It’s a ritual that the department carries out every year leading up to the race for safety reasons.

Brookline police said that in preparation for next Monday’s Boston Marathon they will be removing bicycles left locked up along the race’s route.

If your bike is latched to a street post, tree, or parking meter along Beacon Street in Brookline, now’s the time to move it — or the police will do it for you.

“Our goal is to have all bicycles removed from poles and bike racks along the Beacon Street course,” officials said in a Facebook post this week. “This is to ensure safety for the thousands of spectators that will be coming to see the event.”


Removing the bikes prevents them from getting damaged by the large crowds that congregate along the route, heading toward the Boylston Street finish line. It also gives people watching from the sidelines a little bit more standing room.

Police said any bikes left out will be ticketed first, and then removed by this weekend if they go unclaimed.

“This has been done in years past. Please remove your bike from along the course so we don’t have to,” police said.

Steve Annear can be reached at steve.annear@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @steveannear.