Road Cycling - north chicago suburbs

Hey all, are the north 'burbs (Winnetka, Wilmette, Waukegan, Deerfield, etc) a good place for riding? Especially the Waukegan area. I know lots of clubs head north for training but I've never been further north than Evanston at this point. I may be visiting and staying with a friend in Waukegan for a while and was just wondering. Thanks!

Sheridan Road out of Evanston is nice. Some places are a bit bumpy, but there are some very nice stretches too. Once you get to Highland Park there is a really nice bike path going up to Waukegan. I wouldn't recommend the path on a Saturday afternoon for speedwork, but I bet in the early morning it is a dream.

I had a chance to ride the Sheridan Road/Green Bay Trail route from Evanston to Highland Park last Sunday, first time I ever rode 25 miles in my life (just started). Parts of Sheridan Road do not allow bicycles so you need to go around it. Once you get to Glencoe, keep the Metra tracks to your left (if you are heading North) all the way to Highland Park. Then pick up the trail as suggested in the prev post.

One of these days I'll go farther than Highland Park.

Have fun.

When our son graduated boot camp @ Great Lakes RTC, we came up from Tx. for a visit & road the train from Waukegan back into Chicago on a Sat. in October. I couldn't
help but notice the trail/shared path that ran along side the tracks. It was a cool/misty/dreary day but there were a few folks out on bikes while others were walking or jogging. It seemed that it went on "forever". Then last Aug. we drove up from Tx. to deposit our oldest daughter for her freshman year @ LOYOLA U. The crowd on the Lake Shore Drive path looked like chaos. I commented on the forum upon
returning to Tx. we simply don't have anything like that here. Wish you all the best in finding a good & safe route for riding.

Definitely it seems as though there is less hostility and more acceptance of cyclists up north. Downtown Chicago, the cars sometimes act as though they are seeing an alien invasion whenever they see a cyclist- they couldn't possibly fathom the idea of bikes on roads! If you get the chance to run up north, do so. It just seems to get better and better the farther north you go- get away from the urban sprawl.

The lakefront after 6am is intolorable.

Koffee

I wonder if it has anything to do with Couriers whizzing left, right, center and all around you (trying to do their jobs, I understand). There's just so much going on so I can see why but there's certainly no excuse for people not being coureous to bicycles and pedestrians for that matter. But then again, we all know that and the people that should care are probably not on these boards.

the riding is phenomenal. i have riden the majority of my 35,000 miles this past decade in lake county. please don't hesitate to PM me when you are ready.
we have trail rides, road rides, organized rides, maps, forest preserve rides, morning rides, afternoon rides, night rides....rides for every level.

We're a bit more Northwest that that - Palatine area, but there's also lots of decent routes to take near here. We usually ride from Palatine, through Hoffman Estates and up to the Barrington area on the weekends for a 30 mile morning ride. We always pass other riders along that route (sometimes see a club going out along Central/I-90 area).

Lake County also has a lot of open road that I see bikers on most weekends. I've been meaning to ride Gilmer from 83 up to 120 and back one of these weekends as it seems like a nice distance to ride (not certain the total on that route) and there's plenty of other quiet roads to ride if it proves too short. Just need to setup my new rack to get out that way.