Road Cycling - Illinois Roads More Unsafe?

I just got a new Illinois Official Bicycle Map for the Shawnee Region (mine) and it seems the state is not encouraging cycling as the name implies. The roads are color coded and there are a lot less green and yellow roads, most suitable for cycling on the new map. Now there are a lot more roads two shades of red meaning high caution and not recommended for cycling than the map from 2000. Why even print a 'Bicycle Map' if they are going to make it look so dangerous.

I don't know about unsafe, but I don't like riding my bike in Illinois as opposed to other places I've ridden in. I don't think drivers in Illinois are very observant when they are driving.

We need to organize something with IDOT to get more bike friendly roads out there. For real.

Koffee

2 years back i pursued IDOT and the sec'y of state's office for inclusion of bicyclists rights in their driver's handbook and subsequent test that all driver's take in the state of illinois.

since i didn't have $$ to donate to Geo. Ryan i wasn't given the time of day. education is the key.

all the debris and ripped up roads from the weather changes and snow plowing makes for accidents waiting to happen without the drivers.

You all seem to be leaving the second I out when you write IDOT instead of IDIOT

I used to live in Illinois. Both Central and the Chicago area.

Looking back I can't believe I ever learned to ride there. The city drivers awere not too aware of bikes, the roads were cr@p and the rural areas had many areas ripe for mountain biking but nobody building any trails. When I moved away about a decade ago they were fighting to convert an old railway line to a bike path (champaign-urbana area I think). Don't know how that turned out.

It's too bad really, the state has lots of flat prairie land which would be good for road riding and some river valleys good for MTB.

Maybe things have changed for the better since I was there but it doesn't sound like it.

I discovered something this week that may explain a lot about the attitude of drivers in the Midwest. I was visiting back home in Northern Indiana this week and spent a good 100 mi plus on the bike. These routes and roads are all my old ones and I know them like the back of my hand. What I discovered while riding was that a lot of cars would slow down behind me and wait for oncoming traffic to pass before passing me. Of course this always makes people mad when they have to slow down. What I realized the roads here in NY are actually wider. Since I started riding again I have had few times that a car could not pass me with oncoming traffic. NY has nice shoulders and plenty of room for me to stay on the white line. Northern Indiana has no shoulder only grass. I have done some riding in IL and if I remember correctly the roads are similar to IN.

Just thought you might be interested in this observation.

I grew up riding my bike around the Chicago area. Maybe my memory has faded but I never considered riding in IL to be any more dangerous than any other place. Actually the most hostile place for me as a cyclist and even as a motorist was the south bay area of San Francisco/San Jose. In and around Grand Forks, ND was also exceptionally dangerous... especially during the beet-harvest season.

I don't think it's as dangerous as it just is frustrating that drivers are STILL so unaware of cyclists on the streets! Mayor Daley makes this big fuss about being bike friendly, but then I spend at least 75% of my bike time ducking and weaving to avoid getting hit. It's frustrating. I've been to cities with much better cycling than Chicago. MUCH BETTER cities...

On Saturday, some jerk in an old, beat up van coming from the opposite direction attempted to turn left right in front of me, as I was riding at full speed. I colorfully cursed, and the idiot cursed back, even though it was HIS FAULT, then the idiot attempted to make a u-turn and chase me down. I immediately slowed down and pulled out my mace- I'm not about to let some dumb@ss who was at fault try and intimidate me off the road. He ended up pulling over. That was my worst experience that day, but that is by no means the only time I've dealt with drivers like this. This is one of the reasons why I don't go out without my cellphone programmed to my brother's phone number in the event something happens to me- all I have to do is press the call button. And I also carry mace- I just don't think I should go out there without some kind of protection for myself. Damn, half the time I go out for a ride, I feel like I'm arming for battle!

I still love Chicago, though.

Koffee

I would sure hate to be the first person to actualy try and come after you. Mace should do the trick. I carry my cell phone too, but I'm in a little different situation. I'm more afraid of a bad break down or getting hurt and having no way to get help.

Well, I have the pleasure of living very close to rural Illinois roads where the vehicles are very courteous.

However, the urban areas are horrible. Everyone's got some place to be and they'll be darned if a bicycle gets in their way.

Originally posted by khuon
In and around Grand Forks, ND was also exceptionally dangerous... especially during the beet-harvest season.

Yeah, I have some friends that use to be stationed out at Grand Forks AFB. They consider beet-harvest season to be the worst time of year out there.:(

Originally posted by danr
Yeah, I have some friends that use to be stationed out at Grand Forks AFB. They consider beet-harvest season to be the worst time of year out there.:(

yep. It's the time of year where you've got 12-14 year old kids driving the huge beet-trucks and going from one job to another without sleeping in the hopes of getting as much money as possible within the harvest. Then of course you've also got the farmers burning the stalks creating plumes of acrid black smoke. I was at UND for flight school and flying over the landscape reminded me of all the images of burning oil fields during Operation Desert Storm. I even once got shot at. I was on downwind and went to drop my flaps only to discover my flap-extension lever was jammed. I performed a no-flap landing and squawked (reported) the flap problem. One of the mechanics came out with me to the aircraft to inspect it and pointed out where the bullet had grazed the flap-linkage. He told me that oftentimes, farmers or farmer's kids will get bored and take potshots at airplanes. I was [1] relieved that the round didn't strike a six inches forward where my right wing tank was located and [2] glad they didn't take potshots at me while I was on a bike although I remember seeing plenty of roadsigns of all types with random bullet holes in them... including one that said "No Shooting".

i grew up in what was the sleepy town of Naperville, Il ...population 18000 or so

used to ride for miles in the country...up to cantigny...a 12 mile ride each way on an old schwinn single speed with a banana seat...my mother never feared for my safety

i guess time were different then ... i heard the population of naperville is over 150, 000 now. last visited 5 years ago. there is no way i would ride those same routes today

for me what makes a road unsafe is the width of the road, the posted speed limit, traffic congestion, and the number of blind curves/hills

illinois is no different then other states in that respect...

however, you do pay more to live in a state controlled by the emperor of chicago :rolleyes:

Originally posted by bandaidman
i grew up in what was the sleepy town of Naperville, Il

Hello fellow or rather former-fellow Naperthrillian. I grew up there in the 80s. I used to ride around in Danada, through Herrick Lake and towards Wheaton and yes Cantigny all the time. My favourite rides would take me into Batavia where I hooked up with 31 and take it up to Elgin following the Fox River.

now you can take the trail from elgin along the fox all the way up through mchenry to genoa city, wisconsin.

Is that trail frequently used, or is it pretty empty, though? Just wondering...

Koff

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
Is that trail frequently used, or is it pretty empty, though? Just wondering...


The trail was okay when I used it but it's just like a lot of other rail-to-trails. If you don't mind keeping your speeds to under 20MPH and your avg speeds to around 15 MPH then it's fine for just tooling about. Otherwise I'd advise taking the parallel roads. Sometimes when I was doing my route I would hop onto and go a bit slower just for variety but then I'd depart to the road to go faster.