Best 2 day/1 night ride?

First thread, here goes:

I'm Stephen, 27 and lover of road bikes and trips for only 3-4 years. The irony is I moved to Chicago 3ish years ago..

Commuting by bike in Chicago is many things: exciting, efficient, and encouraging. Biking wakes you up, saves you money, and propels you to tomorrow.

Then there's long-distance. Not racing nor training, but biking as travel. I've biked to Southwest Michigan and Southeast Wisconsin - both trips similar in distance and difficulty.

Anyone have a good 2 day/1 night group trip model they recommend?

Be easy,

Stephen

Northside, Chicago

Smaiseloff@gmail.com

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Permalink Reply by Ron on February 24, 2010 at 11:13am

I've done it from the start to Starved Rock. It gets progressively primitive as you head West. In fact at the Western end it was hard to find "trail", more like worn out grass area. A very short part is paved toward the East end, most of it is crushed limestone. I've done on a road and a hybrid, it's do-able on a road bike.

Liz W. Durham said:

I & M Canal Trail is "groomed trail". Does this mean it would be road bike friendly?

mindfrieze said:
Take Metra to Joliet and bike the I&M Canal trail to Starved Rock and back. I think it's around 60 miles one way.

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Permalink Reply by Sol on February 24, 2010 at 7:32pm

TOMRV (Tour Of the Mississippi River Valley) June 12-13, big hills, great scenery, fun people, well organized, easy logistics.

http://www.qcbc.org/tomrv/

Cheers,
Sol

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Permalink Reply by burden on February 25, 2010 at 12:30am

Tank-Ridin' Ryan said:

Jeff, according to Mapquest - shortest distance, avoiding highways, toll roads and seasonally closed roads mind you - it's around 12 miles from the Joilet Metra station to US-6 and South McKinley Woods Road. It's probably a bit shorter than that because the closest trailhead is actually east of S McKinley and US-6.

Um... Better late than never, I guess.

The I&M trailhead on the south side of Joliet is at Brandon Rd and Mound Rd, less than two miles from the station.

Jeff said:

Do you have directions from the Joliet train station to the trailhead? Thanks.

For a bike-friendly route, try this (slightly circuitous at the start because of one-way streets and bridges):

Go north on Scott from the train station until you get to Cass/US 30.
Take a left on Cass and head west.
Cross the river and go a few blocks to Center.
Take a left on Center.
Go a few blocks south and take a right on Marion St.
Stay on Marion until Wheeler Ave, where you'll take a left.
Stay on Wheeler. You'll cross I-80, pass a park called West Park and then go back down the side of the bluff. At the bottom of that hill is a relatively busy road that has several names on the map. I don't know what the sign there says.
Take a right on the Road of Mystery, then left on Brandon about a block later.
You'll cross the canal itself soon thereafter and see the trailhead to your right, just before US 6.