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 and many pictures; sorting through that might be a little harder, I thought. And researching its history might be harder still.

Well, researching the history wasn't so bad; there's as much material out there about Cuba Road as I thought there might be. But I didn't expect it to reveal the road as such a serious destination for ghost hunters.

That's right. Thanks to White Cemetery in the Barrington area, fans of the paranormal keep visiting in hopes of confirming stories of two ghosts, two phantom cars and a mysterious building — which has been reported as a mansion, a farmhouse or an abandoned asylum.

Weirder still, when I reviewed my recent footage of Cuba Road, the cemetery never appeared! It was like my camera kept shutting off, or the ghosts made me look away.

Maybe I'm overthinking this. It appears I was simply entranced as always by the peaceful road covered by trees over most of its nearly 10 miles. Plus in the fall, I got amazing sunset views. Check out the history, pictures and video.​

Can we ride to and around O'Hare someday?

Wouldn't it be nice if bicyclists in suburbs like Mount Prospect, Elk Grove Village and Arlington Heights could ride safely to Park Ridge or the Des Plaines River Trail? Or into Chicago? Or even to work at the airport? Cook County planners provided early thoughts for corridors as part of the O'Hare Area Bike Network Study. Options are looking possible — but see how long it might take.

ROLL, ROLL, RUDOLPH

The look ahead to 2026 bicycle infrastructure work continues. The O'Hare corridors are getting a head start with Touhy Avenue reconstruction to the north and Franklin Avenue/Green St. work to the south. Also, an Old Orchard Road path has been delayed. See the '26 list.

Meanwhile, exciting news about 2025 road and trail work: Seven miles of the Old Plank Road Trail is newly paved, as are 12 miles of the Robert McClory Path. Get the latest on those.​

Don't forget to go to my site for bike clubs, bike trails, great roads and much more.

Can warm weather bring us a present in the coming week? Happy holidays! — Neil

THANK YOU to donors Alan White, John Heer, Terry Witt, Mitchell C. Jones, 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 and David Waycie. They're helping support this work. You can, too. Buy me a cup of coffee, as they say?

Wait, that's not Rudolph. The star is glowing, not his nose. I suppose we should name this reindeer.

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