Home or High Water – Tips for Riding the Flood Out

Posted on May 19, 2020 by Rob

The flooded part of Huntington/Freeman Road

There is a lot of flooding in northern Illinois right now so you can either stay at home and not ride (not a good option for me), find dry places to ride (great if you can) or know how to make it through flooded areas on the local trails (and roads) – Which is what this post is about.

The Paul Douglas Trail (PDT) is a trail that is very close to where I live so I ride that one quite a bit. It is a somewhat hilly trail so there is standing water on many parts of the trail and there is one location, along Huntington/Freeman Road that floods every year. Sometimes it is not deep and you can make it through but often it is too deep and too far to ride through.

Fortunately you can take a short easy detour around the flooded trail section on the road itself. Unfortunately, with the flooding that we have had recently, this road is even flooded and closed in that same location. 🙁

Can it Be Crossed???

Well, I still wanted to ride the part of the trail on the trail on the other side of the flood so I checked out the flood on the road (that the people in front of me thought was too deep and long to cross) to see if it looked possible to cross.

Well, it was probably about 100 feet long and 3 to 5 inches deep but I could see the double yellow line pretty well through the whole thing and it was on the paved road with no obstacles so I decided to go for it! Using a little trick that I learned quite a while ago I made it through just fine and with fairly dry feet even. I really don’t like getting my shoes and feet soaked riding through floods which I have had happen in the past so here are a couple of tips to help get you through floods and deep puddles without getting soaked.

Tips for Staying Dry Riding through Flooded Areas (and puddles) on Bike Trails (or roads).

Of course if goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), not all floods are passable (without getting really wet or going wading or swimming in the process). This is where the first tip applies – Use Common Sense! 🙂

If you access the situation and know that the water is not too deep (lets say 5 or 6 inches or less) and there are no major obstacles (like debris in or under the water) then you can probably make it through without getting wet.

OK, after all of that, here is the Main Tip that I wanted to pass along: Use the right gear (not too low or too high), go fast enough to get through without stopping but not too fast and keep your pedals mostly horizontal, about half way up/down with one foot in front of the other. Then pedal back and forth but DO NOT go all the way around (this keeps your feet out of the water at the bottom of the cycle).

Keeping feet dry pedaling through flooded trail

Keeping feet dry another day when I could make it through on the trail

It’s best to have the foot on your dominate or stronger leg in front because that is the one that will be dong all the work. You can’t go fast this way and it is not good if you need a lot of power but it will usually be just fine to make it through the flood if you did not underestimate how passable it is.

There you have my main tip but “wait there’s more“! OK, this one is pretty simple (and maybe obvious) but one of the best ways that I have found to keep my legs dry while riding through deep puddles is to bend your legs and put your feet up behind you as you ride through. This works for my road bike but may not work on all bikes. The key here is to put them behind you (not in front of you).

Trail Turtle!

I also have a good sized rack/pack on the back of my bike which is also really nice at keeping the mud and water off my back (no more mud streak on the back of my shirt!). Of course, fenders work fine for this too but that is not my style.

And finally, I just had to add the following photo – Be sure to Share the Trail with Our Reptile Friends!

Dressing, Preparing for Bike Rides Based on the Weather

Posted on April 4, 2020 by Rob

It’s finally here. Bike Riding Season!!! Well for those of us that are not able to (or do not choose to) ride all year long. Since the season, is just beginning, for many of us, I waned to include some helpful hints on Dressing for Bike Rides in Various Weather Conditions.

For me, when bike riding season begins in the spring (and to some degree when it is ending in the fall), I often have a hard time deciding what to wear based on the weather conditions. Many years ago I wrote an article for this website on “How to Dress for Bike Rides in Any Weather” and I have found the hints on that page to be very helpful in deciding how to dress for bike rides (especially in the spring and fall).

Although the hints on the page above provide a decent overall guide on how to dress and be comfortable on bike rides, the categories are a little vague since it is in 10 degree increments (like temperatures between 50-59, 60-69, etc.) and there are a lot of temperatures in between and various wind combinations that really dictate what to wear.

What I do now, which is the main hint that I want to pass along, is to keep track of the temperatures, wind conditions and overall weather (like sunny, cloudy, etc.) along with a description of what I wore and how comfortable it was in a file on my computer – For those of you that prefer pen and paper (which I usually refer to as papyrus) or for those of you that use your cell phones for everything, those options should work just as well.

Then, after I have a log of the information above and when I am planning my next ride and am not sure what to wear, I just check my log and find the nearest weather conditions and use that as a guide. I have found this to be really helpful.

Next Related Topic: One more closely related topic that I have written about a few times and have found helpful myself and that other visitors to this website have told me they have found helpful, is just to be sure to check the weather radar for possible rain or showers just before going on a long ride or even while you are on your ride (if you have a cell phone with a radar app for example).

For more on this you can search for the keyword “radar” in the search box (shown above) for this blog.

So Enjoy your Rides – Comfortably!

Bike Broke Break

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Rob

New Chain and Spindle

I took a little unplanned break from bike riding last week. I went out for one of my usual rides earlier in the week and yep, my bike broke. I went to shift gears and snap! the rear shifter cable broke.

So I brought it into my Local Bike Shop (LBS) and they talked me into doing both shifter cables, the chain and the spindle (the thing with all the gears by the back wheel). I thought that my chain was in bad shape due to all the miles that I’ve put on and I know that that messes upthe gears too so that’s why I went for it.

Anyway, they said it would take 5 to 7 days. In peak riding season! Oh no! But then it ended up only taking 2 days. So now I am back in the saddle again with new shifter cables, a new chain and new back gears and only a few forced no riding days.

My chain in the photo will never look that clean and new again. How exciting, right?!? With the new chain and spindle the gears shift WAY better than they did before and that is very noticable so at least it was better than just getting it back working again like before.

Bike Radar Saved Me Again

Posted on June 17, 2017 by Rob

What I am actually referring to in the post title is Weather Radar for Biking.

I have written about this subject a few other times in the past and as technology keeps changing but this is such and important tip ~ for those who may not already be aware of it or forget about it at times ~ that I believe it is definitely worth repeating.

Weather Radar just after my ride

The best way to check if you are going to get rained on when planning a ride or even when you are on one is simply to check the weather radar just before you ride or on your ride.

As for my story today, I have attached a screen shot of the weather radar ~ from the MyRadar app ~ from my phone from right after my ride. I forgot to check the radar before my ride but was at the point that I could do a 13 mile ride or an 18 mile ride.

It was partly cloudy but I remembered that there was a possibility of rain for today so I decided to check the radar to decide how far to go

I saw a big area of yellow and red what looked like about 45 minutes away. I decided on the 13 mile ride. Then about 15 minutes after I got home it started pouring! The extra 5 miles that I almost took ~ before my radar check ~ would have taken me at least a half hour more. That means at least 15 minutes of riding in pouring rain – Saved by the radar!!!

I am fortunate to have the radar app on my smart phone and I would definitely suggest that for those of you who have smart phones. If you don’t have a smart phone you can still check the radar easily on numerous sites on the internet, but you will have to remember to check before your ride. If you are just not technical or don’t have internet access then there is always the old Weather Channel updates or news if you are able to catch that at the right time.

The weather radar is way more accurate than a typical forecast that just says something like a 40% chance of rain (for example). These forecasts are usually for a much larger geography and it means that it will probably rain within 40% of this area. That could be all in the north and you are in the south (or any other situation) and it does not always tell you when it will come or for how long.

The animated radar lets you see exactly what is happening in your specific local area and you can usually get a pretty good idea about what might happen. If you see yellow or red very near then you will be getting heavy rain. Green and blue are iffy and harder to predict exactly what will happen but it still lets you know that you could get a little rain.

Well that’s it for now, if you are looking for bike accessories see our bike accessory page here for some good online resources.

Riding Season and Paul Douglas Flooding

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Rob

Yep, it is definitely riding season again here in Chicagoland! I’m seeing more cyclists out every day now. Personally, I got a start in February! Yea, that crazy warm weather that we had then but am riding a little more regularly now.

Flooding on Paul Douglas Trail

And of course, with riding season comes flooding season on many trails including the Paul Douglas Trail (PDT) in Hoffman Estates ~ a little southwest of Harper College in Palatine.

Anyone that has ridden this trail fairly often in the spring ~ like myself ~ knows that the western side of the trail, along Hunting-Freeman Road floods pretty regularly.

Well I rode the trail the past two weekends and both weekends it was flooded in this part. BTW, this is the only part of the trail that floods (although there are a few puddles in other areas).

It looks pretty impassable but most of the time you can get through without getting wet ~ except maybe for a few splashes. You can also detour around this pretty safely and easily on Hunting-Freeman Road ~ but what fun is that!

To detour around the flood, go out to Hunting-Freeman at Lakewood Blvd (there is a 2 way stop sign there and a short path to the road there) if you are heading north or at the fire hydrant by the opening on the right if you are heading south. It’s only about 2/10ths of a mile.

Hint for riding through up to 5 inches of water and keeping your feet (and everything else) dry.

I’ve used this method quite a bit and it works well. Last week the flood was about 4 to 5 inches (my best guess) and I stayed completely dry. This past weekend I estimated that the flood was 5 to 6 inches deep and one of my feet did get a little wet so that is about the limit. You must also have a clear path (no obstructions) and it needs to be relatively flat.

You can cover quite a distance this way so here’s what to do: Approach the flooded area fairly slow (just to avoid splashing and sprays) ~ try to keep your pedals parallel to the ground ~ Do NOT pedal all the way around, instead just use short, quick back and forth pedaling strokes keeping your feet above the water.

OK, now that you know the secret, maybe you can go out and find your favorite flooded area and give it a try! 🙂

OK, here’s my CYA Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you get wet or for anything else that happens… It’s just a helpful hint… After all, we are all responsible for our own actions and safety, right? 🙂

Anyway, the PDT is still a good trail to ride in the springtime. This is a completely paved trail that goes around the Paul Douglas forest preserve (I usually skip the part that goes out to Algonquin Road just west of the busy intersection at Roselle and Algonquin Road and east of Ela and Algonquin cause it’s not as nice as the parts that are right up against the forest preserve).

One of the other trails that I know also floods occasionally is the Des Plains River Trail (DPRT) but I usually avoid this one completely in very wet weather since it is not paved and the flooding can be bad in places.

For more on the PDT see the Paul Douglas Trail photo pages HERE on this site. I actually wrote these pages quite a few years ago and they could use an upgrade but there are photos and more information on the trails there.

Well until next time, enjoy the ride(s)!

Flooding on the Paul Douglas Trail in the Usual Place

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Rob

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 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!

First Rides, Trail Signals and Trail Conditions

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Rob

Yep, riding season has arrived here in Chicagoland! I normally get my first rides of the season in a little sooner than I did this year but I finally got my first ride of the year last week. I was still doing my walking and running routine when the weather first started improving this year.

I usually consider riding season to start and stop pretty close to daylight savings time but this year I think there was still snow on the trails when we started daylight savings time. Anyway, it really felt good to get back in the saddle and out on the trails again.

One thing that I noticed as being very helpful this year as a walker/runner and bike rider is to not only signal your intentions ~ like letting other people on the trail know that you are coming up behind them and passing ~ but also to acknowledge that you heard the rider that is about to pass you.

For example: When a rider comes up behind me ~ when I am walking or jogging ~ and either says the old standard “on your left” or has a bell or horn or something (I prefer and have a bell myself) is to just give a thumbs up, as you continue walking or whatever, or even to just say OK or something similar just to let them know that you heard them.

I find this really helpful as a rider because I know that the person or people ahead of me heard me. I usually thank them for that simple gesture and I have found other people usually thank me when I acknowledge their passing intentions too.

Of course there are always the riders that are completely silent and stealthy and speed up behind you and scare the sh** out of you when they are right next to you and passing but then there will always be all kinds of riders out there. I think a little common sense and courtesy goes a long way to make the trails safer and more fun for everyone.

Paul Douglas Trail along Huntington, Freeman

Regarding the Trail Conditions. My first few rides were on the bike trail that goes around Paul Douglas Forest Preserve in Hoffman Estates. Even though this is a very specific trail, I think that many of the trails in the Chicagoland area ~ and maybe even in Northern Illinois ~ may have similar conditions due to the long, hard winter that we have had this year.

I rode the trail around the entire Paul Douglas forest preserve and there were no detours or obstructions.

What I did find, however, is that any place where the trail was very close to a road, the trail was covered with stones and small pieces of asphalt. I assume that this is from the snowplows pushing snow off of the roads and on to the trails throughout this long winter.

I have never seen this situation quite as bad as it is this year. It is all passable but it looks like it would be easy to get a flat in these places or even slip on the loose stones and stuff. I’d like to see the people that maintain these trails to just get out there and clean this up a little. I don’t think it would take that much effort.

Anyway, once again, it is still great to get out and ride again. I will try to keep the updates coming a little more regularly now.

Later, Rob.

Checking Wind Direction

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Rob

Knowing where the wind is coming from can sometimes be a little tricky. I have been on rides where I have ridden all directions (N,S,E, and W) and it felt like I was riding against the wind no matter which way I went! 🙂

Actually, most of the time you can tell the overall wind direction pretty well but it can be hard to tell exactly where it is coming from. Like you may know that the wind is mostly from the west but is it a little NW or SSW?

Some of you may recall that I wrote about wind direction and the app that I got for my iphone back on July 11th. I still use my iPhone app (it’s called AccuWeather) but wind direction can be variable and although the app does a fairly good job, it is not always perfect. I still check this big flag that I ride by on my usual rides to see where the wind is coming from.

Checking wind direction (no wind here)

Well today I discovered another handy trick for checking wind direction out on my ride and just wanted to pass my latest idea on in this blog.

I always carry a handkerchief in my bike bag (which I have used for a number of different things) and once in a while, if I was curious about wind direction I would take it out, hold it over my head and check which way it was blowing.

This worked pretty well although I’m sure that I looked pretty goofy to anyone nearby that might have been watching me (not that I mind looking goofy all that much but I don’t always want to advertise my weirdness).

Anyway, on my ride today I decided to tie my handkerchief on to a low hanging branch on a nearby tree (there is almost always one of those handy on bike rides). I was in an open area with a lot of unobstructed wind (unlike the photo that I included above where there was no wind). This worked really well since I could just take my break and watch the way the thing was blowing without holding it over my head or to the side the whole time.

In this case, although my weather app said that the wind was directly from the east, I discovered that in my specific location it was also a little north so it was more like ENE.

If you are going to check the wind this way it is important to find a good location where there is no interference with the wind. When I was taking flying lessons wind interference caused by obstructions was referred to as mechanical interference. Like you can get bad wind speed and direction readings near the corner of a building or between 2 buildings or other obstructions.

OK, so that’s probably more than enough for this simple tip. Just remember to tie a handkerchief from a low hanging branch in an unobstructed location for a quick wind check.

Bike Trail and Route Mapping with Google Maps

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Rob

I am sure that many of you are already aware of this but I wanted to mention a very handy tool that I have been using lately for planning my bike rides ~ either on bike trails, road trips or around town.

What I am referring to is, of course, Google Maps in combination with their zoom and Street View options. Google has put a lot of resources into their mapping applications and they are really quite advanced and useful at this time, especially for bike trails and routes.

I still use hard copy and PDF maps to find new trails that I may want to ride and I also have my Bike GPS computer (with mapping) for reviewing where I have been (and for a little help when I am out riding) but I have been using Google Maps more and more for checking out the bike trails that I am going to ride (or have already ridden).

The reason that this subject came up again for me is because we are having some problems with our vehicles and I have been using my bike more for trips around town and may need to ride to the Tour of Elk Grove (TOEG, that I mentioned in the post below) this weekend.

I already know of a lot of good routes and connecting bike trails for trips around town but there are times that I may need to go somewhere different or a little farther (like the TOEG) and it is nice to zoom in and especially to use the Street View option to check out what the roads or trails actually look like. You also have the satellite view to check out the terrain and surroundings.

If you live in populated areas that Google has photographed then you can get the Street View for the entire trip. For bike trails and routes in less populated area you can still follow the routes and zoom in for quite a bit of detail and Google includes many major bike trails.

Anyway, for my latest situation, I was planning a ride from Palatine, Il to Elk Grove Village, Il and there are busy roads and expressways to deal with. What I found out (via Google Maps) is that I can use a combination of bike trails and sidewalks, that run alongside a few major roads, for the entire trip. I was also able to verify that there was a sidewalk over Interstate 90 (where I wanted to cross) and a way to get under route 53 in a few locations and I could see how wide the underpasses were.

I don’t like riding on major roads or highways in this area and prefer the sidewalks myself if there is no other good option. The problem on longer trips is that you often run into a gap somewhere where there is no trail or sidewalk and only a narrow road without much of a shoulder and cars zipping by at high speeds (that’s not my idea of fun (or even of good survival!)).

With Google Maps and the Street View option, I was able to Virtually Ride my entire planned route on my PC before getting out there and taking chances or risking my life on dangerous roads.

Hints for Using Google Maps and Street View for Bike Routes

For those of you who are already proficient with Google Maps you may want to skip this part although there still may be something helpful here.

The real keys to using Google Maps and Street View for your bike routes is in zooming in to the correct level and selecting Street View when you have the option and when you need to see the actual surroundings.

Step One, of course, is to go to Google Maps. For this, just go to Google and click on MAPS at the top of the page.

Step Two is to find the bike trail that you are looking for or the route that you are planning to take. This is basically just typical search queries.

For popular bike trails, you can often enter the bike trail name in the Google search box to get to the trail. For trails and routes in a specific area, just search for the town (or other more specific location) in the search box. For a route between 2 locations just select Get Directions and enter the 2 locations. This will give you driving directions on the road but it can be a good starting point for finding the best bike route.

The Final Step is to zoom in to see the local roads and bike routes. You may need to zoom in as far as you can before the bike routes appear or sometimes you can see the bike trails zoomed out a little in order to get a bigger view. For a longer ride you will probably need to zoom in and out many times as needed.

To see the Street View or Photos of a Location, you can select the little orange man (icon) that is above the zoom bar and drag it to the map area (or if you zoom in as far as you can and if there is a street view available it will also appear that way). Once you are in Street View you can navigate through your route or get a 360 degree view of the area. For those of you who are familiar with this feature, you know how cool this is!

If you are in a less populated area that does not have Street View available, you can still zoom in as far as you can and usually see the bike trails and local streets and there are often individual photos posted to view the area. To see if there are photos available select the little orange man process (described above) once again. These can give you a visual look at the area but they do not give you as much detail as the actual Street View option.

In some cases, you may need to switch to Satellite View and zoom in as far as you can to get a good look at the area. Satellite View also gives you much more detail in more populated areas but hopefully this will keep improving and maybe at some point we’ll have good satellite views and street views of the smallest country roads.

At any rate, I have found Google Maps to be extremely helpful for finding, reviewing and planning bike routes and rides and I hope that the info above may help some of you also.

For more info, photos and videos or many of the bike trails in the Chicagoland area, see our popular Bike Trails pages and as I’ve said for so many years, Enjoy the Ride(s).

Another App Yap – Wind Direction this time.

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Rob

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about a simple riding tip on checking the Weather Radar before your rides on questionable rainy days and that I have recently been using the MyRadar App on my smartphone for this purpose. Well, I have another App to yap about this week.

Here’s the thing… What weather/ride stat is missing on your bike computer (even gps based) and on most weather apps on your smartphone? Well, I’m sure that the title of this post has given that one away. It’s Wind Direction and Wind Speed.

I love my gps based bike computer (it’s a Garmin Edge 800) and I love to monitor all sorts of stats on my rides (I’m kind of a geek that way). I check out my speed, average speed, and trip miles of course but I also keep tabs on my heart-rate, my current grade, my total uphill and downhill distances, my max speed, what direction I am heading, check my odometer occasionally and even have a window set to show the time of the sunset everyday. That’s really only some of the stuff I use but you get the idea.

The one element that was always missing though was Wind Stats (wind speeds and wind direction). Of course, I will usually have an idea about which direction the wind is coming from after riding for a while and changing directions a few times. I also watch out for the flags that I pass on my usual route.

One of the problems is that the wind is not always consistent and can be variable at times so, even though you may know that the overall wind direction is from the North (for example) it may not be as obvious if it is NNW, NW, NNE or NE. Like I say, I’m geeky that way and I just like to know exactly where the wind is coming from ~ and the speed while I’m at it.

So I did a App search recently for “wind direction” and “wind speed” apps and similar search terms but mostly just got a ton of weather apps. Well, I don’t really need another weather app (the one that comes standard on the iPhones is usually fine for my purposes (along the the MyRadar app)) but most either do not have wind stats or if they do it can be hard to find.

AccuWeather weather app with Wind Stats

So I downloaded various free weather apps and checked each one out. Most didn’t have the wind stats that I wanted so I just deleted them and moved on to the next one.

Finally, I found a weather app that displays the wind direction and wind speed very prominently on the main page when the app starts up. The app is called AccuWeather and, as you can see on the sample screen that I’ve included here, it is associated with ABC 7 and Accuweather.com. This is a free app so there is also some advertising at the top (that I removed in the sample).

The overall wind direction is prominently displayed and you also get the wind speed and wind gusts speed. I don’t always check the wind direction before my ride but as I start riding I start to wonder about it. I always have my phone with me so when I really need to know, I just pull over and check the wind speed and direction. This is also good to check on longer rides when the wind may increase, decrease or shift a little during your ride.

I would prefer this stat to be easily accessable on my bike computer but I understand why this would not typically be available on one. You would pretty much need a “Smart Bike Computer” meaning it would be able to connect to the internet via a cell signal. I still love my GPS based bike computer and it gives me almost all the stats that I need but maybe soon we will also have the option to get a “Smart” bike computer. With that said, I’m sure that they will come out very soon and this post will be obsolete. 🙂

Of course, I am aware that there are Bike Computer Apps for smart phones too, which kind of qualifies as a Smart Bike Computer but the bike computer apps that I have used (I’ve only tried the free ones) are just not as good, robust or as complete as a good GPS based bike computer (imo). Besides, I don’t really want to have my phone clipped on to my handlebars for all of my rides ~ I use it for enough other things and I would worry about it getting broken (the regular gps bike computers (Garmin models anyway) are made to be pretty rugged).

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