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Are Late Night Bike Rides Brilliant Or Dangerous? Chicagoans Split

By Justin Breen | August 24, 2016 3:25pm | Updated on August 26, 2016 11:30am
 Chicago's Grace Tebbens on a recent Monday Night Ride.
Chicago's Grace Tebbens on a recent Monday Night Ride.
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Facebook/Monday Night Ride

CHICAGO — Chicagoans love to send love — and hate — to the city's cyclists.

Dozens of commenters took to Neighborhood Square to discuss Monday Night Ride — an underground yet extremely popular cycling club that meets every Monday night through Halloween and rides overnight throughout the city.

The club's founder, Christopher Morrison, said Monday Night Ride prides itself on having "no exclusivity. No stuffy pretenses. [And] no fake-ass Lance Armstrongs."

Riders range in age from teens to mid-60s, he said.

NSQ user "18th-n-BlueIsland" wrote: "Any way you slice it this is a good thing....so haters.....crawl back into your caves....." and "What's with all the haters!!??!!? This is a very constructive and positive thing for our city!!! Geeezzzzee people lighten up and give it a try...I think it sounds like absolute blast...I'll give it a try....and I'm waaaay older than 30."

NSQ-er "mfs3220" agreed, noting: "These might be bikers that i actually like!"

"DavidInLP" had a different take, writing: ""No exclusivity . . . No fake-ass Lance Armstrongs". Gotta love millenials! And by love, I mean hate of course."

"Lilith" shared some pros and cons, writing: "The concept isn't bad, but the execution is. Huge crowds of bicyclists on the street are a danger to themselves and others. And what's with "There's music because some of the cyclists bring speakers". They're riding through residential neighborhoods late at night. People are trying to sleep And they bring speakers? Very unneighborly."

"Tim___" took a practical look, noting: "No, I do not think it is a good idea. ... A lot are not wearing helmets."

After meeting by the Abraham Lincoln statue near the North Avenue and Dearborn Street intersection at 10 p.m. Mondays, the group — sometimes as many as 250 cyclists — depart around 11 p.m. For the next six hours or so, the scores of riders — Morrison and his wife lead the way on a tandem bike — travel throughout Chicago and the suburbs. Rides have gone through Englewood, Austin, Jefferson Park, Midway, Beverly and every Chicago neighborhood you can think of.

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