Chicago Cycling Filter: Daily distance rides?
July 8, 2008 10:05 PM   Subscribe

I recently started working from home, so I no longer have my daily bike commute to the office. Looking for some advice on the following: - Ideal time(s) of day for a nice distance ride with less traffic. - Good routes for a distance ride in Chicago. - Good destination points. Perhaps a nice place to work with a laptop(bonus for free Wi-Fi connections). Also, I tend to like independent cafes/restaurants rather than places like Cosi or Starbucks. - Any other thoughts/advice you have. I'm flexible with distance, though I'd prefer 5+ miles. I'm starting out from my apartment in Humboldt Park if that helps any. Thanks AskMeFi!!
posted by ISeemToBeAVerb to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (6 answers total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'd say down Division to the lake front path, and then north from there. Division has a stairwell (with a ramp for your bike) beneath lake shore drive and I imagine the lake shore path and division are both just peachy keen during the day on week days, although I know Division can get crowded around noon because of the lunch crowd.

I work on Goose Island, around Division and Elston, and one of my regular customers usually talks about biking up and down the lake shore path (he lives in edgewater) around 9-10 on weekdays.
posted by ztdavis at 5:12 AM on July 9, 2008


If you really want a nice LONG ride head up the lake shore bike path to Rogers Park. There are a couple of nice little cafes. One of my favorites is Ennui, and they have free wi-fi. It's at the corner of Lunt and Sheridan. You could also head up to Evanston. I don't really know of a cafe with free wi-fi up there other than Panera Bread but there probably has to be one with Northwestern right next door.
posted by crios at 5:59 AM on July 9, 2008


Try this site for the Forest Preserve District's maintained trails. Also check out the Illinois Prairie Path system, although I think the Chicago Bike Trails site has all of those.

The Chicago Botanic Garden in Highland Park is at the end of one of these (a bit longer a ride than you were contemplating, but well worth it). Iirc the library (and possibly the cafe) has Wifi, and admission to the gardens is free to bicyclists. If you're too exhausted to ride back, there is a reasonably accessible Metra line back into the city. You can take your bike onto the Metra.
posted by nax at 6:23 AM on July 9, 2008


Just read crios' comment. There's a very nice cafe at the corner of Oak and Davis in Evanston (right across from the Main Post Office) with WiFi. Also check out Charmer's in Rogers Park (corner of Jarvis and Greenview). You'll have to call about WiFi there, but it's a nice little cafe in a, yes, charming corner of the city.
posted by nax at 6:28 AM on July 9, 2008


Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions so far. I'm definitely familiar with the lake front path, which is a nice ride when not crowded. Anyone have routes through the city? Particularly on the west and north side?
posted by ISeemToBeAVerb at 9:32 PM on July 13, 2008


way late, but:
Bikely is probably a pretty good resource for this sort of thing.
posted by Acari at 8:21 AM on May 29, 2009


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