Have any nutjobs ridden their mountain bikes from the city all the way out to Palos and back?

Title says it all. I've read before about people making use of Metra to ride down to the Palos area, getting in some trail time then riding Metra back. However, I've not heard of anyone riding their bike down and back. I ask because I'm building an Xtracycle longtail cargo bike and would love (at some point), to try it out on some trails for the heck of it. It measures 7' from nose to tail so I'm pretty sure it's too big to fit on a Metra train and not raise the ire of conductors. I could rig up a mount for the roof of my Subaru wagon, but c'mon, where's the fun in that? The Google bike maps option gives me a ~24 mile ride one way from my place on roads that are only marginal for bikes - ie. most of the route is not any road with bike lanes or dedicated MUPs. Plus a lot of goes through some sketchy areas. So, any thoughts on this? It might be a cool thing to get a bunch of other longtail riders together and hit Palos one day for the heck of it.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on December 5, 2012 at 5:52am

I've done it. I'd avoid Archer Ave during rush hours and stick to side streets if possible.  There's a couple threads about routes to Palos if you search CL.

Be sure to save plenty of time and energy for the return trip.

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on December 5, 2012 at 6:35am

Me too, except for the MTB part. Kevin's advice is sound. 

There are stretches of Archer that are generally devoid of pads. So one can ride much of it and hop up on the sidewalk when traffic picks up if it seems particularly dicey. There are some pretty brutal choke points where the outside traffic lanes disappear into the parking lane. Be careful!


Kelvin Mulcky said:

I've done it. I'd avoid Archer Ave during rush hours and stick to side streets if possible.  There's a couple threads about routes to Palos if you search CL.

Be sure to save plenty of time and energy for the return trip.

Permalink Reply by rascaltwitch on December 5, 2012 at 7:47am

I've ridden to and around Palos on a non-MTB and found much of it to be pretty darn unpleasant. A lot of the route is unavoidably stressful which can make for fairly exhausting riding. Be sure to save plenty of energy for the ride home. That being said, there are quite a few roadies who do that route regularly as a training ride, so maybe I'm just a big baby. 

Permalink Reply by Brian Bender on December 8, 2012 at 10:27am

This is not the whole answer, but consider Oak Park Ave. It is a reasonable street, useful from 79th St to 116th.

At 116th, head west to Harlem and cross the Calumet-Sag Channel to find a small piece of the the upcoming Cal-Sag Trail. After emerging from the Lake Katherine nature preserve, head to roughly 7600 west on Lake Katherine Drive and find Palos Heights' own trail system that takes you south to the Tinley Creek system. 

Finally, watch for construction in 2013 of the Calumet-Sag Trail. See www.calsagtrail.org

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