Left Russell Woods around 6:30 a.m. made south Elgin at 9:00 a.m. Picked up the Fox River Trail off of the U.S. 31 bridge. Lots of people riding, not to many were friendly. Followed the trail to Batavia where I stopped at McDonalds for some breakfast. Talked to a group of bicyclers there, they recommended that I not follow the trail to Aurora but take the prairie path branch to Warrenville road. I noticed he rack rubbing on the back wheel again. Rack support weld is broke on the other side, fixed this in the same manner. I took the Warrenville road route until I happened upon a trail that ran south. Followed a paved trail, it took me under I88 then it turned to a dirt path. I followed a fork that put me in the woods alongside a stream, it was rough, at one point I had to lay my bike on the ground and pull it under some trees that had blown down and were crossing the path. It came out on a busy highway, which I followed into Naperville. South side of town I noticed the gear rack rubbing the back wheel again. Rack is shot! The remaining supports are bent. Made a call home and my wife and father drove in to pick me up.
end of the road...
The ROUTE
Primarily low traffic paved county roads made up the route, secondarily state highways, with 31% of the trip length being on improved trails.. A mile or 2 was ridden on gravel roads, and a few miles were pedaled off road in the grass or on dirt paths.