North Shore Bike Path Photos
Ride Along Route 176

(click on any of the bike trail photos to enlarge)

Once again, we have veered away from Route 176 (just a little) as we continued east on the North Shore Trail heading for the Robert McClory Trail (and a few other trails as we eventually made our way to Glenview on the 4th of July).

Here's Dale (another about-bicycles trail photographer and author) on the North Shore Trail. This was shortly after he got his first recumbent, which was a Bacchetta Short Wheel Base (SWB) recumbent. I have ridden the Bacchetta bent a few times as well as the Long Wheel Base (LWB) Tour Easy bent that Dale got some time later.

Personally, I like the LWB recumbents better than the SWB models. To me they seem a little more stable. Although I have heard that you do get used to riding bents after you've had one for a while, they still feel a little unstable to me based on the time that I have spent riding them. I still may be getting one because they are just so comfortable and the reduced wind resistance is also a great benefit.

We actually had a pretty nice ride on the North Shore Trail. Although it is not the most scenic trail in the area, there are some fairly nice parts of the trail as you can see in the photo above.  I was not sure what to expect regarding trail traffic but the NCT was not crowded at all and this was on the 4'th of July!

As we got closer to the eastern end of the trail in Lake Bluff the trail was paved once again (this trail has a combination on crushed stone and paved surfaces). The photo above is a totally straight and flat (boring almost) part of the trail. It still felt great just to be out riding on such a nice day.

This is the underpass just before we got to the Robert McClory bike trail intersection. I have referred to the Robert McClory Trail as the Green Bay Trail on occasion since they merge together in Highland Park and the names have changed over the years. Actually I have also heard that the Robert McClory Trail (south of route 176) used to be called the North Shore Bike Path at one time. Why do they have to keep changing the names?!?