Author Archives: Rob

About Rob

Bike trail and long distance cyclist and publisher of about-bicycles.com

Fox River Trail Videos are Done.

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I just completed the Fox River Trail videos yesterday and have uploaded them to the About-Bicycles website and video pages.

Anyone who has been on this trail knows how long the trail is, which is why I have split the Fox River Trail (FRT) video into 2 sections. The entire video goes from south to north and the southern region video has from Oswego to just before the long bridges in South Elgin (approx 20 miles) and the northern region video has from South Elgin to Algonquin (approx 17 miles).

I have also camcorded from Algonquin to Genoa City Wisconsin on the McHenry County Prairie Trail but I have not edited and uploaded this video yet. Once I finish this one I will have video from Oswego to Wisconsin (I would estimate this to be about 70 miles 1 way)!

These videos are from 2 separate bike trips in close to the same time frame (both in July, 2009). I rode the northern section first (from Dundee to Genoa City Wisconsin and back (64 miles)) and the southern section (from Dundee to Oswego and back (70 miles))a week or so later. I recorded the southern section on the way back so all of the videos are from south to north. I took a few short side trips on the southern section trip so the 70 miles is a little higher than what it would be otherwise.

There is a break in the trail in Aurora and I went through downtown Aurora on Broadway (route 25) on the sidewalks. There may be other ways around this (like the Virgil Gilman trail) but I am not that familiar with this area so I just took the shortest distance through the gap.

There was some construction and detours on the trail, which I’ve reported in the “Trail Conditions” section of this blog but I have mostly cut out a lot of that info for the videos because that is constantly changing and I wanted the video to be what the trail is like without the detours (wherever it was possible to do that).

To be honest, the videos do not come out as nice as I would like, but since I have not found a good collection of bike trail videos (for the Chicagoland area) I wanted to get the videos completed and up on the site so people would have the option to see the trails , in a video, to check them out before riding them (or maybe even to reminisce on past trips).

I like to try and keep the action going and record while riding in most cases, but the video does get shakey especially when you are on rough parts of the trails. Perhaps a helmet cam or a camcorder with image stabilization would help, but I can not afford the upgrade at the moment and I didn’t want that to stop me from creating the videos.

I also have to keep using the same instrumental music (original songs of my own) that I have because I want to keep the videos completely legal and this gives me the option to have a music background without paying royalties or a one time usage fee. So the music may not be the greatest (I didn’t have the best recording equipment when I recorded it and it was not meant to be instrumental only), but it is quite unique!  

OK, now that you have ALL of the background scoop on the videos, here are the links to the videos!

The Fox River Trail – Southern Region

The Fox River Trail – Northern Region

I hope you like the videos!

Bike Ride Info: Use Local Weather Radar

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Here’s a very helpful bike riding hint/tip that I use all the time now and wanted to pass along: Check your local weather radar if you are concerned about rain before your next ride.

Many of you may already be aware of this or use this service regularly but for you riders out there that haven’t looked into checking your local weather radar before your rides I wanted to pass this on.

Checking your local weather radar before a fairly short ride (up to an hour or two ride) is extremely helpful. For longer rides (like most of the day), you’ll need to depend mostly on the local weather forecast or maybe check the radar for a much wider area.

This helps on a cloudy day or when it looks a little like rain and the forcast predicts some percentage chance of rain but you just don’t know if you will get soaked or not.

Checking the local weather radar is not 100% accurate at picking up a few sprinkles here and there but it is very accurate at locating heavier rain clouds. If you see a large area of green, yellow or red heading towards the area that you are planning your ride you can be pretty sure that you are going to get very wet. You can also judge how fast the rain is moving into your area by animating the radar map and checking the time frame of the updates.

On the other hand, if it is 100% clear on the radar you could still get a few sprinkles but you can be confident that you can take your ride and that you will not get totally soaked or probably not even get wet at all.

On some days, I have checked the radar and seen rain heading toward the area where I was planning to ride and have predicted, with great accuracy, when the rain would start. I could plan how far and how long I would ride  based on this information. I don’t mind a few raindrops on my ride but I really don’t like getting totally soaked to the point that I have to wring out my cloths after my ride!

I live in the Chicagoland are so I prefer the Chicago Tribune Weather Radar. You can also use the Weather Channel Website Radar  for just about any other location or you may have your own local or personal favorites. You’ll probably want to check a few weather radar websites out to see which ones are best for your area.

If you haven’t tried this before, give it a try. It really is quite helpful. Enjoy the ride…

Fox River Bike Trail Conditions – 2009

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We just did a 64 mile bike ride on the northern end of the Fox River Trail(FRT), from Dundee to Algonquin and including of the McHenry County Prairie Trail (PT) from Algonquin to Genoa City Wisconsin, yesterday.

This post is for the conditions on the Fox River Trail. There is no construction, flooding, detours or washouts in the northern part of  the FRT (from Dundee north) at this time.

7/30/09 – Update

I rode the remaining southern part of the Fox River Trail (from Oswego to Dundee) yesterday. There is no flooding at this time but there are a number of detours and pending construction plans that you should be aware of.

The main construction and detours that you should be aware of as you go from south to north are:

Bridge Construction in Aurora – There is some major highway work being done on a bridge that the trail passes under near Aurora. The trail is open and the construction is fenced off but it looks like they could close it temporarily if necessary.

Trail Closed and Bridge Out, South Elgin – The stone bridge that goes over the river and under

Stone Bridge Closed

Stone Bridge Closed

 the train tracks around South Elgin has a big section missing and the trail before and after the bridge is closed. I went through the closed section to explore and was able to get by (very carefully) but this could change at any time and I can’t recommend going through this because it could be dangerous. There may be an easy detour around this but I didn’t take the detour so I can’t say.

Detours in St. Charles – There are some detours as you go through St. Charles but they are marked and not that much more difficult than going through St. Charles without the detours.

Detours in Elgin – There are some detours as you go through Elgin but this is pretty typical and the detours are marked.

Trail Closures for Stearns Road Bridge Project – There are large signs just north of the long bridges in south Elgin that say that they are building a new highway bridge over the Fox River and that parts of the trail will be closed from the end of July 2009 through December 2010 (all of next summer!). There may be a temporary detour but nothing specific was mentioned.

Stearns Road Bridge Construction

Stearns Road Bridge Construction

The signs refer the www.stearnsroad.com website which I visited and it gives a lot of information on the roads but nothing specific about the bike trail. There was also an email address posted and I have sent an email to this address requesting more information about the “temporary detour”. I will post an update here if/when I receive anything on this. The website said “The Fox River bike trail is set to be closed from South Elgin to the John J. Duerr Forest Preserve beginning 8/3/2009.”

I don’t get out to this trail all that often so if anyone has updates please feel free to add comments to this post.

McHenry County Prairie Trail Conditions – 2009

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We just did a 64 mile bike ride on the northern end of the Fox River Trail (FRT), starting in Dundee, and including of the McHenry County Prairie Trail (PT) starting in Algonquin and ending in Genoa City Wisconsin, yesterday.

This post is for the conditions on the Prairie Trail. There’s no construction, detours or  other problems on this trail at this time. The trail is mostly crushed stone except for the northern end which becomes more of a dirt road and is pretty rugged.

There are some indentations from horse hooves on part of the trail which makes it a little bit rougher than usual but that is not a long section and it is not all that bad.

FYI: We also branched off on to the Hebron Trail at the northern end of the PT but we only rode that trail for about a mile. The first mile is very loose gravel and not nice to ride on at all.

Busse Woods Bike Trail Video

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Alright, The Busse Woods Bike Trail Video is complete and has been uploaded to the About-Bicycles website!

I just rode and recorded this trail two days ago. Fortunately, I have had the time to put the video together already and I actually think that this is the best bike trail video that I have done so far (well, I would hope that I would be getting better as I do more).

It was a pretty nice day when I recorded the video (a little cloudy but still very acceptable) and I think I have gotten better at the video transitions between scenes. Actually, I think I will back track and redo the transitions that I did in some of the earlier videos because each transition is unique and the transition fx should fit and be used sparingly.

The other thing that worked out very well with this video is the sound track. I don’t have the time or resources to hire a band or orchestra and sound engineer to synchronize the sound track to the movie so I just have to use what I have available. In this case, it is my instrumental recordings (done on a 4 track recorder quite a few years ago).

Well, I added the songs/sound tracks that I had in the order that I liked for each video scene and somehow it ended up being very well synchronized with the video!

If you watch the entire video the music does sync up very well with the video. Unfortunately, based on the Google Analytics statistics that I use for my website I see (based on the average time on each video page) that most people skip through the videos and do not watch them all the way through.

Well, it is asking a lot to have people that are surfin the web to stop and watch an entire 15 minute video but if some of you do, and if you are really into cool bike trails, I think you will enjoy this one. Even if you just check out a few minutes here and there, I still think this one came out pretty well.

I guess this post has gotten a little long and a little technical but I think that some of you may want the inside scoop behind the videos 🙂

OK, here ya go… Here’s the Busse Wood Bike Trail Video!

Busse Woods Trail Conditions – 2009

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Well I just rode the Busse Woods trail today and the entire trail is open and there is no construction or detours.

I rode the main “red” trail, the “black” trail (the northern branch that goes out to Golf Road), and the “purple” trail that branches out to Alexian Hospital and the Elk Grove Community Bridge (Over Route 53/355).

FYI: I also brought my camcorder and video taped this trail so I will be adding this one to the growing list of bike trail videos very soon. This particular post is dedicated to the condition of the trail so I will add a new post once the video has been edited and uploaded to the website.

For more information on this trail and the trail photos see The Busse Woods Bike Trail. It was a beautiful day when I did the original photos of this trail so there are quite a few nice photos of this trail and I also took the exact same route for the bike trail video (starting at the Elk Heard).

Algonquin Road / Paul Douglas Bike Trail Conditions – 2009

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SEE COMMENTS TO THIS POST FOR THE LATEST UPDATES.

I just rode the Algonquin Road and Paul Douglas Bike Trails today (7/15) and there is construction going on in many places in the “new” trail sections (around Paul Douglas forest preserve and just past Penny Road through the Crabtree preserve).

I guess that the new trail is still under warranty 🙂 (It’s been less than a year since it’s been open).

As of today, there are about 5 patches of construction between Ela Road and the Grassy Ridge Meadow forest preserve entrance. The area that used to flood (along Freeman/Huntington Roads just north of  Lakewood) is closed and there are a few more patches on the western end of the trail starting at Penny Road.

Trail Closed north or Lakewood on Huntington/Freeman

Trail Closed north of Lakewood along Huntington/Freeman

I didn’t have my camera but got a shot of the construction area with my phone camera.

I think this may actually be a very good thing especially if they fix the area that floods just north of Lakewood.

I did walk around the trail closed signs to see what they were doing in that area and the path is completely removed (to gravel) but I did not see any new bridges or drainage pipes under the trail. I am hoping that they have just not gotten to that yet.

It is still possible to ride the entire trail but the construction patches slow you down although you can easily walk around or sometimes ride around the areas being worked on.

You must detour around the area along Hunington/Freeman just north of Lakewood (this is an easy detour of about 1/10th of a mile on Hunington/Freeman, which is fairly wide and there is not that much traffic in that area.

If you would like more information or to see the photos or video of this trail, see The Algonquin Road Trail.

I am very close to this trail so I will ride it occasionally and post updates when I have them.

Bike Trail Info from Satellite and Aerial Images

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Since we are right in the middle of prime bike riding season, I wanted to pass along some helpful information about checking out bike trails for those of you who may not have already discovered these methods.

Many of us bike trail riders already know some good resources on the internet or are pretty good at finding basic bike trail information (like trail distances, surfaces, trail heads, maps, etc.) through the general search engines.

Once you have found a trail that you would like to ride and ready to go to the next level, I have found that checking out the trail with the satellite and aerial options that are available through sites like Mapquest or Trails.com or with Google Earth can be very helpful (I believe that there may even be more sites with these options now, but these are the ones that I am most familiar with).

There is no shortage of websites that have the basic bike trail information for popular trails (although many of the smaller or out of the way trails are often overlooked) and this website has some good first hand trail information, photos and now even videos of bike trails in the Chicagoland area  (as well as some in Wisconsin and other places) and you will probably want to check out this info for new trails that you are considering or new sections or branches of trails that you may have already been on.

If you are planning a fairly long bike trail ride or really want to check into the surrounding terrian then the satellite images really come in handy. I prefer the sites that add street names when you zoom in to the area that you are interested in.

Printed bike trail maps are great and are a good starting point and it’s nice to keep them with you on a long ride or on a ride in an unfamiliar area. I have found it best to scan a copy of my favorite map and just keep the 8×10 copy with me on my bike because then I don’t have to fold my map to the right area and wear out my map on every ride.

So the printed maps are definately beneficial but there is just way too much information that is not available on the printed maps that can be very obvious with the satellite/aerial images. It takes a little time to research, but once you have zeroed in on the trail that you are planning to ride and have zoomed in to the levels that you like, this option will give you a lot of great information before (or after) exploring new bike trails.

Well, I hope you have found this little update helpful. Enjoy those new trails and your rides!

Palatine Trail and Deer Grove Bike Trail Video

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Alright, I have another bike trail video posted to the site! This one is the Palatine Trail and Deer Grove Trail videos.

I have been on a roll with the bike trail videos. I recorded the last 2 videos while the weather was nice and went into “the lab” to download, edit, format and update the website with the new videos on the rainy days.

I actually recorded this one before the Green Bay/McClory video but I did the editing on the Green Bay video first (since it was a longer trip and trail(s)).

The Palatine and Deer Grove trails connect at Dundee Road and I often ride them together so I combined the video for the 2 trails together. The distance that I rode on the trails was approximately 13 miles.

Deer Grove also has a lot of “mountain” or unpaved trails but I just stuck to the main paved trail for this video, although I did video tape the very beginning of one of the unpaved trails.

Well the bike trail video format should be familiar to you now (for those of you that have seen the other videos on this site). So here’s a link to the new bike trail video.

The Palatine and Deer Grove Bike Trail Video

For a new twist on my old saying: Enjoy the Virtual Ride!

Green Bay and Robert McClory Bike Trail Video

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As I promised a few blog posts back I have completed and uploaded the Green Bay Trail and Robert McClory Bike Trail Videos!

The videos are really new since I just took them on 7/7/9. I had a little time to put the video together, render the video flash file and upload it to the website so I completed this one fairly quickly.

You can now find the new bike trail video from either of the bike trail pages on this site or directly at this link: Green Bay and Robert McClory Bike Trail Video.

The video tour starts in Wilmette and goes to the Great Lakes Metra Station (just north of Lake Bluff).

I used much of the same original instrumental music background as I did on the last video (The Algonquin Road Bike Trail Video) since I own the copyrights on the songs and it is just way easier that way. I used a slightly different selection and order of the songs.

Now that I have a few bike trail videos out there, I have added a video icon to the bike trail pages for the trails that have videos and have also added a completely new Bike Trail Videos Page so there are a number of different ways to find and access the bike trail videos on this website.

As for a little background on the videos in general, I am trying to put together a good number of videos of the bike trails in the Chicagoland area to have all in one location and in a consistent format.

As for the Green Bay and Robert McClory bike trail videos specifically, I’ll let you in on a little “behind the scenes scoop” on some technical difficulties that I had with the video (even though it is embarrassing).

I missed most of the first 9 minutes of my trip (north of Wilmette to somewhere in Winnetka). Somehow I got out of sync with the camcorder. It makes a beep every time that you press the record/standby button but I wasn’t looking in the viewfinder to read what was saying. So every time I thought that I was recording it was in standby mode and every time I thought that it was in standby mode it was recording!!!

Arrrgh!I lost all of the stuff that I wanted to record and recorded my legs pedaling mostly!!! I got back in sync somewhere in Winnetka and was OK after that. I managed to salvage some of that video mostly via some still pictures in the video.

So now when you see that section, you will know that it was not some creative artistic inspiration but a technical corretion :-(.

I hope you enjoy the video.