And we are done.
We are at my sister Kate's house in Winnetka, IL, north of Chicago. We had a great last day of riding. The conditions were perfect, and the route was mostly bike trail.
Not necessarily scenic bike trail.
This is along the Indiana-Illinois state line, just a couple miles from Lake Michigan. But riding a bike trail through Hammond is better than riding on the streets through Hammond, which we had to do for a couple miles. Crown Point to the end of Indiana is almost all rail trail, and it's a direct line to the Chicago lakefront.
And the Lakefront Trail is fantastic.
And the Lakefront Trail is fantastic.
The is the first time you get the glorious vista of the Chicago skyline from the Lakefront Trail. Although you can spot the Sears tower on the horizon from way back in Indiana about 10 miles before this.
The Lakefront Trail goes about 20 miles, all the way through Chicago. After that, it's about 10 more miles more or less on Sheridan Road, which mostly has a nice bike lane. Even though it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, with many, many people on the trail, it was no problem zipping right along because the trail is wide, with lanes marked for each direction, and with a separate trail running parallel for runners and pedestrians. This is a great design.
The one downside is the trail is separated from the city neighborhoods by an expressway, with a bridge or tunnel to go across every couple miles. And there are no real food options on the trail side except hot dog stands. So I made the mistake of putting off getting food until we made it to downtown by the Navy Pier. We went 44 miles with no food stops, which made Max bonk and become very, very hangry. He missed no opportunity to point out all the times we could have stopped and eaten that I made him ride by. He recovered soon enough though once he had a plate of pasta in him from an Italian Beef shop. I've had Italian Beef 3 of the last 4 days I think.
We are going to spend a couple days exploring Chicago, then head home on Tuesday and arrive on Wednesday. Max will have a week and a half left of summer vacation.
Here is the Strava track.
The Lakefront Trail goes about 20 miles, all the way through Chicago. After that, it's about 10 more miles more or less on Sheridan Road, which mostly has a nice bike lane. Even though it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, with many, many people on the trail, it was no problem zipping right along because the trail is wide, with lanes marked for each direction, and with a separate trail running parallel for runners and pedestrians. This is a great design.
The one downside is the trail is separated from the city neighborhoods by an expressway, with a bridge or tunnel to go across every couple miles. And there are no real food options on the trail side except hot dog stands. So I made the mistake of putting off getting food until we made it to downtown by the Navy Pier. We went 44 miles with no food stops, which made Max bonk and become very, very hangry. He missed no opportunity to point out all the times we could have stopped and eaten that I made him ride by. He recovered soon enough though once he had a plate of pasta in him from an Italian Beef shop. I've had Italian Beef 3 of the last 4 days I think.
We are going to spend a couple days exploring Chicago, then head home on Tuesday and arrive on Wednesday. Max will have a week and a half left of summer vacation.
Here is the Strava track.
1 comment:
Glad you had a great trip. Are you stopping in Ohio on your way home
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