First Ride of the Year!!!
Sorry for the long winter hibernation (on the blog) but I didn’t have that much to write about in the off season. But it’s 52 degrees right now here in Chicagoland and I just did my first ride of the year!
This was pretty much a warm up ride to get my legs back. I walk alot (outdoors) in the winter to stay in shape but riding is a whole different thing. Anyway, I did a little 13 mile ride in the subdivisions by me since the roads seemed fairly dry.
I also checked out the trail behind our house, that connects to the Algonquin and Paul Douglas trails and it was also pretty dry. There was a lot of leaves, dirt and branches left over from the thaw but it looked pretty good so I think that my next ride will be out on the trails.
I am starting this blog post for casual ride stories (I like having a place to post this kind of blog but I don’t want my blog to be nothing but ride stories so I’ll be adding comments to this post for additional ride stories).
For those of you who don’t know, I welcome other people ride stories too but I haven’t really received any yet. I can see by my blog stats that I have quite a few people visiting this blog but not that many contributions. I understand that and that is perfectly fine, but if you would like to comment, feel free and I’ll approve/post your comments (unless they are just spam).
Well, riding season is here and let the rides begin!!!
Just did 2 more Paul Douglas Forest Preserve Rides.
It’s been pretty nice the last few days and I have been out to the Paul Douglas trail 3 times now this season. If you check the post titled “Algonquin Road / Paul Douglas Bike Trail Conditions – 2010” (from 3/16/10) you’ll see that the trail still floods a little on the west side.
The flooding is pretty minimal this year and it is even better now than it was a few days ago but there is still a few inches of water in one place. No problem to ride through, but I would not want to try to go through it if I was walking or jogging.
Anyway it has been excellent riding weather and I am getting my riding legs back pretty good now!
Well, you never know what you are going to get in the springtime in Chicago! Last week was in the 60s and I had some excellent rides (some in shorts and a t-shirt). Then we had snow on the weekend and now we are back in the 50s again.
I just did my north-east Inverness route today (see The Inverness Bike Trail, Road Trip).
It was an excellent ride! Upper 50s, light wind and the landscapers out getting a start on the season.
I’m not really doing a “trail condition” post on this route since it is really more of a nice street/subdivision route than it is an actual trail, but there was no construction on any part of this route at this point. Also, the streets that I ride for this route are in very good condition from the contruction from the last 2 years.
I rode the entire Paul Douglas/Algonquin Road/Crabtree Trail yesterday. It was a beautiful day (I think it got into the 80s) and there were no problems with the trail.
The part that floods was dry and there was no construction.
I don’t do the Crabtree part of the trail all that often because you have to ride alongside of Algonquin Road (on the path) for about a mile and a half and I don’t like that part of the trail all that much.
It was worth the effort though because the Crabtree section is really nice. I just wish it was connected directly to the Paul Douglas section.
I found a new way to do my 2 favorite local local trails (which I did today). It is easy for me to ride into Inverness and I found that I can get out to Ela road, from Clover (in Inverness).
There is a gate at Clover and Ela but you can walk around it. Once I’m on Ela, it’s only 1/2 mile (with a wide shoulder) to the Paul Douglas trail (at Ela and Algonquin Roads).
This is great foe me because I avoid crossing the entrances at Harper college and the crossing at Roselle and Algonquin Roads.
For thos of you not familiar with this area, all this will be fairly meaningless. For those of you who do know the area, it’s just another route that you can take if you are out this way.
I also took a break at the Paul Douglas Forest Preserve park area (off of Central) and ran into a really friendly guy with a “Australian Blue Heel Shepherd” at least I think that’s what he said he was. Anyway, his name was buddy and he was a really nice dog.
So I chatted a while and then hit the trail for home. That’s probably not all that exciting but it’s nice to meet people (and dogs) on your rides once in a while.