Lakefront Bike Path south of 31st Street north of 47th street
I was attacked last night on the bike path. Fortunately I escaped. Basically as I was riding my road bike southbound, I had passed the new harbor at 31st, on the path at approximately 10PM I saw a large group of people. I turned on my hand held flashlight, a very very bright light and they all scattered. Once I past a couple of people they all then moved in and WHACK I was hit with something big and hard on the shoulder. Had it hit my head, arm or wheel it would have knocked me over and the beating would begin. I rode on, called the police and waited. after a bit of time passed I could see 10 of the mob in the group attempt to surround me. I fled again, called the police and filed a report. I am one lucky guy!
If I would have hit the ground i'm sure they would have beaten me to a pulp. I will ride again, just not solo on the south side at night.
PEOPLE WHO RIDE THERE NEED TO KNOW THIS.
Views: 3420
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by S on -
It closes at 11pm but despite that it's one of the most convenient ways to get from anywhere near the loop to hyde park. Besides, do you think it'll be much safer biking down king drive at 1am?
El Guicho said:The LFP is park of the park district right? Don't parks close at sunset? Maybe there's a reason for that.
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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on -
Traditionally, police haven't necessarily enforced the park closing time for those riding through for transportation, just for loitering - at least that's how it was several years ago. I don't know if that's changed in the last few years.
S said:It closes at 11pm but despite that it's one of the most convenient ways to get from anywhere near the loop to hyde park. Besides, do you think it'll be much safer biking down king drive at 1am?
El Guicho said:The LFP is park of the park district right? Don't parks close at sunset? Maybe there's a reason for that.
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Permalink Reply by MagMileMarauder on -
Drexel Blvd (from Hyde Park Blvd to Oakwood) is much better than MLK and Cottage Grove.
S said:It closes at 11pm but despite that it's one of the most convenient ways to get from anywhere near the loop to hyde park. Besides, do you think it'll be much safer biking down king drive at 1am?
El Guicho said:The LFP is park of the park district right? Don't parks close at sunset? Maybe there's a reason for that.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Studer 8.0 mi on -
Yeah, but coming from the Loop, late at night, the LFP is hands-down the easiest way (particularly if you live in East Hyde Park, right off the lake).
I've been thinking about incorporating interval work on my commutes. This situation may just be the motivation I need.
MagMileMarauder said:Drexel Blvd (from Hyde Park Blvd to Oakwood) is much better than MLK and Cottage Grove.
S said:It closes at 11pm but despite that it's one of the most convenient ways to get from anywhere near the loop to hyde park. Besides, do you think it'll be much safer biking down king drive at 1am?
El Guicho said:The LFP is park of the park district right? Don't parks close at sunset? Maybe there's a reason for that.
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Permalink Reply by Randy Warren on -
The police actually have used undercover officers to deal with assaults on the LFT on the south side in the past and this tactic has been effective. There also are some police cameras on the LFT between McCormick Place and 31st Street, but I do not believe that they are in place south of 31st Street. The ones that are in place were a response to some assaults in that area.
Calling 911 to report any hostile occurrence is essential as it is through that reporting mechanism that the police respond with increased uniformed patrols and consider other strategies to keep the Trial safe for all users.
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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on
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For those who are skeptical about the effectiveness of calling 911, this is a good argument in favor of calling, even if the offenders aren't caught. If the police are not aware that a problem is happening and exactly where and how often it's happening, they can't respond to it.
Please DO call and report incidents.
Randy Warren said:The police actually have used undercover officers to deal with assaults on the LFT on the south side in the past and this tactic has been effective. There also are some police cameras on the LFT between McCormick Place and 31st Street, but I do not believe that they are in place south of 31st Street. The ones that are in place were a response to some assaults in that area.
Calling 911 to report any hostile occurrence is essential as it is through that reporting mechanism that the police respond with increased uniformed patrols and consider other strategies to keep the Trial safe for all users.
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Permalink Reply by S on
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+1 to this. I've listened to Brett Goldstein's talks on the city's data management systems and work to open it up. One of the things the city and CPD is doing is running a predictive analytics group to try to correlate reports to 311 and 911 with crime and try to come up with indicators that allow the CPD to figure out when things are starting to go bad in areas and send more resources to those areas to try to stop things. But it's hard for the city to fix issues that they don't know about.
Anne Alt said:For those who are skeptical about the effectiveness of calling 911, this is a good argument in favor of calling, even if the offenders aren't caught. If the police are not aware that a problem is happening and exactly where and how often it's happening, they can't respond to it.
Please DO call and report incidents.
Randy Warren said:The police actually have used undercover officers to deal with assaults on the LFT on the south side in the past and this tactic has been effective. There also are some police cameras on the LFT between McCormick Place and 31st Street, but I do not believe that they are in place south of 31st Street. The ones that are in place were a response to some assaults in that area.
Calling 911 to report any hostile occurrence is essential as it is through that reporting mechanism that the police respond with increased uniformed patrols and consider other strategies to keep the Trial safe for all users.
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Permalink Reply by S on
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I don't think it's changed. I've ridden on the LFP late at night to get home and haven't had any issues with the CPD. Although it's not like I've run across many of them on the park late at night.
Anne Alt said:Traditionally, police haven't necessarily enforced the park closing time for those riding through for transportation, just for loitering - at least that's how it was several years ago. I don't know if that's changed in the last few years.
S said:It closes at 11pm but despite that it's one of the most convenient ways to get from anywhere near the loop to hyde park. Besides, do you think it'll be much safer biking down king drive at 1am?
El Guicho said:The LFP is park of the park district right? Don't parks close at sunset? Maybe there's a reason for that.
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Permalink Reply by kiltedcelt on
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The idea of running "silent," ie. lights off actually sounds kinda good. Most of the path is fairly well-lit except for a few spots. I mean well-lit in a relatively-speaking sort of way though. It's lit enough by streetlights, even from Lakeshore Drive that it's seldom ever so dark that you can't see anything. Putting several REALLY bright lights on the front of your bike could allow you to switch them all on and literally blast any malefactors with blindingly dazzling light. Might be enough to disorient a big group and allow you to accelerate around them. I ride a touring bike with 770x32 tires so I don't have any qualms about taking to the grass and have done so on occasion to get around those large groups of rude people who won't move over to let me through. If I had to, I think I could hit the grass. Only thing is there's always the possibility of hitting something in the grass and then you're no better off than before. I think the best bet though is to probably turn tail if you see anything suspicious, and as has been suggested, report any altercations or suspicious behavior to the police.
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Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on -
I follow assault reports closely and while it would be comforting to think the thugs wouldn't attack if they 'just didn't notice you approaching,' the reality is that some are waiting and watching and specifically planning to whack a cyclist. The only benefit of running without headlights may be that it will help your eyes adjust to the dark to better spot people in/around the path up ahead, upon which your plan of turning tail is by far the best approach.
kiltedcelt said:The idea of running "silent," ie. lights off actually sounds kinda good. Most of the path is fairly well-lit except for a few spots. I mean well-lit in a relatively-speaking sort of way though. It's lit enough by streetlights, even from Lakeshore Drive that it's seldom ever so dark that you can't see anything. Putting several REALLY bright lights on the front of your bike could allow you to switch them all on and literally blast any malefactors with blindingly dazzling light. Might be enough to disorient a big group and allow you to accelerate around them. I ride a touring bike with 770x32 tires so I don't have any qualms about taking to the grass and have done so on occasion to get around those large groups of rude people who won't move over to let me through. If I had to, I think I could hit the grass. Only thing is there's always the possibility of hitting something in the grass and then you're no better off than before. I think the best bet though is to probably turn tail if you see anything suspicious, and as has been suggested, report any altercations or suspicious behavior to the police.
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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on
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+1
h' said:I follow assault reports closely and while it would be comforting to think the thugs wouldn't attack if they 'just didn't notice you approaching,' the reality is that some are waiting and watching and specifically planning to whack a cyclist. The only benefit of running without headlights may be that it will help your eyes adjust to the dark to better spot people in/around the path up ahead, upon which your plan of turning tail is by far the best approach.
kiltedcelt said:The idea of running "silent," ie. lights off actually sounds kinda good. Most of the path is fairly well-lit except for a few spots. I mean well-lit in a relatively-speaking sort of way though. It's lit enough by streetlights, even from Lakeshore Drive that it's seldom ever so dark that you can't see anything. Putting several REALLY bright lights on the front of your bike could allow you to switch them all on and literally blast any malefactors with blindingly dazzling light. Might be enough to disorient a big group and allow you to accelerate around them. I ride a touring bike with 770x32 tires so I don't have any qualms about taking to the grass and have done so on occasion to get around those large groups of rude people who won't move over to let me through. If I had to, I think I could hit the grass. Only thing is there's always the possibility of hitting something in the grass and then you're no better off than before. I think the best bet though is to probably turn tail if you see anything suspicious, and as has been suggested, report any altercations or suspicious behavior to the police.
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Permalink Reply by Elizabeth on -
When I rode through the group that I'm pretty sure mugged the next cyclist coming through, I was running dark -- because my batteries needed replacing, not because of any conscious decision. Maybe they didn't mug me because they didn't see me coming, or maybe because I didn't fit some profile. But I certainly didn't see them until I was in the middle of them, and it was really disconcerting to realize that I was suddenly surrounded by shadowed figures. I think they were three or four deep on the path, covering both lanes, but it was dark and awhile ago.
I ride that path a fair amount, and I've gotten freaked out by ninja cyclists more frequently (i.e. many times) than I've gotten freaked out by riding through ninja mobs (once). I ride with lights. If I had had my head light then, I would have seen them, and at least would have had some descriptions or something, and something less nebulous than "a shadowy group on the path".
Like others have said, it's an important path for getting from east Hyde Park to downtown. It's the "bicycle super highway" that is currently operational, and it works well. It's something the city has invested in, and they need to maintain it and keep it safe.
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