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Permalink Reply by jen on October 24, 2009 at 8:54am

damen south to Archer. Archer will drop you round 47th and pulaski. Havent really ridden archer south of 39th or so but I do like damen south

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Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on October 26, 2009 at 2:02am

Jen's idea works. FYI - Archer can get a bit hairy, so keep your eyes and ears open. The further SW you go, the faster and hairier it gets.

East of there, California is a decent N-S route going as far as Marquette Park. Except for an industrial section near 51st St., it's mostly residential with low to moderate traffic speeds.

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Permalink Reply by pistola on October 26, 2009 at 5:01am

I live near 48th and Pulaksi and head to Division and Western regularly on a bike. The Damen route seems fine, however its a bit tricky from Lake to Ogden because there's construction north of Madison. I sometimes take Western from Archer and it's not too bad, it really depends on what time you decide to bike it. I don't like climbing the Damen enterance ramp to I-55 so I take Western instead. Archer during the rush hour sucks balls and I would recommend cutting over and taking 35th or 39th to Kedzie and then down back to Archer. Archer between Kedzie and Pulaski is pretty wide with very little parking. The trickiest section IMO is NW of Kedzie to California, avoid this if possible by taking 39th right at Rockwell. Depending on how fast you go it'll only take about 30-40 minutes, which is way better than the CTA options.

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