on which "roads" do u.s. "roadies" cycle?

[fatfuck]

hello forum,

at the moment (apr 2012), i live, work and ride a road bike in the u.k. but, i was born and raised in the u.s.


whenever i consider the option of upping sticks and returning stateside, the one thing that makes me think, "nah! i'll stay here in the u.k. for a while longer", is the fact that here in the part of the u.k. where i live and ride, the "A roads" and "B roads" are much more cyclist-friendly than they are in my home state (IL).


my current route is 20 miles each way on the A49 in Shropshire. i recently learned that a particular section of my route happens to be used for time-trialing by a cycling club in the area. i can definately see why, too. it is a SCHWE-E-E-T stretch of road for cycling! no traffic lights! mostly-flat! comparatively light traffic (at the right times of the day).


i do my fastest riding on my current route. i can pedal - without ever stopping - at a decent cadence for 6-7 miles! stronger cyclists could pedal non-stop for much longer, i'm sure.


the last time i was in the states, i rented a bike. i didn't enjoy it though, because the only place i could ride (and feel safe) was on dirt trails through forest preserves. or along the lake front (in downtown chicago). i did work up the nerves to try riding for a couple blocks on route 59 in naperville, il. even though, none of the cars seemed to mind (at least, none of them honked their horns at me or yelled out their windows at me or anything), i still felt way too nervous to stay on that route for longer than a couple miles.


i don't go in for club riding. i prefer to ride alone (mainly, because i combine my daily cycling workout with my daily commute to and from work). but, i've been told that road cyclists in the naperville, il area are often seen riding on route 59 and other high-traffic roads like that. however, they're usually only in packs of 8-10 or more.


so, here's my question: where do other lone-wolf rode cyclists like me ride in places like naperville and bloomington illinois (or, wherever in the states you happen to be)?


thanks in advance for your replies.

 

[crazyb1]

Well what part of naperville do you live by? I used to live in bolingbrook which isnt too far away from Naperville and there are some subdivisons you could ride through. Yeah I wouldn't ride on 59, or boughton road in bolingbrook. If you are willing to travel, go out near dekalb and you will find very quiet roads out here. Ive been on roads where no cars pass me for nearly 10 minutes or more. It's much easier to focus on your riding aswell.

 

[fatfuck]

thanks crazyb1.

like i said, i live in the uk.

but its funny you should mention bolingbrook. my sister lives in naperville (off fairway drive, near the metra station) and my brother lives in bolingbrook (near weber road). so, when i'm in the states, naperville<-->bolingbrook is one route i'd be interested in.

another route i'm the most interested in though, is anything in the bloomington, il area (specifically, routes within a 20-30 mile radius of here).

thanks again for your reply.

...Yeah I wouldn't ride on 59, or boughton road in bolingbrook...

i hear ya. even though cyclists have every right to be on 59, i take your point about avoiding it.

Illinois statutes regarding bicycles ...

ILLINOIS VEHICLE CODE 625 ILCS 5/ "Every person riding a bicycle upon a highway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle . . ." Section 11-1502

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I'm in Ohio. Our Road system is very similarly developed as most of Illinois.

That is to say...

Interstates and Limited Access Highways. Interstates are illegal to ride on in Ohio and most L.A.H. are too high speed for safe cycling, although there are some exceptions.

State Highways (AKA State routes). These really vary from very safe, low traffic roads to very dangerous, high speed, high traffic count routes. I ride some of them...the ones with decent berms, good visibility, etc.

Ohio has a well developed secondary system of county roads. While the pavement can be a bit rough, the traffic count is often low and the average vehicle speed can be low enough for safe cycling. Most of Ohio is hilly, so visibility over hill crests and blind corners has to be taken into account. Some of Ohio is flat as a pancake (NW corner of the state) so it's much more visibility friendly for cyclists than my area. Road surface quality and berm conditions range from Paris-Roubaix to near perfection.

Township roads range from dirt to gravel to chip & seal to paved. Usually fairly narrow, low speed and low traffic counts, the C&S and paved ones are great for training on.

Town and city streets are the the same as everywhere else...give or take.

When "lone wolfing' it (most of my training is solo) I stick to the county and township roads for the most part.

 

[fatfuck]

thank you CAMPYBOB,

that's a very informative reply. if you get some spare time at any point, please can you post your main route as a google map?

please, everybody, keep 'em coming!

thanks in advance.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

FF,

Mapquest, Google Maps, Google Earth, Bing Maps...whatever your favorite mapping software is...Stark, Carroll, Columbiana, Summit, Tuscarawas, Medina, Cuyahoga Counties in Ohio.

I have way too many training routes to list even a dozen of them. For group rides, team rides or organized charity/tour type rides I will hit the busier highways. That old "safety in numbers" thing.

Our road network is set up with a grid of N-S and E-W roads spaced approximately one mile apart. Obviously, there are areas of closer spacing as one approaches civilization and areas where 3-5 miles might pass before a rideable roads is intersected. to avoid training burnout, I change up routes as often as possible and put the bikes in the car to hit more distant starting points, of course.

If you go to: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/ You can search for routes in NE and eastern central Ohio that other road cyclists deem acceptably safe. As is standard with such things in life, YMMV!

For example...type in Canton, Ohio and "city" for the search radius. Look at the plethora (vocabulary FAIL!)...er...number...of pre-mapped rides that show up.

Hit this local bike club website: http://www.bikescbc.com/ It's a local outfit...check out the ride schedule section. I'm not sure if the route map section is 'public' or password protected, but there's literally over 500 area routes that offer safe enough passage to meet club approval.

It my advancing years and living out in the sticks, I ride mainly solo as stated above. I've learned to appreciate the quiet back roads, regardless of pavement quality or elevation changes. Ohio is blessed with many such rodes thanks mainly to...the relative high number of this type of road. The areas of Illinois I've spent time in seem to offer pretty much the same...with the number of back roads decreasing as one travels to the southern part of your state thru farm country.

I did forget to mention the few Rails-to-Trails routes in my area. I have to drive to all of them, but they offer excellent riding with out-and-back courses of up to 90 miles. The Little Beaver Trail, Western Reserve Trail, summit county Hike and Bike Trail are but a few to be found in the area. Google them for info, but the are basically flat, well pave trails suitable for short TT bursts, long-steady-distance road workouts or just cruising on a 'light workout' day on the flats...minus the usual traffic worries (cross traffic, of course!).

More Rails-to-Trails info here with a searchable database: http://www.railstotrails.org/index.html

Regards!

 

[maydog]

The riding situation in Minnesota is very good. Most drivers have a friendly attitude toward bicyclists and we have extensive and long trail systems. Some stretches of paved trail are over 100 miles long. Most roads are in decent shape and ride able. The state Department of Transportation had produced a map that listed the ride ability of all state roads, it is now out of date but there should be an update this year.

Most of my group riding and solo rides are done on rural roads. You need to get out of the city for uninterrupted, pleasure able riding. Heck, my commute even has an 8 mile uninterrupted stretch.

When going out on a new route, I do consult the bicycling feature in google maps. The trail information is pretty accurate. My biggest issue with it is that it is difficult to judge whether some rural roads are paved or not. Satellite imagery can help but you still cannot determine the condition of all the roads. I have been on a few centuries and had to pedal several miles over loose gravel on skinny tires due to inaccuracies in Google maps.

 

[danfoz]

In NY/NJ, Route 9W is a mecca for cyclists looking for something other than laps in Central and Prospect Parks.

It follows allong the Pallisades Parkway, goes up to Bear Mountain, has a nice wide shoulder in most parts, and motorists expect to see lots of cyclists, 'cause there always are.

Along the way to Bear Mountain, 9W will also get one to Nyack and Piermont.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Satellite imagery can help but you still cannot determine the condition of all the roads.

This!

Other than by pre-driving, scouting new routes on the bike or just plain back-tracking, I have found no reliable method of determining rideable surfaces from the various computer sourced maps.

The Rails-to-Trails surface guide is decently accurate when describing surfaces.

 

[tottenham21]

I live in Dallas, Texas and have no problems finding new routes to cycle about, I personally go to white rock lake near downtown area its a 10 miles very scenic route throughout the lake and extremely cyclist friendly, saying that I do miss the countryside in England, I used to live and ride in high wycombe buckinghamshire for quite a few years but cause of the economy being total shite in the UK I decided to move back to US as soon as my son was born nearly two years ago this July coming...

 

[steve]

Originally Posted by fatfuck .

hello forum,

Hi there, thanks for joining the forum.

Great topic for a thread, but what are the chances of you sending me a more suitable username for the forum?

cheers