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2005’s Chicago Late Ride
July 14th, 2005 by CarlThis year I was able to participate in the 2005 Chicago L.A.T.E (Long After Twilight Ends) Ride on Saturday, July 9th. My buddy Barry and I geared up from my place (about 40 minutes south of downtown) at around 10pm and took off, making a stop to grab some coffee and doughnuts prior to the event.
Right from the get go, we were having fun. On I-55 South of Chicago, we witnessed a real life “World’s Wildest Police Videos” episode when a crazy driver crashed into the side barrier of the highway then shot left accross 3 lanes of traffic…. right in front of us. Don’t worry, he was fine… and promptly fled the scene. Wow. Way to get the adrenaline flowing.
When we arrived things were already in full swing. The live band was mediocre, but let me tell you… tons of people were already there. Everyone was friendly, too. Since the ride promoters were having a “best decorated bike” competition, dozens of riders were either dressed up, riding a bike with Christmas lights, or sporting some sort of obnoxious gear. It was great. I even got a picture of spider man!
My friend and I paid $40 to register on site (because I’m an idiot and forgot the deadline to pay online), but the set fee was $35 for those who paid a few days before the event. Not bad… last year’s fee was $45 on site and $40 online. We picked up our packets (consisting of a t-shirt, map of the city, various coupons, and ride #) and got ready to go. It took me a good 10 minutes to attach my ride ID # to my Camelback… blasted saftey pins! How are you supposed to use them in the dark?
The ride leaves in 4 waves, each staggered 15 minutes apart. Since we got there pretty late, we left in the last wave at around 2:30 or so in the morning. We took the same route as last year, traveling through Greek town, over bridges, past skyscapers and through neighborhoods. Just like last year, there were drunk people o’ plenty all over the course… many of which were completely confused as to the purpose of our 9,000 rider horde. Frquently, you’d see people staggering from side to side going “Heyyymaan… why are ya’ll riddding? Huh? I’mnot tryingto bee a jerk man, just tell my whyy y’all rrr ridingg.” Seriously, so funny.
One thing I noticed this year was that the downhillers came out in full force. You know, the $5,000, full suspension, Ellsworth sporting dudes that bring beer along in their water bottle cage. Hey, if you can afford an Ellsworth… mad props, I want one too. Just don’t ride with all 35 of your buddies without a helmet while swerving into oncoming traffic. Bad idea. These guys would ride 30 mph (quite an accomlishment on a 45 lb bike), get ahead of the whole pack, then stop and heckle everyone as we rode by. At least 3 times I saw groups of 20 or more guys sit on the side of the road, pointing and laughing at all of us who were just there to enjoy ourselves. Oh well… I got my laughs when one of them powered past me on Lake Shore Drive with a beer in his left hand… then promptly slammed his front brakes and did a fantastic endo…. awwww…. the drink went everywhere!
We got back to Buckingham fountain around 4:45, which wasn’t bad considering the numerous bottlenecks along the way. We opted to skip out on the rest stop due to the huge amount of congestion, and that’s part of the reason our ride went so fast. I must give the Chicago Police Department credit…. despite a few spots where we had to stop due to pile ups, most of the major throughfares were adequately staffed with traffic officers. Not once did I feel like I was about to get hit by a car… which is saying a lot. Last year’s event was plagued with quite a few irate drivers and near misses…. so hopefully future rides will go as smoothly as this year’s. McDonald’s provided coffee, bagels and fruit & yogurt for breakfast… all of which hit the spot. This year’s ride was excellent, and I can’t wait to participate in future events put on by Friend’s of the Parks. Just make sure you have nothing to do on Sunday… I slept till noon that day.
We had an awesome time at the LATE Ride. I got home from work around 10PM and got ready to go and we were out the door. Biked down to the Addison Red Line stop, hopped on the train, and we were on our way. Turns out, we were there WAY early. The lines to pick up packets were pleasantly short, which left us plenty of time to sit around and listen to the Godawful sounds of Chucklemonkeys or whatever the band was called. The interesting thing was that their setlist was AWESOME….mostly Elvis Costello and good Beatles songs, but that was the only good thing. Damn, I was really ready to go. We were the third group back…left around 2AM. The ride was really pleasant. The weather had been ordered up by Central Casting, apparently, because it was PERFECT. It really is amazing riding through Chicago that late at night. I really noticed a lot I had never seen, and most of the route I am very familiar with.
All in all, it was an awesome ride and I can’t wait to do it again.
The rest area was WAY too crowded, so we skipped that and at Ashland Ave, we headed South to Montrose and stopped by our house, where we washed up, used the (clean,
non Lepre-can) facilities, let the dogs out to pee, dropped off what we no longer needed, got more water, and then we were on the road again.
Then we hit the Dunkin’ Donuts at Montrose and Clark for some coffee, and headed East on Montrose to the bike path.
We saw that guy who went ass-over-teakettle, too! I hope he was okay…he was down and out when we passed by and the medics were there.
I thought that 98% of the riders were great- I did see some ‘Green’ Group riders that were loud and obnoxious, inebriated by the liberation of being out past curfew. They kept calling out to each other, which is dangerous because the only thing that needs to be yelled out in a group of riders is stuff like “Glass!”
The kids on Elston handing out cold water were awesome…
The cops were amazing, no problems with traffic at all. They were very encouraging towards the end of the ride.
We napped by the Lakefront for about 45 minutes, then found out we still had to go around by the Field Museum and around to the other side of the Fountain.
Breakfast was, well, McDonalds, but it’s the thought that counts. I’m not one of these weird “Clowns scare me” people, but dammit, Ronald McDonald in his jogging suit was FREAKING me out. I half expected him to reach behind his back and pull out a bloody axe and start chasing people. I only wish they would have a PARTY after the ride, with a beer tent, and a band (please not the Chucklemonkeys) and all that so that people could socialize and party a bit before going home. So what if it’s 6:30 AM? We’ve been up all night! I wanted a beer dammit!
You know I did the late ride as well, and have done it off and on over the years. The freakin’ downhillers… I know what you’re talking about. The thing is, they were the *poseur* downhillers. How do I know this? Because anyone that actually takes their mt. bike out more than two or three times a summer is not dumb enough to ride them in the city, let alone a ride that’s supposed to be extremely slow. The fact that they would even point at people and comment on the general speed pretty much validates that point, as anyone in a decent track bike or road rig could blow those guys straight out of the water… and most telling of all? Real speed freaks just look at guys like that and shake their heads; it’s completely silly to try and prove your mad skillz in a crowd consisting of leisurely riders and kids!
Did I mention the insanity of riding full out downhill rigs in THE CITY??
Sorry about those poser guys, but I have to say that you need to accept all types of riders. I don’t go poking fun at the guys who dress up all in spandex pretending to be some sort of “street speed freak.” I’m into single track, DS courses and dirt jump courses but I would never poke fun at a street biker just because they would manage to embarrass themselves the second they leave the pavement. I can’t tell you how many times I have been driving through Barrington Hills and those damn road bikers won’t move ove because they think they own the road. So, please try to be understanding of the different types of riders out there. At least they were trying to be part of a good cause.
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