Bike Le Monde
Chicago Suburb Contribution

Sunday April 20 was one of the first truly spring days in Illinois.

Although we are only about 30 miles from Chicago there are some green areas. Greene Valley forest preserve is named for the family that farmed it for many years and donated it in the 1920's.



Susan, Jim and I are members of the volunteer trail patrol. We pass out maps, talk about the forest preserve system, and sometimes ask people to put their dogs on a lead (leash). Mostly a good excuse to go ride regularly.



A sure sign of spring was the spring peepers (frogs) singing away in the pond. Be sure to have your sound turned up when you play the video ! Listen carefully for the woodpecker too.

You might think that there is a beautiful hill in the background, but it is actually a landfill, not so fondly referred to as Mount Trashmore. But it is now closed and green at least. A methane generation scheme is not working that well. As you can see from the barren trees, but green grass, spring is just arriving.


Susan and Jim taking a rest on a bridge over the Du Page river.

Riddle, Oregon

Hello from Riddle, Oregon. Thanks for inviting us on your virtual ride. My husband and I had planned a longer ride, but as the weekend got closer the weather report got worse and worse until we woke up and saw this out our back door.

We watched it snow, hail and rain all weekend. On Monday we had a window to get a short ride in, so we decided to just ride one of our regular training rides. This is our view after we get on the main road from our house and start riding into Riddle. The mountain with the snow on it was the only nickle mine in the United States until it closed a couple of years ago.
This is right on the edge of town next to an old farmhouse.
Students in the high school shop class made this sign a couple of years ago.
There are four lumber mills that surround the town. This log dump is right on the edge.
We have stopped here and watched the salmon spawning.

Our ride pretty much follows Cow Creek the rest of the way.

Rambouillet forest France

Here we are ! 10 on the pic , 1 behind the camera and 3 missing !

Those people belong to an association MDB, for Mieux se Déplacer a Bicyclette, mostly leaving in Paris and having a program of " balades " each sunday.

Rambouillet forest France

Bonjour, Hi, Hello, Ciao, Bon dias ! I am Jean-Claude and I will tell you the ride of 14 frenchies cycling with you this Great Day !
The others are inside or checking their bike !

Sherwood Forest, England

Hi everyone, this is Duncan Holley from Lyndon in England with my report of our little Bike le Monde effort with my daughter Jennifer here in England yesterday Sunday 20th April.

To get the bad bit out of the way first - the weather was horrible with rain, cold, wind and grey dull skies all day. However once we got used to it, it was not so bad.

My daughter lives just north of me near Nottingham and we choose as a theme for our ride to explore off-road in Sherwood Forest home of an English mythical figure - Robin Hood who was active in this area in and around the year 1190AD. He is quite well known in English speaking countries and because of Hollywood films may be known to you also.

We started our 5 hour ride near to where it is alleged Robin Hood used to hide from the Sheriff of Nottingham - the Major Oak tree. It is around 800 to 1000 years of age and being very old now has support struts to hold up its branches. Sherwood Forest today is the remains of a vast forest area that has been steadily felled since before Roman times. Today it is still a large forest now a National Nature Reserve with many miles of tracks through the forest and over heath land going in every direction.

Jennifer had done some detail route planning that included a visit to the northern end of the Sherwood Forest area to a vast once private estate known as Clumber Park now with the National Trust of England but once the ancestral home of one of England's many aristocratic families. Our bike ride was 95% over forest tracks and heath land, splashing through flooded rutted tracks, sliding through muddy sections, avoiding tyre shredding Hawthorn bushes, absorbing endless bottom numbing bumps over tree roots, which all in all improved our bike handling skills.

In spite of the weather it turned out to be a great day and to finish the Robin Hood theme off at the end of the day we went to Nottingham Castle which sits on a small rocky outcrop the base of which houses the oldest pub in England - The Trip to Jerusalem. It was one of a number of departure points in England for the Crusades in the Holy Land. We settled in for a well deserved pint of beer before finally heading for home and a hot bath. Look forward to reading your story and seeing your pictures. Best wishes to all - Duncan Holley