Biking in the Burbs (Chicago, Aurora: best city, neighborhoods, school)

[kbl]

My family is getting ready to move to the Chicago area and we are doing an intensive search on what are to live in. At this time we are thinking about Naperville. We like the excellent school systems (a must), downtown, shopping, restaurants and overall community involvement. The one thing I haven't seen is a bicycle friendly environment. It doesn't even seem like there is biking along the riverwalk area or accesible biking trails to get there. Are there any communities out there that satisfy our requirements and have good accesible biking trails? Thanks for your advice in advance.

[Bart0415]

I am familiar with the southeast Warrenville (or is it southwest Wheaton ?) area, which lies just north of Naperville. Some neighborhoods of it lie very close to the Herrick Lake forest preserve or to Herrick road (which becomes Wiesbrook road north of Butterfield road). Herrick Lake preserve (lying between Warrenville road, Herrick road, Butterfield road, and Naperville road) has an excellent network of bike trails; continue North on Herrick/Wiesbrook road just past Butterfield (route 56) and you access the Illinois Prairie path on which you can ride for miles and miles going east or west (for example going west it intersects the Fox River bike trail in Batavia and you can continue north to Geneva or St. Charles). Here is a link to Google maps for the area:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...1157&z=13&om=1

[Steve-o]

There are LOTS of forest preserves in the area, with hundreds of miles of biking trails. I dont know if youre into road biking, mountain biking, leisure biking, etc. You could always stop at one of the many local bike stores and they can give you exact specifics as to what trails are nice, etc. I like Warrenville Grove Forest Preserve, there are some nice mountain bike trails in the woods. Blackwell Forest Preserve has some decent ones as well.

[mimi2007]

Here are some sites that will help you:

Chicago Bicycle Federation http://www.biketraffic.org

Bike Chicago http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/we...eEnumValue=162

Chicago Cycling Club http://www.chicagocyclingclub.org

Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference http://www.hydepark.org/transit/bikertsplannews.htm

There are more: just google biking chicagoland

[gardener34]

There is a lot of biking in the fox river valley area. The fox river trail goes from Aurora (I think) all the way up to algonquin. Right along the fox river as you can imagine. See if you can find something right off that trail. (I am off that trail by 1 block)
Also the prairie path which goes from berkeley, IL all the way west through the burbs to blackwell forest preserve (at least that is how far I have ridden it.) And then there is a connection from that to somewhere in Wayne, IL.

Most of these were old railroads and they had the big "rails to trails" program which created these.

And if you are into mountain biking, waterfall glen I think is the place to go and that is in burr ridge I think.

[Steve-o]

Waterfall Glen offers some nice trails, I forgot about that place. There is also another place off of Naper Blvd in Wheaton (near Danada Square) that has some wide open prairie and nice trails. I think its by the Danada Equestrian Center if I remember correctly. For serious, serious, serious mountain bikers, there is Kettle-Moraine in WI, that place is beserk!

[kbl]

Thanks for the information. Keep any more advice coming. We are going to be moving from Orlando FL (I am not sure of the sanity in that, but the job is a good one) and most of the rails to trails projects down here are all paved and is great for my road bike. By the sounds of it I will need to get a hybrid because most of the trails on the IPP are crushed coquina. Is that correct or are a lot more of them paved than it is leading on. Is there a safe way to bike from the South West side of Naperville to the Fox River trail or will I have to drive then bike? Is the Fox river trail crushed coquina or paved?

[Bart0415]

Originally Posted by kbl

Is the Fox river trail crushed coquina or paved?

The section between Batavia and St. Charles, that I am familiar with, is definitely paved. I don't know about the rest.

[mdz]

Fox River path is paved.

Here's the website for the Prairie Path, my wife and I are on it all the time. Most of it is shaded/wooded west of elmhurst or so. Crushed limestone. Wheaton is sort of the "grand central" for this and you can head to elgin, batavia, aurora, or geneva from there. The elgin branch is our favorite.

www.ipp.org

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by kbl

Thanks for the information. Keep any more advice coming. We are going to be moving from Orlando FL (I am not sure of the sanity in that, but the job is a good one) and most of the rails to trails projects down here are all paved and is great for my road bike. By the sounds of it I will need to get a hybrid because most of the trails on the IPP are crushed coquina. Is that correct or are a lot more of them paved than it is leading on. Is there a safe way to bike from the South West side of Naperville to the Fox River trail or will I have to drive then bike? Is the Fox river trail crushed coquina or paved?

Most of the trail is paved, other parts crushed rock (not sure what type) that is 100% perfect to ride on. There is also the Illinois Prairie Path which is probably the single longest trail in the state/region. I believe it goes all the way to Iowa, or at least thats what Ive been told.

As for the move from Orlando, get ready for the winters here, they can be extremely cold from time to time, with some decent snowfall, but if you have kids, theyll love it. Summers here are alot better, and spring and fall are also gorgeous. There are also some really hilly areas of the state to bike in (Galena, Oregon, Shawnee National Forest, Starved Rock SP, Apple River Canyon SP and Matthiesson SP), so thats another idea I figured Id toss your way. There is nothing in Orlando that you cant find here, and Chicago is probably the 2nd best city in the nation IMO. Sooooooooo much to do. Im sure youll love it here, just take advantage of the winter for what its worth.