Saturday sojourn - Northern Illinois

[Wordherder]

Ride report

Saturday’s forecast was severe clear, mid-70s, little or no wind. Spring had finally arrived in Northern Illinois. Road trip!

About 9 a.m. I rolled both bikes into the driveway: my Suzuki S50 and my wife’s S40. I shined up the chrome and checked the lights, oil and tires. Put some odds and ends into the tank bags and fired them up.

Biker Babe and I donned all of our gear (helmets, armored textile jackets -- no liner for the first time this year! -- gloves and boots. I was wearing my new Draggin’ Jeans.

Our goal was Starved Rock State Park, one of Illinois’ more popular tourist destinations, about 60 miles southwest as the crow flies. We started off on I-55, just to get out of Dodge as quickly as possible. This was Biker Babe’s first ride on the slab, and she admitted to being a little nervous at first. She quickly got used to the speeds and the semis. After Joliet, traffic thinned out considerably, raising both our comfort levels.

We left the interstate at Lorenzo Road, just past the Kankakee River. A nice stretch of smooth pavement took us past the Goose Lake Prairie Natural Area -- low rolling hills covered with brown grass on our right -- and the Collins Generating Station cooling lake, a brilliant cobalt blue under the cloudless skies. I resisted the urge to take a detour to look at Heidecke Lake, one of my favorite fishing holes.

Just past Rt. 47, the road made a hard left at the Illinois River and started to look like it might peter out. We stopped to consult the map, and continued west on DuPont Road along the south bank of the river. A few long miles of farmland in the wide Illinois River Valley brought us to a huge industrial complex. The speed limit slowed to 25 miles an hour, and I thought that we might have accidentally trespassed into some back entrance to the plant. The road wound left and down into a wooded area, and into a delightful series of climbing and descending turns. Not being familiar with the area, and because there was a large pickup truck in front of us, we took it pretty slowly.

After about a mile of twisties, the road climbed back into the broad flat valley. Another ten miles of farmland brought us to a detour across the river on Rt. 6 into the town of Ottawa. We crossed the river again over the Rt. 171 bridge, and made a left into Starved Rock State Park.

The park roads are low-speed fun, lots of turns and steep climbs through dense woods and sandstone bluffs. The trees were just starting to bud, and ground plants were bursting up through last year’s leaf litter. We had a very tasty lunch at the lodge, a huge 1930s-era Civilian Conservation Corps log structure set high above the river. There’s a beautiful sit-down restaurant inside and a snack bar and tables outside.

It would have been a great day for the half-mile hike to the actual Starved Rock, but between a recent pinched nerve in my foot and my still-creaky new boots, I talked Biker Babe into seeing the rock formation from the other side of the river.

We crossed back over the bridge onto one of my favorite stretches of asphalt, North 27th Road, which runs along the north side of the Illinois River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers runs the lock and dam opposite Starved Rock, and has a small park and an observation platform which gives a great view of the rock formations. If you time it right, you can watch a barge go through the locks. I find the sight of several thousand tons of diesel-powered metal slowly rising in a water-filled concrete box fascinating; the wife, not so much. We took off east along the river.

Soon we came to Rt. 71. I decided to take that way back home. It’s a fairly straight northeast run through the cornfields. Starved Rock is a popular destination for Chicago-area motorcyclists, and Rt. 71 is one of the main routes to get there. We were doing a lot of waving.

Along the way there were some interesting sights, and next time we’ll stop and investigate (one of my mottos: leave something for next time). Buffalo Rock State Park, home of the “effigy tumuli.” The little town of Norway, which boasts a Norwegian Settlers State Memorial (whoo-hoo!) and a store where I imagine you can find lutefisk and lingonberry jam. Somewhere along the road is the carcass of a twin-engine airplane, tail in the air, in a roadside planter box. Is it an ad? A gruesome monument to a fatal skydiving crash that occurred near there about 10 years ago? (I later found out it was neither.)

Thirty miles later, we hit the familiar Rt. 126, and rode east into Plainfield. A short stretch through the back streets and we were home. Total mileage for the day: 155, by far the longest trip either of us have taken so far.

Notes.

• The S50’s notoriously brick-like seat really took its toll, and got pretty uncomfortable the last 25 miles or so. Looks like I’ll be in the market for something a bit more suited to long rides. Recommendations are welcome.

• On the other hand, the Draggin’ Jeans are as comfortable as any pair of jeans I own, and I felt good about having some Kevlar on my legs. There's little in the way of impact protection, but if I have to slide, I’d just as soon not lose any more skin than I need to. A pretty good value for $100.

- 30 -

dsj 070423

[Social Distortion]

great post and glad it was fun.
I took a ride from Joliet to Markham for a work thing last weekend and it was fun.
I80 is a mess w/ large trucks blowing my little 650 aside, but i am comfortable on the highway.
I am sure i'll feel more comfortable riding in a larger pack!
suppose to be 75 or 80 this weekend!!!

[Wordherder]

Hey Social!

Will let you know when we're going to get the next group ride together. Think 5/12.

dsj

[blues2cruise]

Wordherder, before you go the expensive route of investing in a new saddle, try a sheepskin or a Crossgel saddle cover.

[blues2cruise]

great post and glad it was fun.
I took a ride from Joliet to Markham for a work thing last weekend and it was fun.
I80 is a mess w/ large trucks blowing my little 650 aside, but i am comfortable on the highway.
I am sure i'll feel more comfortable riding in a larger pack!
suppose to be 75 or 80 this weekend!!!

If you see the trucks, mover to the other side of the lane so that the turbulence doesn't buffet you so much. It does make a difference.

[Wordherder]

Just installed a new Mustang "Wide Regal." And of course it's going to rain for the next two days, so I won't get to try it out until Sunday. But it felt darn comfy in the garage.

Jeez it was expensive ... coulda bought a LOT of Ben-Gay for that kind of money. At least the installation was a snap. Took maybe 40 minutes to install, and that included replacing a taillight (backed into my own truck the other morning. D'oh!).

My first mod! Can ape hangers and heel-and-toe shifters be far behind?

[flw]

That S40 must have had some punishment to it even with just your wife on it. One piston at 65, Wow.

[Wordherder]

I've had her S40 up to about 70 or so, and it was surprisingly smooth, if a little buzzy. Wouldn't want to take it cross-country, but for a 45-minute sprint to get out of town it's not bad at all.