A thousand Santas ditch the sleigh in favor of bikes in downtown Milwaukee

On a chilly Saturday morning, more than a thousand people donned Santa suits and cruised through the streets of Milwaukee for the Santa Cycle Rampage, an annual ride for holiday merry-making and cycling advocacy.

First-time rampager Mark Hense was part of a sea of festive red, and kicked things off with a shotski — a line of shot glasses glued to a ski, allowing for several people to down a shot in unison.

“I think once you get soaked up into an ocean of Santas, it’s something that is to behold,” said Hense, who lives in Wauwatosa, a Milwaukee suburb.