mara777

Anyone here familiar with the Elmhurst, Illinois area for road bike routes? I know the prairie path is very popular, but I'm nervous about riding on gravel.

Polaris OBark

I used to ride the Prairie Path as a kid in the late 70s and early 80s.

There is nothing to be nervous about, unless something has changed.

streetsurfer

I don't know Elmhurst's routes. I'm now in Palatine and Arlington Heights area.

The Prairie Path's surface is smooth, of limestone fines that are hardpacked.
I too rode and ran it in the '70's and '80's.

Busse Woods, about ten/fifteen minutes NW of you has what I think is an 8 mile paved loop through the Forest Preserve.

mara777

Thank you both for your input. I'm nervous bc I only recently started riding a road bike and I'm not proficient with fixing flats 😅

you don't think the risk of getting a flat is much different on the prairie path vs regular paved roads?



Thank you for suggesting Busse Woods. I am not familiar with the area, so this is useful to know!

Polaris OBark

I think the risk of a puncture is higher on the road, due to all sorts of debris.

TC1

I realize this question is a couple months old, but it didn't seem to get answered very well, in my opinion, so here goes...

As noted, the Prairie Path is completely rideable even on a road bike. It's barely even gravel, more like limestone dust, and 23mm tires are just fine on it, unless it has rained a lot lately.

Also, a potentially even better option is the Salt Creek Trail, which passes through Elmhurst. The SCT is about 90% paved, and the only sections that are not are almost as easily rideable as the Prairie Path. The IPP and the SCT intersect at the junction of Elmhurst and Villa Park, so OP can pick up the SCT and ride about 10 miles Southeast to Brookfield Zoo, or about 8 miles up to Busse Woods in the opposite direction. If OP heads towards the Zoo, they will only encounter a brief ~1/2 mile gravel section in Oak Brook, along York Road.

If OP is looking for a bigger day out, the Prairie Path connects to the Fox River Trail, which is a lovely 45 miles of paved route along that river. Other options include the DuPage River Trail, and the Cal-Sag and Centennial Trails, with the latter two requiring some street connections, but on decent routes.

mara777

Thank you so much for your response! This is great to have for future reference.

I did a few of my rides at the Busse Lake trail. It was fine, but it's only a 7 mile loop and it has a 15 mph speed limit since the trail has so much traffic. Many times I'd get stuck behind people walking because there was oncoming traffic so I had to wait to pass. Also very common to have groups of people leisurely walking and blocking THE ENTIRE PATH. Once there was a group of teenagers on bikes, and one of them was not paying attention AT ALL (he was looking down the entire time). He was coming towards me on my side of the path, swerving all over the place. I slowed down and even went off-road into the grass, but I still had to slam on my brakes to avoid him. Point is, this path is more suited for leisurely strolls with the family.

I had to go to LaGrange one day and discovered the Centennial Trail along the Des Plaines River. Wish I discovered it sooner because it was more what I was hoping for, and a lot less populated than Busse Lake or even the Prairie Path near Elmhurst.

TC1

For a longer ride, the Salt Creek connects to Busse Woods ( with a few short street segments at its northern end ) and that gives you 18 miles on the SCT plus 7 around Busse.

Yes, this unfortunately happens everywhere. We have about 10 million neighbors in this area, and about 9.5 million of them are unaware that they are not alone. The further away from a parking lot you get, and the colder the air temperature, the less of a problem this becomes.

There are connections from the Centennial that will take you to Iowa, and Indiana, among other places.

mara777

Thank you for the additional information! Do you have a good resource online to look up/view bike routes? I've come across a few different websites, but nothing that I thought was very helpful. IIRC I was using google maps when I "discovered" the Centennial trail (after first exploring the Salt Creek Woods area), but I had to keep zooming in and out of satellite view to try and see if routes were paved or unpaved.


I'm predominately a runner, and also an introvert with social anxiety, so I love exercising on those "nasty weather" days when I never see a single other person 😅 Definitely more comfortable to run in extreme weather though.

TC1

I have one or two that are useful, but I cannot yet post links to this forum, due to the age of my account. Maybe in a while, I will be able to do so.

Google Maps is indispensable, although not completely accurate. It would be nice if Google actually used their key, which provides for coloring unpaved trails brown, but they ignore it.

As an aside, the Salt Creek underpass at I-294 in Oak Brook is closed through at least August, and possibly all year, due to Interstate construction. There are alternate routes, but they are far enough away that even the Forest Preserve District officially says "No detour is provided."

Reflector Guy

I ride on the Prairie Path all the time and can echo the above posts. It's "paved" in hardpacked limestone screenings (IDOT gradation FA-6 if you really need to know) and is quite smooth. Exceptions include the parts east of I-294 (through Berkeley, Hillside and Maywood) which are asphalt and several blocks through Wheaton which are asphalt and/or concrete, and a few other random locations. Flat tires are rare because as mentioned there is very little debris like that found on the road and no severe bumps to cause pinch flats. Road tires are 100% fine. Your bike will get really dusty though if it hasn't rained lately.

The path is a very popular place and weekends can get a little crowded but trail etiquette is very good and people stay to the right. I realize the forum likes to look down on MUPs but this one is one of the good ones and clueless pedestrians and out-of-control dogwalkers are rare. If it gets crowded you can also ride on the parallelling Great Western Trail which sees only about 10% of the traffic as the Prairie Path. Even better, you can ride out west on one and ride back on the other; a popular "loop" many riders take which is about 30 miles in total.

Polaris OBark

Yeah, the risk is much lower on the path. (Almost all of my flats are from debris on the shoulder of the road.)

mara777

If you are able to post links, I'd love to check them out. You can send them to me in DM if you are allowed to share links that way? Thanks for the update about the Salt Creek underpass too!

Thank you for your detailed response! I still haven't tried out the path on my bike, but I definitely know what you mean about dust, I have run it many times, and often finish with a coat of dust all over my shoes and legs! I have used the Great Western Trail too (running), back during the pandemic since I knew it was less popular.