Last weekend there were awesome bike rides and festivals for youth on both the South and North sides. Later this week Streetsblog Chicago will have a writeup of Saturday's 6th Annual Legacy Bike Ride and Wellness Pop-up hosted by the Riverdale-based cycling and wellness group We Keep You Rollin'. And Rebecca Resman from Chicago Family Biking provided the following report on Saturday's Chicago Family Bike Fest and Sunday's Roscoe Village Kidical Mass bike ride, which celebrated new concrete protection on North Center's Campbell Avenue bike lanes. – John Greenfield, co-editor
Chicago Family Bike Fest
The Chicago Family Bike Fest brought bikes, sunshine and no shortage of smiles to Lakeview. Hundreds of families walked and rolled to the festival, held in a parking lot at 3120 N. Greenview Ave., for a biking celebration that blended education with fun.
Younger kids enjoyed some music presented by the early childhood arts enrichment center Bubbles Academy, and did yoga with Buddha Belly Kids Yoga. Reps from the family activity platform Macaroni Kid Chicago brought decorations to dazzle up bikes and scooters.
Parents accessed a plethora of resources about biking with kids, including bike camping, and test rode bikes from the Family Bike Zoo organized by Four Star Family Cyclery. Independent bikers (and balance bikers!) tested their skills on an obstacle course and played cycling games aimed to improve handling and confidence.
Bike safety experts from Ride Illinois, Roscoe Village Bikes, the city's Chicago Safe Ambassadors, and Chicago Family Biking fit helmets, performed bike safety checks, and shared safe cycling tips. TK Photography Chicago hosted an adorable bike photo snapshot booth. Local U.S. Congressional rep Mike Quigley even showed up with his mountain bike.
Organized by Chicago Family Biking, this free event was made possible thanks to a community grant from Special Service Area #27, which covers West Lakeview.
Roscoe Village Kidical Mass
Roscoe Village Kidical Mass is one of several volunteer-led Kidical Mass group rides for families throughout the city. On Sunday, RVKM met up at Audubon Elementary School, 3500 N. Hoyne Ave., and triumphantly rode on the recently finished concrete-protected bike lanes on Campbell Avenue between Roscoe and Belmont avenues.
The large group then took Melrose Avenue over to the 312 RiverRun trail network and headed north over the recently opened Riverview Bridge. We stopped along the way for some fun at a splash pad before looping back to the starting point.
While Roscoe Village Critical Mass mostly rides on streets shared with drivers, bike lanes with physical protection to shield cyclists from traffic makes riding so much more enjoyable for this group of newer riders. Organized by Chicago Family Biking, this event takes place on the first Sunday of the month and is open to the public.
