new (german) biker in the nothern suburbs

Hello,

my name is Felix, I am from germany and I am doing in internship in Wheeling from April to the end of Juin. I will be living in Wilmette (near Edens Shopping Plaza).

I wanted to ask you, if you could tell me a nice bike store around Wilmette, where I could get a helmet?

And could you perhaps alos help me to find a good way (fast and safe :-)) to get to work by bike (perhaps one or two times a week...)?

There is also another intern who could catch me at the river road - what would be the best way to get there?

Thank you for your help!

Felix

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Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on March 29, 2013 at 5:36am

Willkommen in Chicago!

Riding in the North Burbs can be tricky because you need to cross many interstates and rivers, which may force you onto high-speed, high-traffic roads.   If you don't mind going briefly on dirt, something like this might work:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5867706

 

Permalink Reply by Agnieszka Z. on March 29, 2013 at 6:06am

Check out the helpful bike shop in Evanston, the suburb adjacent to Wilmette, called The Pony Shop. http://www.ponyshop.com/

I don't know what your commute route is, but there are some good biking trails in your neighborhood. In general, you can actually find bike-friendly paths on Google Maps by clicking on the bike icon. There's also an iPhone app called The Chicago Bike Map that can help you find paths even outside of the city limits. 

Permalink Reply by Felix on March 30, 2013 at 9:16am

Thank you for your answers!

I will go to this bike shop next weekend, I think you really need a helmet out here in the suburbs!

Is the google maps tool doing well?I've never used it...

Permalink Reply by David P. on March 30, 2013 at 9:33am

Yes, the bicycle tool for Google Maps works pretty well. I've noticed that it does have a strong tendency to route you onto roads that are marked in some way as bike routes, which can lead to some rather convoluted directions that don't make as much sense as a more direct route if you happen to know what the roads in question are like. This seems to be true for the city, at least.

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on March 30, 2013 at 12:53pm

This route maximizes your north-south travels along the Des Plaines River Trail, which I would imagine would be nice.  The east-west parts of the trip might be not so pleasant: http://goo.gl/maps/f455d

This is just Google map routing, I have never ridden this myself, so you should ride it for the first time on a day when you're not in a hurry, just in case there are surprises along the way.

An alternative: I'm a bit more multimodal in my travels.  I usually take a bus or train ride in the middle of my long bike commutes.  Pace Bus Route 626 would take you from the Dempster Street Yellow Line CTA station to the corner of Milwaukee & Lake-Cook Road, which, if you took your bike along on the front rack of the bus, would be a short ride to Wheeling (plus a few miles cycling south from Wilmette's Lake Street to Skokie's Dempster Street at the beginning of your trip).

http://www.pacebus.com/pdf/maps/626map.pdf

Bicycle route from Wilmette to the Skokie train-bus station: http://goo.gl/maps/yx5aI

 

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on March 30, 2013 at 1:14pm

Evanston's Pony Shop is an excellent place to buy a helmet, though there are several shops possibly nearer to where you're staying in West Wilmette:  http://goo.gl/maps/RyLQI

Permalink Reply by Felix on March 30, 2013 at 1:21pm

Thanks again! :-)

I will have a look for a colleage, who could perhaps take me at least a few times a week, i not i probably would prefer the half bus/half bike model.

I will first have a look at the Pony Shop, but if I should find nothing, I will have a look at the others one's

Felix

Permalink Reply by David P. on March 30, 2013 at 1:31pm

The Des Plaines River Trail is, for the most part, ridable on most bikes with most tires - anything you're used to riding in Germany for transportation will handle it. It is, however, in a flood plain and you may find it rather under water intermittently until May or so.

Permalink Reply by Felix on March 30, 2013 at 2:37pm

I have a road bike, with small but not really thin tires.

another question:

i am also allowed to carry my bike in the cta trains? So I could enter the purple line with my bike and exit before downtown? I think i just want to do this perhaps on the weekends, not during weekdays. Do i have to pay for it?

Permalink Reply by millenial removing Bernie tattoo on March 30, 2013 at 3:02pm

CTA allows bikes except for rush hours (7-9 AM and 4-6 PM weekdays).  There is no extra charge.  You can also take bike on the Metra (Chicago's S-Bahn) during non-rush hours.

Permalink Reply by Felix on April 2, 2013 at 12:24am

I have an update:
I have another intern who can pick me up at the Golf Center Des Plaines. So I thought obout this route:

http://goo.gl/maps/P1GzQ

That would not be that long as the whole way up to Wheeling and it could be almost a nice way?

Permalink Reply by Madopal (16.5 mi) on April 5, 2013 at 6:19am

That's as good of a route as you can do through those areas.  Without finding some neighborhood rides, Golf Road and Lake St. can make things difficult.  Central and Glenview are very good alternates.  Sometimes the shoulders can be a bit narrow, but traffic is generally slower and two lane along there.

The biggest concern is that last section.  Central near Oakton Community College speeds up, and after you exit the trail on Golf, you should probably just find a sidewalk there & on River Road.  They're both big 4 lane roads with speedy traffic, but given where you're going, there aren't any other options.  Be safe.

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