voldemort

Nice ride! It started a little late because no SAG was available until about 7:45, so quite a crowd headed out then. No rain. Nice and cool, with cloud cover keeping temps down. I forgot what a great riding area that is, with some nice rollers, and pretty good roads. Five rest stops, all with live music. Wow, talk about flooding!The Fox was over its banks in a lot of places, and some of the farms looked more like boating resorts. I impressed myself by averaging 17 even over the 65 miles I rode, almost all solo, except 8-10 miles or so. There were a couple of young pups (22-23 years old) that blew by me, who I caught at a rest stop. I asked if I could jump on as we headed out together. When it came to my pull, I caught the wind at my back, and was able to keep it at 23 for awhile. Right after I pulled off, the route turned a corner and the next guy got full-face wind , and we dropped to 15. A couple miles later one guy said he was done at that pace, and dropped waaaay back. I'm sure the hills helped some, but there were some nasty winds. Thank goodness for tall corn. The organic picnic afterward had tons of good stuff: burgers, dogs, ICE CREAM, burritos, watermelon, plus the usual bananas, apples, peanut butter, etc. Music and lots of freebie "enviro" stuff and organic food handouts. Overall, an excellent time. I'm back next year for sure! Now that I'm warmed up, what time does Cream City start tomorrow?

SmokinMiles

That sounds great! Definitely one to keep in mind for next year.

I bet it was amazing seeing all that flooding. Pretty sure it's at historic levels.

Good ride! Crystal

Psimet2001 

First...if you are even remotely interested the carpool leaves my house at 5:30am. There is room for you and I know you know where I live....

Sounds like a good ride. I always knew you could drop a bunch of young punks, but now you are obligated to take a 23mph pull for us the next ride...like tomorrow morning.

Was a chunk of this on the trail? If so how is the trail looking? Wondering about the commute this week.

MJH2

I rode the FRT both yesterday and today (between Algonquin and Geneva). It's a complete mess in South Elgin. I tried wading one part and abandoned that plan when I got nearly waist deep. I would note, however, that you can bypass nearly all of that water by hiking your bike along the adjacent train line (it's not really active... just the occassional electric car coming by from that museum thing).

The area from valley view down through the andersen/accenture campus is also completely flooded. I bypassed that by shooting up to Rte 25 for about a mile (with little problem).

I can't comment on south of Geneva, other than to say Island park was more a lake than an Island as of yesterday.

Having said that, I was surprised at how quickly the water is coming down... even from last night to this afternoon.

And, I should probably mention, if you do ride the trail in for forseeable future, keep your eyes open. Some places are completely covered with leaves/mud/sticks/rocks from the washouts.

voldemort

I couldn't get north even to the train museum in South Elgin a couple days ago. A few sections of the trail through St. Charles have about a foot and a half of river covering them. And Island Park in Geneva is 90% under water. Can't even see the bike path. It's blocked off before you go under 38/Main St., and I don't even know where you could find the trail again if you got around the park. I think your commute, and any lengthy trail riding, may have to wait a bit.

MJH2

Shoot over the bridge and left at the first street (I think it's called "River"). It will take you right to a little spur of the trail that will lead you to a bike bridge right back over the river to the south end of Island Park. The path is up a little higher there, and I'd be surprised if it were flooded. I would imagine it would be open all the way down through the Forest Preserve... but don't quote me on that!

tmfb

a great day of riding, completed my first 100.

had to wait at one point for a downed tree to be cleared from millhurst road by a large CAT front end loader. maybe those CAT riders put in a call to HQ for some help?

ride trivia: the route passed former house speaker Dennis Hastert's house north of plano