The Chainlink

I've got a friend starting a new job and who is a fairly new bike commuter. She's looking for a route from Noble/Hubbard to Ogden/Damen. I'm not sure about riding on Odgen around Hubbard since it looks like there's no bike lanes.

Anyone ride in that area and have any thoughts about good routes?

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Paulina and Wood track reasonably through...  would take Hubbard to whichever of those goes the right direction, to maybe Polk of it's not too far off the destination.

I live around there. I have ridden Ogden in that area on weekend evenings when traffic is light, but I wouldn't want to do it during rush hour. Even when I leave at 6:30am Ogden seems crazy to me. (Maybe I'm a wimp.)

 

The problem is that the other obvious route, Hubbard to Damen, is complicated by the fact that crossing Ashland at Hubbard is unpleasant.

 

I haven't done this, but your friend might consider:

 

-Hubbard west to Armour

-Armour south to Kinzie

-Kinzie West to Wood (using Kinzie to cross Ashland; it's also an uncontrolled intersection but Kinzie is much smaller than Hubbard and you can use the Ashland median to help, whereas Ashland has a left turn lane at Hubbard)

-Wood to Ogden or another east/west street over to Damen, south to Ogden/Damen

 

Oddly enough I just Google Mapped it and that's what Google says. :) But, the pavement on Kinzie looks a little beat-up. Maybe Grand to Damen is better. I don't ride on Grand much, sometimes over the river but not west of Ashland. Would be interested in the chainlink's view of that stretch.

 

Good luck to your friend! The short answer is your friend should try several routes--without being afraid to go "out of one's way" if safety demands it--and see what works best and feels most comfortable.

One of those streets cul-de-sacks at Lake, trying to remember which... I may be thinking of Wolcott. Minor annoyance, but a high curb with no cut.

Thanks for the suggestions; I'll pass them along.

Sue, just did some checking.

I'd recommend Hubbard to Paulina to Polk if Polk is at all convenient.  Friend will need to cut across a Rush hospital entranceway....

Otherwise Wood gets eaten by Ogden, so if a few blocks of Ogden are palatable, Hubbard to Wood to Ogden to destination. 

No cul-de-dac on either-- now I think I may have been thinking of Hoyne.

Don't you think crossing Ashland at Hubbard is a little rough? Maybe it's just not to my personal taste but the time I did it I found it quite unpleasant.

h' 1.0 said:

Sue, just did some checking.

I'd recommend Hubbard to Paulina to Polk if Polk is at all convenient.  Friend will need to cut across a Rush hospital entranceway....

Otherwise Wood gets eaten by Ogden, so if a few blocks of Ogden are palatable, Hubbard to Wood to Ogden to destination. 

No cul-de-dac on either-- now I think I may have been thinking of Hoyne.

I'm not getting what the advantage of Kinzie is here; I don't think I'd recommend to anyone that they cross a busy street by making their way halfway across to a narrow median and using it for refuge until the other side clears.   My recollection is that the pavement is horrible in most places once you get west of Milwaukee.  It seems like being smack up against the viaduct would hurt your visibility of approaching traffic on Ashland (I have this problem crossing Ashland at 16th all the time.)

I will give it a try next opportunity.

Alex Z said:

Don't you think crossing Ashland at Hubbard is a little rough? Maybe it's just not to my personal taste but the time I did it I found it quite unpleasant.

h' 1.0 said:

Sue, just did some checking.

I'd recommend Hubbard to Paulina to Polk if Polk is at all convenient.  Friend will need to cut across a Rush hospital entranceway....

Otherwise Wood gets eaten by Ogden, so if a few blocks of Ogden are palatable, Hubbard to Wood to Ogden to destination. 

No cul-de-dac on either-- now I think I may have been thinking of Hoyne.

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