So I moved to Chicago a few months ago and sooner or later warmer weather will arrive. Can anyone suggest good places to ride on the weekends? I recognize that most (if not all?) decent rides will require me to drive out of the city and I’m okay with that. I just really don’t know where to go and I’d rather not drive any further than necessary.
Also, any info on the XXX racing group ride out of Wicker Park on Sat mornings? Decent group? Safe route?
Thanks.
Cheers,
Matt
I vaguely remember someone asking this exact same question not too long ago. The search might help ya out.
Where in Chicago?
My previous post asked about the best triathlons around Chicago…
Did a search earlier this evening and didn’t come up with anything.
Near Clark and Division. Any thoughts?
For really good riding, I would suggest you come out of the city to go long. Great northwest areas to ride include Barrington, Long Grove, Bull Valley, and my personal favorite is to ride up to and around Lake Geneva. Don’t get me wrong, the lakefront is awesome but it gets very congested and dangerous. The locations that I mentioned also have some great hills and there are many groups that you can hook up and ride with.
Good luck!
Jeff
The link S~ provided has a bunch of good routes - I’m in the Chicago Tri Club, and a lot of people do the Barrington route on weekends, very popular with cyclists.
Me, I do most of my riding in/around Huntley - or, rather, that’s my starting point, and then I just ride country roads ad nauseum. If you’re not sure where to start, you can check out some maps on the McHenry County Bike Club website: http://www.mchenrybicycleclub.info/ I usually do some variation of the Udder Century route, but I start in Huntley. The roads are flat, fast, empty, few stops. It seems like Huntley is out in bumblef*$k, but when there’s no traffic, it only takes 45 minutes to get out there from the city as it’s all highway. And at 5AM on a Saturday or Sunday…there’s no traffic.
As for XXX, I have a friend who rides with them - I’ll find his email and PM you. He’s a nice guy, ergo they must all be nice guys. 
From what I hear, XXX is a great group to hook up with. If you’re looking for other options further north, check out www.vcrbiketeam.com They have some great rides, and nice maps available at the club website. We ride out of Deerfield or Lake Forest. I also second the motion for the ride up to and around Lake Geneva - just beautiful - I can get you a cue sheet for a 105 mile loop out of the Gurnee area, if you don’t mind driving a bit. Barrington and Bull Valley offer some great riding and hills as well. P.S. - check out the Udder Century for a terrific early season century.
Mike
Jeff,
Thanks for the great information! I tried the lakefront a few weeks ago and realized, as I suspected, that it isn’t a good place for fast riding.
Matt
Mike,
Thanks for your help. That is a good website!
I’d appreciate the cue sheet for the century loop out of Gurnee if you get a chance. I’ll pm you.
Matt
PM me when you want to ride in the north west suburbs. Barrington, LOng Grove and Bull Valley. I will be out there every weekend. You can get all the maps and dirextions to those rides athe chicagotriclub site.
Just be careful as we are all triathletes and don’t handle the bikes very well.
Lakefront is a great place to run. Riding there pretty much blows.
Good Luck,
Paul
If you are looking for the best bike shop in town look below.
Jeff,
Thanks for the great information! I tried the lakefront a few weeks ago and realized, as I suspected, that it isn’t a good place for fast riding.
Matt
It’s been a good 5 years or so since moving out of the city but when I lived there I would do some of my weekday rides along the lakefront at 5am. I had no problems with crowds.
Like others have said, getting out of the city is best for the long rides.
There’s also some great organized rides starting soon. Great way to meet people and they are supported rides. Great website to check out the up and coming organized ride schedule:
they are riding all winter in SLO 
.