Its mostly flat, but ive found some. Most climbs in IL are short and steep.
Bull Valley: Steepest is the Wall on Valley Hill Drive, steepest ive found yet!> There are about 5 good ones in 4 mile stretch in Bull Valley.
Lake Geneva, WI: Lots of good ones. Killer Hill on Fontana Blvd west of Fontana is tough.
Barrington Hills: Braeburn has nice climb
Any more in Chicago Area? NW Burbs?
There’s a pretty tough climb on the Lakeshore path… net elevation gain is about 2 1/2 feet. Phew!
On a serious note, are any of the local IL/WI races besides Lake Geneva hilly? I’m planning on doing Lake Zurich and Pleasant Prarie for the first time this year.
Galena and Elkhart Lake are hilly, IMOO is hilly. Pigman 1/2 in Iowa has some hills. Ive heard that Pleasant Prairie and Lake Zurich are relatively flat.
When I used to live downtown I would ride in the am, I would go to shedd and do hill repeats up the walkway. Thats desperate.
There is a ride near Madison, WI (Horrible Hilly Hundreds) that has over 10,000ft of climbing. Some grades are ~15%. http://www.silentsports.net/horribly_hilly_hundreds.html
Lake Zurich is flat and fast. One of my favorite races.
Hey EJ you don’t know what steep hills are… too busy serving up good food to come out to CO and ride some really hills. If you do not know who this is - a couple of clues… Ex-VCR,(thank God), and I bought for a friend a lovely red bike from you??? Steep means 18% on Stagecoach in Boulder, and then some… GGW
I did Lake Zurich last year and it is a fast course with small rolling hills. I’m doing it this year again. This year, the course will be a full Oly distance. I actually live in Lake Zurich and its a 10 minute drive from my house to the Transition zone.
Try doing the Ups & Downs bike ride in Elizabeth, IL. There are 2 rides scheduled per year (Spring & Fall). Its nothing but hills. Beautiful countryside.
Paul
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Steep climbs in Chicago. That’s a joke, right?
The parking garage at 1st and Harrison 
.
As I tell my wife (who is from Barrington), those are not hills, those are moguls.
Then again, the only thing I currently have down here in Champaign are the highway overpasses.
I’ve been wondering…is it EJ as in EJ’s Place on Skokie Blvd. near Old Orchard? I freakin’ love that place. The Chicken Vesuvio is amazing! I have my parents take me there every time they are town (fortunately…or unfortunately for you, I am a broke grad student, otherwise I’d be eating there every night).
Oh, and to stay on topic. At Tower Road and Sheridan if you go down towards the tower near the lake there is a pretty steep but short. I do about 30-50 repeats on this and I am done (it’s about .1 miles long).
Sears Tower.
Baraboo range, near Devils Lake WI. Great climbs everywhere. Most of Chicago comes up here every weekend anyway.
I’ve been wondering…is it EJ as in EJ’s Place on Skokie Blvd. near Old Orchard? I freakin’ love that place. The Chicken Vesuvio is amazing! I have my parents take me there every time they are town (fortunately…or unfortunately for you, I am a broke grad student, otherwise I’d be eating there every night).
Oh, and to stay on topic. At Tower Road and Sheridan if you go down towards the tower near the lake there is a pretty steep but short. I do about 30-50 repeats on this and I am done (it’s about .1 miles long).
No, never heard of EJ’s or never sold a red bike. And i wouldnt mind living in Colorado, love to ski, love the mountains, but im here in IL looking for hills to climb.
Simulated hills are sometimes the best we can do - head into the wind and push a big gear.
Oh, you are serious. I think you have found most of them. I always thought Bull Valley was the best, and there is another hill off of Bull Valley whose name I can’t remember. There are a couple along the lake, such as in the parks in Winnetka, Fort Sheridan and Lake Forest, which are all pretty short. Snake Road in Lake Geneva is good. Better climbs are in the Galena area and near Madison, but each of those are a couple of hours.
Yeah…Snake Road is beautiful and hilly. Got a group heading out there tomorrow (Saturday) if you wanna tag along. We’ll be pulling out of Deerfield at 7 a.m. for about a 130+ mile ride and should be averaging 19-20 mph. The group is planning a sit-down lunch in Lake Geneva, but I’m going to pass on that and head home in the interest of time. Lemme know if you’re interested…
Im leaving palatine at about 5:30-6am. maybe ill see you in lake geneva. ive never ridden snake road so I’ll have to try it. When I ride around lake geneva I usually go down dodge and mcdonald and ride past lake como.
Cool…maybe we’ll see ya on the road. We’ll be coming into LG from the south on 120 and then turn left/west on Lake Shore/BB. Take Lake Shore around LG - through Fontana (up the mofo hill) and Williams Bay. Then, pick up Rte 50 - Snake Road is a right turn off of 50 - there’s a Rustic Road sign to let you know it’s coming. Snake Rd. hooks back up with 50 and takes you into town. I’ll probably hit the convenience store by the library and then make my way back home. If we happen to run into each other out there, perhaps we can trade pulls on the ride home.
I hope to get to LG around 9am. coming through backroads via bull valley - hebron - swamp angel to lake shore. should be wearing imwi jersey and black kestrel. not going back south, staying in LG.
have a good ride
ed