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Suburban Chicago Bicycling

Neil Holdway

Your one-stop source for the great trails and roads to ride a bicycle in Chicago's suburbs, and to learn about efforts to make bicycling and bicycling infrastructure better there.

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A bike trail with a very faded strip down the middle extends into and curves in a forest preserve with leaves on the ground, not the trees, and a big sign and map on the side.
Featured Post

Heading south for the end of winter: Thorn Creek, plus news and rides

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....

12 days ago • 1 min read
Looking down a curved, striped forest preserve bike trail with bike route signage and bare trees in winter

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...

26 days ago • 2 min read
Looking down a newly paved road divided by a big median with a garden, stone signage and streetlamps by an icy lake on the left and colored brick parking spaces on the right

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...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read
A bicyclist rides in a green-painted protected bike lane in a city downtown.

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:...

about 2 months ago • 2 min read
A row of pine and other trees lines each side of a rural road and makes shadows under a blue sky.

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...

2 months ago • 1 min read
Hoffman Estates High School digital sign with text, school buses, and pedestrians biking and walking.

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...

3 months ago • 1 min read
A rendering shows a bike-pedestrian bridge over a wide road and railroad tracks

Another year-end newsletter? Yes, I'm doing it, too, after quite a first year of news and material for my Suburban Chicago Bicycling website. I've started looking ahead to the new year, too. Look back E-bike laws, roundabouts, a new bridge, bike lanes becoming bike paths, towns' infrastructure reviewed and great rides. Top bicycling news of 2025 Look how e-bikes rolled Regulating e-bikes and what became known as e-motos brought debate and resulted in a patchwork of local laws. How e-bike laws...

3 months ago • 1 min read
A two-lane road curves to the right through trees in the late fall with light from a setting sun in the background.

I had been meaning to write about Cuba Road all year. But it was complicated. I knew it has been a mainstay in the far northwest suburbs — colleagues who grew up around it told me it was a favorite for cruising and thrill-seeking. I also knew that it has been popular among cyclists for decades — there's even a whole Strava group dedicated to it, with 271 members. I kept riding the 9.5-mile road this year; that was the easy part. I've actually biked Cuba Road for years and shot a lot of video...

3 months ago • 2 min read
A two-way bike lane on new black asphalt appears along a suburban street.

There in Bartlett is a two-way bike lane — almost unheard of in the suburbs. My look at bicycle infrastructure around the ’burbs Last week I was invited to talk to the Suburban Advocacy Connect group, led by the Active Transportation Alliance and Ride Illinois, about my review of bicycling infrastructure around the suburbs. (Welcome to all the new subscribers resulting from that!) I started this review in April to compare my hometown, Schaumburg, to other towns. I have information on more...

4 months ago • 1 min read
Two youths wearing motorcycle-like helmets, jackets and backpacks ride e-bikes in a bike lane along a suburban street.

Are these e-bikes or e-motos? It's hard to tell, but whatever they are, these two riders in Schaumburg were riding quite responsibly. They were in e-bike speed range (under 28 mph and probably even under 20 mph), they were wearing helmets, and they stopped at intersections. But if they weren't 16, they were not allowed to ride. Arlington Heights makes a unique e-bike law The Arlington Heights village board was ready to also impose a minimum age of 16 to ride all classes of e-bikes, the legal...

4 months ago • 2 min read