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Monday, March 24th, 2008
Biking Revival
It was not long ago I said I was antsy to bike. ANTSY TO BIKE
Well....I am antsy no longer. In what turned out to be a weird turn of events...I needed to run an errand....my car battery was dead....so I just jumped on my bike. Problem with my bike is it hasn't really been touched since I threw it in my Car in Connecticut in November. So I broke out the bike lube....sprayed it all over my bike...put the tires on....pumped em up...and i was good to go.
I ran my errand. Came back home...and decided that the 3 miles journey didn't fulfill my biking needs. So I jumped back on the bike and headed to Nearby Washington Park.
I love Washington Park...not necessaily the best biking park (I ended up doing a mix of figure eights and circles around the roads) but everyone is in a GREAT mood there. Plenty of people with dogs, runners, and park lovers. The only problem I had with my bike today was I wore Adidas pants since it was a little chilly and the bottom of my pants kept getting caught in my gears. Got some good speed in the park (broke the 20 mph speed limit a couple times)...but overall I am sooooo out of
shape. My lungs kinda hurt and I have a light wheeze from sitting on my couch all winter. But wow does it feel good to get outside. Overall I did about 8 miles today. A good start to what I hope is many many miles here in Springfield.
Any one have a fav ride here in Springfield? Shoo gave me the bike path locations. Any others?
Biking Revival
It was not long ago I said I was antsy to bike. ANTSY TO BIKE
Well....I am antsy no longer. In what turned out to be a weird turn of events...I needed to run an errand....my car battery was dead....so I just jumped on my bike. Problem with my bike is it hasn't really been touched since I threw it in my Car in Connecticut in November. So I broke out the bike lube....sprayed it all over my bike...put the tires on....pumped em up...and i was good to go.
I ran my errand. Came back home...and decided that the 3 miles journey didn't fulfill my biking needs. So I jumped back on the bike and headed to Nearby Washington Park.
I love Washington Park...not necessaily the best biking park (I ended up doing a mix of figure eights and circles around the roads) but everyone is in a GREAT mood there. Plenty of people with dogs, runners, and park lovers. The only problem I had with my bike today was I wore Adidas pants since it was a little chilly and the bottom of my pants kept getting caught in my gears. Got some good speed in the park (broke the 20 mph speed limit a couple times)...but overall I am sooooo out of
Any one have a fav ride here in Springfield? Shoo gave me the bike path locations. Any others?
I like Washington Park, but like you said, you have to make a lot of loops. I have been able to break 30 a couple times on the downhill which is to the left when the road splits just out of frame of your second photo from the top.
Probably the best road to get a high speed is the dip on North Grand, just east of Bruns Lane. There's a large hill that does not have a cross street at the bottom (there is a light though, for a crosswalk, but it almost never changes). The pavement is good, and if you hit it heading west (towards Bruns Lane), you can probably get up to 40. I've hit 37 or so there on my hybrid, but I don't have a road bike to try on.
Unfortunately there aren't many scenic or bike-friendly roads. If you're an early bird, you can take your bike out by the lake and avoid the daytime traffic. Innerurban trail, from Wabash out to Chatham, is a nice trail, but it's split in two now due to construction on the new interchange by Knights Action Park. You can park your car where the trail intersects Woodside Road, right by the train tracks. Ride south to Chatham - that's probably one of the best trails around here. Very straight though, but usually quite empty.
I have been pondering a good way to bike downtown from home and can't really think of one. I'm guessing that is the way you go towards work? I live inbetween Chatham and Monroe.....is Monroe bike-able?
Depending on which side of Monroe you live on, it might be worthwhile to look into cutting through Washington Park, then zip-zagging on side streets to downtown. I've done that several times with good luck.