Great Western Trail (late August)
About a month ago I got tired of riding on all the same trails near our house, so I decided to try a new trail that was further away. I picked the Great Western Trail, which is about an hour's drive away. It's 18-miles long, and runs from St. Charles to Sycamore. I'd read that it was flat and rural, which sounded good to me. It turns out it's actually "flat", where "flat" means a long, slow incline in one direction, and a long, slow decline in the other direction.
I wound up doing the incline first. I kept thinking it was surprisingly hard to pedal for a flat trail, and that I must be going ever so slightly uphill. After 9 miles in one direction, I was spent. So I turned around to head back, and it suddenly got much easier to pedal. So yep. I had been going uphill. When I first started the trail I briefly wondered if I could ride the entire 18-mile length, since it was flat. But I wasn't even close.
The first part of the trail is tree covered and was very lush and green. After a while, the trail opened up and ran along a highway which wasn't so picturesque, and was also quite noisy when cars whizzed by. There were a lot of people on the trail, too, especially at the beginning. One thing I didn't like was there were no good places to stop to rest. You just had to pull over to the side of the trail.
Overall it was a fairly disappointing trip. And it didn't help that I had to drive an hour to get home.
Prairie Trail (early September)
A week after the Great Western Trail, I went back to the Prairie Trail, which is the closest one to us, and the one I ride most often. I started just north of McHenry and rode to Wisconsin (about 16 miles, round trip). It turned out to be my most enjoyable ride of the year, by far! I suddenly had new-found appreciation for the trail:
- It only took 10 minutes to get there, instead of an hour.
- It's a very wide trail, so there's plenty of room to pass (or be passed).
- The topography is much gentler. There are a couple of false flats, but they're short! And there aren't any big hills.
- There are several convenient rest stops, which also have bathrooms.
- It's not very crowded, and on this day there was almost no one else there.
- And it was an especially hot day, which I like.
It was so much fun. I enjoyed the heat, the exercise, and the scenery. It was so hot, that for the first time ever I ran out of water in my CamelBak! Thankfully I was close to the end when it happened.
Prairie Trail (late September)
Over the weekend I went back to the Prairie Trail and rode the same section of trail. It looked and felt more like fall this time, with cooler temps and falling leaves. But unfortunately this time was not as enjoyable as the previous one, because I'd let 3 weeks pass without getting on the bike. My legs got tired very quickly, and it was a struggle to keep going. On the way back I was passed by a number of riders, both young and old. But I eventually made it back.
And now my season total stands at 202 miles, which is a new personal record!