Category Archives: Bike Ride Stories

McHenry County Prairie Trail Detour Update

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I just received the following update on the McHenry County Prairie Trail construction and detour from the McHenry County Conservation District .

Bridge on Prairie Trail

Bridge over Fox River on Prairie Trail

“A detour is in place and signs are posted through the Algonquin Bypass Area.  (From the ramp in Algonquin you head NE on Harrison and take a left on Washington; the signs then guide you left along Route 31/Main St. back to the trail to head north.)”

I haven’t been on this trail yet this year myself but the detour would be just after you cross the Fox River heading north into Algonquin.

Just an fyi, for those of you who may not be that familiar with this trail, the McHenry County Prairie Trail is the trail that connects to the northern end of the Fox River Trail in Algonquin and continues north to Genoa City, Wisconsin.

You can actually ride these 2 trails from Oswego, Illinois to Genoa City, Wisconsin! There are a few breaks in the trail ~ like going through Aurora ~ and there is construction occasionally ~ as described above ~ but you can ride these trails all day if you want to.

I have actually ridden the entire distance of both of these trails but on multiple rides. I did do a 100 mile ride one time taking the Fox River Trail north from Geneva, Il then connecting to and riding the Prairie Trail north to Genoa City, Wisconsin then back to Geneva. Most parts of both of these trails are paved too.

Anyway, the update above is the latest info that I have on the Prairie Trail.

Checking Wind Direction

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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.

Wind direction on bike rides

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. 

2013 Tour of Elk Grove, Photos and Ride Story

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Well, the Tour of Elk Grove (TOEG) professional, intermediate and entry level bike races have come and gone once again until next year. I was a little disappointed this year that, personally, I was only able to make it to one race ~ the  Prologis Pro Men Road Race (Stage 2) which was held on Saturday, August 3rd.

Tour of Elk Grove Sharp Turn

Tour of Elk Grove, Sharp Turn off Ridge Road

For those of you who may not be familiar with this event, it is a 3 day cycling race event, In Elk Grove Village, Illinois, that includes professional riders from around the world competing for large cash prizes along with intermediate races, amateur races and even a Big Wheel Race for the kids (along with quite a few other activities). The race is held on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the beginning of August (this year’s race was August 2-4).

I have included more information on the event, plenty of photos ~ and a link to the official Tour Of Elk Grove website ~ on our main Tour of Elk Grove page here.

I was actually able to attend all 3 days of the event last year (2012) but, as I mentioned above, I was only able to make it to one race this year :-(. I did however bring my camera, of course, took quite a few photos and have selected and posted the 2013 Tour of Elk Grove Photos here.

I think that this is a really fun and interesting event for anyone into biking (not just racers) as well as people who may not even be into biking all that much (I guess there are people like that out there 🙂 ). There is a lot going on, plenty of interesting people and the races can be pretty entertaining and exciting.

The other thing that I like about the races is that they are a Great Photo Op. Lots of action and colorful scenes. Both years that I attended this event, I have met and talked with other photographers (it’s a very casual environment). In some cases, the other photographers have attended the TOEG for multiple years and have given me some very helpful photography hints.

Wide-Angle view of bike race

Wide-Angle view of Tour of Elk Grove Racers

I probably shouldn’t even mention this, because I would still like people to check out the 2013 TOEG photos that I linked to above and I think some of them came out pretty well, but I actually screwed up a little on one thing this year. I used Aperture Priority for all of my photos this year instead of using Shutter Priority with a faster shutter speed (or even the pre-programmed sports mode) for the action shots.

I think I was more focused last year 🙂 and I used the faster shutter speeds for most of the shots. This year, I guess I just wasn’t using my brain cell. Like I say, I still did get some good shots so please check out the 2013 photos if you get a chance.

As for the Ride Story part of this post, one of the reasons that I was not able to attend all 3 days and more of the races, as I did last year, was because we are sharing our vehicles more this year and I was not able to use our van to drive my bike to the TOEG and leave it parked there all 3 days so I ended up riding to and from the TOEG on my bike.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I used Google Maps to help me check out my route ahead of time and it actually worked out very well. I knew that there were bike trails, sidewalks along the busier roads that I needed to take and ways to get over or under the interstates that I needed to cross. The place that I thought would be the most difficult (near Woodfield shopping mall) was the most difficult, as expected, but I still managed to find a pretty safe route past that location.

Once I past Woodfield, I took the bike trail that goes under route 53 (or Interstate 290) and right to the Busse Woods Bike Trail. I then took the bike trail through the southern part of Busse Woods (by all the lakes) and up to Arlington Heights Road where I crossed and was right at the Tour of Elk Grove.

My entire ride, to and from the TOEG and my ride at the TOEG, was only a little over 22 miles but it still takes more time to get there and get back then when you are able to drive there.

I am a little bit of a stats nerd and I just checked my mileage on the Garmin site. I see that my mileage at the Tour of Elk Grove (not counting getting there and back) was 3.4 miles. This brings up the next topic that I also wanted to mention.

I have found it to be very convenient to have my bike at the TOEG (rather than having to walk everywhere when I am there). I tried to get photos at a number of different locations this year and having my bike made it possible to get to and photograph the race in different places.

I also wanted to mention that the Tour of Elk Grove is televised locally on Comcast Sports Network (CSN Chicago) about a month later so it should be on at the beginning of September.

OK, that’s about it for now. I hope some of you who live in the area were able to make it out to the Tour this year. If not, maybe we’ll see you there next year.

Later, Rob.

I&M Trail from Marseilles to Split Rock (near La Salle)

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As I mentioned recently, we just rode another part of the I&M Canal Trail last week (Monday, 10/15/12) and I have selected and posted photos of our trip with our existing bike trail pages. Illinois and Michigan Canal Trail and Bike Ride

This particular ride was a continuation of a ride on the I&M (Illinois and Michigan) Canal Trail that we did way back in 2003 from Channahon to Marseilles. The photos for this trip should be much better quality since the old photos were actually from a pre-2003 generation camcorder and the new photos are from our fairly current DSLR cameras.

These trail photos are more like my usual photo tours of the other bike trails written up on this site, where I provide more information on the trails and try to capture the feel of the entire ride, rather than the photos that I did recently that were specifically meant to capture the fall colors on the bike trails that I selected for this year (although there were still some nice fall colors on this I&M Trail ride).

We did a little over 40 miles on this ride and once again I was impressed with many parts of the I&M Canal Bike Trail. This is a fairly rugged (if you are used to asphalt) multi-surface trail. Most of the trail was crushed stone but there were also some grass and dirt sections. We had to clear and/or carry our bikes over some fallen trees on one part of this ride. Lock on the I&M Canal Trail west of Ottawa

After our first ride on the I&M Trail I did some research on the history of the I&M trail (both online and at the library) and I have been very impressed with the significance of the history behind this trail (once the Illinois and Michigan Canal that connected Lake Michigan with the Mississippi River and shaped the history of Chicago and the mid-west US).

On this trip we rode past the Fox River Aqueduct and Locks #11 and #12 just west of Ottawa, Il. There are quite a few signs and maps posted along the trail that give you some of the history of the part of the trail that you are on. so not only is this a nice, scenic bike ride, you can also pickup some interesting history on this ride.

The I&M Trail goes right past Buffalo State Park which seemed like a nice area but we did not get a chance to go into the park. The trail is also just north of Starved Rock State Park but I did not see a way to get to Starved Rock from the I&M Trail. This is probably possible but we had a limited amount of time (there is only so much daylight this time of year) and we were not able to explore as much as I would have liked to.

OK, enough talk about the I&M Canal and our ride. Here are the latest photos from our ride from Marseilles to Split Rock (7 photo pages):

Actually, you can just take the links at the bottom of each photo page to go to the next one, but I am including all of them here in case you are interested in a particular part of the trail.

 

 

 

 

Des Plaines River Trail ~ Park Ridge to Wheeling

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This might look like a repeat of one of my earlier bike trail ride reports but it is actually something completely different. I have ridden on the Des Plaines River Trail (DPRT) many times now and have documented the trail and uploaded the photos (and more recently the GPS map data) before. My last ride on the DPRT was actually only a month ago. Des Plains River Trail, DPRT, Cook County

Well, the Des Plaines River Trail is actually a really long trail (approximately 60 miles) and although I have ridden on many different parts of the trail I have never ridden the entire trail or the section that we just rode last week which includes Wheeling, south of Dundee Road, to Park Ridge (and back).

This part of the DPRT is mostly wooded, shady with some open areas and has some very nice scenery but there are also some fairly rugged sections in this area. Most of the trail is crushed stone but there are parts that are packed dirt and even a few single-track sections.

The only thing that I didn’t really like much on this part of the trail is that there are a few busy roads that you need to cross where there are no bridges, underpasses or even traffic signals in some cases. Milwaukee and Oakton (I think) were the worst to cross. This would not cause me to not ride this part of the trail but it does make it a little more difficult especially if you ride this part in rush hours (yes hours is plural and there is more than one 🙂 ). Most of the major roads do have bridges, underpasses or at least traffic signals where you need to cross.

One of the nice things about this part of the trail, aside from the shade and nice scenery in some parts, is that if you are coming from the north (the DPRT goes almost to the Wisconsin border) you can extend your ride quite a bit. I have never ridden the DPRT from Park Ridge south to Maywood but I understand that it does go that far. So if this is correct, and the entire length of the trail is 60 miles (which I have read) then you could actually do a 120 mile round-trip ride on this trail!

I know from experience riding the Lake County part of the Des Plaines River Trail that the underpasses can flood and even parts of the trail can flood when the river is high (like in early spring or after a lot of rain (not like now, of course)) so I think it is probably best to ride this part of the trail when conditions are dry. This past week was perfect for the part of the trail since the shade kept us cooler and everything was very dry.

Of course, I brought my camera and Bike GPS so I could take photos and document this part of the DPRT. Actually, with all the original photos that I have posted of this trail and the new ones that I just took I am starting to wonder if I have too many photos of this trail! Well, even if that is the case, I think it’s nice to be able to see what the different parts of the trail are like, especially if you are considering riding the trail and you can just skip the sections that you are not interested in.

As I was posting the latest trail photos I was looking at some of the original photos of the trail that I took back in 2004. Man, it’s nice that digital camera technology has come such a long way. Sorry the older photos are not very good quality. I guess I’ll have to re-do the photos of those sections when I get a chance.

Anyway, the new section of the trail that we just rode last week starts with the Des Plaines River Trail Photos 12 (which starts in Park Ridge) and includes Photos 13, Photos 14, Photos 15 and Photos 16 as we headed north back to Wheeling (like I said I have a lot out there now).

Most of my photos are related to the bike trail itself but my friend Dale, who rode this part of the trail with me, likes and is very good at nature photos and more artistic shots and I have included some of his photos in the collection too.

So I hope you enjoy the new photo pages and get a chance to get out to the DPRT or any of the other nice bike trails in this area or that are convenient for you.

Mobile Friendly Websites

On a different subject (but slightly related), I have been working on converting all of the pages on this website to a more mobile-friendly format for those who access this site with mobile devices (smart phones, tablet computers, etc.).

This has been quite a project so far and I still have a long way to go (but getting closer). The website will look almost exactly the same for anyone accessing the site with a desktop or laptop but will be much more streamlined for smaller devices like smart phones. This should include most of the bike trail pages and eventually this blog too so stay tuned (especially if you are on a smart phone!).

 

North Branch Trail ~ Ride and Photos from Glencoe to Chicago and Back

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I finally got a chance to ride the entire North Branch Trail (15.5 miles one way) from Dundee Road (in Glencoe) to Devon Ave. in Chicago. Although I had ridden the northern part of the trail before I had never ridden the entire trail.

Deer in Miami Woods along the North Branch Trail

A deer in Miami Woods along the North Branch Trail

Actually, I really started on Lake-Cook Road north of the Chicago Botanic Gardens and rode through the Botanic Gardens to get to the northern end of the North Branch Trail (NBT). Although the NBT article is about the North Branch Trail, and not the Botanic Gardens, I also included a few Botanic photos too since this is a additional benefit to riding this trail.

On the North Branch Trail I was actually surprised at how you feel like you are totally out in the deep woods when, in reality,  you are actually never far from all this “civilization” around us. Although this trail has bridges over some of the main roads in this area there are some busy roads that you still have to cross and that reminds you about where you are until you ride off into the woods again.

The North Branch Trail winds through the northern suburbs of Chicago (including Niles, Morton Grove, Glenview, Northfield and Glencoe) and into the far north end of Chicago (into the Edgebrook neighborhood) following the North Branch of the Chicago River on the southern part of the trail and the Skokie River on the northern part of the trail.

This bike trail is all paved and in good condition, which is very nice, and the woods and scenery are also really nice. I rode the trail on a weekday so it was not too crowded but I know, from the last time that I rode the trail (and from what other people have told me), that this trail can get very crowded at peak times (which is not so nice). The only other thing that I did not like about this trail is that there are a number of busy roads that you need to cross. Although there are lights and crossing signals at the busy roads, you still have to wait and deal with traffic.

Even with the trail traffic and road crossings, this is still a very nice trail and I would recommend it for a good 30 mile bike ride (both ways) plus, as I mentioned you also have the option to ride into the Botanic Gardens, at the north end, which is great and can be a good photo-op (if you have a camera with you). You can see the full North Branch Trail Article and Photos here.

In the southern part of the trail, in the Miami Woods section, I stopped for a photo and happened to see a couple of deer near by (the photo above). They seemed very unconcerned about my presence. Posed for me a little then casually crossed the path right in front of me. Later I read (in Wikipedia) how the deer in these woods have been protected for many generations and have little fear of humans.

On one of my usual rides through the Paul Douglas forest preserve, a few days later, I also saw  at least 6 deer but in this area the deer acted as I expected. Once you got too close to them they took off.

When I finished riding the trial I crossed Dundee Road and rode through the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I was really enjoying taking photos at the Botanic Gardens in the early evening (just before sunset) but unfortunately for me, I parked in a forest preserve parking lot (on Green Bay Road) that closes and locks up at sunset and I was really nervous about my car getting locked in the forest preserve (actually, I think that is an on-going phobia of mine even though it’s never happened to me. I wonder how you would get you car out if they chained up the entrance… ?)

Anyway, if you are looking for a nice wooded and scenic trail in this area, see the North Branch Trail Article for the full trail article, ride report, photos and interactive GPS map of this trail and my ride.

 

Millennium Trail ~ Ride Report and Photos

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Last week I added the Millennium Trail to the list of bike trails that I’ve ridden in the Chicagoland area. I brought my camera with me, of course, so I could photograph the trail and post the ride report and photos of this trail on this website.

The Millennium Bike Trail

A scenic and wooded part of the Millennium Trail

I actually ended up riding this trail 2 times due to a camera problem. On my first ride I discovered that my lens filter (that I use to protect the camera lens) was broken. I have no idea how that happened but I did not want to ride this crushed stone trail without a lens filter so I just left the camera in my car.

For my first ride I parked in a subdivision near the south-east end of the trail just west of Mundelein. There is actually a section of the trail that extends into Mundelein but it just runs right along Route 176, Hawley Street and is straight and not very scenic so I skipped that part of the trail (although it is clearly visible from the road). I rode just over 12 miles (both ways) on my first ride and I got a good feel for the trail.

For my second ride ~ when I took the photos ~ I parked at the Lakewood Forest Preserve parking lot off of Fairfield Road ~ which is right on the trail and has easy access ~ and rode to the south-east end of the trail (where I started the day before) then headed north and west and rode the entire trail.

The Millennium Trail is actually a really nice trail in Lake County. It’s very  hilly in some parts and almost all crushed stone (except for the far northern section and the part that goes into Mundelein). There are some places where the crushed stone is a little thick and loose so you need to be aware of these parts if you have a road bike (like I do) or if you are going fairly fast.

I had my Garmin Edge 800 GPS bike computer with me too (of course) so I was able to upload and post a link to the map for this trail also.  One note on the trail map that I posted is that I accidentally pressed the wrong button on the northern end of the trail (I meant to hit the lap button but hit the start/stop button) and, after I discovered my mistake (just south of Singing Hills Forest Preserve), and turned it back on it added a straight line to the top of the map after I posted it online (sorry about that).

If you are interested in riding this trail and would like to see the map and some photos of the trail to see what it is like, I have posted my report, map and photos of the trail here at the Millennium Trail Photos and Ride Report.

 

2012 Bike the Drive Ride Report and Photos

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Last Sunday I did the Bike the Drive ride in Chicago for the first time. They close down 30 miles of Lake Shore Drive (Route 41) to automotive traffic for this event and the road is only open to bike riders for about 5 hours.

2012 Bike the Drive, Chicago

2012 Bike the Drive on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago

According to Wikipedia this even has been going on since 2002 so I guess this was the 10th annual Bike the Drive. The main reason that I had not participated in the ride until this year was because the event is so early in the morning. It starts at about 5:30am so for me to get up, get ready and be downtown by that time (I did not want to be late and miss any of the riding time) I had to get up at 2:30am!

OK, aside from the start time, this was an excellent ride and really a lot of fun! I wish they would do this more often (and later in the day 🙂 )

As I had mentioned in one of my previous posts, I just got a new DSLR Camera and I have been chomping at the bit for a good event, like this, to get out and get some good photos. Well, I finally got my chance and I got quite a few good photos at this event. Unfortunately, it was an overcast and cloudy day, which caused some problems, but I was still able to get quite a few good shots. I am still learning how to use this camera so I messed up a lot of the photos too (even though I have uploaded many that were not technically that great).

I wanted to get my Ride Report and the Photos posted on the internet much sooner but it took some time to sort through all the photos, select the good ones that captured the feel of the ride and format and post the photos and report. Since this was such a fun event I wanted to do it right rather than just blasting out a ton of photos as quickly as possible.

Anyway, you can now see the 2012 Bike the Drive Photo Tour and Ride Report here.  I also had my Garmin Edge 800 GPS bike computer on the ride (of course) and I posted the route that we rode also. If you look closely at the map you will see where we branched out off of LSD a little. This was from after the ride when we rode out to the Shedd Aquarium and the planetarium.

Cycling Events and Bike Trail Articles Delay – Leg Injury

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This is the time of year when I am usually out blazing new bike trails and taking photos (and even videos sometimes) but if you are wondering why I haven’t been posting new trail pages and photos recently it is because I am currently on the Disabled List. 🙁

I have had leg injury that I have had for months now but seemed to be in remission. Well, it acted up again and I have been unable to ride (and even having a hard time walking) for the last few weeks now (since just after Easter weekend). It is driving me crazy to be missing out on all this good riding weather! Actually April has been a little chilly (March was better this year) but it is still quite acceptable riding weather.

Anyway, as for the injury, I am off to the chiropractor this afternoon. I am hoping that he can perform some of his voodoo and speed up the recovery time a little.

Door County Dentury Ride

Door County Century Ride

The other thing that I wanted to mention today is that I just updated my Cycling Events Calendar Page with a new ride that I just heard about from a contact that I have at Livestrong who I just discovered is also a pretty major cyclist.

The ride that I just heard about is the Door County Century Ride which takes place this year on 9/9/12. Although, I am not really into a lot of organized rides myself, this one sounds very interesting to me. I like that there is no formal start time (they suggest between 6:30am and 10am) and you can do the full Century or they have routes for 28.5, 50 and 70 mile rides. The ride is not until September but registration is open and there is a link to the website on the Cycling Events Calendar page.

I have also rearranged the Cycling Events Calendar page so that the events that are coming up first are at the top of the page. Initially I did not have many events or rides out on this page so it really didn’t matter but as I add more this makes a lot more sense.

As I was rearranging this page I noticed that the Bike The Drive event is coming up next. This is the ride where they close down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago to cars and trucks and open it up for cyclist for a few hours in the morning. So if you are considering doing this ride this year it is coming up soon!

I have always wanted to do this ride myself but it is always so early in the morning (yawn) that that kind of discouraged me. Maybe this year… Just maybe ~ well, I have to get my leg back first anyway.

Green Bay Bike Trail Ride and Photos

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This past Sunday (Easter Sunday) I was in Winnetka and had an opportunity to ride the Green Bay Trail and get some new photos. I have ridden the entire Green Bay Trail ~ and even the connecting Robert McClory Trail ~ in the past and the GBT is a really beautiful and scenic bike route so I did not want to pass up the opportunity to ride this trail again.

The Gazebo at the Henry J Kalk Park along the Green Bay Trail

The Gazebo at the Henry J Kalk Park along the GBT in Glencoe

I also had a batch of photos of the southern end of the Green Bay Trail (from Glencoe south to Wilmette) that I had lost (!) so I did not have photos of the southern part of the bike trail posted ~ until yesterday that is!

It was a beautiful day on Sunday (a little chilly but still nice) and on the first part of my ride I felt like I was in the Easter Parade! 🙂 There were a lot of people out on the trail ~ riding, walking, jogging ~ in the mid-afternoon.

I started my ride in Winnetka but headed south to the southern end of the trail ~ in Wilmette ~ so I could ride the entire trail. I stopped a lot on my way north for photos (for this site). It is always great to have the photos but it is not nearly as nice, as far as the bike ride goes, to stop all the time for the photos (although I do like taking the photos too).

I rode the entire GBT ~ through Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, and Highland Park ~ and a little bit of the southern part of the Robert McClory Trail up to Highwood. I stopped at Central Park, in Highland Park ~ on Lake Michigan ~ for a short break and a beautiful view of the lake. Then for the ride back, I just rode (no photos) and it was a really nice ride.

I have had the Green Bay Trail page and photos on this bike site since 2005 but, as I mentioned above, I was missing the southern section (south of Glencoe). Yesterday, I did some updates to the original Green Bay Trail page Here , have added a few photos to the original batch and have added 3 new photo pages of the GBT starting with Green Bay Trail Photo Page 7 (including page 8 and 9).

Back in 2007 I had one of the GBT photos featured in an article in the North Shore Magazine (that photo is on the top of Photo Page 5). I actually think that this round of photos is much better so I maybe if I get lucky I can get another one published in hard-copy form. 🙂

Anyway, the GBT is still a really nice bike trail and an excellent ride. There are also some nice places to head a few blocks east out to Lake Michigan for some excellent scenery. At the time of my ride there was no construction or detours on the trail so it is wide open this year.

For those of you who live in the Chicagoland area (or will be visiting here) I hope you can get out to the GBT at some point.