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Permalink Reply by mark stetson on July 9, 2013 at 8:36am

I've found the cycling maps from IL DOT to be helpful for this sort of thing:

 

http://www.dot.il.gov/bikemap/state3.html

 

Download the map for each county you plan to ride through, and try to string together a route using as many green, and as few red roads, as possible.  I've found them to be fairly accurate.

 

You can go to mapmyride.com and search for rides starting in towns you want to visit, use parts of them that you can work into your route.  The same applies to century rides.  Many of them have links to route maps on their sites.  Last year's No Baloney ride (IL Valley Wheelmen - Peoria), for example, had a nice route from Chillicothe to Princeton that could be worked into your route.  Here's a site that lists Century rides in IL:

 

http://www.mikebentley.com/bike/ilrides.htm

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Permalink Reply by Adam Herstein on July 9, 2013 at 9:42am

I love how there's not a single green street in Chicago. Apparently IDOT doesn't think biking in the city is safe…

mark stetson said:

I've found the cycling maps from IL DOT to be helpful for this sort of thing:

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 9, 2013 at 9:56am

Look into the Route 66 trail. A largely on-road route that takes you from St. Louis to Chicago. We did the part from Springfield to Joliet a few years back. We had a lot of fun, but be prepared for long stretches of corn and soy beans.

http://www.bikelib.org/maps-and-rides/route-guides/route-66-trail/

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Permalink Reply by S on July 9, 2013 at 10:24am

You aren't looking close enough aside from Cam's hyde park finds, parts of drexel and stony island are also in green.  The map only lists the major roads so the assessments are probably not all that off since most people seem to take smaller, quieter streets paralleling the major arterials.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

I love how there's not a single green street in Chicago. Apparently IDOT doesn't think biking in the city is safe…

mark stetson said:

I've found the cycling maps from IL DOT to be helpful for this sort of thing:

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Permalink Reply by BruceBikes on July 9, 2013 at 10:34am

I love on this map that streets like Division, or Armitage, or Lawrence - all with bike lanes - are "not recommended for bicycling" according to IDOT.

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

I love how there's not a single green street in Chicago. Apparently IDOT doesn't think biking in the city is safe…

mark stetson said:

I've found the cycling maps from IL DOT to be helpful for this sort of thing:

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 9, 2013 at 10:38am

We ordered them. Back then (2009?) fulfillment took forever, something like 6-8 weeks.

They are great maps, but if your trip comes up soon, you may not get them in time.

Mike F said:

You can get paper copies from IDOT, they used to be free, check their website.

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Permalink Reply by Duppie on July 9, 2013 at 10:40am

Adam, Are you going to show up tonight and tell IDOT that they need to change their bike policies?

http://www.thechainlink.org/events/idot-illinois-bike-transportatio...

Adam Herstein (5.5 mi) said:

I love how there's not a single green street in Chicago. Apparently IDOT doesn't think biking in the city is safe…

mark stetson said:

I've found the cycling maps from IL DOT to be helpful for this sort of thing:

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Permalink Reply by mark stetson on July 9, 2013 at 1:15pm

Yes, the maps are lacking for use in urban areas, but a small percentage of the OP's mileage will be urban.

 

Printed off at home county by county, they are still large enough to be legible, but the printed ones from IDOT were better.  I'm not sure they're still available.

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