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 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!