When it comes to bicycling in western suburbs, there are different spokes for different folks. On any given day or night from spring through fall, you can find some of those cyclists on the area’s streets and trails, riding as part of a local bicycle club.
Four established bike clubs in the area sponsor regular rides and activities: the Elmhurst Bicycle Club, Naperville Bicycle Club, Fox River Valley Bicycle and Ski Club and Aurora Bicycle Club. The Naperville and Aurora clubs are affiliated with their community park districts. The others operate independently. Naperville and Elmhurst are the largest and most active groups. Membership in the four clubs runs from 50 to nearly 300 and ranges from teenagers to octogenarians.
Each club is distinctive, but there are some similarities. Each holds a large invitational ride every summer that serves as its main fundraiser and attracts riders from other clubs. Each club also meets once a month to talk about upcoming events, share safety tips and introduce new members. The clubs publish newsletters and calendars, and most offer a ride hotline that lists the time, location and pace (speed) of upcoming rides. And when summer biking seems a distant memory in December, all of the clubs hold holiday parties (without bikes, of course).
“This is a generalization, but people who are cyclists and trail users are good people,” said Jim Hochgesang, author of the book “Hiking and Biking in DuPage County.” “It’s good camaraderie, good exercise. They put a lot of effort into their events. The western suburbs have the most extensive off-road trails anywhere in Chicagoland. I counted approximately 160 miles of interconnected trails.”
He cited routes such as the Illinois Prairie Path, the Great Western Trail, Fox River Trail and several forest preserve trails that cut through the county.
Karen Shinners, director of the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation in Chicago, a biking advocacy group that works with local cycling clubs, said that the clubs attract people who enjoy both the physical and fun aspect of the sport.
“People in bike clubs in general are social beings. And the clubs really make an effort for people who want to ride slower. That’s a sign of a healthy club to have a lot of different options,” noted Shinners, who counts west suburban cycle clubs as among the region’s most active and enthusiastic.
The Elmhurst, Aurora and Naperville clubs offer rides at a slower pace as well as intermediate and fast rides. The length of the routes differs as well, from short 10-mile jaunts to trips as far away as Wisconsin and Michigan.
“There are kind of two core groups in our club,” explained Naperville Bike Club member Ed Pare of Woodridge. “There is the socially oriented group and a group of what we call the roadies.”
Mike Brackett of North Aurora, president of the Aurora Bicycle Club, said the 50-member group also tries to vary the pace and length of its rides. “We try to sponsor a ride at least once a week. It depends on how interested people are in leading their own route.”
One recent after-dinner easy ride sponsored by the Naperville Bicycle Club demonstrates how the club attracts a variety of members. The ride is scheduled to begin from the city’s Riverwalk Park at Mill and Jackson Streets at 6:30 p.m. After 6 p.m., cyclists slowly begin to make their way to the parking lot. The club members are easy to spot and do look different from other casual riders tooling around the downtown Naperville area. All of this night’s riders are wearing helmets, and most are clad in Lycra biking shorts and T-shirts emblazoned with logos from various invitational rides. It’s about equal in gender, and there are children as well as grandparents.
It’s the perfect evening, with a crisp breeze and soft sunlight. About 20 members show up for the ride, a high turnout attributed to the good weather. Susan Fishel of Naperville pushes off and leads the group on a route she drew up for the occasion. The bikers begin to weave through the busy traffic, then snake through tree-lined residential streets.
About an hour after they began their ride, the group has returned to the parking lot to discuss whether they should go out for a quick ice cream cone or beer. Beer wins out. Most begin to cycle to a local tavern, while others scatter back to their cars and drive home, calling out, “See you next week.” This easy ride is held every Monday night and departs from the Riverwalk, although the actual route changes from week to week.
All four community bike clubs sponsor faster-paced rides.
“We’re a bit unique in that we have a ride seven days a week, two rides Monday through Thursday,” explained Laurel Salvador of Winfield, the Naperville club president. “We can accommodate the casual pedaler, the mountain biker and the racer.”
Do they ever encounter problems filling up their calendar?
“No, as long as there are people willing to lead the ride,” Salvador said.
The Elmhurst Bicycle Club also keeps a full calendar. Laura Sandborn De Mayo of Carol Stream, the club’s president, said that 290-member group has a smaller core group of very active participants. “We have really avid bikers, and we also have a group called the Turtles,” she said. “Our rides vary, and it’s posted how fast we go. There are some clubs that really have fast rides, but we’re not out to break any records.”
A recent Elmhurst club meeting showed that the group likes to socialize as much as it likes to pedal. The meeting drew about 40 members, most of whom were dressed in bike gear even though there was no group ride. Attendees varied from young adults to retirees. Sandborn De Mayo led the meeting and brought members up to date on club business and upcoming events, particularly the club’s annual invitational Metro Metric ride. The newsletter editor and safety chairman also spoke before the club members broke into smaller groups to chat and sample some of the refreshments in the back of the room.
Food plays a big part in all of the bike clubs. In addition to going out for snacks or drinks after a ride, the Aurora and Naperville clubs often sponsor weekend night rides to a favorite restaurant. “It could be pizza or ice cream, whatever we think sounds good that night,” said Brackett of the Aurora club.
The Elmhurst club also offers a variety of rides that stop off for breakfast, lunch or dinner. “There is a lot of food,” said Sandborn De Mayo. “We ride to a destination, eat and ride (the food) back off.”
The bike clubs also address serious issues and challenges facing cyclists in the area, especially safety. Four times a year, the presidents of the 18 urban and suburban bike clubs in the Chicago area meet with the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation. According to director Shinners, “We invite presidents to meet with us and each other about various issues of interest. They’re all facing the same types of issues, and through this they also get to know each other. By working with us, they help make sure that the roads they ride on are ridable.”
DuPage County bicycle clubs also helped shape the new DuPage County Regional Bikeway Plan developed by the DuPage County Regional Planning Commission and adopted by the DuPage County Board and the county Mayors and Managers Conference. Dozens of groups, from county agencies to park districts to the Illinois Prairie Path Association, contributed to the long-range plan, which covers more than 500 miles of off-road paths, trails, bike lanes and routes in DuPage.
Deborah Fagan, principal planner with the Wheaton-based commission, said, “We invited members of the clubs to take a look at the plan, to offer suggestions and look at its goals, and we had quite a lot of input from them. I think the clubs are a great way for people to get informed about the roads in the area and what’s going on.”
Riders can choose from among dozens of trails and roads included in the DuPage County bike plan, whether they’re cycling for pleasure or as a workout.
“I’m convinced people are more interested in getting outside to a natural environment,” said author Hochgesang. “It’s really nature’s health club.”
THE SCOOP ON BIKE CLUBS
Interested in joining a bike club in your area? Call one of the following groups:
– Aurora Bicycle Club, 630-892-1010.
– Fox Valley Bicycle and Ski Club, 630-584-7353.
– Elmhurst Bicycle Club, 630-415-2453.
– Naperville Bicycle Club, 630-357-9000, ext. 191.
If you want information about issues and concerns related to bicycling in the western suburbs or throughout the Chicago area, you can reach the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation at 312-42-PEDAL.
To receive a copy of the DuPage County Regional Bikeways Plan, which includes maps of area paths and trails, call the DuPage County Regional Planning Commission at 630-682-7230.
Finally, you can find the book “Hiking and Biking in DuPage County” at many area bookstores.
