Chicago Cyling - Long Rides - Help Needed for Routes

Triathlon Forum
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Training for IMMT in August and I am struggling to come up with long ride routes here in the city.

Live in the loop / Bucktown area

I ride along the lakefront south to the US steel Plant on the Indiana border but cant really log quality miles until after the shedd but that only adds up to about 20 miles one way, looking for non stop 60-100 miles.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

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Come to the burbs. Just did 70 miles and saw maybe 10 cars max. Corn field rock go riding.

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I ride out with Velo Club Roubaix - based out of Highland Park area - here is a link to our web page with our routes - so many options - Barrington has some nice rollers which will be good for your race - hope this helps

https://www.vcrbikeclub.com/ride-maps-1/classic-maps/

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4

NR-

Where do you ride like that at?

grew up on South-side so I am familiar with suburb’s but not riding out there.

Thanks

5

Thanks for the link!

Great maps…could not find anything like this on the web, huge help.

Checking my schedule and looking to see when I can ride out there with everyone.

Thanks!!

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We have a Ride Director who sends out an email every week with the Sat and Sunday routes – if you look at our webpage it give the start times and locations - and you are welcome to come along - and as this is a roadie group - we try and only ride road bikes :slight_smile: Tks Graham
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I am actually looking at the maps now…thinking Sunday

I will email the director and join the group, the group has a lot to offer :slight_smile:

I only ride my road bike with groups, tri bike does not get taken out that much…more Zwift miles than road miles.

8

Early mornings (6am)
Ride to the lake path all the way to the end up north, take sheridan road all the way to Highland Park and back = 90km, great ride before going to work
You can keep going up north after highland park if you want to. very little traffic

Otherwise if you want something a bit more hardcore with cyclist and you are willing to be dropped = Judson Ride (teamjudson.com or find the group on facebook)

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Thanks Graham

I emailed the group.

For Sunday just bring my signed waiver?

What Pace do you guys hold? I’m not a monster like I’m sure alot of you guys are but I can hold a good safe pace.

Thanks for all the help

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That will be great - I am racing Sunday so will not be there but you can mention my name - We have two groups A and B - A generally rolls about 22- 23 Average and B Rolls about 19-20 ish – but often we have a combined ride Sunday and we start together and then split when the pace goes up. have fun

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Good luck with your race…not super hot weather but warm enough to over heat.

Thanks, Jeff

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There is a lot of good riding, but you have to be willing to commute out to the burbs. I used to live in Wicker Park and its one of the reasons we moved out to the suburbs so that I could ride from the door or with very little driving. If you start from Highland Park and the Skokie Valley Bike path there are good roads out west to McHenry and Bull Valley. From there you can easily get into southern Wisconsin and some hills. Check out the Blood, Sweat, and Tears Century maps. I’ve done this route a lot and explored many of the roads out there for the bulk of my training. There’s also the BCSC Ramble route which is another great place to go and only about a 45 minute drive from the city. There are multiple looped routes that all start from the same park adding up to 100+ miles with a moderate amount of hills.

Barrington is good spot for some hills, though too much traffic and too many stops for my taste. Burr Ridge/Waterfall Glen is another good area towards the southwest and you can link the Centennial trail with Lockport and Homer Glen roads. Plainfield out 55 is where most folks go now if you want dead flat cornfields with very little traffic.

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So you were in the same boat as me…Lakefront path even separated from bikes / runners is still dangerous

What is the BCSC Ramble route? I cant find a link or a page on this one and sounds perfect too

Thanks for the help!

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The ride up to the Botanic Gardens (and beyond) is pretty nice, and is only about 8-10miles of riding on Milwaukee from where you are

But I second needing to head out the the burbs - unfortunately that will add ~2hours to your day (45-60min each way). So 60-100 miles + 2 hour commute… you should probably just move :slight_smile:

I trained for long course triathlons in Chicago for 4 years… I have nothing but empathy for you. Moved out to Seattle last fall and am constantly in awe of all of the great riding around, and can also not believe I waited so long to get out of Chicago. In hindsight, Chicago is a pretty awful city to live in while trying to train on a bike, unless you train inside.

15

Up-to the gardens is a nice easy peaceful ride, i got the trail there in Edgebrook and scurry around

There is nothing easy with riding in Chicago and I don’t have the time or patience to drive that far out west, driving north is good (never great) but easier than going out west, Wisconsin riding is great but lake Geneva is expensive and like Chicago north

i will keep fighting the good fight and trying to scrape it together

thanks
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16

Yes, did it for years. Riding anywhere in the city isnt worth it except just for fun.

BCLC Ramble, sorry typo on my part - http://bikebclc.com/ramble-ride/

The organized ride starts in Wilmot and uses the white out and back maps, but I prefer driving to Veterans Park in Genoa City and using that as the base and making the white a single 30 mile loop. There are water fountains and usually other riding groups up there. All 4 loops start/terminate at the park and are well marked on the roads.

For my really long rides I would usually start in Highland Park and head west to McHenry, then ride north and link up on the Blue loop and stop at Veterans Park then return to HP via McHenry. It cuts down on the driving and is only about 20 minutes up in the morning but will take longer to get back in the afternoon with traffic.

Good luck!

17

Thanks!

I’m going to lake Geneva in a couple of weeks and was looking at trying to find some miles up there too and now I have them,…Huge score for me

Thanks again

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Thanks!

I’m going to lake Geneva in a couple of weeks and was looking at trying to find some miles up there too and now I have them,…Huge score for me

Thanks again

North of Lake Geneva is great as I rode that area for years. West gets flat if you need that. Ride through the Kettles and all the way to Douseman. Come on up to the Madison area for tremendous riding…

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Wow, your routes use a lot of the roads I was riding on over 30 years ago when I lived in Wauconda! From recent trips home and seeing how built up everything has gotten I would not have guessed that there would still be good routes around.

Rich