Virgil Gilman Ride Summary: 10 July 2010

Marie, Jason, and Eric L. met this evening for a ride on the Virgil Gilman Trail. And while we had not decided beforehand how far we would ride, we ended up riding the whole thing end to end. (Maybe we thought Marie would make fun of us if we quit early.) So round trip it was just about 23 miles. Luckily the weather wasn't too hot, the wind wasn't too strong, and the bugs weren't too thick.


Overall it is a really nice trail, though the easternmost 4-mile section has a lot of road crossings. The nicest part starts at Terry Ave and runs west to Waubonsee Community College on Hwy 47.

Here are a couple of photos taken during the ride. Forgive the mild blurriness in one. It was taken from a moving bicycle. And also forgive the landscape shot of the thunderstorm. That's the kind of photo you have to stop for when a meteorologist is along. We were just pleased it didn't thunderstorm on us!




The Gilman Trail intersects with the Fox River Trail which runs north out of Oswego. A nice ride (but longer than our one tonight) is to start in Oswego and catch the western 2/3 of the Gilman Trail out to the college. A really nice ride is to start in Plainfield, ride to the Fox River Trail in Oswego, and then catch the Gilman Trail to the college. But that's about 50 miles round trip. We'll stick to the shorter stuff for now! (Unless anyone is interested....)

For those who might be free during the week, we're looking at another ride Wednesday morning. The route hasn't been selected yet, so if you are interested and have a favorite trail in mind, go ahead and email the group!