Malibu East Bikes the Drive (Jun 12, 2002)

by Jack Winans

Four people from Malibu East joined the 12,000 bikers who participated in Mayor Daley’s "Bike the Drive" on Sunday, May 9. Residents Larry Creter, Bill Brock, Jo Gayle and Joan Burke from our management office decked out in spandex and helmets were thrilled to have this first-time opportunity to navigate miles of lake shore and city streets free from exhaust fumes and the dangerous proximity of autos.

From 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. Lake Shore Drive was a bikers dream as Chicago Police Department officers and volunteers from the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation kept the Drive free of automobiles. The multi-lane "bike path" stretched from 57th street on the South to Hollywood Avenue on the North. The official "turn-around" was at Bryn Mawr, but many die-hard bikers travelled the entire Drive by turning around at Hollywood and Sheridan.

The Bryn Mawr turn-around was provisioned with portable rest rooms, water, fruit and an emergency bicycle repair station. The underpass at Bryn Mawr was so packed with bikers crawling slowly to the relief point that many scrambled up and down the embankments around the Drive to evade the bottleneck. It was here that I spotted Joan from our management office. She said she had had so much fun that she was going to do the course again. All of the bikers interviewed were hoping that this would become an annual event.

Crowd heading north

Low-slung bike

Bicycle built for five

Bike repair station

Bryn Mawr underpass

Crowd starting back south

A little baggage

Joan Burke