I enjoyed today’s incredible weather with an impromptu bike ride for the first time since I moved to Chicago. Wound up going from Lakeview to Sketchbook in Evanston. Wondering what rides others like in and around the city. Hoping to ride down to Whiner in the near future. Cheers!
Imperial Oak is a great place, its located in Willow Springs next to the entrance of the John Husar I&M Canal bike path - great place to go biking.
Lots of people make the trek from the city to 3 Floyds during the warmer months. I've done it a couple of times. It's mostly lakefront path and the Burnham greenway but you do have to ride on some streets. The biggest issue though is not having so many beers that the ride bike becomes an issue.
A very fun ride. It's awesome to see so many bikes when you arrive. Last time I made the ride all the bike racks were occupied with overflow being locked on the patio and loading dock fencing. Similar to your Sketchbook ride, Smylie is another nice ride to Evanston for a meal and beer. This summer I want to devise a route from Ravenswood to Mikerphone without oblivious suburban drivers mowing me down. Ravenswood to Marz along the Lakefront Path (pending repair) is another on the to-do list.
Hopefully a ride between Metropolitan and Burning Bush will be possible sometime later this year, along the new river trail. Twisted Hippo is also a few blocks west of Horner Park on Montrose. The Riverview Bridge is finished (purple section), and construction is still underway on the underbridge at Irving Park Rd. (blue section). Route map from Streetsblog article:
for some suburban rides, Imperial Oak is the definitive choice. very large cycling community at the brewery. a ride I think I may do this summer will be either start at solemn oath, head to downtown aurora, then up fox river path to Pollyanna in St Charles. It's 20 miles each way.
