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Suburban Chicago Bicycling

I like to bike in June. How about yooouuu ...

Published 4 days ago • 1 min read

Nothing beats a Sunday bike ride in June, right?

Rollin' roads up north

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The Bicycle Club of Lake County's Ramble Ride took cyclists just over the Wisconsin border last Sunday to ride up to five routes. The area surrounding Twin Lakes offered views of prairies, farms, forests and small towns. It also presented hills that enhanced the scenery as well as the challenge. Here's what the ride was like.​

Nice construction surprises

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I rode the Salt Creek Greenway Trail out of Busse Woods with my GoPro queued to record the horribly bumpy section through Wood Dale. I was stunned to see the nasty half mile reconstructed. What a difference new asphalt makes. Here's how it looks and what's left nearby.​

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Then in Schaumburg, the path along Salem Drive is already being built. That and a crucial quarter-mile link in Des Plaines are now in the construction round-up.​

More great rides coming up

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On the invitational/charity ride calendar:

  • How about another ride just over the Wisconsin border? This one comes with a treat. The Janesville Morning Rotary Club Pie Ride is Saturday.
  • Next week, the Pac Mac Ride from Chicago to Michigan City, Indiana, to fight pediatric brain cancer is Friday, June 20.
  • And it'll be the National MS Society's big weekend as its Tour de Farms runs both Saturday and Sunday, June 21-22, out of Maple Park.

FATHER'S DAY WEEKEND: I was a boy like any other riding his bike around the little neighborhood in the 1970s. That was in Harwood Heights, and I still had a Schwinn Sting-Ray when the other kids were switching to BMX's. Then Dad took me and my sister on a charity bike ride and later the full North Branch bike trail. That experience stuck with me. I rode a 10-speed Schwinn around college, but I didn't restart the full bicycling experience until the 2000's. My dad would say I was "making a religion out of it." I'm good with that. Thanks, Pops, for the Schwinns and the introduction.

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​And you can read previous newsletters anytime​

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At top, the views look different on Wisconsin roads, don't they?

Suburban Chicago Bicycling

Neil Holdway

A source for the great trails and roads to ride a bicycle in Chicago's suburbs, and to learn about efforts to make bicycling easier there.

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