Ride on Chicago: riding across the Midwest for safer cycling

“This is the bike ride for better biking,” writes author and Chicago native Tom Vanderbilt in this piece for Outside magazine. The ride in question is the “Ride on Chicago,” a five-day, 485-mile bike ride that began in Kansas City, Missouri yesterday and ends in Chicago’s Millennium Park on Monday, June 2. 

The ride will raise money for People for Bikes, a Boulder, Colorado-based nonprofit that aims to improve cycling conditions in communities across America. The 20 or so riders will meet with local officials, cyclists and cycling advocates along the route in order to raise awareness of safe cycling. 

The ride, now in its fourth year, traditionally took place on the East Coast. This year, however, professional cyclist and founder Tim Johnson brought it to the Midwest in order to celebrate recent advances in safe cycling, such as the Divvy program and Chicago’s growing network of protected bike lanes.

Just over 20 cyclists will be participating in the ride, including Vanderbilt, professional road racing cyclist Christian Vande Velde and Kickstarter co-founder Charles Adler. Active Trans Executive Director Ron Burke will be joining the ride on the final leg of the journey.

Everyone is welcome to join the cyclists for the last 10 miles into Chicago or to meet them along their route, information about which may be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/649211461816184/. Those interested can also donate to the ride at http://www.peopleforbikes.org/pages/ride-on-chicago.