The way points of this bicycle route:
Chicago's roads are hard on the road cyclist, so here's a Western route from Edgewater to O'Hare and back. Best for NW, West, SW and even South winds.
Let's take Clark and Peterson, and hope for a smooth warm up.
Tricky lights here, but stay straight and to the right, to get onto the accomodating road ahead.
Rogers and Caldwell (or Forest Glen, ahead) are good ways to get from here to Elston.
Take Bryn Mawr to get to Talcott.
From here, there are fewer stops, and you can spin up to a better pace.
Nice area through here.
Finally, out of the inner city.
From here, Talcot and Algonquin are pretty smooth and fast.
There's construction here, but not much traffic, compared to the other roads nearby.
Nice forested area here.
This rounds out the first third, and a nice stretch for a short cool down is ahead, before turning onto Wolf.
South on Wolf, to do a repeatable loop, but basically starting the second third of the ride, and the hardest part.
Traffic is fast here, but road is wide.
Elmhurst is good to get down to Thorndale, which is probably the best road out here.
This begins nice stretch, with of all things, a climb - in Chicago! Well, not much of a climb. Call it a mild grade.
Ahh, this is what we needed!
Wood Dale/Tonne is a payoff, here.
Nice industrial area with room to stop for a pee or whatever. I've even seen a Crit going around on this road, bringing back memories...
You can go around to the right here and do the Thorndale loop again, if needed. The loop is about 8 miles.
Another payoff stretch, here.
From here, this is a big payoff stretch, a slight down grade, all the way to Wolf and beyond.
You can go around again, for about another 16 miles.
Time to ease off a bit and get calmed down for the final third of the ride, going back just the way we came for minimal stopping and maximal smoothness.
Devon is acceptable here, and a nice neighborhood, but it puts us in a poor spot, so we continue down Talcott.
I just go down the one-way here (right side of roadway, very carefully), but you could just go around on Gregory, if the traffic is heavy.
Elston is a great little stretch of cycling road, not quite inner city, not quite suburb.
Hairpin left here, against traffic, very fun, and then you can spin down a bit on Forest Glen here, up to Peterson.
Road is rough here, but it's a short patch.
Alternatively, stay on Forest Glen and get to Peterson quicker.
Peterson is the fastest way back to Clark, but if it's late/dark, I'd think twice about it (I'd go down to California and hang a left). It can be tight in places, but I haven't had trouble, as it's in the city enough so that people are used to bikers.
Tricky section - get in what looks like a left turn lane, but to straight through to Clark. The cars will not like you, but that's their problem.
Careful with the left turn, here!
Hood is an alternative way in/out. Granville is a bike route, and no one will likely honk at you, but it can be tight through there, as traffic avoids "Little India", I guess.
Back! I've continued to refine this route, and it's been quite a challenge. I've tried to keep it as smooth as possible, and closer to 40 miles than 60. At 47, and with the stops, it's a challenging ride. As you can see, many miles are spent on city streets, stopping, etc. I've done this route in just under 3 hours.
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Tagged with: Training, Onroad, Smooth, Intermediate, High traffic, Rough, Urban, Scenic
