The Daily Herald ran an encouraging story this week on the increasing trend of bike commuters in the surburbs:

Ditch the drive to work
By Sara Faiwell
9/2/2007

High gas prices have sucked cash out of our pockets for months.

Nick Lenarz takes a stand every day when he hops on his bike in Rolling Meadows and pedals 15 miles to his job in Northbrook.

On a good day, he sees other cyclists on the road, reminding him he's not alone in his quest to be healthier, support the environment and save a ton of gas money.

Read full story: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=30332

Last week, a friend of mine rented a shared car to get to the Farnsworth House, the famous glass house designed by Mies van der Rohe on the banks of the Fox River, about 60 miles southwest of the city. Two years ago, a few months after it was purchased by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a friend and I decided to bicycle out there. It made a truly rewarding destination for one of the best bike routes out of the city: the Illinois Prairie Path -- the nation’s first rail-to-trail, built on the remains of an old electric interurban.

We had breakfast in Chicago, rode out past Oak Park to pick up the Prairie Path all the way out to its Aurora terminus (getting lost exactly once, in a lovely forest preserve in Warrenville where the leaves were just starting to turn), and continued along the Fox River trails to Oswego, stopping for lunch. From there, it was another five miles or so down Route 34, bypassing Yorkville, to River Road and finally to Farnsworth. For the return, we saved a few miles (as it was already past dark) by taking the Blue Line from Oak Park — today, a new bridge over the Desplaines River connects the Blue Line directly to the path’s terminus in Forest Park.