If you’re in East Lakeview, come join us! We ride every Friday morning school is in session unless there’s ice on the road. See NettelhorstBikeBus.org for details.

Two families, including ours, started a neighborhood bike bus a few years ago.

At first, we only rode around two blocks, unsure if anyone would join, how many motorists would put our kids at risk to save a few seconds, and how comfortable kids would be. In the beginning, it was just a few of our friends, with almost all kids on their parents’ cargobikes.

But we kept at it, every week, rain or shine (unless ice).

Since then, we changed our route to be around a mile, expanded to an additional South route on the other side of Belmont; teachers join us regularly, our alderman if the weather’s good, and we’ve bumped into our congressman more than once. We regularly exceed 50 people now, with a few dozen kids on their bikes.

Last year when we did Bike the Drive, all the way down at Grant Park, some people asked if I was the “bike bus guy.”

Because the kids (or parents?) can’t get enough, we also organize a Kidical Mass once a month throughout the warmer months.

Although I give a ton of myself to work, and a lot of time on my weekends working on my side projects, all that seems small when I see gaggle of kids waiting at the corner like horses at the gate.