I don't get it...

[tulip]

Do you change your route regularly? These kids might be waiting for you to have some fun. Change your route, even by a street or two, and keep things fresh and unpredictable.

I go through some rough areas, too. Having alteranate routes is a good, safe thing.

[Lise]

Tulip makes a good point, beta. Afternoons, those kids have nothing better to do. Even when they're back in school, they'll be out by the time you're riding. Be very unpredictable, and deny them the fun of planning what to do the next time you fly by!

[betagirl]

Yeah, I really should ride up to Diversey in the afternoon. Or at least take Lake street. Some days I just want to get home and my normal route is the quickest. Guess I should suck it up I do alter the times I go through though. But it's usually in the same range between 3 and 5pm. I don't think I'd want to go up or down 1 or 2 blocks though. The neighborhood is really sketchy, and Washington has a bike lane. Often there are crossing guards and chicago cops around. I'm not sure 2 blocks north would be better. The streets I mentioned above are other major thoroughfares that I've ridden, and certainly have fewer problems on.

[farrellcollie]

I have found that if I take out my cell phone and pretend to take a pciture of them - it tends to discourage them (My phone has no camera) - it does take my time and slows me down - but worth it to me - if I had a real camera phone I would take a real picture in case something did happen to me. I know I would almost never be able to pick anyone out of a lineup -kids usually wandered off muttering when I explain to them what I am doing and why (taking your picture to show police)

ps - I am a lawyer who does criminal defense - the girls are becoming more and more like boys in some types of crimes that they were not usually involved with in the past.

[Lise]

Beta--I agree that going N or S a couple of blocks in that neighborhood is a bad idea. I would have thought that Lake St. would suck for bike riding because of the train tracks over head. (or, more to the point, the beams that hold them up. Major obstacle course) Diversey, or, how about North Ave? That's what I take in the car when I go to my sister's. No bike lane, but it is a wide street.

Yeah, there are cops and crossing guards, but you know how it would play out. Doesn't matter if some kids stake you out and run in front of you deliberately. If you run down one of the kids, you're another rich suburban so-and-so who rides with reckless abandon, endangering the lives of inner-city angels. etc. Pisses me off that they mess with you that way, but it is the reality.

I love the cell phone idea, "I'm taking your picture to show the police".

[Geonz]

LIke Veronica said, you're "not in their group." (Or gang, as the case may be...)

[recycle613]

Way up here on the north side and into Evanston I have seen more and more street daredevils riding BMX bikes, wrong side or middle of street, no helmets of course. They run stop signs and lights, taking the middle of the street even with oncoming traffic. Usually it's groups of 3-6 riders together. Pretty stupid stuff. I haven't gotten any trouble from them when I'm biking.

I don't think they are thinking. They are just trying to seem cool to their friends. I haven't seen kids doing it alone.