Gotta ride dem hills!
There’s a perception that Chicagoland is just flat flat flat. It’s the midwest afterall, right? People complain about the “hill” on the Chicago Marathon course – it’s an overpass, by the way. And actually, people use overpasses to do hill training… it’s either that or the treadmill.
Or travel outside of the city to somewhere with hills!
The county I live in just outside of Chicago, Lake County, actually has plenty of places to run hills. The trail next to our house has hills. They aren’t ginormous, but they definitely challenge me. So much that I often wonder why people go out of their way to run hills. Ha ha ha. But then again, I tend to avoid them unless I have to! <— I’m lazy like that.
So there is this city out here, Barrington Hills, that some people will specifically travel to, to run or ride the hills for training. I’ve known lots of people to do this. It’s a beautiful area with big estates, forest preserves, horse farms, and yeah, some hills. I’ve actually run there, more out of the convenience of the location than for the hills, but I do see why people like working out there.
Well, some of the residents are causing a stink about the cyclists going through there (pdf here), so much that they’ve made a website protesting bike lanes being added to the streets.
The residents are saying the cyclists urinate in their yards, ride in groups so large they take over the road, and curse at drivers. The cyclists are saying the residents yell at them, throw things at them, try to run them off the road, and barricade them with their cars.
Sigh. Can’t we all just get along?
I wasn’t surprised to read these things are happening, but I was surprised to read that some residents don’t want cyclists there. At all. One of the nice things about riding a bike is that you can travel far, and see lots of different places. It’s not like they are breaking in to a gated neighborhood to ride (geesh, I hope not)!
Of course, I can see why both parties are upset. I’ve been on both sides, as I am sure many of you have been. When I go out on my bike, I obey the rules of the road, and have some people ride way too close, cut me off, yell at me, and so on. And yeah, just the other day, I was driving home, and a large group of cyclists was taking up the entire road to my house – they were probably 5-6 abreast. I had to go in to the turning lane to slowly pass them. Luckily, I could do that. And luckily… I didn’t get too mad because I like to cycle in large groups, but geesh, share the road goes both ways!
I think… there will just always be people who think rules and common decency don’t apply to them. Cyclists who don’t stop at lights, even with cars around. Cyclists who ride in the dark, in to traffic, with no reflective gear (saw that Friday night). Cars who ride too close, throw things at you, yell at you, and yeah, cut you off. As a cyclist, you learn who those other cyclists are and can choose not to ride with them. But you never know what the heck you are going to get with someone driving a car.
I wonder how this will all turn out! If it were me, and that was a regular place that I went for hill cycling… I think I’d be going someplace else!
Is hill training so important to you that you would travel to do it?
(And that is not the only reason people ride there, of course! That is just my spin on it.)
Themocracy
Nope. I don’t travel to do hills (unless it’s by mistake and I’m running a 5k with a friend lol). I usually just hop on the treadmill and do hills there. Or do a hill program on the stationary bike. It’s not cost effective for me to rent a car to travel an hour outside the city for hillz
You have the best places to run and cycle!!! 🙂
Ha ha ha. And that 5K was really close to that area that I mentioned in the post 😉 But yeah… I am not one to travel to them for the sole purpose of running them. I am impressed by the people in my clubs who do! Not for me!
Thanks!
Ugh that article makes me ragey. As both a cyclist and a car driver, I try to respect the rules of the road and all the other people using it.
One thing I think all people that are driving should realize is they are using a deadly weapon. Seriously. If you drive to close to a cyclist you are putting their life in serious danger.
I urge everyone to have patience on the roads. The 30 seconds you need to wait to pass a cyclist safely or for a cyclist to stop at a stop sign is not much time in the grand scheme of things.
And I saw a cyclist last night riding in the dark with no lights and no reflective gear. Plus he crossed the road in front of me while I was waiting to pull out on the road. Thank goodness there was a car behind him so I did not have room to pull out because I did not see him. Very scary.
It made me feel that way too. At both parties, really. There definitely needs to be some sort of education about sharing the road, and like you said – that the car is a deadly weapon – but people just will NOT listen. They don’t get it. It’s so scary.
Man! Thank goodness you didn’t pull out! That happened to me this morning with a runner – could HARDLY see them. I want to get out and lecture these people. Or just throw a reflective vest and light at them!
I don’t have hills (or a lot of them), and I don’t seek them out. However, I’m thinking about it. *thinking*
I think it’s disappointing on both ends of the story there. I think it’s so important to set a good example as a runner/cyclist/whatever so that you don’t give the sport a bad rap. But, I think people just don’t understand nor do they care to.
Ha ha ha! Keep thinking! 🙂
Yeah, I always keep that in mind when I am exercising outside – to try to set a good example (and make it look fun). But that is just not a priority for a lot of people. They are thinking about their convenience… like the cars are.
One of our neighborhood routes has hills, and we do it normally twice a week. I think it really helps make me a stronger runner.
If I were training for a race I knew had a lot of hills, I’d probably go out of my way to do hill training. Otherwise, I’d rather just stick to where I know!
I wish there were an easy solution to sharing paved surfaces just in general (other than “You’re not more important than anyone else, do don’t be an asshole.” That’d be a pretty good solution 😉 ). Summertime on the Lakefront Trail is like taking your own life in your hands with how reckless/mindless people can be sometimes. Just this past Saturday a cyclist traveling in the opposite direction of my running group cursed out a kid who couldn’t have been much older than 16 that was trying to pass us, and another cyclist who WAS passing us went into the opposite lane right in front of a runner, not giving her any time to move. She tripped and fell and the cyclist just kept going without even stopping to check on her. Obviously these sorts of issues take place on the road as well, just with even higher stakes, since cars can do a lot more damage to a person/cyclist than people/cyclists can do to each other.
Ha! That would be a good solution for LIFE! 🙂
Yeah, I have heard HORROR stories about the LFT! I mean, for everyone. Runners annoyed by families and cyclists, cyclists annoyed by everyone. It’s great it’s used so much… but not that it feels like people don’t have the space they “need.” Was that lady okay that fell? 🙁
Ha! I’ve run that hill in your top pic WAY too often! I hate it. I think where we live is much more hilly that expected. You may not even notice though unless you are running or biking. You just kind of take these things for granted in a car. That being said, if I’m specifically doing a hill workout, I do it on the treadmill. It’s just more more easy to control. I don’t think I ever run anywhere really flat so every run is somewhat of a hill workout. If I really want a challenge, I go to my in-laws, near Madison.
I think cycling on Lake County roads is terrifying and I won’t do it unless I have to. I have gotten yelled at and had things thrown at me during the one summer that I was training for a triathlon. I’ve never biked with a group which may make it less scary, but I prefer my trainer. I do my best to give cyclists as much room as possible because I know how it feels out there. Sadly, I don’t think we live in a bike-friendly area. I am not sure what can be done to change that culture, but adding real bike lanes would be a great start! Where my Mom lives in Florida has designated bike lanes everywhere and it’s great!
I wonder if bike lanes would help! It would make me feel more comfortable. They’ve added them in some downtown areas… I wonder how they are being received. I see people crossing them and not paying attention to incoming bikes. Sigh 😉 No one is paying attention to anything!
I recommend riding in a group sometime! It’s so fun and makes it less scary. 🙂
I wish we had somewhere close to go for hill training. About once a year, I ride in a hilly area and every year, I wish to myself that I could train more for those hills.
I’m pretty lucky though that I don’t experience most of the harassment I’ve read about other cyclists experiencing. The only time I can think of anyone shouting at me while riding was a group of teenagers that felt I should be on the sidewalk instead of the road. I try really hard to follow traffic laws and set a good example, but I’ll be honest, I mostly treat stop signs as yields. Stop lights are a different story. Unless I can’t get the light to change for me after a few minutes, I wait for it to change. A couple times, I’ve waited several minutes with no traffic in any direction at a light and roll on through because the sensors obviously aren’t picking my bike up.
Do you have a trainer and a block to raise your front wheel? I have that option… and don’t use it. Ha!
Bikes should not be on the sidewalk unless it’s a super busy road! I see people riding the Divvy (bike share) bikes on the sidewalks in downtown Chicago and it’s so dangerous!
Sounds like you use the Idaho Stop. 😉 I almost completely stop at all stop signs, but just enough not to unclip 😉
I’m sending this comment from my parents’ B&B. Yesterday and Saturday, I enjoyed the most fun and challenging rides since I’ve started riding again! Admittedly, only rides 3 & 4, so that’s not saying much! My parents’ B&B is in SW Wisconsin and the area is gorgeous! Shameless plug here: http://www.lonesomehollow.com.
I did almost 19 miles Saturday. Miles 6-8 included a 1.75 mile hill that really tested my biking legs! Yesterday’s ride was longer (30.3 miles) but the hills were shorter. Absolutely glorious riding on nearly deserted country roads! The people here are used to tourists taking bike rides and were courteous when passing. Only one vehicle the entire weekend passed without giving me three feet. No rude comments, no horns, nothing thrown at me, and no one tried to run me off the road.
My theory is that Illinoisans are too stressed out, and (in general) just asshats when they hit the roads. Whether in a car or on a bike, it seems (to this guy who ride in Iowa in the late 80’s) too many people in Illinois feel their sense of hurry (or sport) is more important than safety.
I’m originally from Illinois, and I don’t get it. But that’s my perception…
As long as my folks have this place, I will come here to train hills. The hills are challenging and the drivers here aren’t raging buttheads.
Just my two cents. 😉
That is great you got some rides in! Sounds like a great place to ride!
So I wonder if the other “stressed out” states are treating cyclists this way, too 😉
RE: Stressed out states.
I wouldn’t want to ride anywhere near New York City, L.A., or Atlanta… 😉
You’ll get some (more) good hill training at our 10k this weekend! Heehee!
That really stinks that there is such a divide between drivers and cyclists and I certainly see both sides of it! Downtown Madison has lots of bike commuters and I’ve seen them do a lot of stupid things – Kev almost hit one the other day when she blew through a stop sign. But also so many drivers are inattentive and impatient and that is scary whether you are biking, running or even walking!
Ha ha ha. I will make sure NOT to run the hills by me then. And totally GO ahead. I will be lucky to average 10s! 🙂
Good point – you don’t have to be on a bike to find a distracted driver. And you don’t have to be on a bike to be doing something stupid and almost get hit by a car. Both Steven and I have had incidents with cyclists where they’ve run in to us/almost run in to us and the sucky part is… we’d be at fault. Pay attention, everyone! LOL
Everywhere I run has hills…I actually have to drive to go out of my way to avoid them!!
I was actually thinking about cycling and running etiquette on my long run this weekend because I witnessed SO MUCH bad athlete behavior! It really really annoyed me to the point where I wanted to call people out for just being rude and jerk-y! I wouldn’t do that, of course, but the consideration definitely goes both ways. I have a younger cousin who is an avid cyclist and he is super conscious about the rules of the road and it worries me that so many drivers are NOT.
Sigh. Don’t you just wish you could say something? But they would just think you were a jerk! I so want to say things to some people. Mostly “WEAR REFLECTIVE GEAR!”
Also, please don’t run/ride with 4 people abreast and then YIELD TO NO ONE–essentially forcing cars into other lanes or people off the trail into the woods and ditches! (I feel better now! haha)
Ha ha, good! 🙂
But yeah, don’t do that! 🙁 It just blows my mind that people do that. When I ride with someone I am constantly going in front or behind to yield!
and THIS is why I don’t cycle. people are stupid. the residents in that article are crazy town.
Is that really the reason why?! 😉 You could totally cycle at any of the forest preserves and not have to deal with cars/people’s yards 😉
And I so agree that the residents are being crazy. Did you read the article? One cyclist was like… this mentality will spread and people will think it’s okay to mistreat cyclists cause their neighbors are 🙁
It is a lot of the reason why. I think I would bike the trails, once I was a bit more comfortable on a bike again, but I can’t see EVER racing or biking the roads. I don’t trust people!
I read the whole thing – it makes me sad and angry that those residents are being so irrational!
I’m going to hold you to that! We should totally do a fun trail ride 🙂 But what would it take to get comfortable on the bike again?
And it makes me scared! Especially as we know people who go there! I will let you know if I read anymore. Or, we can ask Dawn to ask Tim about it 😉
Ugh, cars vs bikes is a big beef in Chicago. God forbid you throw those “stupid” Divvy riders into the mix. Everyone hates the Divvy riders (becasue they are all dumb tourists riding on sidewalks). And then bikes vs runners on the LFT. And cars vs motorcycles. Drama drama drama from all groups. Some people are aware of the rules and follow them, others follow most rules, some seem to follow no rules. I have no answers, but I’ve traveled the Chicago streets via all modes (car, bike, [the back of a] motorcycle, foot) so I dunno, I’m some kind of all-knowing super being. Can’t we all just get along and have a little patience?
I don’t think EVERYONE hates them. Do you hate them? 😉 But yeah, I did say in a comment above that I DON’T appreciate them riding on the sidewalk, but think the concept of bike share is hella cool.
Didn’t you write a post last year about people being douches when they are walking? Like texting, etc.? People just need to pull their heads out of their asses, realize they live in a world with other people, and yes, have some patience.
Well obviously I don’t hate Divvy riders 🙂 But more often than not, the references I read to Divvy riders is negative. Granted this is coming from “anonymous” bullies on the internet. Also, I feel the need to point out that I see far more people riding their owned bikes on sidewalks than Divvy bikes.
I don’t think I wrote that post but it sounds like a sentiment I agree with. Although sometimes I am that d-bag texting while walking.
I wonder if the other cities are getting the hate. Do you read Treehugger? They are always posting about cool rides shares. And since I am mostly downtown, I am seeing the Divvys on the sidewalk. But, douches be douches no matter what they ride.
Ha! Me too. I actually ran in to a door and really hurt myself cause I was doing it. BAD habit.
I travelled to run that hill!! LOVED IT!
I wouldn’t cycle somewhere that the residents are so against sharing the road. It’s a recipe for disaster, on both fronts. There is plenty of bike friendly routes in our area! Miles and miles of beautiful trails await me!
Ha ha ha! You did! And in the dark!
We are lucky with all these trails! I want to take my road bike to the McClory!!! 🙂
If I get my road bike before we transfer I would promises to ride that trail with you!!! It would be amazeballs!! Having completed my first buddy ride today…..I’m excited to buddy ride again soon
YES! It’s too bad our regular meeting time doesn’t work for a mountain bike ride! 🙁 Too dark!
It does suck from both sides. I’ve owned up to hating cycling..just not my sport but when I moved to the US I got a bike for transport while waiting to get a car. I’ve had to sell it. Not because I don’t want to use it but because I think its way too dangerous, Drivers here just don’t have the consideration for those of us who can cycle and obey road laws.
One nice thing they often do in Dublin (Ireland) is build extra-wide side walks and paint a portion of that so its specifically for bicycles.
My area is just going through this big time. There have been a couple of major incidents in the last two weeks that have bikers and motorists in almost an all out war. It’s getting dangerous and I just don’t get it. If both sides were willing to be respectful and reasonable, it would be fine. It’s terrible because it makes it really dangerous to ride anywhere :/
I hate hills at races. Luckily there are none here in Chicago but yet that has “hurt” me since I suck at these hilly races. Anyway, no I won’t travel far for hill training. If I had to do it then I will just jump on the treadmill. Well, maybe if I had a buddy that also need to train then yes I will travel for hill training.
I heard about this on the news, I think all out of towners should completely avoid this town and not give them their business. You can’t tell me that they don’t spend any money there. In the meantime, I say we all avoid the town. 😉
The Future Mr Mo actually rides to Barrington and Barrington Hills from our house. Fun fact.
Too bad about the biker/driver (or resident) conflict – it does sound like a great place to ride or run. As you said, it definitely goes both ways. My biggest conflict with a driver actually came during a run.
During my last round of training, I frequently drove somewhere for my long rides, which I know seems silly, but a lot of roads around where I live have tons of stop signs and it’s hard to get in a long ride that isn’t constantly interrupted.
Sounds like you are still enjoying your bike!
Nah, I totally don’t think it’s silly to travel for a ride, especially if it’s for safety! I mean… we can leave our houses and ride but sometimes that is not the safest/most enjoyable!