profile

Suburban Chicago Bicycling

Big rides bring busy weekends ahead

Published 3 months ago • 2 min read

I'm "out of the office" this week and next, but I set this message up to alert you to all the big rides coming up.

This weekend features three events:

  • Pedalpalooza in McHenry County, Saturday
  • The Arlington 500, Sunday starting at Lake Zurich High School
  • Everybody Rides, Sunday in St. Charles, for Project Mobility

Then these are on the schedule for June:

  • Bicycle Club of Lake County Ramble, June 7 in southern Wisconsin
  • Swedish Days Ride, June 14 starting in Sugar Grove
  • Janesville Morning Rotary Club Pie Ride, June 20 in Janesville, Wis.
  • Pat Mac Ride, June 26 between Chicago and Michigan City, Ind.
  • Bike MS: Tour de Farms, June 27-28 in Kane and DeKalb counties

​Find more information and links on the calendar.​

This all comes after the McHenry County Century Ride last weekend (picture above). It was a lovely ride on country roads to benefit people who need help paying for park programs. See my review of the ride.​

More construction updates

More big road and trail projects are nearly finished or just getting started:

  • Barrington Road sidepath in South Barrington: I learned that this long-sought connection between trails and towns is finally happening.
  • Ela Road in Cook County: The repaving is just about done.
  • Old McHenry Road west of Long Grove: About half of that repaving work is done, with the west half still ground up last weekend.

​See the details on these projects in the construction round-up.

Also to watch

These things are happening now:

  • First, feedback on 3.3 miles of Gages Lake Road in Lake County is being taken online through June 15. A sidepath is being considered. That's now in the local news round-up.​
  • And on a grander scale, state legislation on e-motos and e-bikes has been written, with an apparent May 31 deadline for action. (For now, entities like the Cook County forest preserve district have been putting up interesting new signs.) See what's proposed in the legislation, and watch for updates from Ride Illinois' Facebook page.​

I hope you can enjoy any of those great rides. I'll see you around soon! — Neil

THANK YOU, DONORS:
Arlington Heights Bicycle Club, Alan White, Mitchell C. Jones, Bill Triplett, John Heer, Terry Witt, T L Szensy, Douglas H. Hoffman, James Krause, Melynda Findlay Shamie, Eric Slagter, Jeffery Norman, Kathleen Hays, Andrew L. Campbell, Mark Rathe, Robert M. Yedinak, John S. Perry, David Waycie, David Michels, Cynthia DeVoss, Cheryl Zalenski, Richard H. Jordan, Mark Joseph Dugo, Richard Wadleigh, Colleen Stevenson, Randy Barich, Michael D. Staples, Michael Vander Weele, Hilliard B. Grossman, Kevin V. Barba, Bill Kragh and William F. Haley.
I create the Suburban Chicago Bicycling website and newsletter with the help of readers like you.
​Buy me a cup of coffee, as they say?

At top: Yes, it's farmland in McHenry County, but it's pretty nice to see. If there's no wind.

For even more, read old newsletters. And please forward this to anyone interested.

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

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.

Read more from Suburban Chicago Bicycling
A sleeveless young cyclist with a blue backpack rides on a boardwalk bridge through a forest preserve

Look at this on the Des Plaines River Trail Reader Gary Donnelly tipped me off to the Des Plaines River Trail work that got done between Lawrence Avenue and Irving Park Road in Cook County. I knew two boardwalks were being built there this year, and the trail in spots was going to be rerouted away from the river to ease flooding problems. When Gary rode the milelong stretch Aug. 8-9, the boardwalks had long been done, he said, but not all of the new path. A couple of weeks later, I saw for...

about 20 hours ago • 2 min read
Empty rural road with trees and a construction sign on the side.

This construction's done It was a treat to catch up to Old McHenry Road between Long Grove and Hawthorn Woods and find its repaving ... all done! The construction signs lingered, but even the striping is finished. The best part is the shoulders are mostly nice and wide. I'm sure they did that for us road cyclists. Meanwhile, if you haven't seen, the City of Geneva late last month finally announced a much-needed detour for the quarter-mile of the Fox River Trail that it is closing at least...

14 days ago • 2 min read
A newly paved road curves right through tall, thin trees after many brown leaves fell, while the sun sets in the background

My money roads I hope you're riding more than working this summer. That's what summer's for, right? I have been riding a lot as usual and found myself on money roads — roads that are destinations themselves, because they're so money. Fun, beautiful, mesmerizing. So much better than the others. I just did a tour in Wisconsin's Northwoods. I always ride these money roads: County X between Wisconsin routes 70 and 32 by Three Lakes Military Road nearby County K between Star Lake and Boulder...

28 days ago • 2 min read