Bike the Drive, new school trails offer bicyclists safe rides in the South Bend area

Get your bike out for some fun rides in the South Bend area.

Bike the Drive

Take your bike to Chicago on Sept. 1 for Bike the Drive , which attracts thousands of cyclists to ride on a 15-mile stretch of DuSable Lake Shore Drive as it’s completely closed to car traffic. This all happens in the morning, starting at 6:30 a.m. CDT and with the course gradually closing to bikes between 10:30 and 11:15 a.m. CDT. You start and stop when you decide and do as much as you like.

It’s a hoot to roll among and chat with a wide array of cyclists while scanning open views of the skyline and Lake Michigan.

The ride includes rest stops and food. Cost is $78 per adult, $18 for ages 17 and younger. It raises money for the Active Transportation Alliance, an advocacy group for Chicago biking, walking and public transportation. Find details and registration at bikethedrive.org .

∎ Bikes on South Shore trains: Remember that the South Shore trains allow bikes aboard all trains out of South Bend all year round. Ask the attendants for the train car or cars that have bike racks (typically two racks). Find a full schedule at mysouthshoreline.com .

More from Outdoor Adventures: Seek this Chicago man-made island, garden for trail-bound nature sanctuaries near downtown

Granger’s new trail

Friends of Granger Paths recently dedicated a new, quarter-mile trail that links the small Fountain Blue subdivision with Northpoint Elementary School . The Fountain Blue Trail allows kids and families to avoid riding directly on Cherry Road.

From North Point, the Granger Paths network links south to a trail along Adams Road to neighboring Mary Frank Elementary School and then west to Gumwood Road, which boasts a trail north to Redfield Street in Michigan.

And now, President Gary Babcoke says, Granger Paths is focused on what’s next — chiefly, how it can connect a potential new park at Anderson and Beech roads with a new trail to the existing trail system, which is a couple of miles away. Such a trail would also link other neighborhoods.

Elkhart school path

The city of Elkhart also recently dedicated a new paved trail and enhanced lighting to provide safe walking and biking for students of Concord West Side Elementary School. The Benham Multiuse Path runs along Benham Avenue and Mishawaka Road from Hively Avenue to Old Farm Drive. This improves upon a grass walking path that the neighboring Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary had allowed on its property.

Beacon Heights bikes

Volunteers at the South Bend Bike Garage recently got kids rolling, too. They fixed up and donated 50 used bikes to young residents of the Beacon Heights subsidized apartments on South Bend’s northwest side. The Bike Garage, a bike co-op, remains a very busy place as volunteers teach folks to fix and affordably earn used bikes from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday nights at Angela Boulevard and Indiana 933.

Find columnist Joseph Dits on Facebook at SBTOutdoorAdventures or 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com .

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Bike the Drive, new school trails offer bicyclists safe rides in the South Bend area