Yesterday morning, Lauren and I loaded up our bikes and drove to check out the Des Plaines River Trail. This trail follows the Des Plaines River in Lake and Cook counties and is nestled within the forest preserves. I believe the Ride for AIDS Chicago uses the northern part of the trail as part of its course, but I can’t remember. Really, a lot of that ride last year is a blur.

This trail’s total length is reported to be 56 miles, although it seems the trail is not continuously connected. We headed south on the trail, after picking it up near Oakton and we had to cross some pretty busy street like Devon, without any sort of traffic lights, signals, bridges, or crosswalks as protection.

Don’t tell Lauren, but the initial plan was to ride about 40 miles or so. However, once we got to the trail, it became clear that certain parts of it were quite flooded:

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We ended up riding almost 2 hours anyway, bypassing the water when necessary. The surface of the trail was, due to the rain and flooding, mostly squishy dirt, which made riding faster than 10 mph challenging.

Of course, crucial to any bike trip is stopping along the way to take photos:

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We leave for GAPCO in 6 days!