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I live in GE and work in downtown Chicago, near Ogilvie. I'm thinking of commuting by bike from GE to work once the weather improves. It looks like I can bike to the Laramie CTA station via the Prairie Path . To get to downtown I would have to take Washington Blvd . Does anyone do this or does anyone know of anyone who does. I would be interested in hearing from someone who does or has done it.
My route is similar. I take a few more roads in Lombard, Villa Park and Elmhurst to maximize speed with my road bike. I head north from Madison at Thatcher (on the east side of the river) just to stay off of 1st ave. After that, pretty much the same as jombl.(I like Halsted's bike lanes better.)
In my best condition I would make it to 25th and washington in Bellwood in 45 minutes. That is about halfway I think. To go downtown, I remember it taking 1 hr and 40 minutes, assuming average speed of 16 mph.
I did the downtown route once (actually from Division & Halsted), with someone leading me. So I'm sure my time could be improved.
I used to do the bellwood trip regularly when I worked at Sanford. Now I work in Franklin Park and that route takes about an hour. I used to cut thru Entemanns bakery parking lot at North ave & 294, but now that it is torn down, I hope there is enough sidewalk left for me to cut over to a side street.
If you follow the Prairie Path to a tee it ends at the Forest Park Blue Line Station. I rode that once and it took me an hour. If you want to ride the train in there are restrictions at rush hour, unless you have a folding bike. I have a Dahon Jack I really like, got it at Dan's Bike Shop in Berwyn. Metra has more restriction times yet but they've always let me bring the folding bike aboard at all times.
Some conductors are a bit anal about you having a way to 'secure' your bike on the fold up seats. Some will make you use bungies, but in a pinch, you can take your shoe laces out of your shoes and use them to tie it down...
Thanks for the suggestions. Next question what do you do with your bike when you get downtown. I see bikes parked outside my building was wondering if anyone here does that or if you are able to get them inside.
The key is to have a bike that no one would want to steal...or at least have it look like no one would want to steal it. Paint the frame black, put zip ties on various parts, duct tape on the frame. The bikes that get stolen are the ones that look expensive...
