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I find myself needing to go to Hegewisch after work tomorrow - unfortunate timing given traffic. It's pretty likely that I will have to drive, but I would like to ride if I can get there in time, as it gives me more flexibility afterwards. From about Bucktown, I'd go to the LFP at either Navy Pier or the museum Campus, take it to the SSCC, then follow the google maps route to 127th. Looks relatively simple. Google estimates about two hours. I tend to be a bit faster than google and think I might be able to do it in an hour and a half. If it takes more than that, I'll have to get my car and drive. My exposure to that part of the south side consists of looking at Wolf Lake from the IN side as I drive past on the tollway. Can those of you who have ridden down there give me an idea of how long it takes from Bucktown or downtown or wherever, how good the suggested route is, is it worth it, etc. ?

thanks,

David

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Not sure what route google gave you but the route I've always taken when doing rides south from hyde park is to take the LFP it it ends at the 71st, then go a block east on the path/sidewalk to get to south shore dr.  Take the bike lanes on it and head south until it ends just after russell park, then head se on baker and 85th st to burley.  Head south on burley -> east on 87th -> south on mackinaw Ave -> over the bridge to ewing -> south on ewing -> left onto indianapolis blvd -> go onto the sidewalk to the right and turn on to the burnham greenway after 3 blocks -> take the greenway until you get you're paralleling a bunch of power lines and then turn left about .5 miles before the end of the greenway onto a little path that connects to s wolf lake blvd.  The blvd goes through the wolf lake park and ends at 130th st.  From there , you can head a block east to get to ave. n and you can take that south to 133rd st so that you can head west and then north to get to hegewisch.  

The route I gave you is pretty nice, with bike lanes all the way till just past calumet park on ewing.  The 3-4 block stretch from where you turn on ewing onto indianapolis blvd and get to the greenway is a bit sketchy but after that it's pretty quite.  Not sure about how things are when you head east on 133rd since I've always headed se from there to get to schererville.

I seem to recall it taking a lot longer than an hour and a half but I wasn't trying to make time. 

Thanks, S. The route you describe is rpretty much what google suggested. I've never ridden further south than 71st St., so the south side is sort of a big don't-know-it zone for me. Google says my house to Glencoe is an hour and a half and I've done it in an hour, so I figure I can chop at least half an hour off of Google's 2-hour estimate from my office. Tight, but myabe doable!

D.

Oh, just a tip, if you take the route mentioned, you're basically going along US 41 so there's convenient signs that'll point you along the way.  When you get to 85th, you'll be right by the chicago velocampus.  If you have time, check out the racing if there's any and it makes a nice spot to get help if you get a mechanical in that area since buses and public transit is a bit scarce there.   Just fyi, it takes about 30 minutes to get from 51st to calumet park and maybe another 15 to get to wolf lake. Oh, when you're on ewing, you can take a detour through calumet park if you want to get some scenery.  It's pretty nice and if you take the south exit, you can go down the brick paved road and end up at ewing just before the turn onto indianapolis blvd.  It's a nice detour since ewing is kind of blah.

Since I left work from downtown, I had time to ride (in fact, driving would have taken significantly longer) - it was easy to get there, with the route very well-marked. Took me 1:20 from the loop to 126th. What a fabulous day  to go for a long ride! I loved seeing a part of the city I'd never been remotely near before. 

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