Biking for exercise in Chicago proper

I moved to Chicago (Old Town) a few years ago as an avid cyclist and triathlete. Before then I lived in Minneapolis. Since moving I can barely muster the will to go out for a run let alone a ride. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places or speaking with the wrong people but I'm starving to find places to bike/run that will keep my interest. I'm finding Chicago to be a great place to ride as a commuter or for fun but embarrassingly insufficient as a place to ride for exercise.

Can anyone help? What I want is an uncongested place to ride 15+ MPH with few to no stops, good pavement and no pedestrians here in the city. I sold my car when I moved here so heading out to the burbs is not an option. My friends have told me to join groups like VQ to do indoor riding. I can't think of anything more miserable. I love riding because I can be outside and zone everything out while getting some solid miles in. Where around here can I make that happen?

Please don't suggest the Lakefront Path. I've tried it all the way up and down. It's not good for riding like I want to do.

Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on September 26, 2013 at 1:06pm

There are a number of clubs in Chicago and Evanston.  Here are a few I'm aware of:

There's a list of clubs at USA Cycling:

http://www.usacycling.org/clubs/?state=IL

I have no idea how up-to-date it is. Even if you don't connect with a club, you might get some route ideas from some of them.

There are also routes on sites like Map My Ride. You can search here for Chicago routes (might need to login):

http://www.mapmyride.com/us/chicago-il/

Permalink Reply by Deet 4.5mi on September 26, 2013 at 1:13pm
Become a rusa member and do the fox valley ride. It is a little more minnesota like.
Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on September 26, 2013 at 3:00pm

Chicago Cycling Club has weekly training rides at different paces:  http://chicagocyclingclub.org/Home/RideSchedule

Permalink Reply by Josh L. on September 26, 2013 at 3:44pm

I highly, highly recommend biking Sheridan road North on Sundays.  I go up to Highwood every Sunday - I have led a few groups from this here bloggy thing - and find there are very few stops until you hit Evanston due to decreased traffic and that Sheridan road through the Northern suburbs has very few stops It is a beautiful ride.  From old town you can either bike up there...it's not that much farther - or take the Metra from the Clybourn station (?) and take that to Wilmette to start. Most of the hardcore bike clubs are out on Sheridan road on  Sunday am's..there is quite a feeling of comradery.

Ping me if you want more info. FWIW I find the Chicago Cycling Club too slow.

Permalink Reply by Michael A on September 26, 2013 at 3:56pm

The CCC weeknight rides are done for the season, but to get to the kind of roads you are talking about you will have to ride either north or west. There is a nice sunday ride out of evanston, it used to be run by the old turin shop, then it changed it's name to 1027, it leaves from a coffee shop every sunday morning, 60 miles average speed is usually 18-25 with a few sprints thrown in for good measure.

chicagobikeracing.com has a list of lots of training rides, but it is now cyclocross season so most are playing in the mud instead of on the roads.

Permalink Reply by Tom Dworzanski on September 26, 2013 at 4:46pm

North Branch Trail during the week. It goes in into the (safe and quiet) burbs but starts in the city (barely). Take Milwaukee Ave up to Devon and ride through scenic forest on awesome paved, and mostly empty paths usually as fast as you want with many seasoned cyclists, a few runners, and no tourists.

Permalink Reply by Frustrated on September 27, 2013 at 4:36am
Thank you each and every one of you. I'll take a look at my options based on your excellent feedback.

My wife tells me I was extremely spoiled where I used to live because I had ideal conditions from right outside my driveway so I always had the maximal amount of time to ride not having to commute anywhere. I guess that's just not my reality any more.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on September 27, 2013 at 5:06am

South side - uncongested on weekends. New or good pavement on some major routes, such as South Shore, South Chicago, Vincennes (except at viaducts just south of 83rd). Rough section of 83rd just east of the Dan Ryan Expressway just got repaved.

South of 26th St., Michigan, Indiana and State tend to be fairly wide open down to 51st.  Except around 31st St. beach and Hyde Park, the south side lakefront tends to be much less congested than the north side.  On Sunday mornings, most streets are wide open, except around major churches.  That's the only significant traffic you'll have to watch out for on most of the south side.

Contrary to what some north side folks may tell you, you won't fall off the face of the earth if you go south of Roosevelt. Some of the least frustrating riding conditions can be found on the south side.

Much of Old Town is extremely congested traffic-wise, so I can't blame you for being unhappy with riding conditions there.

I will probably be scheduling a far south side tour of bike routes at a moderate pace in a couple of weeks.  Watch the calendar for it.

I used to live in Rogers Park and often got frustrated with nearby conditions.  It's a whole different world south of 95th St.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on September 27, 2013 at 5:08am

NBT tends to be fairly quiet most of the time.  Be careful at blind curves with lots of trees.  Sometimes you may encounter deer on the path.

Tom Dworzanski said:

North Branch Trail during the week. It goes in into the (safe and quiet) burbs but starts in the city (barely). Take Milwaukee Ave up to Devon and ride through scenic forest on awesome paved, and mostly empty paths usually as fast as you want with many seasoned cyclists, a few runners, and no tourists.

Permalink Reply by S on September 27, 2013 at 5:30am

What Anne said, I've had friends break collarbones because they hit a deer on the NBT while out training.

Anne Alt said:

NBT tends to be fairly quiet most of the time.  Be careful at blind curves with lots of trees.  Sometimes you may encounter deer on the path.

Tom Dworzanski said:

North Branch Trail during the week. It goes in into the (safe and quiet) burbs but starts in the city (barely). Take Milwaukee Ave up to Devon and ride through scenic forest on awesome paved, and mostly empty paths usually as fast as you want with many seasoned cyclists, a few runners, and no tourists.

Permalink Reply by S on September 27, 2013 at 5:33am

Just to echo Anne, the south side has a lot of really nice empty roads.  The LFP is pretty empty south of the museum campus aside from a few spots around hyde park, 31st st beach, and the beach by the dusable harbor.  The roads continuing from LFP are great and it's pretty nice all the way into Indiana.  

Now that it's starting to get a little colder, you should consider the LFP in the early mornings.  The number of people using it drops dramatically once the temps are consistently in the 50s.

Permalink Reply by Michelle on September 27, 2013 at 6:10am

Agreed. My best friend lives in Minneapolis and whenever Im there I beg her to take me on a ride (I borrow her mom's road bike, she has her own.) She knows that I ride my bike around Chicago, and constantly underestimates my bike skills because she's so used to the kind of infrastructure that minneapolis and doesn't realize that I'd probably be faster if i had a nice, clear, paved path to ride on that wasn't constantly full of beachgoers... 

Cameron 7.5 mi said:

Having lived in a number of cities, including Minneapolis, you were spoiled there as far as cycling goes.

Frustrated said:

Thank you each and every one of you. I'll take a look at my options based on your excellent feedback.

My wife tells me I was extremely spoiled where I used to live because I had ideal conditions from right outside my driveway so I always had the maximal amount of time to ride not having to commute anywhere. I guess that's just not my reality any more.

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