The Chainlink

Today's Bike the Ridge ride in Evanston

I spent a few lovely hours riding up and down Ridge this a.m.  I saw Ashley Lottes and family, as well as Lee Diamond and kids, and a few Evanston and Rogers Park friends.  Who else went?  How was your experience?

I really appreciated the fact that the ride was interrupted at only a few major cross streets (such as Oakton, Main, Dempster, Lake, and Davis) and that bikes were given priority at those intersections.  Traffic was held for multiple stoplight cycles and only allowed through occasionally.  I rode the length of the route a few times and only had to stop twice.

Along the route, there were a few spots where organizations had tents at the side of the road (such as the fire department giving out helmets, a Kiwanis bike raffle, etc.).  Ridgeville Park was a center of entertainment and activity in the middle of the route.  For the most part, it was just open space for riding, and plenty of people came out to enjoy it.  

I only saw one accident, when two distracted cyclists riding in opposite directions had a head-on collision and both went down.  Plenty of people stopped to help.  One of the cyclists seemed to have only minor scrapes and bruises.  The other was hurt badly enough that she couldn't get up.  Someone called 911 for an ambulance.  A woman who lived nearby and witnessed the crash ran to get a bag of ice for the injured woman's knee.  Fortunately, the scene was only a few blocks from the nearest emergency room.  I hope she has no lasting injuries.

Otherwise, it was a lovely ride for cyclists of all ages on all types of bikes (and little ones in trailers).  I'll share a few photos later.

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 1, 2012 at 10:54am

Programming at the Ecology Center would be icing on the cake.  :)

Charlie Short said:

And you could go all the way to Bridge street, with programming at the Ecology Center as well.  I think we've got it all figured out, Anne!

Anne Alt said:

James Park and Crown Park could also offer activity locations.  Dodge would be a cool idea - that goes through my old 'hood.

Charlie Short said:

Yeah, I think this event was more of a true Ciclovia event than the Open Streets events. The route is short enough for folks that don't ride too often and long enough for the more experienced folks. I think to get a larger audience, moving this event over to Dodge would tap into the higher populations that live further west, and maybe allow for some programming at the Dominicks Parking Lot and the High School with interrupting the route.

That said, Ridge is beautiful and yesterday was perfect. I took my Mom out for a ride, and then my wife and rode it a couple of times.

Permalink Reply by John Wirtz on October 1, 2012 at 11:48am

I agree that we don't need more stuff in the street creating congestion, but more activities at the parks (like Grey Park at Main St and Alexander Park at Grove) would be nice.  Maybe just more food trucks on the side streets would be good too.

Anne Alt said:

I liked the fact that this wasn't so heavily programmed and was aimed just at bikes, so it attracted all ages and ability levels.  The appeal was mostly in being able to ride on Ridge - a lower level of excitement than being able to ride on Lake Shore Drive, but something that had genuine appeal.  The fact that hard core roadies in team jerseys riding high end road bikes were among the crowd underscored that.  (Fortunately, they kept their speed reasonable and played nice with slower riders.)

Some of us who have done both Open Streets and Bike the Ridge had some frustration with the fact that the recent Open Streets were often congested enough that it was difficult to ride even at slow speeds.  They sacrificed most of the bike potential of the event for other purposes.  I think the higher activity count of Open Streets made it more interesting to kids.

Adding a few more activity locations could make Bike the Ridge more fun for kids.  Perhaps adding a scavenger hunt could add more excitement without bumping up the budget much.

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