The Chainlink

Hello everyone,

First time poster and now that spring is finally here I am ready to ride. I just traded in my hybrid for a Trek 1.2. The last couple years I have been wanting to do a ride to Chicago. For the most part I have it mapped out. I live in the bike trail in Highland, IN. I can take that trail into Hammond, ride some roads to get to Wolf Lake and I believe that trail now meets up with the Burnham Greenway or at least relatively close to it. The only part I am unsure of is the 4 mile stretch of roads between the end of the Greenway and the Lake front trail. It looks like most of the roads have bike lanes but has anyone ridden this route in recent years. Any comments?


I plan to do this on a Sunday so I can take south shore back to east Chicago or Hammond if I don't feel like riding back.

Views: 726

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

When you get to the end of the Burnham trail, you take Ewing and then South Shore Dr. to the start of the LFP.  If the Ewing bridge is up, you cross at 95th and then get back to Ewing.  This is a safe route that everyone has done a millions times.

Okay great to hear. That's what looked like the best option. I just wasn't sure how sketchy of an area it was or how the rods themselves were. Has anyone brought a bike on the SouthShore yet?

Its fine during daylight.

South Shore, yes, this thread should answer questions:

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/south-shore-trains-to-begi...

Cool thanks, hopefully be trying it Ill be trying it with a buddy In A few weeks.


Thanks for the link I'll check it out.

I have done that route alone on a Sunday morning.  It is a great ride!  I would just clarify that from Ewing you first take the incredibly beautiful Lake Shore Drive Extension that has almost no traffic on Sunday mornings and has nicely marked bike lanes before you get to South Shore Drive. On South Shore Drive, keep an eye out for glass.  Also, for some reason, parts of it always seem to be under construction.  Still a good ride.

Two great bike maps to have on hand is the Active transportation's "Chicagoland Bicycle Map" which covers bicycle routes/paths in northeastern Illinois, even broken down by ridership level and path type. Sold at most Chicago bike shops (i can't find it on their website). The other map is Northern Indiana's "Greenways and Blueways Map"   

info: http://activetrans.org/node/11903

http://www.nirpc.org/greenways-blueways/g-b-map.aspx

Nice! Thanks for posting.

Naw, don't mind me, the Chainlink doesn't like me using that word and censored it from my previous post.

A small part of the route is in the <diverse area>, but its a pretty calm street with nothing much going on and safe.

Yup, I'm sure no harm was meant by the word choice but as I mentioned in a PM to Tina, people live in the places we ride through so please, let's be respectful of how we refer to the neighborhoods. Using routes with bike lanes, I personally have had really good, friendly experiences when riding on the South Side for Tour de Shore, to Three Floyds, and a camping trip last summer. Let's keep the focus on finding a safe route and less on the perceived economic standing of a neighborhood. I've ridden in plenty of more affluent areas in which I felt less safe due to drivers not sharing the road as well as they should. 

I bumped into a friendly group this morning on my way towards Wolf Lake who told me that the last bit of connecting trail between Calumet Park and the Hammond IN trails is complete, so i checked it out on my way back north and it’s true; today there were some barriers up so it’s apparently not really open to the public, but the paving is done and it’s a great connector if you like the Reader’s tips and want to vary the route!

https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/indiana-three-floyds-bulldog-...

http://nirpc.org/media/73803/FINAL_2016_Map___Reduced_Size_PDF.pdf

I did this the other month--it's a great route!

I am not sure how helpful this is, but I think you can take the lakefront all the way to Wolf Lake. I have not done the route myself but I know many who have.

RSS

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service