May is National Bike Month, and the suburbs are stepping up for it. Events lined up The Active Transportation Alliance has assembled a list of May bicycling events throughout the suburbs. Plus there's Bike to Work Week and National Bike & Roll to School Day. All the May events Organized rides ramp up Organized and charity rides really get going in May. Plus there's the Ride of Silence, in memory of bicyclists killed on roads. It's actually several rides around the suburbs. Updated list...
20 days ago • 1 min read
Suddenly, state e-bike legislation emerges Local leaders, including some who created ordinances to restrict e-bike use, have been waiting to see if state lawmakers would address e-bikes and, more important, e-motos, their more powerful cousins. In April, the state Senate really got to it, and suddenly it passed legislation Wednesday. The legislation is dramatic. It defines e-motos as "motor driven cycles" and separately regulates motorized scooters, skateboards and unicycles. It treats the...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Enter the Cal-Sag Trail The Cal-Sag Trail is kind of the baby of Cook County trails, with the first real segment opening just in 2015. Planned and designed by a coalition that included residents, town leaders and even a landscape architect who added beautiful signage and archways, the love and care behind the Cal-Sag make it stand out. But there's still that beast of a middle section. Take a look. Tinley Creek and beyond The beauties of the Tinley Creek Trail system are the Cook County...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Crossing the county to check out Thorn Creek When I asked Cook County about the bumpy conditions of the Busse Woods Trail out in the northwest by me, I heard the Thorn Creek system was being evaluated first. So I trekked southeast across Cook County (by car!) to check out the trail (by bike!) for myself. Well, the county has gotten it in largely good shape, all the way to the Burnham and Pennsy greenways. Take a look. St. Charles to check out its downtown path Also a little south of me, St....
2 months ago • 1 min read
Cook County bike trails yesterday and today The Forest Preserves of Cook County has touted a new Wellness Center at Caldwell Woods off the Northwest Side of Chicago, but it also talked about the new path it built to the stalwart North Branch Trail. The more gradual path replaced the steep ramp that was there for 50 years. That had me reminiscing of my childhood in the 1970s and early '80s. How the trail has grown. Read. I also scoured the forest preserve district's updated 5-year capital...
3 months ago • 2 min read
Lake Zurich's rebuilt Main Street is here ... ... but bike lanes or paths are not. The road and the Promenade area on the east side of the lake were reimagined to be even better for pedestrians who gather especially for sunsets, but bicycling infrastructure seemed never to be in the schematics. It isn't that the village isn't thinking about it. Bicyclists are all over Lake Zurich's latest comprehensive plan and park plans. Read more. The great Gulf Blvd. in Florida Just when the worst of...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Evanston leads 'Bicycle Friendly Communities' The League of American Bicyclists just announced which towns have become the latest to earn its "Bicycle Friendly Community" designation, and Evanston is leading the way in Chicago's suburbs. It earned a "Silver" designation after the rigorous application process last year. It's not the first time Evanston has had the honor, but the city let its designation slip after the pandemic. Three other suburbs won a "Bronze" designation from the League:...
4 months ago • 2 min read
Unlike the lovely weather in this view, our winter is being about as winter as winter gets — and it's even worse south of us, such as in southern Illinois where they got more than a foot of snow. Salute to those of you who continue to ride your bikes. John Greenfield of Streetsblog Chicago just updated his post on biking in Chicago during the dead of winter. He provides good tips on apparel, but his advice on using the CTA as a backup when conditions are too harsh doesn't work so well in most...
4 months ago • 1 min read
Imagine a bike path along Higgins out west Could this sidewalk running past Hoffman Estates High School off Higgins Road become a real, 10-foot-wide bike path for students and others? The villages of Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates are studying the possibility of a path east to Roselle Road — even all the way to Martingale Road someday. This is done In Bellwood, the Illinois Prairie Path has been reconfigured a little so bicyclists really cross 25th Avenue at Madison Street rather than dodge...
4 months ago • 1 min read