I've been doing "Bike the Drive" for several years and probably will do it again this year. It's a lot of fun to ride on Lakeshore Drive and being able to take in the views -- it simply looks different than on a car, and very much worth waking up at the crack of dawn.

Last year, the organizers implemented a change that, quite frankly, is very dangerous: in order to catch bandits, they now have at least two checkpoints where everyone is forced out of LSD so that their wristbands are checked, and then back on. That funnels hundreds of riders with varying riding skills into a narrow exit/entry --- you really have to be careful.

Bike the Drive attracts a lot of riders who cannot ride on a straight line, lack the common sense to keep right and instead might veer to the left, usually randomly and without looking. Every year, I have seen an ambulance at some point. You need to be super careful, but it is a blast.