Nothing you can ride to, really. I live in the Northern suburbs, ~15 miles from the border and there are no decent climbs in WI close by.
There are some rolling hills in Barrington and Bull Valley, but they are all pretty short. For example, for a hill to show up on the Climb feature of a Hammerhead computer, it needs to be 3% and 500m long. Our regular Saturday ride out through Barrington has some rolling hills on it, but not one of them registers as a climb in my Hammerhead.
But the road riding in WI can be awesome…very few cars and lots of places to ride. Madison is about 2.5 hours away and has great rides and hills.
As others have said, go north and or west for hills. I’m in Madison, WI and we have truly some of the best riding you’ll find in the US. We just had guys here from CA and CO and they concur we have the best riding in the US as to hills, small back roads with almost no cars (I’ll see maybe 5 cars on some of my 3 hour rides) and drivers who are used to seeing cyclists. Chicago is an awesome city and you’ll likely find great groups and cyclist to train with, but riding our this way is so nice.
Where in NZ? I lived in Chicago for 20 years, and moved to Colorado 5 years ago. If I moved back to Chicago, I’d have massive withdrawal symptoms from the great biking options we have in CO.
I’d imagine you might experience similar feelings moving from NZ.
If you want to ride close to year round in the Chicago area, pick up MTB, and live in the SW suburbs near the Palos Hills MTB trails. These trails are rideable a lot in winter - either when frozen, or when snow covered (fat bike). But in spring can be wet/muddy for weeks at a time, hence no riding - but that’s when you can start to get out on the road or gravel bike.
Palos is surprisingly hilly - although the peak-to trough-on the trails is maybe only 150 feet. Given how close it is to Chicago, it’s actually a pretty decent trail system. On par with, and in some ways better than, Kettle Moraine in Wisconsin (2 hrs away).
I think there’s also a pretty decent road riding scene in the SW suburbs - but I didn’t ride road when I lived there, so don’t have first hand experience. Will defer to others on that.
There are no sustained hills within probably 2 hours of Chicago. Biggest/closest sustained hills that I am aware of are in Wisconsin, near Madison, at Blue Mounds.
Chicago has other things going for it - restaurants, bars, arts, museums, lakefront, etc… but cycling isn’t what it’s known for.
Yeah, I got it backwards…we moved from CO to Chicago.
BUT, I’ll say this…you learn to adapt and enjoy what you have. Again, if anyone had told me I would still be here 23 years later, I’d have said they were nuts. But here I am.
Especially over the last 10 years or so, my social cycling circle has been the best it ever has been. Rare is the time I ride by myself outside anymore and I usually have to beg off other rides with people to do it.
We moved here for family reasons back then and cycling needs took a back seat to that. My $.02 of unsolicited advice - if my partner had an opportunity somewhere that they wanted to do, I personally wouldn’t let the riding be the reason not to go. Again, you adapt and survive. You may find that you really enjoy riding in the colder temps (some insane people actually do!! )….get a fat bike and good clothes and you can ride 365 if you want. Either way, it would probably be a fantastic adveture for you both (no matter what city).
Agree with above … If this is a great opportunity for your partner then frankly I don’t see that the riding conditions etc are a factor in the decision… we’re not pros!
Was going to type the same thing but instead will just upvote here.
We might be assuming long term or life time partner, and it may not be the case.
Am sure many of us, ahem, older folks here have plenty of stories where moving to a new location caused trepidation but worked out great. Along with stories of not so great moves. It’s all part of life and making the most out of what is on offer. Wife and I have lived in 9 US states now including both south and north California. We always made friends and adapted to enjoy what the different areas offered.
Good luck to the OP. And enjoy winter all you suckers that live where it gets cold and crappy for the coming few months. LOL LOL LOL
Agree - this is obviously a huge part. In my post above, I wasn’t making a judgement on if a career opportunity for a partner outweighs the riding.
I was commenting on the comparison in riding opportunities. Yes, you can make the most of the riding that is available in Chicago. I did when I was there also. But objectively, the terrain and geography does not work in Chicagos favor.
Yeah I agree, however there currently a few options on the table, one of which is Chicago so weighing pros and cons, as there is more to life than just work.
OT, Not in the Belgian Adennes, the LBL (Liege - Bastogne - Liege) I done in 2015 had 14,000ft (4,300m) in 174miles (280km). It was rather wet though and killed my first garmin after 68miles (100km). Lol I would post a picture but the TR Forum is not processing them at the moment
Whilst not the hilliest the Tour of Flanders has decent hills too, 4,600ft in 80miles
If I could post a photo right now, I’d show you a local group ride that is ~45 miles and ~2200 feet of climbing. You loop it twice and it is positively Flandrien🤘
But back to the OP’s original concern … I feel like the main issue he was concerned about was a having access to a thriving cycling community for social reasons, and I can say without reservation that a large cycling community exists here.
I’m not going to hold Chicago up as an apex cycling destination, but it is very viable year round, at best … and 8-9 months out of the year at worst.
I would also argue that the WORS mountain bike race series just to the north in Wisconsin, and the Michigan Gravel Race Series (MGRS) just around the lake in Michigan — with the average drive to an event being about 2.5 hours for WORS and 3.5 hours for an MGRS event are the best of their kind in the country. The TOAD, Intelligentsia Cup and Gateway Cups, all of which are 7-10 day crit races — are all readily accessible via short drive, if not in our backyard.
There is just a lot of cycling, and a lot of cyclist’s here.
To be clear, there are no mountains. At all. Of any kind. And there will be days you need to ride inside, even if you have a fat bike.
Good luck with your decision. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions.
I’ve been to Chicago many times and haven’t seen that many bikers around, but there are quite a few of bike shops. There has to be places to ride.
I also have been to New York/Manhattan many times, and in spite of it being a massive cold cruel city, there are places to ride all over the place. The west side from Battery to places north, and I see people zipping all over. Cargo bikes are common and there are delivery riders of all kinds traversing the city. Accidents with cars and horses happen. I was ‘hit’ by a cab that tried to push me through an intersection once. It didn’t work well for either of us.
Chicago does have a lot of open space and plenty of vehicle restricted paths. Chicago is a place a few friends have lived at and they would go back in a heartbeat. I currently live in Flatland, and you learn to make do, or drive to ride. Worse things could happen.
My point is, where ever you live, you find ways to get what you need. Like instead of driving over an hour for hills, I ride the trainer and have all the ‘hills’ I need. You deal. The weather on the other hand…
Yeah, that is basically the GTE Saturday ride, except it looks like they do a couple of loops since they start and end in Barrington.
The GTE ride leaves every Saturday from the Starbucks on Deerfield Road @ 6:30 and heads out to the same roads….that is the one I referenced above when I said none of the climbs show up as “climbs” on my Hammerhead.
The GTE ride is ~60, but since I come down from one of the northern ‘burbs, I end up with about 80 for the day. Very fast paced group ride with a few sprints along the way to test everyone.
Grouppo Tu Earlio….all our rides start early. Tues / Thurs @ 5:30 and Sat @ 6:30.
Began 20+ years ago by guys who needed to get their rides out of way before their family responsibilities. One of the fastest and smoothest rides in the area…the Tues / Thurs rides are usually over 25 mph.
All rides leave from the Starbucks on Deerfield Road…open to all, we just ask that you be able to smoothly handle a fast pace line or ride at the back until you are comfortable.
Feel free to DM me if you want to join us for a ride…although we are currently on the trails for the fall. Also pretty fast paced!
)….get a fat bike and good clothes and you can ride 365 if you want. Either way, it would probably be a fantastic adveture for you both (no matter what city).
