Biking for exercise in Chicago proper

I moved to Chicago (Old Town) a few years ago as an avid cyclist and triathlete. Before then I lived in Minneapolis. Since moving I can barely muster the will to go out for a run let alone a ride. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places or speaking with the wrong people but I'm starving to find places to bike/run that will keep my interest. I'm finding Chicago to be a great place to ride as a commuter or for fun but embarrassingly insufficient as a place to ride for exercise.

Can anyone help? What I want is an uncongested place to ride 15+ MPH with few to no stops, good pavement and no pedestrians here in the city. I sold my car when I moved here so heading out to the burbs is not an option. My friends have told me to join groups like VQ to do indoor riding. I can't think of anything more miserable. I love riding because I can be outside and zone everything out while getting some solid miles in. Where around here can I make that happen?

Please don't suggest the Lakefront Path. I've tried it all the way up and down. It's not good for riding like I want to do.

Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Alex Z on September 27, 2013 at 11:32am

If you check out the north branch trail, I think Elston is a better route to get up there than Milwaukee. Elston will enable you to bike at a faster speed and doesn't have the tight congested sections that Milwaukee does.

 

Re: the South Side, I know from experience that there is low weekend traffic on a lot of routes, but isn't the OP looking for routes where he will rarely have to stop for red lights? I guess if the traffic is SO low you could confidently blow through all red lights, but from the sound of the post I'm not sure any grid-based city riding is what he's looking for.

Permalink Reply by Tom Dworzanski on September 27, 2013 at 4:09pm

Truth. +1

Anne Alt said:

NBT tends to be fairly quiet most of the time.  Be careful at blind curves with lots of trees.  Sometimes you may encounter deer on the path.

Permalink Reply by Kyle on September 28, 2013 at 12:39pm
You might reconsider the burbs. I had my first experience with a bike on Metra and it was painless. I rode the Salt Creek trail to the Great Western to the Illinois Prairie Path to Fox Valley trail in Elgin. I rode 40 miles one way with several multi mile segments of no stops then rode Metra back to my starting point.
Permalink Reply by Christian on October 4, 2013 at 1:25am

There are really no great solutions in the city. The Lake front path is useless unless you go early in the morning and ride south Soldier Field down to the South Shore Club. Your best bet is to head to Caldwell woods and ride the North Branch trail from there. You can get some quality miles. Until they redo the lakefront trail with dedicated / protected bike lanes I would skip it as well. For as cycling friendly as we claim Chicago is, it is a miserable place to get a training ride in, unless you like dodging cars, buses and pedestrians! ;)

Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on October 4, 2013 at 2:27am

Try riding Elston Ave in its entirety from north to south and back in under an hour. It's about 19 miles tip-to-tail-to-tip. That's an nice and open route and it's a good road for a quick, high intensity, workout.

Permalink Reply by Gecko on October 4, 2013 at 2:44am

Does it have to be a totally stop-free and car-free route?  I've found that riding at top speed through the city and stopping (or at least slowing substantially) at all stop signs and red lights kind of turns into a sort of interval training.  Interval training has been shown to increase your overall power and endurance, so it can only be a good thing, right?  Some links in case you're interested:

http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/get-fa...

http://www.bicycling.com/training-nutrition/training-fitness/ultima...

http://beta.active.com/articles/interval-training-will-boost-your-c...

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/triathlon/super-simple-cycli...

http://www.training4cyclists.com/better-results-with-interval-train...

Permalink Reply by pistola on October 4, 2013 at 4:49am

There's a bunch of people that do fast group rides up Sheridan on the weekends.  On Wednsday nights the rides are super fast (26-33mph) and of course drop rides, but all the clubs meet up at PKs on Ridge after the ride for Highlife and chips.  Its the highlight of my week.

Permalink Reply by Chris Mailing on October 5, 2013 at 4:19pm

The Ten 27 Cycling Club's Sunday Ride leaves at 8:05 am from The Other Brother Coffeehouse at the corner of Sherman Ave. and Grove Street in downtown Evanston, will run all winter, weather permitting.
 
Michael A said:

The CCC weeknight rides are done for the season, but to get to the kind of roads you are talking about you will have to ride either north or west. There is a nice sunday ride out of evanston, it used to be run by the old turin shop, then it changed it's name to 1027, it leaves from a coffee shop every sunday morning, 60 miles average speed is usually 18-25 with a few sprints thrown in for good measure.

chicagobikeracing.com has a list of lots of training rides, but it is now cyclocross season so most are playing in the mud instead of on the roads.

Permalink Reply by chiearthrider on October 6, 2013 at 2:25am

The Evanston Bike Club has group rides every day but Monday, and on weekends and holidays they may have up to five seperate rides depending on the pace you are looking for, i.e. casual, moderate, fast, very fast, very fast plus.  While you might shuttle your bike in an auto to their meet up spot, I usually ride up to Evanston on the Channel Trail, so it might be 15 extra miles each way from Old Town.  www.evanstonbikeclub.org

Permalink Reply by dana on October 6, 2013 at 1:01pm
I definitely recommend the XXX team ride. No drop to Highland Park but be prepared for a workout. http://www.xxxracing.org/index.php?/pages/ride/
Permalink Reply by Ben Gray on October 6, 2013 at 3:29pm

Here's another vote for Elston at night. It's good for a fast, steady ride and intervals.

Permalink Reply by Glenn Bradford on October 7, 2013 at 6:35am

I agree Kyle! I am a wanderin' soul on my bike, and I love taking the train out to Harvard or Kenosha station where you can put in miles beyond counting, come back to town for a beer or two, then get on the train and be home in an hour. It is one of the best features of Chicago riding in my opinion.

Kyle said:

You might reconsider the burbs. I had my first experience with a bike on Metra and it was painless. I rode the Salt Creek trail to the Great Western to the Illinois Prairie Path to Fox Valley trail in Elgin. I rode 40 miles one way with several multi mile segments of no stops then rode Metra back to my starting point.

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