Marie and I tried a somewhat different type of route today than we have been used to this summer. Instead of a dedicated tree-lined bike path, we decided to make the trip from Plainfield to Oswego on open roads. We started at the nice park on 127th Street (officially known as the Northwest Community Park) and made our way up to Collins Road and eventually into downtown Oswego. Depending on the time of day, traffic along this route isn't too bad. On a Sunday afternoon we saw quite a few cars but this is a popular route for bikes, so all the vehicles slowed down and gave us a wide berth. On weekday or weekend mornings the traffic is much lighter.
One reason I wanted to make this trip was to show the group how to reach the Fox River Trail from Plainfield. If you look at the May 29 ride around Plainfield that Jon and I did, you can see that we started at the church and rode to the park on 127th. So if you know how to ride to the church, you can get to 127th and then into Oswego. From Oswego you can catch the Fox River Trail which takes you to the Virgil Gilman Trail, the Illinois Prairie Path and Great Western Trail, and so forth. Basically you can ride all over Chicago!
Now we just need to find a route to the I&M Canal Trail from downtown Plainfield. Proposals are welcome! ;-)
I forgot to mention that I started the ride from home and met Marie at the park. If you click "View Details" above and look at the second lap of the trip, that's the segment from the park to Oswego and back. Laps 1 and 3 are the segments between my house and the park.
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