Introductions - Hello from the north side of Chicago

Hey all, especially all of my neighbors from Chicago in here,

What a great forum you have here! I live on the north side of Chicago and have been an avid mountain bike rider since the summer of 2000, when I was working for a now-defunct dot-com in San Francisco and decided a mountain bike was a necessity in that beautiful city with all of its bike trails and large hills to scale, so I bought a Trek 4300.

When I came back here to Chicago, I rode that bike through all the seasons as I was finishing up college and then when I got my job I started commuting to work every day, though I must confess it is only a five-block commute.

The Trek 4300 served faithfully for almost five years after being left outside in the cold and snow for all these years, since my work wouldn't let me bring it inside.

I just bought a new Trek 6500 with disc brakes, and so far I am loving it to death. Now that I have a new rig I want to get back to hitting trails regularly rather than simply riding the bike along the lake and on the streets.

Can any fellow Chicagoans/northern Illinoisans recommend some good local trails at any of the forest preserves, etc.?

Welcome to Bikeforums, mrrockmusic.

Come to wisconsin, we have the chicgo lands best mtb area in the Kettles (kettle morain state forest southen unit) around pylmira sp? or come toward Madison and hit Blue mounds state park southe west of madison or CamRock 2 ro 3 east southeast of madison near cambrige sp? It has been a season or two since I have hit these trails I have bee much more of a roadie the last 2 yrs.

If your looking for a good single dirt trail i would recomend the DesPlaines River trail.It supposedly runs all the way from wisco down past DesPlaines for a long time.Ive ridden it for a while. there are a number of diff. trails that break off and re-join main trail too.It has easy riding to medium riding.Not too many big hills,a couple of jumps and lots of downed trees on trails that break off.so its pretty fun if your looking to do a little work,The trail basically runs next to the desplaines river, but dont go after rain cause the river floods and the trail turns to thick nasty mud :mad: If your interested i can give u directions,just reply here and itll be gravy.

Also if your looking for a nice ride in the woods go to Busse Woods in Elk Grove/Schaumburg.I think its about an * mile paved loop through the woods.Its a good ride,plus Village Cycle Sport is right accross the street and I would say its the best shop around Chicago,great selection/service/and good mechanics.

*8 mile loop...oops