People riding their bikes at Bike the Drive, picture from Flickr user quinn.anya.

Bike the Drive, an annual event that occurs in Chicago, took place today in Downtown Chicago.

Bike the Drive started at an early hour of 5 a.m. beginning at Columbus and Jackson, downtown. The event includes a maximum route length of 30 miles.

Twenty thousand people attended the event as cars were kicked off Lake Shore Drive and the participants were able to bike next to the lake to promote exercise and benefit the Active Transportation Alliance, a non-profit biking, walking, and transit advocacy organization.

Bike The Drive was launched by the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation in 2002 in order to raise funds for programs to expand the Chicago area’s bicycle transportation network and promote bicycling as a form of transportation. Chicago is already a very active community and thus the ride looks to extend the communities activeness and encourage others to become more active and rely less on their car as a mode of transportation.

Bikers got to bed early the night before the event tweeting at 9:30 that they were off to bed:

1. 
   ace4life0 Off to bed…I’ll be at Bike The Drive tomorrow, if you gonna be there hit me up 30 May 2010 from web
2. 
   GingerZeeNBC Bike the Drive in the morning! Should be a pleasant ride with temps starting off in the 60s to start the… http://bit.ly/bhvheo 30 May 2010 from Facebook
3. 
   paulemiller Bike the Drive Sunday morning. Keep to your right. I’ll be in the argyle jersey. #fb 30 May 2010 from TweetDeck
4. 
   jerbils Off to bed early tonight. Waking up at 5 for Bike the Drive! 30 May 2010 from Twitter for iPhone
5. 
   

In order to prepare for the event, riders were up early leaving for the event at 3 a.m.

1. 
   MillyVee Heading downtown for Bike the Drive! Too excited!! Good morning!! 30 May 2010 from UberTwitter
2. 
   gracenotesnyc No idea what time zone I’m in right now, but getting ready to bike Lake Shore Drive. Today is the big day!!! 30 May 2010 from web
3. 
   Mzbrannew On my way to bike the drive!!!!! This should be fun and interesting!!! 30 May 2010 from MOTOBLUR

As people were making their way down Lake Shore Drive, they updated others via Twitter. People were well on their way through the event by 5:30 am already.

1. devilish2686 Almost half way on bike the drive 30 May 2010 from txt
2. 
   wallybat Bike the drive rest stop (@ Museum of Science and Industry w/ 6 others) http://4sq.com/6z3FQS 30 May 2010 from foursquare
3. 
   fuschiastars Northern most part of Bike the Drive. Turning back south now; sad to have to do the hills again. (@ Edgewater Beach Apartments) 30 May 2010 from foursquare

The weather was perfect for the event, and kept cyclers at their best pace. In fact, by 5:45, some of the first bikers began to tweet that they had finished the race.

1. 
   melrutten Nearly done…ahhhh (@ Bike The Drive 2010 w/ 16 others) http://4sq.com/droqCk 30 May 2010 from foursquare
2. 
   cecechatterbox Yay! Finished Bike The Drive! So nice out this morning! (@ Park West Condominiums) http://4sq.com/8yZKWW 30 May 2010 from foursquare
3. 
   beth1170 Done with Bike The Drive. Now I need food and an aspirin! 30 May 2010 from TweetCaster

Some people ended the race close to the start of reopening Lake Shore Drive at 9:30. But all the riders seemed to enjoy themselves greatly!

1. 
   ace7mann Bike the drive was awesome this morning.Thanks to all who can out! #Chicagorules 30 May 2010 from Twitterrific
2. 
   caregiving Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday! I just finished Bike the Drive, Chicago’a annual bike ride–perfect weather! http://bit.ly/6IVqar 30 May 2010 from TweetDeck
3. 
   Eliz_Castro Bike the Drive in Chicago. What a cool event today — shutting down a virtual highway for a bike event. Every city should do this. 30 May 2010 from OpenBeak
4. 
   ChitownTeeTee Had a great time at Bike the Drive. After riding 30 miles, I know I will be extremely sore tomorrow. 30 May 2010 from mobile web

– this quote was brought to you by quoteurl The Bike the Drive has been going on for 9 years now and  occurs every Memorial Day Weekend.