dunroving

I see you're in Centerville.

I've ridden through Centerville lots of times. Have to say that mostly I felt pretty safe riding on roads in middle TN. You just have to pick the right roads.

Hiro11

OP: I'm an avid cyclist in the Chicago area. What type of riding are you most interested in?

- Road groups: best bet to start is go to a local bike shop, most have a group ride. If that doesn't work out, ask other cyclists you meet what groups they ride in. Eventually you'll find a good fit. There are so many groups out on the road in summer weekends around here. Cycling seems to be the new golf for middle aged men. There are lots of women and women-specific groups around as well. Based on the GCN videos I've seen on the topic, group etiquette in the UK is exactly the same as etiquette here. Be on time, hold your line, don't accelerate while pulling, use brakes sparingly, point out hazards, establish rules (drop ride / no drop etc) prior to starting etc.

- Mountain biking: very limited unfortunately in the entire Chicagoland area. The best bet is Palos. Here's a link : CAMBr - Chicago Area Mountain Bikers If you want to drive perhaps ninety minutes, the mountain biking in Wisconsin is terrific.

- Randonneur / audax: increasingly popular around here. Lots of groups in the suburbs and Wisconsin. Many endurance riding clubs compete in the national 24 hour challenge (how far can you go in 24 hours), Paris-Brest-Paris and other big randos. I have personal friends doing P-B-P next year.

- Cyclocross: getting very popular in the states. Chicago has an entire series of local races, all of which are very crowded: Chicago Cross Cup Tons of fun to go to, even if you don't race.

In general, road riding in the Chicago area can be surprisingly good. 95% of drivers are patient and careful (the other 5% are "special folk", generally found driving pickups). Cycling is very popular in the city, far more so now than it was even a few years ago. I live in the western suburbs and the riding around here can be very good if you know where to go. No long climbs, though. Illinois is flat, flat, flat.

tennesseestud

Cool! Loads of backroads to cycle ... which means, protective dogs! So many dogs, I know why people have them and I have a moon pie for good luck before I go into battle. I'd hate for it to become a thing where I threw kibbles behind me because they'd be expecting a treat everytime they wanted to chase me.

dunroving

Ah yes, I forgot about all those back-country dogs.

I visit my old club's Web site occasionally and there are regular updates on how so-and-so is doing after being bitten by a dog, or worse still, hitting the dog and falling off.

loubiblu

I generally road ride, not race. Will certainly seek out an LBS to find a group. Currently work for British Cycling, encouraging women to either return to or start to cycle. I'd be looking for 15-20mph group rides, anything up to 70+miles. Good to know that group etiquette will be similar.

MTB is not really my thing, although I will be shipping my mountain bike over. Also looking to buy a tourer or winter bike (Surly or similar) so if you have any LBS recommendations...

I've done a couple of audax rides so will look into what is on offer. P-B-P is probably beyond me (couple of mates did it last time round), but I have done C2C, London to Paris and York-Amsterdam-York. Quite fancy the Trans-America, but a) can't see the hubby agreeing to that and b) I ain't no Pippa Middleton!

nun

You'll find a good cycling culture in the US....it's not like it was 30 years ago.....cycling is very popular. The LBS will have information about local clubs and there are usually weekly group rides, "Cat" meetings and races and randonneurs too who work up to things like BMB...Boston-Montreal-Boston.

loubiblu

Cheers Nun

One thing that struck me last week in Chicago were the number of commuter cyclists who jumped red lights. Maybe the Illinois Rules of the Road allows for this. I've downloaded it as prep for my driving license, but I must get round to actually reading it to see if there are any rules for cyclists in there.

nun

Highway rules vary by state, but usually cyclists have to obey the same rules as cars. However, lots of cyclists think the rules don't apply to them so they jump red lights. It annoys me riding around Boston because I still hear the words of my cycling proficiency test instructor and I follow vehicular riding principles.

Pulaski

Here in NC, in the city most cycles are ridden on the sidewalk, even the cops on bicycles ride (only) on the sidewalk.

In the suburbs it is not uncommon to find bicycles (ones apparently bring ridden for transport, not leisure/ exercise) being ridden as if they were pedestrians i.e. at the edge of the road facing oncoming traffic!

Hiro11

The law in Il is that if a cyclist has waited for 120 seconds at a red light and there is no cross traffic, you can go. This is because so many lights are magnetically triggered and cyclists can't set them off. In general though, people on bikes who jump lights are just bad cyclists.

Hiro11

... if you only knew how many drivers I've had over the years yelling at me to "get on the sidewalk". Yeah OK, I'll go do a 50 mile ride group ride at 23MPH on a sidewalk.

Hiro11

A friend of mine completed RAAM in 2009. It goes without saying that years of planning, tens of thousands of dollars, extremely helpful friends, extremely accomodating spouses and extremely flexible work schedules are all required.

nun

For RAAM you'd only need a week or two, so that's like a regular vacation

Yorkieabroad

A mate who works for a local bike shop was SAG on RAAM a couple of years back - he looked totally knackered at the end of it, and he hadn't even been a rider!!

Yorkieabroad

We get chased quite a bit by dogs when we're out in the country, but fortunately, never had any falls/injuries caused by dogs. We were chased by a pair of dobermans one time that caught us up, and just trotted alongside us staring, not barking, and matching our speed (about 24mph!). Their silence and lack of emotion was quite sinister, but when we got to the edge of their property line, they just stopped in their tracks, and we breathed a sigh of relief. We were also chased by a basset hound, which was quite amusing as his ears were flying everywhere as he barked his head off, and wagged his tail. Didn't seem in the least agressive, but could still have easily caused an accident by wanting to "play". Fortunately he topped out at a little under 20mph....