Author Archives: Rob

About Rob

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

Old Plank Road Trail Ride

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We found a really nice south western Chicagoland bike trail this past fall and I am finally getting around to posting the last of the 2015 riding season photos and ride reports. Old Plank Road Trail Arc h in Frankfort

It is looking like 2016 riding season will be here real soon now (with these 60s in February!) so I’ll be busy riding and collecting new photos and trail information soon.

Anyway, as you can see from this blog post title, we rode the Old Plank Road Trail (OPRT) this past fall (in October). We rode a total of 44 miles on the OPRT and on the trail through the Hickory Creek Preserve but we were just a little early for the new trail extension that they just completed that now connects the OPRT with the Thorn Creek Trail (in case you want to add even more miles to your ride on these trails).

This trail is paved and mostly straight (east and west mostly) and flat although if you want a hilly, curvy ride, the trail that goes through the Hickory Creek Preserve will give you that.

I have ridden many more trails north and west of Chicago and in Wisconsin than I have in the southern Chicagoland area but there are some good trails Down South too! I also like exploring new areas too.

So for a very nice trail south and west of Chicago ~ between Joliet and Chicago Heights ~ check out the Old Plank Road Trail.

For the Maps, including the GPS map of our ride and for the photos and ride report, see our new Old Plank Road Trail pages here.

Stay tuned for the New 2016 Trails and Ride Reports coming soon…

Southern Wisconsin Bike Trails ~ Chicagoland Day-Trips

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Well now that it is freezing cold here in Chicagoland and not even close to riding weather (for me anyway), I finally got a chance to update our website with the bike trail information and photos from the Southern Wisconsin Bike Trails that we rode this past riding season.

Kenosha Bike Trail, Lake Michigan

A section of the Kenosha Bike Trail along Lake Michigan

I was looking for some new bike trails last year and wanted to find some that were still within day-trip distance from where we live ~ in Chicagoland. I succeeded and found some really nice trails that were not too far and, a few that ran right along Lake Michigan.

Although I had ridden the Kenosha Bike Trail before, I rode some different parts of the trail this past year and also on some of the connecting trails including the Root River Trail and the Racine County Bike Trail.  See the Root River, Racine Trail Pages for details and photos of this ride.

We rode these trails on August 1st (2015) and just happened to be there at the same time as Taste of Wisconsin and the Pike River Rendezvous at Simmons Island Park both in Kenosha on that weekend so that was really quite a fun ride and trip.

In the spring, we rode the White River Bike Trail that runs out of Burlington, Wisconsin. There is one branch of this trail that heads out of Burlington going west and one branch that goes east. We rode both of them for a total of 35 miles. See the White River Trail Pages for the details on this trail.

Later in the fall we rode the Oak Leaf Trail near the town of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I just posted the pages and photos from this ride today. This was a nice 32 mile ride that also included some parts of the path along Lake Michigan.

Oak Leaf Trail at Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan and Milwaukee as seen from the Oak Leaf Trail

The Oak Leaf Trail photo that I’ve included here shows a faint view of the Milwaukee skyline (in the distance and through the mist) from a view of Lake Michigan on the northern part of the trail.

See the Oak Leaf Trail pages for the ride report, photos and details of this trail.

We also took a trip in the other direction (south) and rode the Old Plank Trail out of Mokena, Illinois. This was a much nicer ride than I thought it would be but I do not yet have the details and photos for this ride posted yet… So Stay Tuned!

Wisconsin White River Trail and Kenosha Trail Rides

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Well I have been putting in some bike miles for this season but have not had a lot of time to update the about-bicycles blog here with all the latest… Until Now!

I am writing this article to let you know about some Southern Wisconsin Bike Trails that I have just discovered or trails that I have ridden in the past and for which I have just now posting the photos and ride reports.

White River Trail Bridge

White River Trail and the bridge over the White River

The first trail that I would like to mention is the White River Trail (WRT)  that heads east and west out of Burlington, Wisconsin. Both sections of this trail go into Burlington but they do not actually connect to each other although you could probably find a way to get from one to the other through the town of Burlington.

You can, however connect to the Seven Waters Trail (SWT) which heads northeast out of Burlington from the East Leg of the WRT. I did not get a chance to ride the SWT but we did ride both sides of the WRT just last month (June 2015).

This was a 38 mile ride and you can find all the details here on the new White River Trail pages. You will find the first-hand ride report, maps and photos of scenes along the trail on these new trail pages.

Kenosha Bike Trail

Kenosha Bike Trail on Lake Michigan

Next, I would like to let you know about the new trail pages that I just posted for our ride on the Kenosha Bike Trail (KBT) and Pike Bike Trail (PBT) in Kenosha, Wis.These are some nice bike trails along Lake Michigan just over the Wisconsin border.

We actually rode these trail in July of 2010 and I took a batch of photos but kind of forgot to upload the photos and ride report for this one :-(. So sorry, this ride is from a few years back but it was a very nice ride back then and I’m sure it still is. I would like to ride this one again and continue on to some of the connecting trails.

You can find our ride report and photos for The Kenosha Bike Trails here.

So if you are looking for some nice Wisconsin Bike trails within easy driving distrance from the Chicagoland area, these are a couple of good options.

Like the old cowboy used to say… Happy Trails to You ♫ …

New Prairie Trail Tunnel, Route 31 in Algonquin

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I did a short ride on the Fox River and McHenry Co Prairie Trails this past weekend from West Dundee to Crystal Lake and got a chance to see and ride the new trail in Algonquin at Route 31.

New Prairie Trail Tunnel

Prairie Trail Tunnel Under 31

This actually threw me off at first because I was so used to crossing route 31 and riding the trail on the west side of the road. So that is what I did on the way north since this is the way I took when the trail was under construction.

It was a bad way to go and seemed like it was still under construction but when I finally got to the actual trail again I realized that the trail now winds around then goes under Route 31 and alongside the road on the east side now.

It would be nice if they had a sign there to let you know which way to go when you are heading north but now that I’ve done it (and made my mistake on the way north) I will know how to do it next time.

I thought that this change was noteworthy so I took some photos of the new part of the trail and posted them on this site.

You can see the New 2015 Prairie Trail Route 31 Intersection here.

I also updated my Fox River Trail and Prairie Trail pages to include a link to the new intersection. These bike trail pages and photos are from 2003 and I have left the original pages in place since they are almost historical now (or just old…).

Also, who says you can’t travel through time? Well, it might be tricky physically but you can easily travel to the past with PHOTOS!

Since you have to go back and forth between the old and new bike trail pages to compare how this intersection looked in the Past and in the Present (2003 and 2015), I have also included a Prairie Trail Route 31 Past and Present page here.

As for the trail conditions, there was no problem on the Fox River Trail heading north from West Dundee and once you get on the Prairie Trail, the trail is in great shape from Algonquin to Crystal Lake. This section is all new blacktop and provides a nice, smooth ride.

Heart-Rate Settings on the Garmin 800

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The first thing that I planned on mentioning here is simply that the settings for Heart-Rate Zones in the Garmin 800 GPS Bike computer are not where you might expect them to be.

Garmin Edge 800

Garmin Edge 800

I have had my Garmin 800 GPS unit for a couple of years now and have not reset the heart-rate zones since I got it. Well, since these zones are mostly based on age I knew that they were out of date and decided to reset them.

I’m sure this information is in the manual somewhere and I obviously had checked that when I first set it but it is NOT intuitive and was not where I expected it to be.

It seemed logical to me that you would set the heart-rate zones in the > User Profile section but that is not where you make the setting. You actually change the heart-rate settings in > Bike Settings (then down arrow) > Heart Rate.

The User Profile includes Gender, Age, Weight, Height and Activity Class. Since I could not find the heart-rate setting at first I thought that changing these parameters might change your heart-rate zones (seemed logical to me anyway).

So I made some changes here and went out for a ride to check my new 90% workout zone. I expected a change since I changed my age and activity class (from 45 min workout time a week to 1 to 3 hours per week which is much closer for me (if not even a little low).

HR Monitor

HR Strap

Next I go out to my first hill and push myself up to the 90% zone and check my heart-rate. Well, it was exactly the same as it was before. So just to check the settings I set my User profile to a 20 Year old, 150 lbs and workout time of over 15 hours a week!

So I find the next hill and start racing again to get my heart-rate up. No change… Well I tried resetting the trip setting then turning the unit off completely and on again… Another hill… another 90%+ heart-rate… No change!!!

OK, I finally decided that this information made no difference in the unit’s heart-rate zones and was totally exhausted after my ride.

BTW: You can set the heart-rate zones as I described above but the only way to see where how they are actually set (the heart-beat rates) you need to go out and ride and see what happens.

Anyway, when you track down where to make the heart-rate changes ~ under > Bike Settings (then down arrow) > Heart Rate > Heart Rate Zones. ~ you can set your Maximum HR, Resting HR and the method that you want to use to calculate the rates for each zone.

This lead me into a little more research on calculating Maximum Heart-Rate and decided to change my calculation from the easy and popular method (220 – your age) to what I believe may be a little more accurate formula that I found on the Wikipedia Heart Rate page.

I am now using the Robergs and Landwehr method where: HRmax = 205.8 − (0.685 × age)

They say you really need to do a Stress Test to get an accurate Max HR but, since I am not going to go out and pay for a stress test just to get my max hr, I like the method above since it yields a little higher ranges (than the 220-age method) and I think that fits me a little better.

When I originally got my Edge 800 I mostly wanted to upgrade my bike computer and even thought that the navigation would be really cool. I wasn’t that interested in the Heart-Rate monitor but I have since found this to be one of the features that I use the most with this unit.

I still love this GPS bike computer and all of its features. For a little more information specifically on the Edge 800 see our Garmin Edge 800 page on this site.

 

Flooding on the Paul Douglas Trail in the Usual Place

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We have had enough nice days here in the Chicagoland area to get out and start accumulating some bike miles now. I only have a little over 100 miles for this season myself and have only been out on my local trails so far this year.

Riding through the flood in Paul Douglas Preserve

Riding the Flood Out

Speaking of local trails, I have ridden the trail through the Paul Douglas Preserve a few times this year and as of yesterday there was some flooding again in the usual place, in the stretch that runs along side of Hunting Freeman Road.

I did not have my DSLR camera with me but my wife and I had our phones, as usual, of course, so I figured I would get some photos of the flood and my wife even got some shots of me riding through the flooded area. It was only about 6 inches deep and I was having a little fun (keeping my feet out of the water in the photo above).

Keeping feet dry pedaling through flooded trail

Keeping my feet dry another way

You could actually ride through the flooded area, without getting your feet wet if you did it the right way, as I did in the next photo. If you do not have a long distance to go through the flood you can keep both pedals mostly parallel to the ground and just do short, partial pedal strokes going back and forth (pedaling a little forward then a little back, then a little forward again, etc…). It works for a short distance and is better than doing full strokes and totally submerging your feet in the water (assuming you want to stay dry). I also noticed that this works best in a little higher gear.

There were a few other wet places on the trail but you could just ride around the water in the other places. Other than that the trail was in pretty good condition.

There were a few places where there was a lot of gravel debris where the trail is close to the roads and the snow was plowed on to the trail and a some small branches and sticks in the trail.

I did my duty and cleared a few larger branches off of the trail where the trail turns at Central and Roselle Roads.

For more information on many of the trails in our area, see our main Bike Trails page. You can also browse this blog using the “Bike Trail Conditions” Category of just use the local search to find the trail that you are interested in.

As usual, enjoy the ride!

Some Indoor Cycling Q&A Emails

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In my last post I mentioned that I would be posting my recent Indoor Cycle (aka Spin Bike) Q&A email string and so here it is. This conversation was from November of this year.

Subject: Indoor cycle

hello , I stumbled across your site looking for a spin bike. I am rehabbing a broken heel/ sprained ankle and need a good value bike. I was looking at the proform 320 spx ($300) and schwinn ic2 ($500) or proform 315 ic   Which would you recommend   As I have no idea. Thanks.

 

My Reply

It looks like you have narrowed down your search to the best spin bikes in low cost range. As for the 3 that you’ve listed here there are a few things to consider.

Proform 320 SPX Indoor Cycle

Proform 320 SPX

 

The Proform 320spx does not come with a console (the other 2 do) so if you like to keep track of your stats, you would probably want one of the other models. If you don’t really need the stats then the 320 is a very solid bike in its price range and a good selection.

 

The Proform 315ic is a nice bike and has a nice console but the handlebar shape is different than the other 2 so if you have a preference on hand positions you might want to consider that. I have a view of the 2 handlebar types towards the bottom of this page: http://www.about-bicycles.com/exercise-bike-reviews/proform-320SPX-IndoorCycle.html

 

Finally the Schwinn IC2 has a nice console and has the pitchfork shaped handlebars (as I sometimes refer to them) but it is a little more expensive than the 2 Proform models (although you can get it online more like $400 instead of $500 see this page for the online sources: http://www.about-bicycles.com/exercise-bike-reviews/schwinn-ic2-indoor-cycle.html  Amazon is probably better then Bowflex though since they usually have better (usually free) shipping). I’m not a big fan of the plastic water bottle holder on the handlebars of the IC2 but some people like it right there and easy to grab (another personal preference).

 

Sorry that I don’t have 1 single best recommendation because it depends on your preferences. You have selected 3 very good low cost models though and I hope I have at least pointed out a few things to help you with your decision…

 

Good luck on the spin bike and with your recovery

 

Rob.

*Note: We do not give out any personal or confidential information in any form. The above information includes only the exchange of relevant product information between about-bicycles.com and one of our website visitors who shall remain anonymous.

 

Recumbent Exercise Bike Q&A Emails

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Here we are in x-mas shopping and exercise bike season already. I had some additional bike trail photos and information from some of my late season rides but since outdoor riding season is pretty much over for most of us here (in the mid-west anyway), I will save that info for next season.

Horizon Recumbent Bike

Horizon Comfort-R

I get quite a few emails regarding different kinds of fitness bikes (this time of year especially) and I have decided to share some of my recent and most relevant fitness bike email discussions here since there is some good information exchanges in these email strings.*

All personal information, information not relevant to the recumbent bike discussion and time sensitive pricing information here has been removed…

The email string below is from late July of this year and although the manufacturer’s have come out with newer models just recently (I will be getting to that in a future post), you can currently get these models at very good prices.

OK, that is enough of an intro,  here is our Recumbent Exercise Bike email Q&A discussion:

Subject: great site for exercise bikes…

Hello Rob,
need a good recumbent for my workouts.
Here’s what I gleaned from your site so far:

These products and links were referred to and included at the end of the email…

About me…biker/recumbent trips in Europe/injured knee so biking is good for the knee. 178 #s 6′ tall. All of the below are highly rated on your site and around the same price point. Do you have any that stand out? (ps my wife has a Horizon machine for elliptical workout. We had a problem with it and they fixed it for no cost, so the company sounds good too.

Thanks, John

My Initial Reply…

Hi John,

I do believe that the 4 recumbents that you listed below are all very good quality bikes at good prices.

The NordicTrack GX5.0 is from Icon Fitness (makers of NordicTrack and Proform among other brands) and the other 3 (the Livestrong and Horizon models) are from Johnson Fitness.

The NordicTrack GX5.0 is comfortable and has quite a few extra features including the option to load the iFit software if you like the latest technology options. The iFit option is pretty cool but it does cost $99 for a 1 year subscription. Even without iFit, the NT GX5.0 still has a lot of built in console options.

The Livestrong 6.0R is a very high quality and sturdy bike with a nice console that has a USB port allowing you to add more programs and workouts when you choose. The Livestrong bikes, from Johnson Fitness have always been great bikes but, unfortunately, since the Lance Armstrong scandal, Johnson Fitness has stopped selling most of these bikes in the US. This bike used to sell for $999 (before the Lance Armstrong thing) so it is a great deal at Amazon while it lasts. I like the ventilated seat back on this bike but some people prefer the more cushioned seat back like on the NordicTrack.

The Horizon Comfort-R is brand new this year and has a newer console display with graphical heart-rate wheel display to easily track your heart-rate and this bike has a comfortable, ergonomic design.   The Horizon RC30 has been around for quite a while and has always been a popular model. This bike sells for a great price these days. The only thing that I would mention about the RC30 is that, since it is an older model, it has an older console and does not have a music player jack and speakers like all the other models that you’ve mentioned.

NordicTrack has good sales at this time of year and if you do choose one of the Horizon models be sure to use the discount code on my site to get 10% off on your purchase. This is a legit discount that I was allowed to use after I met with the managers and product specialists on a trip that I made to Johnson Fitness in Cottage Grove Wis. recently.

As for your trips, touring Europe on a recumbent sounds excellent! I have visited parts of Europe but have never had the opportunity to ride there. I have also ridden a few of my friends bents and I really like them. I almost got one last year but had to tighten my budget and have not gotten one yet. I still hope to though. If you have read a few of my blog posts, you know that I really enjoy the Tour de France which is going on now. Some of the stages on the TDF look spectacular. I love the mountain stage scenery although personally I like riding more in the flat lands.

Anyway, I hope you found some of the info above helpful. With the bikes that you mentioned above I think it is mostly a matter of deciding which features you prefer….

Follow-up 1

Rob, thanks for your information and website. Just back from a ride on my recumbent RANs bike…very nice and you can get them on ebay used…I highly recommend.

Just did a bunch of research and here’s what I found: … the Livestrong has a seat problem that they fixed about a year ago, but only place to buy is Amazon or Ebay (Johnson store). Probably not get that one….

The woman on the phone likes the Horizon RC 30 better than the comfort R but also recommended I look at AFG2.0AR since it is same pricing from Johnson as the Comfort R.

 

Last Reply  

Hi John,

Thanks for the input on the RAN recumbent and eBay. I will put that on my list to check when I am able to finally get a recumbent.

… I also didn’t know about the seat problem on the Livestrong model. I hope they did actually get that resolved because the 6.0R is otherwise a very nice bike…

I would have a hard time making the choice between the RC30 and AFG2.0AR. They are fairly comparable in many ways. The RC30 sells for much less than the AFG2.0AR on my site but that is based on the price on the Horizon site (with my 10% discount) compared to the AFG bike at Amazon…

It would be best to try out both models side by side but both brands are a little hard to find in B&M stores. I tried both models at Johnson Fitness and the Horizon models are sold at HHGregg stores (if you have them by you) and the AFG models can sometimes be found in Sears stores. I thought that the AFG might just feel a little mode sturdy but that is pretty subjective. I liked the straight bar for the upper handle bars on the Horizon a little better than the curved bars on the AFG but personally I prefer the lower handlebars by the seat most of the time anyway.

Well, that’s about all the thoughts that I have on these bikes Sorry that I don’t have more details or insight but maybe something that I mentioned here could be helpful.

Good luck,

Rob.

Regarding the Horizon Fitness Bike 10% off coupon, this offer is still valid on any Horizon Fitness Bike. See the Horizon links above for information on this discount code.

I will be posting an Indoor Cycle (aka Spin Bike) Q&A Email discussion next so stay tuned…

Rob.

*Note: We do not give out any personal or confidential information in any form. The above information includes only the exchange of relevant product information between about-bicycles.com and one of our website visitors who shall remain anonymous.

The Old School and Des Plaines River Trails

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I rode the Des Plaines River Trail (DPRT) once again last month and this time I brought my camera and explored some of the trails that intersect the DPRT too. I explored some of the paths through the Old School Forest Preserve and also through Wright Woods.

My friend, and excellent photographer, Dale, came with me with his camera too so we got some pretty decent photos of these trails on this quick late summer ride. Dale has been creating some HDR (high dynamic range) photos recently and I have posted some of these on the photo pages for this ride.

Woods along the Old School TrailBefore I will get to the link to the new DPRT photo pages I wanted to mention that I rearranged all of the photo pages by newest to oldest rides since the old photo pages are from a long time ago and the photo quality is not nearly as good as the newer ones.

Also I wanted to mention that with all these high quality photos the one that I selected for this blog is a photo that I took with my iPhone and that also caught some sun glare through the trees. The reason that I selected this one is because I liked the panoramic view (which is real easy to do with my phone) and I liked the way the sun shined through the trees on this part of the Old School Trail.

Once again, the DPRT is a great trail and the intersecting trails ~ the Old School Trail and Captain Daniel Wright Woods Trail in this case ~ are also very nice too.

I have posted our photos and described this ride on the Old School and DPRT Trail Pages that start HERE.

Des Plaines River Trail Ride and Conditions

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I rode a 16 mile stretch of the Des Plaines River Trail (DPRT) in Lake County last Sunday and just wanted to post an update on the trail and on my ride.

Des Plaines River Trail

DPRT south of the Old School Forest Preserve

I started my ride near Half Day (I parked at the parking lot by the Egg Harbor Restaurant off of Route 22, Half Day Road) and rode north through Vernon Hills and Libertyville, through Independence Grove, under Interstate 94 and to Washington Street in Gurnee (near Six Flags Great America) where I turned around and headed back to Half Day.

My ride was 32 miles both ways. I like doing the 32 mile ride since that is the distance that I used to ride with my family on the Fox River and Prairie Trails from Dundee to Genoa City Wisconsin (1 way). We did this ride both ways a few times but would sometimes just go one way and have someone (usually me) turn around half way to go back for the car and pickup the other weary riders in Wisconsin.

Anyway back to my DPRT ride, the Trail Conditions were just fine. All of the highway underpasses were open (the river is not that high right now) and the trail was dry and in pretty good condition. There were a few rough patches, as usual, and a few loose gravel patches but nothing that was difficult at all. You can see the GPS map of my ride here on the Garmin Connect site.

I rode the trail on a beautiful summer weekend (on a Sunday) so there were more people out on the trail than usual (like on weekdays or in cooler weather). Still this trail does not get nearly as crowded as many of the other trails in here in northern Illinois and this is a very scenic trail and has some nice shady wooded areas for these sunny, hot summer days.

There must have been some equestrian convention going on or something last weekend since I must have passed at least 6 groups of horseback riders on the trail on this ride.

I forgot my good camera and was actually more just into riding on this ride so I don’t have any current photos 🙁 . The photo above was from this same part of the trail (just south of the Old School Trail and forest preserve) from a few years back. Unfortunately I did not have as good of a camera back then (and I think I’ve improved on my bike trail photos over time too) but the trails really looks the same now as it did back then anyway.

The Des Plaines River Trail is incredibly long!  You can ride this trail from the Wisconsin border down to Maywood, Illinois (I believe). I have ridden the trail (at different times) from the Wisconsin border to Park RIdge, Il. You can get the details of these rides and see plenty of DPRT photos on the Des Plaines River Trail pages on this site.

I really like many parts of this trail but the sections from Half Day to Independence Grove, in Libertyville, are some of my favorite parts. There are also some nice side trails off of the main DPRT like the one that winds through Wright Woods just north of Half Day.

I have a lot of work to do at the house this weekend but I might just play hooky and go out and do another long ride instead. 🙂