Hot Bike Trend: Multimodal Bike Adventures

What's hot is picking a destination to ride to — someplace far — pedaling there, and then taking the train home.

With an assist from the train, multimodal cycling lets riders go out farther since they don't have to pedal back. And while it's hardly a new thing to take your bike on a train — multimodal commuters have been doing it for ages — many road cyclists we know are doing more big one-way rides like this, with several using apps like Strava and RideWithGPS to help them find new routes and plan distant outings that normally might be out of reach.

Also known as "slingshot", this is a great way to check out bike routes and trails without a car. 

Full Article:

http://www.businessinsider.com/multimodal-cycling-2015-10

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Permalink Reply by JAYMO on November 5, 2015 at 7:24am

I've been using the west line Metra to get to the Illinois Prairie Path and the Great Western Trail.  Just did a 55 mile ride this Tuesday and had no problems getting there and back using the Metra.  I usually do a circle route that takes me back to where I started.  Lombard this time.  

There may be times where they have too many bikes on board (limit is 20 per train) but I've never experienced it.  If you do ride as far out as you can you're more than likely one of the first stops coming back into the city so it wouldn't be a problem.  

Rush hour trains do have restrictions for bikes.  Don't forget your bungee to secure your bike.       

Permalink Reply by Larry Mysz on November 5, 2015 at 7:59am

While not the Train out/Bike back trips described in the article, my wife and I have enjoyed a number of multimodal tours.

Three modes – Bike, Amtrak, Van

Chicago Heights to Joliet by bike

Joliet to St Louis, MO by Amtrak Illinois service (bike roll on)

St Louis, MO to Sedalia, MO  where you have to transfer trains to the Missouri River Runner service  (bike roll on)

Bike the Katy Trail from Sedalia, MO west to Clinton, MO, then back east to St. Charles, MO.

The original plan was to bike to Alton, IL and return by Amtrak, but an emergency back home required that we cut the trip short .  Two days were shaved off the return by going from  St. Charles, MO to St. Louis MO using a van from a  shuttle service

St Louis, MO , to Joliet by Amtrak Illinois service (bike roll on)

Joliet to Chicago Heights by bike

 

 

Three modes  - Bike, Boat, Metra

Chicago Heights to Muskegon, MI by bike

Muskegon, MI to Milwaukee, WI by Lake Ferry

Milwaukee, WI to Racine, WI by bike

Racine, WI to Chicago by Metra North Central

Union Station to Randolph St Station by bike

Randolph St Station to 211thst  Station (Matteson) by Metra Electric

211thst  Station (Matteson) to Chicago Heights by bike

 

 

Two modes - Bike, River cruise boat for our 50th Anniversary: 

A Bike and Boat on the Danube from Passau, Germany to Budapest, Hungary and back.   Eat and sleep on the boat.  Bike modest distance during the day to be met by the boat for wine and cheese at the end of the ride.  Travel by boat overnight to the next interesting location and start a new bike ride.

Permalink Reply by Tricolor on November 5, 2015 at 8:53am

Amtrak works perfectly for anyone wanting to ride the 380-some miles between Pittsburgh and Washington. Overnight from Chicago to Pittsburgh (around 5 AM) and overnight from Washington back to Chicago (Around 9 AM). 5-6 days on the trail and any extra time you want to spend in DC; the bike is a great way to get around to all the sights, too.

With new bike service on the Capital Limited you can also do half the ride from Pittsburgh to Cumberland in 2-3 days and catch the train back to Chicago. It'll be pretty late at night when you board, but it will let you take it easy even if you're doing the 150 miles in two days.

Permalink Reply by Lois Jacob on November 6, 2015 at 7:17am

Before we acquired a bike rack for the car, we did a LOT of exploring of the Chicago area via METRA & CTA.

1)  Southwest Suburbs:  We took the Rock Island Line to Mokena, then rode thru neighborhoods and the Hickory Creek Trail  to reach the Old Plank Road Trail.  The Old Plank Road Trail intersects the Rock Island METRA near Joliet on the west end and the University Park METRA  near Olympia Fields on the east end.

2)  Western Region:  We explored the Fox River Valley Trails between Aurora on the south and McHenry on the north over several weekends using METRA lines to Geneva, Elgin, and Crystal Lake. METRA also serves Fox Lake and Grayslake with potential riding in that area.  Make a mini vacation with a hotel on Sat night in St. Charles, Crystal Lake, etc

3)  The north shore trails can be easily explored using the METRA line to Kenosha with stops at all the north surburbs.  Note:  elevation increases slightly as you travel north, therefore riding from north to south is easier!  Winthrop Harbor Marina has a fabulous beach which is uncrowded.

4)  In Chicago, we rode the complete Lakeshore Trail in one direction (about 22 miles)  via CTA connections (Granville Red Line Station in the north - because it has an elevator) and CTA Bus #6 from the South Shore Cultural Center at 71st st on the south end.

Also from the Granville Red Line station, we rode west and followed trails north thru Calder Woods, ending up at the Chicago Botanical Garden (near a METRA station), and bicycled back to Evanston to return to 95th street via Purple and Red CTA lines.

We find it handy to carry the RTA Six County Regional System Map (call 312-836-7000 for a copy) along with the Chicagoland Bike Map published by Active Transportation Alliance and sold in bike shops.  METRA offers weekend tickets which give you unlimited rides on saturday,  sunday (and monday holidays) anywhere they go for a flat fee.  RTA will also mail you METRA schedules.

CTA & PACE Buses accept two bicycles on easy to use front racks.  METRA trains accept more bicycles, but do have a limit.  Only once could we not board at 99th because the train had its limit (a Blues Festival weekend in Frankfort).  To avoid that problem,  its best to board at the terminus of a METRA line.  Also, bikes are not allowed on METRA during special festivals downtown (Jazz, Blues, Taste of Chicago, 4th of July, etc - contact RTA) Need to plan....

Happy Urban Bicycling,

Lois & Merle

Permalink Reply by Performance Bicycle on November 6, 2015 at 7:22am

I toured the West Coast this year, Mexico border to Vancouver, BC.  Took Amtrak back Vancouver to Seattle then Seattle to Chicago.  Amtrak boxes are nice and easy to pack, one note, you cannot exceed 50 lbs in the box.  It is a great way to travel and cover lots of distance with all your gear.

Cheers,

Chris (TC) Sutphen

Permalink Reply by Eli on November 7, 2015 at 5:10am

We in Chicago don't realize, I think, how lucky we are to be at the nexus of so many rail lines. I've been able to ride in some beautiful areas thanks to Metra and Amtrak:

- I've ridden the I&M Canal Trail twice, both times using the Amtrak at Mendota and Metra at Joliet

- Harvard Metra to Kenosha Metra

- Harvard to camp at Sugar River in Winnebago County

- Woodstock to camp at Marengo Ridge in McHenry County

- Crystal Lake Metra to Aurora Metra

- Lots of loops starting and ending at the Harvard, Crystal Lake, and Naperville Metra stations

While it's frustrating and cumbersome to get beyond all the sprawl around Chicago (especially without a car), I'm very thankful that I'm able to do so at all.

I'd love to hear any suggestions for rides off of the UP-N line as it is the easiest for me to get to.

Permalink Reply by Deni Mayer on November 7, 2015 at 6:05am

Harvard to Sugar River sounds like a great ride. Did you take the Long Prairie/Stone Bridge Trail for much of the way? How was the road riding when you couldn't use the trail?

Permalink Reply by Eli on November 7, 2015 at 6:46am

Yes, we took the Long Prairie/Stone Bridge trail on our way there.

Coming back we road almost the whole way on the road. Once you get east of Roscoe there are some amazing country roads with no traffic. We took those into Chemung and then took the Stone Mill Trail (only 1.5 miles) from Chemung back into Harvard.

If you try to take 173 from Harvard to the Long Prairie trailhead, it sucks, but we followed <a href="http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Harvard-Metra-and-Long-Prarie-Trail">this route</a> to avoid 173 altogether, and it was great. On our way back we were on 173 coming into Chemung (from White Oaks Road), but only for maybe 1000 feet.

I wrote a blog post about that trip <a href="http://eli.naeher.name/sugar-river-again/">here</a>, including our exact road route back. In general the road riding was my favorite part. However, there are a lot more services along the trail than along the back roads.

Permalink Reply by Eli on November 7, 2015 at 8:47am

I swear you used to be able to use HTML here....

Here are the working links:

Sugar River blog post

Non-highway route from Harvard Metra to Long Prairie Trail

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on November 7, 2015 at 12:33pm

Eli, Do you see the little icons in the window when you go to respond? You should be seeing buttons including, "link", a photo, a video, and all the way to the right, you should also see an HTML option. Hope that helps! Thanks for sharing the links!!

Permalink Reply by Eli on November 7, 2015 at 6:47am

I didn't realize that campground was open year-round--it's great to have more options that stay open. How was the camping?

Permalink Reply by Eli on November 8, 2015 at 3:28am

It seems they clear cut a bunch of trees to grade the land for the sites.

That's too bad. When I visited the new FPDCC campground at Shabbona Woods this spring, it was the same way. Apparently the the county has hired a golf-course management company to run these campgrounds, and it shows. (At Shabbona Woods they actually shut and locked the gates to the surrounding trails at 5:00 pm--several hours before sunset in May when we were there--so we couldn't even enjoy the surrounding nature preserve.)

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