CHICAGO — The Active Transportation Alliance will bring back its Boulevard Lakefront Tour — dubbed the "BLT" — in honor of its 30th anniversary this month.
The tour was the organization's first fundraiser, bringing together bicyclists to support the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation, the original name of the alliance.
The ride helped prove to city officials that Chicago needed to improve conditions for bicyclists, according to a news release from the alliance. This year's ride will benefit the alliance.
“We go back to the days when very few people biked in the Chicago region and ours was often a lone voice,” Randy Neufeld, an alliance board member and the federation’s first executive director, said in a statement.
“Even 10 years ago, ideas like protected bike lanes, the Divvy bike-sharing program, thousands of daily bikes trips to Metra stations, or the thought that 6,000 bikes per day would travel Milwaukee Avenue would have been viewed as pipe dreams by most everyone.”
This year's tour is Aug. 23 and features four routes of varying distances, but every route starts and finishes at University of Illinois at Chicago's Memorial Grove. The 63-mile route starts 6:30-7 a.m., the 36-mile route starts 7-8 a.m., the 28-mile route starts 8:15-9 a.m. and the 14-mile route starts 9-9:30 a.m.
Attendees will also be able to attend a post-ride festival with music, beer, a costume contest, food trucks and hot dogs.
Registration is available online and costs $37 for adults who aren't alliance members and $16 for people 17 and younger. Online registration ends at noon Aug. 22 and same-day registration at the event is $49.
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