Originally Posted by
5stone
I've been pouring over the Chicagoland Bicycle Map and checking web sites such as mapmyride.com looking for a decent way(s) to ride from Chicago to Elgin so I can then bike the Fox River Trail. I'm meeting friends at the Elgin Metra stop and then we're biking up to Elkhorn, WI. I know it'd be easier to just ride the Metra with the group but I want to bike the whole thing, door to door. I've already done similar distances this year so I'm not worried about that.
If I could take the Illinois Prairie Path over from Maywood I'd be mostly set. However, I'm on a nice road bike and have never ridden that trail before. While I've ridden road bikes with 23c tires on crushed limestone it just doesn't seem smart to ride that far on an unfamiliar trail, especially at the very start of the trip. And it'd probably be slow going.
All the good roads on the Chicagoland Map are short and very fragmented. I'd be zig zagging back and forth trying to stay on the recommended roads, adding ugly miles to an already long trip. There just doesn't seem to be a good way to travel due west on a bike! I'll be riding out from the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago near Diversey and California (near northwest side).
Anyone ever done something like this or have any suggestions for good roads along the way? I'm still trying to figure out whether to go north or south of O'Hare at this point so I'm pretty much open to anything!
I had already planned (and mostly ridden) a great route heading north out of the city and then northwest through the Fox Lake area but the group I'm meeting up with is adamant about doing the Fox River Trail. I could just ride alone but I'd like to be social if possible.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Well, if the group is so jazzed up to ride the Fox River trail, why are they skipping most of it? From the Elgin Metra (assuming the one at the casino and not Big Timber), you'll roll through Elgin, East Dundee, Carpentersville and a little chunk of Algonquin before the river bends and the trail departs and becomes the Prairie Trail... Which can also be scenic.
I can't really offer a good route for you. But, I can say that I did a 48 mile loop between the Fox River Trail and Prairie Path last friday. The PP was very hard packed, and there were a lot of folks on road bikes. Not saying it's an ideal ride, but you could probably do it without much problem (although a 25 if not even slightly wider would be a little better than 23's).
Ever think of just trying the PP and using Metra as a backup? The UP/West line will hit all the towns along the PP until you bend north out of Winfield. You can even see the path from many of the train depots. If you try it and have a problem you could always catch the train into Geneva and then ride up the FRT to Elgin. That is, assuming, that bikes are allowed on the weekend you're trying this...