The Chainlink

Lakefront Bike Path south of 31st Street north of 47th street

I was attacked last night on the bike path.  Fortunately I escaped. Basically as I was riding my road bike southbound, I had passed the new harbor at 31st, on the path at approximately 10PM I saw a large group of people. I turned on my hand held flashlight, a very very bright light and they all scattered. Once I past a couple of people they all then moved in and WHACK I was hit with something big and hard on the shoulder.  Had it hit my head, arm or wheel it would have knocked me over and the beating would begin.  I rode on, called the police and waited. after a bit of time passed I could see 10 of the mob in the group attempt to surround me. I fled again, called the police and filed a report.  I am one lucky guy!

If I would have hit the ground i'm sure they would have beaten me to a pulp.  I will ride again, just not solo on the south side at night.

PEOPLE WHO RIDE THERE NEED TO KNOW THIS.  

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on June 21, 2012 at 1:53pm

English...

Permalink Reply by Gail Garcia on June 21, 2012 at 3:24pm

Yikes. So scary. I'm really happy to see that you made it through safely. I am a newer resident of Kenwood and was taking the path, but I'm now taking Wabash and King. I am not out at night, so I cannot say how I'd feel about King Dr at night. The South Side can feel like the Wild Wild West where modern laws don't mean anything. The hooligan mob thing is crazy scary and I am not as proud as I once was to live in Chicago.

Permalink Reply by Gail Garcia on June 21, 2012 at 3:51pm

Yes, Drexel is smoother but doggone it, drivers are consistently (dare I say always!) parked in the bike lane at various points along it! But it is much calmer than Cottage or King, for sure. Just doesn't go all the way through.

Permalink Reply by Gail Garcia on June 21, 2012 at 3:58pm

And Wabash, as opposed to Michigan, does have marked bike lanes and has less traffic than Michigan. You just have to jog over for a couple of blocks just north of the expressway (on your way south) and hop onto 26th. Just a thought.



MagMileMarauder said:

I believe that this is a good route if you're coming from the South... There are many other alternatives, but I like this because it also goes through IIT, which also sees a fare amount of patrolling.


Added is another route if you wish to parallel the lakefront.

Permalink Reply by S on June 21, 2012 at 4:03pm

Hi Gail,

I have to say that despite things occurring on the LFP, it is pretty safe.  I've used it at fairly late including coming home last night at 11pm without any incidents.   It is pretty empty at times but there are people coming through even when it's really late (3-4am).  Yes, there are places where you're hemmed in by construction fences so you are limited in your options if you need an escape route but overall I haven't had any issues on the path.  And the roads aren't without issues especially later at night when you need to start working about drunk drivers coming home from bars.    If you're riding during the day, the LFP gets enough traffic that you really don't need to worry much about being alone on the path.

However, your route really is up to you and you should make your own decision in regards to risks and figure out the route that you'd be most comfortable on.

 



Gail Garcia said:

Yikes. So scary. I'm really happy to see that you made it through safely. I am a newer resident of Kenwood and was taking the path, but I'm now taking Wabash and King. I am not out at night, so I cannot say how I'd feel about King Dr at night. The South Side can feel like the Wild Wild West where modern laws don't mean anything. The hooligan mob thing is crazy scary and I am not as proud as I once was to live in Chicago.

Permalink Reply by Gail Garcia on June 21, 2012 at 4:25pm

Hi S,

 

Thanks for your comments. I will now be forced to sheepishly admit that my decision to not ride the trail is totally related to my WEAKNESS - I am just not tough enough for the winds! Streets are easier for me- I don't have the hills and wind. Now my secret is out.

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on June 21, 2012 at 11:05pm

Oh, and in my experience it's the patch between 31st and 39th that's dark and sketchy.  South of that it opens up and brightens up.

Permalink Reply by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on June 22, 2012 at 3:42pm

The only place where I've had incidents is on the stretch between McCormick Place and the 31st Street Beach house.  That stretch south of 31st where there is still construction fencing is somewhat sketchy, but I've never had any incidents there.  Even very late at night.

As an aside, I've always had positive experiences with people at the skate park in this stretch. 
 
Elizabeth said:

Oh, and in my experience it's the patch between 31st and 39th that's dark and sketchy.  South of that it opens up and brightens up.

Permalink Reply by Steven E Gross on August 20, 2012 at 2:47pm

James,

Sounds like your experience lasted a bit longer than mine and in broad daylight too. I hope you filed a police report. Its not to late if you didn't. Glad your ok. Its sad that this kind of shit has to happen. What can we do about it? take up arms? Wishful thinking. 



James L. Zychowicz said:

After a difficult encounter last weekend, I found this posting useful, since it was in approximately the same area. Last Saturday (August 11) at 3:00 p.m. I took the lakefront path south from Fullerton Beach to Hyde Park. At 5:30 p.m. I headed back on the bike path, and around 5:45 p.m. between 5300 and 5500 was accosted by a gang of five or six males who rode around me and tried to run me down. They were heading south on the bike path and clearly out of their lane. No one was ahead of behind me at the time. They tried this twice, and I kept going and did not say anything. It left me concerned about safety on the bike path. 

Permalink Reply by Barry Niel Stuart on August 20, 2012 at 3:53pm

We've got concealed carry in Wisconsin, but because we so recently had it passed, we've yet to detemine whether or not it's had a positive effect in decreasing assaults.

Permalink Reply by Dragonborn on August 20, 2012 at 10:56pm

One concern I have would be getting ambushed by a mob at the Lakefront Trail while carrying concealed on a bicycle. A mob that surrounds you could overpower you, knock you and your bike down, then upon finding you carry, they would steal both your firearm and your bike. Of course, one could also be ambushed as a concealed carrying pedestrian on the LFT, but I believe a bicycle is a more appealing target to steal.

So if right to carry is ever honored one day in Illinois, cyclists like me who would carry while riding on the LFT should avoid mobs or suspicious people as much as possible and either just turn around or take a far enough detour.

If you do carry in Wisconsin while riding a bicycle, do you ever have such a concern?



Barry Niel Stuart said:

We've got concealed carry in Wisconsin, but because we so recently had it passed, we've yet to detemine whether or not it's had a positive effect in decreasing assaults.

Permalink Reply by S on August 28, 2012 at 8:21pm

I think that your friends are getting unnecessarily scared due a biased coverage of incidents on the LFP.  Overall, the LFP is pretty safe and you are more likely to get hurt because some distracted runner/pedestrian/cyclist/roller blader/dog runs into you on your bike and takes you down.  I've ridden the LFP for quite a while and don't really have any concerns, sure it's a little sketchy in places later at night but all in all given the number of users, it's really quite safe.  The biggest thing you can do to improve safety on the LFP is to create separate paths so that cyclists are segregated from other users.  However, this simply isn't feasible on quite a few stretches of the LFP.  

James L. Zychowicz said:

Over the last few days I've heard from friends in the city who wonder why anyone would ride the path at all. While I find that shortsighted, I wonder if we as a biking community can do something to change things. I will continue to contact my alder about this, and I wonder if others could contact theirs to make them aware of the problems that exist. I also wonder if we could watch out for each other as we ride, so that solo riders are accompanied by others. I plan to do so, and I hope others will consider this. Perhaps other constructive ideas can emerge in our support of biking in Chicago. 

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