Great Lakes - lake zurich rolling meadows....50-60 mile

Working on building up my miles for my first century. Looking for a good route from above listed area that either loops or just out and back. Looking for some bike friendly roads or paved trails that you may know of. New to road biking and looking for some help.

Thanks
Jim

Would prefer country type roads as opposed to city or lakefront.

You should be able to do a century as is, but if you really want to get your ass kicked, there are a few rides, some of them pretty serious in the evanston area, check the turinbicycles website if you really want the pain.

Or if you just want the miles, you should meet up with me somewhere (I am from Des Plaines) and we can figure something out.

I don't know where you would be starting from, but let say you start at that Trek/Schwinn store on Ela, just north of Rand. Head south on Ela to Cuba, hang a left on Cuba and go all the way to Long Grove. You'll have to do a stint on Quinton, but it's not bad. In Long Grove, go right on Robert Coffin (through the covered bridge) and you'll end up on Hicks. Merge right on Hicks, which has a good shoulder so you'll be fine. I think it is exactly 1 mile south and you'll be at a 3-way light for Long Grove Rd. Go right on Long Grove Rd. and go all the way back to Ela and go north (right) back to Cuba. Now go west (left) on Cuba and take that all the way across Northwest Highway. Cuba turns into MerriOaks which will t-bone into Ridge Road in Barrington Hills. From there your options are unlimited (almost) and you can get in some hill training. Then take Cuba back home in Lake Zurich.

I do a route similar to this but I start in Palatine and ride off road in Deer Grove (on a cyclocross bike) to get to Long Grove Rd via Deerpath. I usually end up with about 45 miles, and I think you will too. But like I said, once in Barrington Hills, there are plenty of roads you can ride around on to get in whatever mileage you want.

Sorry I don't have a map of this ride handy, but I hope my directions are good enough to let you follow my madness on Google maps, or whatever your favorite map software is.
Good Luck and have fun.
Kevin

Lake Zurich and Rolling Meadows are a long way apart. Where do you want to start? - TF