Chicago’s Top 5 Places to Live for Convenient Biking

Lincoln Park

With one of the city's longest stretches of traffic-free biking and designated bike paths along many main streets, it is no wonder Lincoln Park is a favorite Chicago neighborhood incarnate among cyclists and recreational bike riders alike. Paved trails crisscrossing the expansive namesake park, providing easy access to the area's many attractions (such as Lincoln Park Zoo, Conservatory and History Museum), and underground passes and a skywalk with ramps to North Avenue Beach makes crossing busy Lake Shore Drive carefree. The bike path along the edge of Lake Michigan has become a main thoroughfare of the city's cyclists south to downtown and beyond, or north to Lakeview and other north side neighborhoods. Indeed, the path is part of a continuous 18-mile-long lakefront bike trail that hugs the coastline from the South Shore Cultural Center up to East Rogers Park.

The bike trails in Lincoln Park is especially useful in areas such as DePaul University, where many students ride bikes around campus, Armitage Avenue, which is a popular boutique shopping area, which is easier to walk or bicycle than to drive, and Clybourn Corridor, where bunch of big box stores and chain retail options make for a parking shortage that cyclists do not have to deal with. Lincoln Park residents who work downtown have a quick commute to the business district in the Loop. Bikers can shoot down Wells Street and be in the middle of City Hall, Chicago Board of Trade, Sears Tower and other major office buildings in less than 10 minutes.

The Loop

Living in the Loop, you're already in the heart of Chicago and close to many of the city's main attractions and a thriving business center. That is exactly why a good number of Loop residents riding bicycles around the area: everything is nearby, and it sure beats sitting in traffic or waiting for the "L" train to come by. The inner parts of the Loop is pretty crowded with cars, taxis, buses and pedestrians, then cyclists should be cautious when traveling through these hectic streets of the city center (with a helmet and reflective gear is always recommended). Just west of the Chicago River, Canal and Clinton streets have bike paths, making for quick and safe north-south routes crossing both Union Station and Ogilvy Center (Chicago's main transportation hubs). Ride east pass Michigan Avenue and you will be in the sprawling park grounds of Millennium and Grant Parks, which offer more business to the extensive lakefront bike trail-a wildly popular way to travel from city cyclists.

Time on the lake trail, bikers enjoy well-maintained, paved trails with mile markers and lane designations for orderly riding and directional assistance. From the Loop, the riders head down the trail 5 minutes to the Museum Campus to spend a day at the Field Museum, Shed Aquarium or Adler Planetarium, or see Chicago Bears play at Soldier Field. And instead of paying through the nose for parking, bikers can lock their bikes outside for free!

Lakeview

Cycling is such a common form of transport in Lakeview that you're bound to see cyclists coasting down the street, even in winter! The strong interest in cycling in this north side Chicago neighborhood has prompted the establishment of bicycle lanes and shared lanes on several of Lakeview major thoroughfares. Halted Street, which divides East Lakeview and Lakeview correct, practical bicycle paths, which provides a north-south travel route right through lots of dining options, trendy nightclubs and comfy neighborhood watering holes. During the summer, the Cubs game always leads to bottlenecks around Wrigley Field, but rockers never be caught in traffic jams. These fast two-wheelers can fly straight through line of cars backed up on candles and diverted by barriers set up to crush of fans flooding the ballpark grounds.

Chicago's well-traveled 18-mile lakefront bike trail makes a tour through Lakeview East, with easy access from the neighborhood streets to the path via the three Lake Shore Drive underpasses at Barry, Roscoe and Waveland. Bicycle riders can take the vehicle without the track north a couple of minutes to Sydney Mar Ovitz Golf Course and Montrose Harbor and Beach, or south past Belmont Harbor Dog Beach to Lincoln Park and the Peggy Notepaper Nature Museum. And Lakeview residents who work downtown might just find this picturesque track to be the fastest way down to the Loop (approx. 20 minute journey). Try to beat this time in a car during rush hour!

South Loop

the South Loop is a budding Chicago neighborhood who have the right idea when it comes to "bike ability." As one of the lucky communities with public parks along the Lake Michigan, the city's comprehensive Lakefront bike path runs right through the South Loop, which connects it with 18 continuous miles of picturesque coastline cycling. At the northern end of the quarter, bikers can hop on the road from Grant Park. Cruise at Buckingham Fountain and watch the impressive jet of water shooting 50 feet in the air, then take the paved path south through the Museum Campus and just past the Burnham Harbor. Further down, riders can easily cross Lake Shore Drive on the Transfer / tunnel on the 18th street and a second elevated Skyway at the massive McCormick Place Convention Center on Creak Road.

Students at Roosevelt University and Columbia College (both located on Michigan Avenue in the South Loop) appreciates convenient bicycle routes through the park and designated bike paths along high-traffic neighborhood streets. Wabash is useful for the north-south travel and Roosevelt gives cyclists with a safe east-West Avenue to cross the Chicago River. Just west of the waterway, Roosevelt met with Canal Street, which also has bike paths and allows cyclists to lead up to the business district in the Loop from a less congested west side approach.

Buck town

Unlike Chicago's other top neighborhoods for biking, Buck town is inland from the water and do not share the popular lakefront bike path that runs almost the entire length of the city's coastline. Nevertheless, this ultra-trendy community shows a penchant for cycling, which has spurred neighborhood-wide measures to ensure a safe and convenient bicycle routes within the Buck town borders. Streets with designated bike paths are concentrated in the middle of Buck town, where most of the area's business and entertainment are concentrated. The lady is a north-south thoroughfare that bisects running the neighborhood and intersects all the other great options in Buck town with bicycle lanes or shared lanes. Admen, cyclists can get Arbitrage to the west or Cortland eastward, crossing the Chicago River and hooks back up with Arbitrage in Lincoln Park and takes riders directly to the water (approx. 10 minute walk from the heart of Buck town).

Slicing diagonally through the Buck town Milwaukee Avenue, another heavily-traveled Chicago route, which passes through many neighborhoods and is the site of countless shops, restaurants, bars and other businesses. Up in Buck town, the Milwaukee split lanes (marked with Chevron and bicycle symbols on the pavement and yellow diamond warning signs). In Division One, (the shared tracks switch to bike paths shown with solid stripes on the pavement and road signs warn motorists of its existence), which continues to Grand Avenue, which dead ends in the Milwaukee River West neighborhood. Because Milwaukee angles straight to the Loop, it provides a great way to cross the center of the near northwest side community of Buck town.