McHenry to Riverwoods, is this the best route?
 

I'm planning a ride from McHenry to Chicago next week. The McHenry to Riverwoods portion will be new to me.

The route follows River, Bonner, Fairfield and Gilmer Rd. Are these the safest roads? Can you suggest a safe alternative if not?

Michael

What day/time?

River Rd sucks, the intersection of Burnett & Darell is closed, that part of Midlothian sucks, Deerfield sucks...

My route would be:

North on Green
Right on Pearl/Lincoln/Sullivan Lake/Molidor
Right on Fish Lake
Left on Gilmer
Left on Hawley (path if you like)
Left on Midlothian
Right on Winchester
Right on Sandstone
Left on Appley
Left on Oak Spring
Right on St Marys
Left on Everett
Right on Riverwoods
Left on Duffy
Right on Saunders

TF

Weekday, starting from mid morning and completed mid afternoon.

I updated the route, please see; http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/il...24766945912805

Michael

Stay on Fish Lake all the way to Gilmer.

In Libertyville, go straight across Rt21/Milwaukee.

TF

Done, Thanks

Michael

At mile 12.5 take Erhart > Freemont Center > 60 > Peterson (has a wide paved shoulder) > Midlothian that should cut a few miles off your route...


Another option is at mile 6.5 go north on Fish Lake > Nippersink > Fairfield > Chardon (cross 60) > Peterson - not sure if that cuts any miles off the route but all of these roads are used by the Wheeling Wheelman - St. Patricks Day ride and all are bike friendly...

This shows both options from a loop that I rode in May following both routes...
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8184750

Be careful on Lincoln once it turns into Sullivan Lake Blvd. I lived off that road last year and people whip around the blind corners at 60+ mph. Once you get on Fish Lake you should be fine.

Ever go to the Starbucks in McHenry? I was a barista/shift manager there most of 2007/2008. Ah, the memories...

Stay off Rt60. It is normally the worst road around (I live on it) and it is worse now with torn up, 'grooved' pavement.

Fairfield is so full of pot holes at the edges that I no longer consider it 'bike friendly' at all. The St Patrick's ride is on Sunday. These roads are a whole different world when the construction gravel hauling trucks are out there.

TF

I'm sticking to the map based on your advice. Thanks. (the map is good, right?)

Map is good. - TF

Hey All. I'm new to this. And I may be way off track here. Because I don't know if there is some sacred thing with road riders to avoid trails? Admittedly, some of the trails I ride are crushed limestone and I have a hybrid, and they may not work for true road bikes. However, in those areas, the trails can be circumvented with roads pretty easily. In any case, I ride in this area a LOT. It's my home area and I live in Island Lake and work in Deerfield. I've been working on the best/safest route between the 2. I've done at least 90% of this route and next week plan to do the full thing. In any case, there are a few areas where it it a little funky getting around a few things. I suppose this is "uncool"? IDK, I just like to get from A-B in the shortest/safest way possible. I hate and avoid narrow, high-traffic roads like the plague. Here is my route:

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/il...24822942380353

The funky part is getting over the Fox. I do that in Island Lake, because that's where I live. Gotta be on 176 for about 1/2 mile. But all except one area of about 200 yards the shoulder is nice and wide. I then cut through neighborhoods and a few "non-road" (a short dirt trail and a school parking lot) areas to cut off dangerous or inefficient parts. The area in Lincolnshire where I cut through a neighborhood can be avoided easily enough by just staying on Riverwoods Rd.

There is bike path along a majority of this route. The section along Hawley is all paved (Millenium Trail). There is VERY little high-traffic area anywhere along the route. The section where I take the DesPlaines River Trail can be bypassed easily on St. Mary's Rd.

Anyway, feel free to tell me if all these route joggles/workarounds are uncool and I'll just shut-up and learn for awhile first. :)

- newbie

It looks like a good route. You might try the first 24 miles of this route: http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...24766945912805 and join the Des Plaines River Trail (bike path) at mile 24.

Do you end in Northbrook or Deerfield?

Michael

Another route across Mundelein/Libertyville with minimal crushed stone:

Starting at Gilmer/Hawley
East on Hawley/Paved Path
4.3 mi - Right on Rt 176
4.4 mi - Right into Carmel HS Pkwy
4.4 mi - Left onto Trail (Stone)
4.6 mi - Right onto Trail (Stone, First Right)
4.7 mi - Left onto Trail (Stone)
4.8 mi - Left on Stevenson
5.0 mi - Left on Crane
5.8 mi - Keep Right on Rockland/Old Rockland
7.7 mi - Right on St Marys

TF

Another route with a little crushed stone:

Southeast on Gilmer to the end
Straight onto Oakwood (go around the gate)
Right on Partridge
Right on Teal
Right on Blue Heron
Left on Port Clinton
Left on Buffalo Grove
Right on Port Clinton
Left on Rt 45
Right on Woodlands Pkwy
Across Rt 21 into the Half Day Forest Preserve
Get on the DPRT North
After crossing the bridge go straight (DPRT goes left) to the Wright Woods parking lot
Get on the Wright Woods entrance road
Right on Everett

TF

Hi TT,

I took the route you suggested yesterday, it was great. Thanks for your help.

Michael

Michael,

Thanks for the thumbs up. I end in Deerfield, but I dropped it down to Northbrook because the OP had a map to there.

One thing I don't understand about the quoted route is taking the left at Midlothian and going 2 miles north right there, to go East on Winchester, then head South. It's great riding to just go straight ahead on Hawley to pick up the North Shore path to the DPRT.

One thing I can say for sure, Southbound out of McHenry on Barreville Rd is good ridin. Just sux that they cannot put a bike lane or something along 176 just for that little bit of distance to get over the Fox River bridge. The redneck river rats in their pickup trucks always want to make you "pay" for riding along 176 for that 1/2 mile. How do we get a group together to propose something to the local authorities?

- matt

"One thing I don't understand about the quoted route is taking the left at Midlothian and going 2 miles north right there, to go East on Winchester, then head South. It's great riding to just go straight ahead on Hawley to pick up the North Shore path to the DPRT."

If the path works for you, that's fine. Most roadies wouldn't even consider taking there multi-$1000 bike on a crushed granite path and the OP indicated he was looking for roads, so that's what I specified. Personally, I most often use the short stretch of path from Carmel to Stevenson and take Old Rockland across. - TF