My last two bike rides have proven to be good tours for getting a taste of an area. Last week I rode through DeKalb and Sycamore, getting nice views of the river as well as seeing the university, newer subdivisions, DeKalb’s retailer row, and the farms along Peace Rd. It was a snapshot of DeKalb in a three-hour bike ride. About a month ago, my ride through Schaumburg put me in the middle of suburbia, taking me through subdivisions, business parks, and some of the highest grossing retail territory in the country. For the last few weeks, I have thought about riding some of the trails in the Oak Brook area. This week’s ride proved to be a good sampling of Oak Brook. My ride took me past exclusive golf clubs, through forest preserves, business parks, ritzy neighborhoods, past Oakbrook Center, and along Salt Creek.

My starting point was York Woods FP. I was glad to have GPS turn-by-turn guidance to get here. All the ramps for routes 56, 83, and 38 can be confusing. There are trail maps on display near the south parking lot at York Woods. From the parking lot, I followed the Salt Creek Trail bridge over I-88 and along York Rd. Not horribly picturesque, you just go past some office buildings. You go past CLTV’s facilities, which I didn’t realize when I was on the trail. The crossing at Cermak Rd is not particularly difficult, just exercise usual caution. Between Cermak and 31st St, the trail skirts the boundary of the Oak Brook and Butler National golf courses. The trail was made of waterlogged crushed stone. They must have had a lot more rain in Oak Brook than we had in Elgin, or the trail suffers from poor drainage. The trail looked dry, but the dark sheen on my front tire told me otherwise. As I rode along the golf course, I couldn’t help but wonder which titans of industry and commerce were inside playing a round of golf. What kind of deals were being made? I’m sure there were people in there who make more money in one year than I will make during my whole lifetime. About halfway between Cermak and 31st, the trail has a small chicane at the driveway to the clubhouse. It was odd to be bicycling within a few feet of some practice greens that were in use. Do watch for traffic as you cross the driveway, because I suspect these folks do not expect to see bicyclists crossing there. I proceeded south along York Rd south to the crossing of Salt Creek at the Graue Mill. The Salt Creek Trail turns east at Canterberry Dr and goes all the way to Brookfield Zoo. I will have to ride that part of the trail someday.
The Salt Creek at the Graue Mill is quite picturesque. Here are some pics I took in 2007. I crossed York Rd at the stoplight then went north to cross the creek again before turning northwest to ride into the forest preserve. I was unsure if bicycles were welcome, as the trail didn’t have that “bike trail” look, but I saw other cyclists and there were no signs prohibiting bike use. I have to say, the terrain through Fullersburg Woods is rolling and steep in places. I had to use the “granny gear” a few times. One hill climb was the result of a missed turn. I wanted to cut through Fullersburg to reach 31st St, but missed the turn for the trail that exits the preserve. Instead, I looped southwest over some more rolling terrain, crossing Salt Creek, and riding up a very steep hill to Spring Rd. The bike trail maps show Spring Rd as a bike route, but the shoulder and narrow width of the road did not appeal to me as a route back to 31st St. I rode back through the preserve to where I missed the turn and headed north to 31st St.
The crossing of 31st St was somewhat difficult. It is a four-lane road with an island in the middle. The island makes the crossing easier, but if you can’t even get to it… I had to wait a while for the traffic to subside before I could cross the eastbound lanes to get to the island. Then I had to wait for westbound traffic to clear before crossing over to the east-west trail along 31st St. It was here that I noticed that Oak Brook has excellent signage on their trails. I love bike trail signage because it assures me I am on the trail and gives me guidance about where to turn. The trail got a little muddy passing the Oak Brook library, [politicalrant] which was busy and appeared to be an integral part of the community contrary to what that ass Constantine Xinos says. [/politicalrant] Heading west, the trail got quite steep after crossing Salt Creek. This is where you cross a driveway leading into McDonald’s Corporate headquarters. The topo map shows something along the lines of a 10% grade here. After going through some trees, the trail dumps out on the Oak Brook PD’s parking lot. To continue on the trail, you go south and cross 31st St again. This was the hardest crossing of the day. There is no island per se for safety in the intersection. There is a turn lane, which is not the safest place to wait to cross the road. I had to wait for the intersection to be completely free of traffic before I could cross. If this were Schaumburg, I guarantee there would have been a stoplight at that intersection to make the intersection safer and easier for trail users and police station visitors to use.
At Jorie Blvd, I passed one of those gated communities sprinkled throughout Oak Brook. As much as I despise the wealthy, I long to be wealthy myself and live in one of those gated communities to keep the riff-raff out. The crossing of the ramps for IL83 was somewhat difficult. Long waits for the lights to change, and it is hard to see the stoplights. I wasn’t sure if the crosswalk lights accepted my touch of the cross button, so I was trying to watch the stoplights. I may have crossed against the light here. I was waiting to cross the southbound on-ramp. Meanwhile, a line of cars was waiting to enter the on-ramp. The first car was waiting for me to cross. You know me – I’m careful and never cross against lights. I continued to wait for the WALK light to come on. Finally someone honked in that line of cars. I had waited long enough and ignored the crossing signal. As soon as I crossed the on-ramp, I looked over and saw an Oak Brook police car waiting behind some cars at the light. I thought for sure I was going to get a ticket for jaywalking, but nothing happened. After this intersection is a nice descent.
I had debated stopping at the Mayslake Peabody Estate while planning this ride. It is a historic building, but didn’t look like much, IMHO. I decided to peel off the I-88 Central DuPage Bikeway and check out the estate. It wasn’t much to photograph, especially with the asphalt parking lots and driveways going right up to the building. However, I did spy a chapel that is a replica of one in Assisi, Italy.

While riding through the parking lots back to 31st St, I saw an Oak Brook PD car pulling into the lot. No ticket for me, forutnately.
Just west of the driveway to the estate is a trail that travels southwest through a well-to-do neighborhood. Large homes with gorgeous terraces. This was the part of the ride I was looking forward to the most. I wanted to see how the other half lived. I try to go through wealthy neighborhoods every once in a while. It inspires and depresses me simultaneously. I want to raise a family in a fancy house with a large lawn. One of these homes could be mine if I work hard, have some luck, and meet the right people. At the same time, reality hits me. Unless I make some major changes, my career trajectory will not lead me to wealth like this. One thing that surprised me was how “normal” this neighborhood was. Yes, there were more BMWs and Range Rovers around than in Elgin, but not more than I see in St. Charles and Geneva. I was also surprised to see a lot of Hondas, Nissans, Toyota Camrys, and even a Chevrolet Malibu in a driveway. I was expecting everyone to have a luxury car. The houses were much larger than you’d see in a middle class neighborhood, but everything else was surprisingly upper-middle class. This neighborhood is not gated, so I guess it is a more bourgeois part of Oak Brook.
The trail through this neighborhood exits on 35th St. I crossed Midwest Rd to continue west on 35th St. Some shrubbery on the north side of the trail seals us cretins off from a gated community. I wish the shrubbery was trimmed farther back from the trail so one doesn’t have to worry about scraping against it. Just east of Meyers Rd I turned south on a neighborhood trail to add some mileage to my ride and get a further taste of the good life. These homes were even more modest than the last neighborhood I rode through. These homes were normal-sized, but surely still expensive. Unfortunately, curb cuts were missing at the majority of street crossings in this neighborhood. The curbs aren’t sharp, but you can’t take them at full speed either.
Back on the I-88 Central DuPage Bikeway, I rode north on Meyers Rd to Baybrook Ln. The trail is nice and wide until 31st St, but between 31st and Baybrook, you ride on a sidewalk. Riding on Baybrook Ln and Royal Vale Dr, I traveled northeast through a neighborhood. I forget the name of this neighborhood, but every house has the same style mailbox. Also of note is the construction of the street. There are no curbs, but there is concrete level with the asphalt on both sides of the street. I wasn’t sure if this was intended to be a bike lane or if it was supposed to be a sidewalk. Regardless, I rode on the asphalt. I was not passed by a car once. At Midwest Rd, I joined a trail just south of the ramp to eastbound I-88. The trail rises gently as you head east before descending to an underpass at IL83. This underpass was the most disappointing part of the ride. I had walked through it once before but didn’t remember it as being so dark and so wet. I passed through the tunnel in the middle of the day, sometime around 1PM, and I couldn’t see a thing in there. All I ask for are a couple of lights in the tunnel. I’m sure a wealthy community could pay for a couple of fluorescent bulbs.
From the tunnel, I meandered through Oak Brook’s parks and recreation complex. Lots of goose poop. On top of the aformentioned light bulbs, Oak Brook needs to buy a few swans to keep the geese out of the ponds. I was surprised to find varied terrain in the woods alongside IL83. Eventually the trail turned east, passing another gated community. Woot. At Jorie Blvd and the main entrance to McDonald’s HQ, I turned north.

Once past the campus, the trail skirted the same golf courses I rode past earlier. Again, the trail changed from asphalt to wet mushy crushed stone. This part of the trail was wetter than the part on York Rd to the east. My bike got pretty dirty from the splashing mud and bits of stone. I interviewed for a job in this neck of the woods at Ace Hardware HQ after graduating from college.
I called the tunnel under IL83 the biggest disappointment of the ride. It won because it was wet and gross. The second biggest disapppointment of the ride was the construction of the intersection of Jorie Blvd and Cermak. The intersection looks like it couldn’t have been built more than six months ago. Can someone explain why the old islands on the east side of the intersection have curb cuts, but the newly constructed islands on the west side don’t have cuts? I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the SW island in the intersection had no cuts for bicycles or wheelchairs. You are supposed to wait on that island to cross west or north. I smell an ADA issue. I should note there are bike trails on the north and south side of Cermak. However, they are directional. I saw a Do Not Enter sign on the southern trail as I looked west. I therefore assumed I needed to use the northern trail to go west. I crossed Cermak, went around the NW island, and was confronted by a sign that said the trail was closed. Huh? Instead of crossing the street again and riding the wrong way down the trail, I ignored the sign. The asphalt looked pretty new. I proceeded with caution in case the pavement stopped anywhere underneath I-88. There were no obstacles, so I wonder if the construction crews simply forgot to take down the closure sign.
I discovered that McDonald’s has an office building on Cermak, off of their main campus. After crossing McDonald’s Dr, I got a little confused. The trail seemed to dead end, and a sidewalk went north. From scouting out the route, I remembered that I needed to follow the sidewalk west, which is set a good 100ft off Cermak. I was tempted to stop in the McDonald’s on the corner. It is not your standard McDonald’s restaurant, and I suspect it is somewhat of a prototype location for the company. The exterior is quite different, being two stories. It also appears to have a separate McCafe appended to the north side of the building. From the Yelp reviews, it seems to be cleaner than most McDo, has big flat panel TVs, and appears to be run by training managers. I wonder if they test new products here. If they did, I’d stop by every time I was in the area. It would be neat to try out new stuff before a nationwide rollout.
But back to the bike ride. The sidewalk kicks south in front of the restaurant a few feet around flagpoles to create an overlook by a retention pond. At Spring Rd I turned north, riding along a sidewalk some more. At Harger Rd, I turned east and was once again back on a proper asphalt bike path. This trail passes behind some nondescript office buildings before ending at the Salt Creek bridge. I waited for traffic to pass before riding on the street over the bridge. On the east side of the bridge, the road widens and has an asphalt shoulder that I felt safe riding on. Not sure if it is intended to be a bike lane, but it certainly works well as one. At Yorkshire Woods, the housing developer built a bike path brings you back to York Woods.
I was having a good time and wanted to ride a little more, so I continued north through York Woods, following the Salt Creek Trail. A new trail runs east-west along the IL38 frontage road. This trail is not visible on Google’s aerial imagery. A new ped bridge goes over Salt Creek and the trial does a loop to descend down to the level of the creek. The trail then passes under the ped bridge, the frontage road, IL38, and Brush Hill Rd. Salt Creek was only a few inches below the level of the trail, so I suspect this sort of viaduct floods often. The dried mud on the pavement bears out my theory.
Like Oak Brook did for its municipal trails, the forest preserve district and local park districts spared no expense with signage for the Salt Creek Trail. The trail actually passes through a parking lot of an office building before following Brush Hill Rd. I felt uncomfortable here, as the bike route used a roadway that handles off-ramp traffic from IL38. The signage guided me to Eldridge Park, which has many trails of its own and straddles Salt Creek. I should note there is a very cool geological phenomenon in this park. On the west shore of Salt Creek, at about this location, is an artesian spring. Below is a pic from 2007. The water will gush up for a few minutes, then stop. Then you’ll hear some noises before the water suddenly gushes up again.

This spring is visible from the bike trail on the east side of the creek. The spring was actually flowing as I rode by both north and south. North of Harrison St, the trail appears very new and the asphalt appears fresh. The ride is scenic as the trail parallels the creek, but unfortunately, the pavement ends at Madison St. A woodchip trail continues north, but I don’t think bicyclists are welcome. I cannot wait for the Salt Creek Trail to be completed. It will be awesome to ride from Busse Woods all the way to Brookfield Zoo.
On the way back to my car in the York Woods south lot, I took a detour to get a peek at a large building being built along IL38 to the west of York Rd. I couldn’t make out the sign. I asked a fellow walking on the trail about the building, and he said it is the new Elmhurst Hospital. That is one big building.
Below are the stats for this ride. The hills took a toll on my average speed. The 8.5mph is my lowest average speed since my old bike broke on the Great Western Trail and I had to walk 9mi back to my car. Here’s the link for the Oak Brook ride on Everytrail.

Driving home, I felt pretty sad. I think this may be my last bike ride of the year. The weather really doesn’t look promising for next weekend, with high temps being in the 30s. I don’t ride unless it is above 40. I may be able to ride tomorrow, but the temperature will barely be adequate. If I do ride tomorrow, it’ll just be a ride on the Fox River Trail or the Prairie Path somewhere. I’m not sure what I will do when winter begins. My weekend bike ride has been a regular part of my life since June, and I look forward to it every week. Getting an exercise bike will help keep me in shape, but it won’t give me the fresh air and sense of adventure I get when riding outside.