).  Just last summer biking in Chicago got a major shot in the arm with the introduction of the Divvy program in June of 2013.  The program was inspired by a visit Richard M. Daley took to Paris in 2007.  Being inspired by the bike-sharing system that the Parisians enjoyed, Daley decided that Chicago should have something similar.  After a few delays, the program was up and running by the middle of last summer.

     One little Easter Egg that came with the bikes was the inclusion of a single red bike amongst the fleet.  Riders who find this bike and take a picture with it can potentially win an annual Divvy membership.  The bikes were even planned to be made available over the winter, though given the severity of the weather, I'm not sure how many souls braved the elements.  As the weather heats up again, the city is poised for an even more successful season of Divvying, especially with the city's compliment of stations rising to 400.

     This is just the first in several biking related articles that will be popping up on this blog throughout the summer, make sure to periodically check back with us for more posts about biking in Chicago.