Chicago folks, thoughts?

[FlashUNC]

So The Boss has been admitted to a graduate program at the U of Chicago in the fall. It's a great opportunity, and so we'll be picking up sticks and moving north of the Mason-Dixon for at least the next year.

I've been a tourist in Chicago, and love the city, but have never done any riding there. What can I expect? Is road riding tempting death? Is there a hill in the tri-state area? I've been doing some reading about the tracks and am excited to hit the boards again. Is a mountain bike a waste of time or is a fat bike a must for the winter? Are there awesome gravel farm roads out in the Illinois countryside? Are there any shops that are fluent in Campy?

Looking for the soup-to-nuts review.

And as always, anyone in Chicago who wants to show me some decent loops, first post-ride round's on me.

[gavingould]

Hey Flash, I'll try to cover some of these. If you're commuting via bike in the city or road riding in general I wouldn't say it's tempting death. I don't know how things are down in NC but it's a bit hostile up here. Everyone has that "me first, screw the other guy" attitude so it can be trying at times.
Hills? You pretty much need to head to WI or far west IL for those if you need more than an overpass.
Mountain bike? Plan on driving out to Palos (1/2hr sw of the city) or up to WI, IN.
Fat bike a must? I say no, but it depends on where you're living and what kind of riding you expect.
Awesome gravel farm roads? Absolutely. You'll be driving at least an hour out to get to them, but yes.
Shops fluent in Campy?i never touch the stuff, and doubt we have an OldPotato rival here, but I am sure you can be taken care of. Velosmith is the first place I'd think of.

There's a few common road loops you'll see a lot of people on - Lake Front Path (tempting death atmo, unless it's crap weather) North shore (Evanston, Wilmette, Fort Sheridan, etc) and a southwest loop heading out to the MTB area.

Am guessing you'll be housing down near UofC, south side - I don't get down there much myself there's a fair amount of riders connected with the school.

[buldogge]

I don't know much about riding around Chicago…but…if you're willing to drive, the road riding in SW WI is really nice (look up WI Triple Crown references).

If you don't mind the drive…we can set something up with Oliver1850 to do some gravel riding out in Carroll County or west-central IL.

-Mark in St. Louis

[Ken Robb]

Search Cook County Forest Preserves for easy off-road paths. Riverside,IL. is south of The Loop and about 8 miles west of the lake. It was laid out in the 19th Century by Frederick Law Olmstead who also did Central Park. Many curvy streets through lovely residential neighborhoods w/gas street lamps, etc.

Here is the most important tip for finding your way around the Chicago are without a GPS. Addresses in Chicago and MANY suburbs are numbered from the intersection of State St. and Madison Ave. in The Loop. Each block is usually another 100 "points" so 100 E. Madison is 1 block east of State St., 50 E. Madison is 1/2 block east, 200 West Madison is two blocks west, etc. I could tell people I lived at 3117 S.Wisconsin Ave. in Berwyn, IL. (a suburban city) and for clarification tell them Wisconsin Ave. was 7000 west and they could place it on a mental grid because they already knew it was 31 "hundred" in the vernacular. This equates to approximately 7 miles west and 3 miles south of State and Madison. Besides the ELs I think there are still city buses on most main streets in the city. Since it is laid out in a grid you can get to most parts of the city riding no more than 2 buses. You take one as far west as you need to go and transfer to another going as far north or south as necessary and you are done.

I'm sure you will have a fabulous time.

[Gsinill]

What GG said. I live up north with plenty of nice gravel roads in the forest preserves. Des Plains River Trail is nice with decent scenery for IL but don't expect any hills. It's about 50 miles long, starts in Elmwood Park in the south and goes all the way up to WI; busy on the weekends though.
There is also the Fox River Trail out west which isn't totally flat, even so I would not go that far to call the ascents/descents "hills".

Besides gravel there is a lot of activity in the Northern burbs with club rides etc. Can't really recommend any since I am out on my own…
Northern burbs is hoity toity land, so be prepared for folks with $$$ bikes that don't necessarily match the capabilities of their riders - you get the picture…

MTB: I was an avid MTBer before I moved to the US. Bought a cutting edge Gary Fisher Joshua Z0 out in San Diego; has been hanging in the garage untouched since I moved to Chicago in 2000. As mentioned, Palos seems to be decent but I assume coming from NC it won't cut it for you either. There are a few parks in southern WI that folks here are heading with their MTBs (Kettle Moraine and a small one in Kenosha (don't recall the name)).

Yeah, haven't found any Old Potatoes up here but besides Velosmith there is also Alberto's in Highland Park (northern burbs again), nice people with a Campagnolo tool kit ;)

As Buldogge said: Oliver1850 is the expert on rides south of the city. Still owe him a visit for a ride and dropping off some wheels…
Maybe we all can put in a ride together one day...

You'll love the city!

[azrider]

Gavin nails it, esp the bit about the Chicago Lakefront trail. It's awesome to ride but don't ever expect to maintain any sort of consistent speed for any more than 5 minutes at stretch.

Also, and this is purely from my experience, I felt I was treated better and I felt more safe on my morning commute into the heart of the city as opposed to riding in burbs. Once in the suburbs it was "Soccermom SUVs" and "too important to get slowed down" guys everywhere.

Other than all that....still one of the best cities i've ever lived in. Have fun.

[gavingould]

i'll also say, I don't MTB, but I know plenty who do. it's not hard to find like-minded cohorts.

[FlashUNC]

Thanks all. From what I've read online and y'alls feedback, it seems that riding from in the city to maybe less congested routes outside town would be, well, difficult. That a fair expectation?

And of course folks can get ready for the inevitable parts/bikes purge pre-move.

[gavingould]

it can be difficult, but good routes can be found around almost all the worst bits if you're willing to take the adventure.

[kramnnim]

It will be interesting to see how eager you are to move back down here.

[FlashUNC]

It will be interesting to see how eager you are to move back down here.

I'm already dreading winter.

[christian]

I once got a full can of beer thrown at me on 55th and Ellis from a moving car. It hit me square in the back of the head. I stayed up, but had to retire the helmet. I replied more generally across the hall. I'd try to get really into roller racing. Or something. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[FlashUNC]

I once got a full can of beer thrown at me on 55th and Ellis from a moving car. It hit me square in the back of the head. I stayed up, but had to retire the helmet. I replied more generally across the hall. I'd try to get really into roller racing. Or something. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Appreciate the candor.

It's basically been down to NYC and Chicago. So I'm damned either way.

[jamie789]

I don't live there anymore but I did for 3 years. It's hard to go for long road rides without constantly stoping for traffic and there are no hills so they aren't that interesting anyway.

Riding in the city isn't bad at all. There are bike lanes everywhere and I think the people (in cars) are really laid back and nice but I'm from Ma so that might be relative. Just try to be adaptable, not get emotional and not hold onto things.

If I were back there I would put all my energy into track and cx. There is a Thursday (i think) night series at the track in northbrook but I would prefer to go to the Chicago velo campus (cvc) down on 87th. It's short and steep (modeled after the one in Ghent I think). Really fun and they could use the support. There was talk of closing it last year due to lack interest.

People have gone crazy for cx in the past year or so. In August the practices start up and there are like 2 every day all around the city that you can drop in on.

There are lots of great shops there that cater to different needs. Tati cycles loves campy but he can be a PITA to get a hold of and actually get service or buy things from. If you have the patience to build a relationship with him he can be great though.

I think it's a great city. I miss it.

[djg]

Grad school in the same place a couple of years or so ago. Ok, in the '80s. The winter is winter, and it's pretty darn flat for quite some distance if you are riding from the Hyde Park neighborhood in any direction, but yeah, you can ride there and you can even train there. There's the lakefront. You can get up to the North side or down into Indiana. There's a cycling community. I've not ridden there in some time, but it was possible to ride, solo or with others, without feeling you were taking your life into your hands -- for sure.

And the University is the University -- not a lot of places like that.

[markie]

I lived to the North of Chicago for four years. I rode through a lot of flat-straight corn-fields. I am a MTB'er and the off-roading was not very exciting. It did give me a chance to learn to ride fixed off-road and meet some pretty great people.

[thwart]

Only a 2.5-3 hr drive to Madtown and the hills of SW Wisconsin.

And if needed, I think I can find a bike you can use…

BTW, don't know why you'd ever dread winter. It was a balmy 9° F today.

[floxy1]

Chicrosscup.com crazy fun series...if you don't CX you might want to consider. MTB pretty much stinks but some good stuff in southern Wi.

[jamie789]

Chicrosscup is awesome. Such a fun atmosphere. There are also the dirt jumps at "the garden" if you're into that. I think people use a 24" or 20" bmx on those. Check cambr.org for mtb. They have maps and trail condition reports.

[oliver1850]

When is the move? You have dodged a bullet by missing out on the worst winter in 25 (35?) years, so consider yourself ahead of the game.

Is living farther out an option? Take a look at the Metra rail map:

http://metrarail.com/content/metra/en/home/maps_schedules/metra_system_map.html

The Pink Line (Electric District) has the best stops for the UC area. Depending on how the train schedule fits into both of your schedules, perhaps you could live far enough out that you can get into open country without much problem. The line extends to a bit beyond Richton Park. If you look at that area on Google Earth you will see that it's pretty much open farm country south of Monee (5 miles S of Richton Park). While it's pretty flat, it beats riding crowded paths in my opinion.

Even if you end up living in the campus area, it's only a 40 min. drive to Monee. You can also take the train out of the city and take your bike along, but there are time/capacity restrictions:

http://metrarail.com/content/metra/en/home/utility_landing/riding_metra/bikes_on_trains.html

If your ride schedule is flexible, you can probably find Metra connections to get you out to other areas as well. Western terminus of the UP-W line will get you to Elburn, which is only about 5 miles from the Dekalb Gravel Metric and Night Bison routes.

As for clubs, you might check out Bike Psychos in Oak Lawn, about 12 miles from UC. Perhaps some members can give you some tips on the tradeoffs between where to live and where to ride in the area. I haven't ridden with any members in years, but the club used to put on a race not too far from me and I'd guess there are still some fast riders in the club. They have some routes on their website:

http://bikepsychos.org/routes/index.php

As others have mentioned, there are lots of good places to ride for day trips within driving distance.

Let me know if I can help with anything.

[raygunner]

I once got a full can of beer thrown at me on 55th and Ellis from a moving car. It hit me square in the back of the head. I stayed up, but had to retire the helmet.

Christian, I thought this was part of the fresh water economists hazing ritual?

And in regards to Chicago, Rapha has yet to do an "epic" ride here. 'Nuff said! :cool:

[EchelonLeft]

My friend the triathlete used to do 100 mile group road rides from Evanston, IL.
Be prepared to leave early and ride hard.

[Ken Robb]

can you take a bike on the EL?

[robin3mj]

can you take a bike on the EL?

Yes except during rush hour, which fortunately ends at 6pm.
I have biked in and put my bike on the train home a handful of times.

[zennmotion]

Number 4
http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mli45lmhg/4-chicago-ill/

[pdmtong]

I once got a full can of beer thrown at me on 55th and Ellis from a moving car. It hit me square in the back of the head. I stayed up, but had to retire the helmet. I replied more generally across the hall. I'd try to get really into roller racing. Or something. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

I used to live at E 54th and Kimbark. I'm sure you will be able to find some riding, but it will require effort.

My suggestion is to save money while she is getting her degree, and then when she graduates, has the big offer, and you move to a place with better riding, buy yourself a nice new bike as a reward.

The city itself has a lot to offer. But cycling isn't high on the list.

[einreb]

Looking for the soup-to-nuts review.

Not soup to nuts, but I'll speak to the near southwest burbs (lagrange/western springs) area. This is essentially the 'nearest' road/mtb destination to UofC.

We have arguably the 'best' local mtn biking at Palos...

http://cambr.org/conditions/Palos+-+Triangle

Along with plenty of groomed CX skiing trails when winter hits hard.

Also just southwest of us about as 'lumpy' as you can get locally in Willow Springs/Lemont for decent road riding and hill repeats with cornfields farther out for mileage getters.

Happy to provide more info if you want, go for a ride or just drink your beer.

-Bernie

[Bkat]

Once you get out of the city, there are plenty of decent riding options. I normally head northwest out of Chicago (up Elston) and then there are a couple options to help add up the miles. If you don't mind flat, there's a lot of places to ride south of Chicago too. (Indiana isn't too far and, if you can get through the dodgy bit by where US Steel's mill used to be, you can even start that ride in Hyde Park.) On the other hand, I hate riding in the city. Too much stupid stuff has happened. Even when I start a ride from home, I just focus on getting my butt out of Chicago as quickly and safely as possible before I consider the ride to "officially" start.

[deaddog]

Ride the lakefront to the loop, cut in a few blocks to the train station, take the train out to glen ellyn (you can take your bike) - about 15 minutes on the train. The Prairie Path runs right next to the train station and connects to a few other paths (Fox River, Great Western) and you can probably get a 100 mile loop in with minimal or no streets. Path is crushed limestone and some paved. Scenery is kind of bland with some forest and no hills but its a long ride with no stress. Weekends have some joggers and dogs but weekdays you're all alone.

Another option is to wake up really early and crank up the lakefront path from hydepark to hollywood - hit the path at 5 am in the summer and its mainly all yours. hit it on a saturday at noon and you may as well get off and walk - at least north of the adler.