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Can you work from home at all? Even if only a day or two a week that could make a huge difference. I just ask cuz that is a very long commute by bike.
Going to the red line at Roosevelt and taking your bike on might work. It depends on whether you get any resistance from the station attendant at the gate. It's worth a try.
I think the Jeffrey Jump bus line might be another option. Runs from Washington/Jefferson to 103/Stony Island pretty frequently in the morning (like every 13 minutes). Not sure about rush hour, but you could likely rack the bike as well.
If you have a folding bike, you can take it on the CTA trains. So pedal over to the Red Line and take it all the way south. Seems that would be the fastest & easiest way to get there.
Yes, I can take the Brompie anywhere, and it's easy to carry up and down stairs at non-accessible stations. The Red Line option is about 1:30-1:40, which is not a whole lot less time than just riding the whole thing. Metra from the Loop seems to be about 20 minutes faster. I am most interested in beta on the various riding routes between Pullman and the Loop, though.
Despite many years of advocacy Chicago remains very much a divided city in terms of cycling infrastructure. No effective network of bike lanes compared to the north side. King Drive will get you to Hyde Park and you will be halfway to Roseland. At that point the bike lanes end. Everything becomes disjointed. Michigan Avenue is a great route south. No bike lanes but wide and one way. At 63rd you have to jog west to State Street to navigate the intermodal yards You could even take State Street south from the loop. There are probably bike lanes a lot of the way. Until 67th when State becomes one way north. Go east to Indiana, residential one way to 83rd. At 83rd Indiana becomes bi-directional. At 95th go east to Cottage Grove where you can use the new bike lanes to 103th. Taking the LFP to Jeffrey is taking you way out of the way. 95th Jeffrey to Cottage is not a good route. You might also consider Milwaukee - Halsted - 71st - Indiana - 95th -Cottage Grove.
^I only know some of these routes, but good advice IMO.
Peter,
Thanks for the suggestions. I will try some variations of those to compare the travel time and pleasantness factor with what I have been doing. My routine so far has been to ride to the Loop in the morning, take the train to 95th and ride the last mile down Cottage Grove. In the afternoon, I take Cottage-93rd-Jeffrey-LFP ro either Randolph or Diversey. I can get to the Loop in an hour or slightly less and home in about 1:45 this way if I don't have a headwind. It is a surprisingly pleasant ride. Jeffrey is the only part that does not have some kind of bike infra, and I have a bus/parking lane to ride in most of that way. It is slightly more distance than riding streets, but it is also non-stop from Marquette to Diversey, which is quite a distance.
Have you had any issues taking your bike on the train during rush hour?
Not a bad route if you don't mind the xtra distance. Pretty frequently traveled streets. Tailwinds!
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