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Old 03-01-2010, 03:45 PM
 
23 posts, read 45,136 times
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Moving to Chicago from St. Louis. I'd like to move to an area with excellent routes to rural areas of Chicago, preferably to hilly areas. I'd like to move somewhere that I could ride from my front door if you know what I mean. My training rides usually consist of 40-60 miles. I'd like to keep the "urban" riding to less then 8-10 miles before getting out to the country or rural routes.
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Old 03-01-2010, 04:04 PM
 
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You'd be better off in rural Wisonsin if you are serious about anything that looks at all "hilly" -- even the portions of NE Illinois carved up the Fox River are fairly flat...

There are club rides and such associated with the various USCF groups, but hilly is not part of the program... http://www.illinoiscycling.org/index...ule=Page&tid=5
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Old 03-01-2010, 04:23 PM
 
Location: Barrington
63,919 posts, read 46,773,354 times
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The greater Barrington area is hilly and a biker's paradise.
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Old 03-02-2010, 09:10 AM
 
Location: Lake Arlington Heights, IL
5,479 posts, read 12,271,427 times
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I live in Arlington Heights and I can ride door to door avoiding busier roads. I do agree Barrington area is nice and portions of Lake Co. much of McHenry county and Kane & Kendall west of Randall Rd. are more rural and hillier. Southern Wisconsin is even better. Many cycling clubs meet for rides at the bike shop in LaGrange, WI near Whitewater WI. This is also close to the good mountain bike trails of Kettle Moraine State Park. One route takes me to Lake Co. Try contacting some members of Wheeling Wheelmen Wheeling Wheelmen Home or try Alberto's The Team Try searching bike clubs, bike shops and racing teams. I almost always see other cyclists when I'm out on my weekend rides.
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Old 03-02-2010, 03:34 PM
 
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Lake County has the Des Plaines River (DPR) Trail and the Millenium Trail. They are within 8-10 miles of many villages. The only problem is the DPR Trail has underpasses that flood frequently. You did not mention what part of the area your new job is. Obviously you want to be in the same general direction from Chicago. Especially if you will occasionally bike to work (lol).
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Old 03-02-2010, 07:35 PM
 
Location: Phoenix metro
20,004 posts, read 77,410,260 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chet everett View Post
even the portions of NE Illinois carved up the Fox River are fairly flat...


If people think the hills in NE are "fairly flat", they have another thing coming! Ive gotten off the beaten path up there and some of those roads we took were 1st gear roads, put it that way.

While Chet is correct that we dont have extremely difficult hilly terrain around here, there are groups of hills that will definitely give your legs a good workout. There is a very large group of bikers that hit up the Campton Hills Rd area, which offers some very nice, twisty roads, with pretty good inclines from Rt. 64 all the way to Anderson Rd. There are many side roads around there that have some hilly terrain, too. Back to the pack of riders, youll see them 50-100 deep, riding all over the place back there from Spring until late Fall.
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Old 03-02-2010, 07:40 PM
 
23 posts, read 45,136 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pvande55 View Post
You did not mention what part of the area your new job is. Obviously you want to be in the same general direction from Chicago. Especially if you will occasionally bike to work (lol).
I'll be working at O'hare. I'm leaning towards Bloomingdale, Schaumburg, and possibly in the city, near Bucktown. Don't know what the riding will be like but I'm told there's alot of guys that ride out of there. I also thought about Palatine. Ideally, I'd like to have a route to get me to the Barrington area.
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Old 03-02-2010, 08:01 PM
 
23 posts, read 45,136 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve-o View Post


If people think the hills in NE are "fairly flat", they have another thing coming! Ive gotten off the beaten path up there and some of those roads we took were 1st gear roads, put it that way.

While Chet is correct that we dont have extremely difficult hilly terrain around here, there are groups of hills that will definitely give your legs a good workout. There is a very large group of bikers that hit up the Campton Hills Rd area, which offers some very nice, twisty roads, with pretty good inclines from Rt. 64 all the way to Anderson Rd. There are many side roads around there that have some hilly terrain, too. Back to the pack of riders, youll see them 50-100 deep, riding all over the place back there from Spring until late Fall.
would bloomingdale or around that area be good to ride out to both barrington and the campton hills rd area? i suppose if i move to bucktown i'll be driving out to a lot of locations to start out my ride, not looking forward to that.
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Old 03-03-2010, 09:50 AM
 
610 posts, read 2,730,438 times
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There are several cycling groups that start out in the Wheaton area and ride west through Fermi Lab and out towards Sugar Grove. Nice open roads with little to no car traffic. Many of the roads were paved last year so they are great for riding.
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Old 03-03-2010, 10:27 AM
 
Location: broke leftist craphole Illizuela
10,326 posts, read 17,438,836 times
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I live in Niles, When I want to road cycle in the country I take the metra up to Harvard or Round Lake and head Northwest. One of my favorite long distance rides is to ride from Round Lake to McHenry to Hebron then to Lake Geneva Wisconsin (get hilly in that area) then back to Harvard, IL and take the metra Home.
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