Today I went down to the Bike the Drive on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. I got up at 3:30 to wait for the Dempsey’s, who picked me up a little after 4. We drove down to Millennium Park, and after biking the wrong way, arrived at the meeting place at 5:20, only ten minutes before the race started and 20 minutes after we were supposed to be there. But all we had to do was check with the police that the barricades had been put up, so there wasn’t any problem. At least we didn’t get road kill duty like John and Bill Swee did.
We started biking about 15 minutes after the main pack, and because of that we spent most of the time passing people up, because we went at about 20-22 mph. The ride was a big circuit that started by going south on LSD 7.5 miles, past U of C and the Museum of Science and Industry. Then it turned around and went back north. Some people only went 15 miles, but even the full 30 was a short ride for us. We then headed 7.5 miles north, past the Planetarium, the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, the harbor, and Navy pier. At the northern turnaround point after 22.5 miles our average was 19.9 miles per hour. However, when we turned around we were met by a strong south wind driving the rain in our faces, so by the end of the ride our average had plummeted to 18.5 miles per hour, which is still 3 mph faster than our average ride.
We finished the ride wet but happy, because it wouldn’t have been a good bike ride without SOME suffering, and snagged some Clif bars and water on the way out.
Then we went to the Dempsey’s Grandma’ apartment, where we ate, drank and showered before heading over to the 11:30 Mass at St. John Vianney. Sean, Brendan, Matt and I all served there, and it was rather interesting having a Tridentine Mass said in the church that was very obviously built in the 60s. They had really hot cassocks too.
After that Sean and Brendan had to go referee, so they dropped me off in Mundelein and I biked another 5 miles home.
It was a good biking day.