I actually have the Hang 2 from Performance- they don't require studs at all, so you can hang your bike right against the wall. Just make sure you have something to cover your wheels so the rubber doesn't stain the walls. 3 of my bikes hang, but one bike stays in the repair stand at all times. I use the repair stand as a means for storing my bike.

I don't know of any clubs for rides. I usually ride alone. I do the lakefront because it's right next to my apartment building, and it's 37 miles when you do the whole loop. The North Branch isn't bad either, but it's not the 20 miles they claim. From Devon/Caldwell to the Botanic Gardens, it's about 34 miles round trip, and I'm being generous with that. The lakefront path gets pretty crowded after 6am, and on weekends, it gets crowded after about 5- 5:30am due to the runners trying to get in more mileage before the LaSalle Bank marathon. The North Branch trail isn't too bad, but I have noticed there are more people around on weekends than ever before. On weekdays, the North Branch is practically deserted. I actually like the North Branch because I like to break there after I've ridden the first 29 (17 miles of trail, plus 12 miles from my place) miles and have a nice lunch- they have great soup and sandwiches there, and you can sit on the patio and get some carbs in before you head out and go back home.

If you decide you want to go for a century, you could easily do 100 miles by completing the full lake front trail, then heading north and doing the full North Branch. You would have to extend a few miles by either going to the corner of Lake Cook Road and Green Bay Road. From there, you can take either road an additional 2.5 miles, and there's your century! It's not that difficult to do, except getting through downtown is just crazy sometimes... traffic sucks!

Another option is to head north- you can do the full lake front, then head north on Wells and run it into Lincoln, continuing north on Lincoln to Foster. Then, you'd just hang a left on Foster and go a few short blocks to the bike path on the right (just after California, I think), and take the bike path north about another mile or so. That would dump you onto Peterson, and you'd just sidewalk it to the intersection past the McDonald's, and turn right at the corner and take that road north a block, where you'd see the Borders book store. Head behind it, keeping to your right to the big parking lot in the back, and ride the parking lot all the way through to the other side, which is Devon. You'll see the intersection of Devon and McCormick Road, and along McCormick Road is a great bike path called the Skokie Sculpture Garden bike path. It runs north all the way to Green Bay Road. If you ended your ride there and headed back downtown to the John Hancock, that is a full, 62 mile ride. But... hey... we know Green Bay Road intersects with Lake Cook Road about a quarter of a mile away from the Botanic Gardens, so it's easy to extend your ride by turning left onto Green Bay Road and riding Green Bay Road to Lake Cook Road, then turn left on Lake Cook Road and ride that half block to the Botanic Garden, where you can rest and eat, then take the North Branch trail back to Devon/Caldwell, and then bike back home. I don't know the mileage there, but I would be willing to guess that you could eek out at least 80 miles on that trip. I haven't tried it myself, but hey... I should.

For a monster ride, you could do that ride I mentioned above, and then ride to the Sculpture Gardens, then when you get to Green Bay Road, you'd turn left, and take Green Bay Road west. I believe Green Bay intersects with Sheridan Road (not 100% sure), and you could take Sheridan Road all the way to Wisconsin. For sure, you'd get in a century.

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