The Chainlink

For many years, I have enjoyed the Four Star Bike Tour. This year's ride left the city for the first time that I can remember. The ride was great (again). My personal highlight was George Halas' home by Jackson Park. The ride was well supported, there were enough bananas, and even though it rained (a little) all the volunteers were cheerful. 

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Thanks, Alan, glad you had fun! We appreciate you riding with us!

Best,

Ethan Spotts, Active Trans

I'm glad to hear that you had a good ride.  

Yep, a great ride, well organized and lots of cheerful volunteers.

I really enjoyed the murals in Pilsen and getting a look at the Garfield Park Fieldhouse, which I hadn't seen in decades.

I really enjoyed that the ride left the city for the longer distances as well.  A long ride staying in the city can be quite frustrating, since there are so many stops for traffic.  Riverside and Oak Park are such great destinations and there are so many great roads to get there.  Overall a really great and well organized ride with lots of water/bathroom stops. 

My (hopefully constructive) criticisms are: 

There seemed to be a few confusing/unnecessary route turns though, that took you one block over, and back up without passing anything of interest.  I would rather see a loop through a historic district than just go over one block and back in an area without a landmark.  We came very close to several nice landmarks and parks, but did not go past them.  

I also found some of the turns hard to follow.  A few more arrow signs at confusing intersections would be nice.  Since the on the pavement markers can be hard to see when you are trying to look up ahead of you.  

Do any of the markings which were hard to follow or the confusing intersections stand out in your mind? If so, which ones?

Liz said:

[snip]

My (hopefully constructive) criticisms are: 

[snip]  

I also found some of the turns hard to follow.  A few more arrow signs at confusing intersections would be nice.  Since the on the pavement markers can be hard to see when you are trying to look up ahead of you.  

Liz - Which route did you ride?

I'll have to look at the route map at home, but there where several in the far west/southwest side that where hard to notice, since the pavement was bumpy and my focus was on staying upright.  Since I knew the streets well enough and had the cue sheet on my handle bars I was able to follow the route in these areas.  But someone who is less familiar with the city may have struggled more.  Since the start times where scattered there wasn't always another rider in front of you to follow.  Just an idea to help those not familiar with the area navigate better.  

Kevin C said:

Do any of the markings which were hard to follow or the confusing intersections stand out in your mind? If so, which ones?

Liz said:

[snip]

My (hopefully constructive) criticisms are: 

[snip]  

I also found some of the turns hard to follow.  A few more arrow signs at confusing intersections would be nice.  Since the on the pavement markers can be hard to see when you are trying to look up ahead of you.  

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