rockindude24

Well, today my girlfriend and I were going to ride our bikes to Harvard, IL and catch a metra train to head down to Chicago to ride around the city and mainly along the lakeshore. We decided to do this because, well, we're just not experienced enough yet to ride all the way down to chicago. We arrived at the train station and immediately the conductors told us no bikes on the train . This was due to the Taste of Chicago that was going on. (A little poor planning on my part, but it turned out ok.) So we decided to head down anyway, so we locked our bikes up in a parking spot on a guardrail and paid for parking and hopped on the train. We had a good time, but lots of walking though and even fast walking at the end because we needed to catch our train home haha. Anyways, we had a good time walking around Chicago in our bike attire, though we received a few looks when we were on Michigan Ave. We took more of a leisure ride home and even stopped in Poplar Grove and got some ice cream. Round trip would have been about 47 miles, so we decided to go a little past my house so we could make the even 50. This is a new milestone for the both of us now so we feel pretty good. We are planning a trip later in the summer that will be about 75 one way, then camp for the weekend and head home so we have a little work to do yet. Anyways, just thought I would share my ride experience today with everyone. Thanks for looking and have an awesome day!

Nubie

Glad you had a good time in our fair city. Metra is notoriously obtuse in allowing bikes on the train. Their multitude of rules and regulations make it extremely difficult to bring bikes on the train. Even though they've "changed" their rules, it's still horrible. My guess is they wouldn't let you bring it because of a special event (ie, the Taste).

Dahon.Steve

This is where the folding bike comes to the rescue. Brompton, Dahon, Bike Friday or any would have been allowed so long as the bicycle was covered.