Chicago IL to moline IL

hey, a couple friends and I are going to ride from Chicago to the Mississippi river in a couple weeks and I'm researching routes. i was wondering if anyone knew a good route or if anyone has experience riding on Illinois routes out in the center of the state. IL-34 (ogden) takes us the most direct route, but unsure how safe it is for bikes. any info would be appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by djm on May 30, 2016 at 6:27pm

Thats the route of the RAIL North ride.

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on May 31, 2016 at 3:00am

GITAP.  Google Maps suggests a diagonal route to Joliet to start.  https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/recreation/greenwaysandtrails/Document...

Permalink Reply by Jared on May 31, 2016 at 3:35am

Google maps makes it look like their is a trail almost all the way there.  Not sure about the quality of the trail though.

Permalink Reply by Marc A. Irwin on May 31, 2016 at 11:00pm

You can follow the IM Canal from Joliet to it's end and then meander over to the Hennepin Canal trail.  Those take you all the way to the Quad Cities.  If you are not into trail riding, you can always look at the state and county roads nearby.  They are lightly traveled and the pavement is generally pretty good.  Last year I rode across as far as Princeton before heading south to Galesburg.  At that time the IM trail was damaged in places from the floods, but overall it was a nice trip.

Marc

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on June 1, 2016 at 3:12am
Permalink Reply by Larry Mysz on June 1, 2016 at 4:22am

Check the Grand Illinois Trail guide from Ride Illinois.  http://rideillinois.org/maps/grand-illinois-trail-guide/

It maps a nice loop from the Lake to the Mississippi and back. 

The full Grand Illinois Trail is about half on roads / half on crushed stone trails.  As Mark Irwin mentioned, sections of the I&M canal crushed stone trail between Morris and Peru were damaged in flooding a few years back, but there are good parallel roads in those sections.

Joliet to Morris and then to LaSalle-Peru on the Illinois River and I&M canal is a beautiful ride. 

Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 1, 2016 at 1:47pm
Djm is right. RAIL North is about as direct as you can get. 178 miles or so.
Stay off the site highways, unless you want to get run off the road by a hick.
Here is my route of RAIL North I did 3 years ago. https://www.strava.com/activities/62210225
I'd highly recommend it, except the 10 miles on IL-30.
A great rout with over 100 miles without a traffic light, and you get to ride through the windmill parks in Western Illinois. Thatt was quite the sight.
Permalink Reply by Gerry Casas on June 1, 2016 at 2:47pm

thanks everyone! duppie thanks for that route ill def be trying it out at some point this summer. I'm also participating in ragbrai this year so maybe ill just follow that all the way home.

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