The Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride, a three-day event where wounded veterans and service members join to help overcome their ordeals and support one another, will be coming through Oak Park and River Forest again on June 21, the first day of the 2018 Chicago Area Soldier Ride.
Soldiers will kick off the bicycle ride at 9:30 a.m. at Thatcher and Chicago avenues in River Forest and wind their way through Oak Park, Forest Park, North Riverside, LaGrange Park and Brookfield before concluding their ride by entering the South Gate of the Brookfield Zoo and pedaling to the Discovery Center.
Residents are encouraged to come outside and encourage the riders as they pass by.
The caravan of veterans on bikes will make their way through River Forest from Thatcher and Chicago to Franklin and Oak about 9:38 a.m.; to Madison and Keystone about 9:45 a.m.; to Thatcher and Oak about 9:53 a.m.; to Thatcher and Greenfield about 10 a.m.; to Lathrop and Greenfield about 10:08 a.m. From there, they will pedal to Division and Forest about 10:16 a.m. in Oak Park; to Chicago and Woodbine about 10:24 a.m.; and then to Lathrop at the River Forest Tennis Club about 10:32 a.m.
Riders are expected to reach the zoo by 11:40 a.m.
Ladder trucks from the Riverside and Brookfield Fire Departments will form an arch from which a flag will hang. Riders will pass under the flag as they enter the zoo.
-Bob Uphues
