Road rave! 12 - 14 mile street skate

Road rave! It's a party on wheels where we join together for a fun 12 - 14 mile skate through the streets of Chicago. It's a great way to explore the city together with other skaters. The route is different each time, often based around a theme. We skate at 8 - 12 mph and usually stop for refreshments somewhere in the middle. If you're unsure about doing the full 12 - 14 miles, you're welcome to join us for just part of the skate (for example, doing the first 5 miles)—just let us know if you decide to drop off partway through.

Event info:

• Start & end location: Daley Plaza, by the Picasso sculpture.
• Meet up: 7:20 pm, roll out: 7:45 pm. The skate will take roughly 2.5 hours. Before we roll out, I'll post a live location tracker link in a comment on this page and our Instagram story so that any skaters who arrive late after we roll out can track us down.
• For our night skates, skaters are strongly encouraged to wear LED lights for visibility! Skaters should also bring water to hydrate. Snacks like energy bars are a good idea, too.
• All wheels welcome 🛼 🚲 🛹 - this event is hosted by inline and roller skaters, but feel free to join us on a bike or skateboard.

Skater skill level:

• Skaters must be able to brake / slow down, especially when going down hills / inclines. This is important for safety because it will be necessary to stop quickly and reliably at traffic lights, and because we often skate down hills (for example, on bridges over the interstate, train tracks, and river).
• We skate in the streets! So, we frequently encounter slight obstacles like cracks in the pavement, train tracks, and pot holes. So, skaters must feel comfortable skating or stepping over those obstacles, as well as stepping up curbs and stairs.
• Skaters must feel comfortable skating at a pace of 8 - 12 mph. If you're unsure about your speed, I recommend using a speedometer app on your phone to check what pace you feel comfortable skating at.

Safety info:

• Helmets, wrist guards, and pads are encouraged. These are especially important for less seasoned skaters, but they're also a good idea for even the most advanced of skaters.
• For night skates, skaters are strongly encouraged to wear LED lights for visibility.
• I'll pace the skate with the goal of keeping the group together. Keeping the group together helps with safety because it improves our visibility to drivers. And it's also more fun when we skate together!
• While leading the group, I will stop at red lights and trying to time our pacing so that we go through green lights together. I'll try to minimize occurrences where the group gets split by a traffic light (i.e. the front of the group goes through a green light and then the back of the group gets stopped at a red light). However, that inevitably sometimes happens. If that happens to you, please only cross the intersection when it is safe! Do not blindly blow through a red light without checking that it is safe to cross.
• When we're skating on a multi-lane street and cars are present, we'll stick to one lane (usually the right lane) so that cars can pass us.

Links:

• Windy City Skaters on Instagram
• Windy City Skaters Facebook group
• Chicago Skating Subreddit - r/chicagoskating

Legal disclaimer: skating can be dangerous, and by skating or riding with this group, you accept responsibility for your own safety and agree not to hold the group or its leaders liable. Skate at your own risk.