Any tips on trails in chicagoland area, theres only one place right now to ride anywhere near me which is a blessing in Illinois but im looking for some veriety any ideas?

I have not lived out that way for more than a decade, but when I did, I helped clear parts of a perimeter trail at deer grove in palatine. Not extreme, but a good workout loop. I remember that the inner trails were very torn up and closed off - hence the outer loop revitalization.

I also one rode at waterfall glen which is somewhat near palos. I am not sure of the current status of those places.

Further south, I rode some pretty ok trails at Kickapoo just east of champaign urbana.

Working and riding with a local advocacy group will get you in on some local fun. You might also meet some people that would be willing to let you carpool out to some of the good stuff in WI or MI. I really liked the singletrack near wausau, WI at nine mile.

https://www.cambr.org/

double post whoops

A few miles north of Lake Geneva, WI, there are trails in the Kettle Morraine.

https://www.backyardbikes.com/Trails.asp

Depending on traffic and where in Chicago you are, this is perhaps a 2 hour drive.

Hey thanks I live about 10 minutes from deer grove and there are actually alot of really decent trails that branch off some you have to kinda create a path to get too but there are some good spots i discovered actually did a 5 hour ride there yesterday so its funny you mention that and thanks for the info on the chicago area bikers ill have to dig around there meet up with some people.

https://cambr.org/SMF/index.php?board=18.0

Palos Forest Preserve in Willow Springs is about as good as it gets here in Northern Illinois

Hey the CAMBr link was amazingly helpful found alot of people in my area and tons of good local information

I think www.mtbr.com has a trail review section. You should be able to find a decent list there. I ride at Comlara in Bloomington-Normal, which is decent but not worth a drive from Chicago unless you're desperate. I have heard a lot of good things about a couple trails in the Peoria area, but have not had the chance to get over there. There is a place near Peoria that has a good amount of DJ stuff, and a bunch of singletrack too, I think. Hope this helps, and definitely check the mtbr site, if only for a list of trails.

i think i have hit every trail on that whole place about a dozen times, just got my bike so we hit it hard this week. theres not a whole lot of other trails around here, There is quite a few nice single track trails there now whens the last time you went?

oh then you definitly need to get yourself back there theres a buntch of single track stuff there now, its really alot of fun. Nothing to terribly technical but good stuff none the less. ill try and get some pictures if the rain holds out today

https://www.flickr.com/photos/10958918@N02/ heres just a couple pictures of some stuff at deer grove I was riding solo today and kinda forgot to take more pictures but heres a couple

Go here at least once! You won't regret it I promise you.

https://cambr.org/SMF/index.php?topic...sg1313#msg1313

im thinking about going tommarow if the rain holds off everyone keeps telling me theres some killer trails there so im on top of it.

Not technical mountain biking, but I've always enjoyed riding the historic canal right-of-ways in Northern Illinois.

On my list of Things to Do In Illinois, there's a rails-to-trails ride in Southern Illinois that passes through a railroad tunnel. That's located in Tunnel Hill, south of Harrisburg, and the trail is 45 miles total.

-Bob

That's pretty cool to see the photos of Deer Grove. Like I said, I did some trailwork there with Turf - which was apparently renamed cambr. The trail we cleared was a perimeter. They had some problem with the inner gully area being totally torn up. bikes were almost banned. They had closed that area off and the perimeter development was a compromise. I am sure cambr has th current official details on access.

I lived in Itasca at the time, so going to Palos was not a whole lot more of a drive than deer grove. Palos is the place I did my first 'real' mt biking. I had been riding a mt bike on tame off path trails in busse woods for years before that. Palos was also the first place I started wearing a helmet. At the time I last rode it, there were some pretty steep gullys and a few good drop offs. Fairly advanced stuff I guess for such a generally flat area.

Try and get a trip in up to Wausau this summer. The singletrack is really worth the drive and the camping at rib mt state park is pretty nice. We also shuttled rib mt, but I am not sure if that is officially allowed.

I did the Chequamegon 40 ride a couple of times in the mid 90s. That is way way up north near cable/hayward, WI. The trails are great and vast up there, but it is a very long drive.

I also did a race in 95 at chestnut mt resort in Galena, IL. I am not sure what the mt biking policy is there, but at the time we were using the lifts with bikes and there was a good deal of trail around.

The rails to trails in the local chicagoland area are great for racking up miles which helps the overall endurance and time in the saddle.

The downtown lakeshore bike path has the best scenery near the beaches :-)

Well i was thinking about takeing a week and touring around wisconsin in a week or so actually and hayward wisconsin is my old stomping grounds, I spent every summer there for 14 years! So i would love to head back up there anyone feel like taking a roadtrip?!?! Im driving!