| Published: Waubonsee Insight |
| Date: May 2007 |
| Section: Arts and Entertainment |
| Comments: |
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By: Ian Essling
The early April snow and slush attack we weathered notwithstanding, it's about summer time, which means it's time to pull the helmets and gloves out and take part in one of the most popular summer pastimes: bicycling.
But if you're tired of riding the same old trails, fear not! Thanks to Waubonsee alumni and former Insight Editor In Chief David Johnsen, bicyclists in Illinois have a veritable treasure trove of well planned rides right at their finger tips with Johnsen's book, Biking Illinois.
Sandwiched between an attractively colorful and glossy cover, the book is only 132 pages, but it crams in an amazing amount of content. Biking Illinois spends a few pages in acknowledgements, introduction and general biking tips before it gets down to business.
The book features 60 unique rides, sorted by location, and has sections detailing each geographical area of the state (northwest, northeast, central and south). Anyone in Illinois who reads the book will probably have at least one ride in relatively close proximity, as Johnsen features rides from Rockford, to the Chicago lakefront, to Shawnee National Park and everywhere in between.
Johnsen devotes two pages to each ride, and each ride has a quick reference box that immediately gives the readers a quick "at a glance" look at what the ride will encompass. The details include the location, distance of the ride, rough amount of time the ride will take, the surface, terrain and "sweat factor."
The rest of the first page gives a step-by-step breakdown of the ride itself, including a photo or two from along the trail. The second page devoted to each ride is a full-page map of the area, with a clearly highlighted path and well-placed marking that point out tricky areas of the trail (as well as things like rest areas and steep hills).
Each ride is very thoroughly described; on top of being able to effectively direct readers to where they need to get (not the easiest task in the world), Johnsen is also an accomplished bicyclist who knows every nuance of the rides he writes about, right down to when you need to veer a couple feet this way or that to avoid some sort of obstacle on the trail.
I've personally ridden on a number of the 60 trails listed in the book, and I can say that Johnsen's descriptions of not only the trails themselves, but also the areas around them, are extremely accurate and very helpful.
It's interesting to note that aside from the author, there is another Waubonsee connection in the book; ride number 24 in the list is the Virgil Gilman Trail, a ride that begins in the Waubonsee Sugar Grove campus parking lot.
At first read, I questioned Johnsen's sorting method for the rides; my first impression was that sorting them by difficulty would be a better idea, because there are many different skill levels of riders and it can be a bit tedious to page through the whole book if you're looking for a specific type of ride.
However, upon further review, I have to say that I did come around to agree with his original arrangement, which groups the rides by locale. After all, if you're looking for a hilly, challenging ride, but the one listed in the difficulty you are aiming for is in Zion and you're in Peoria, that doesn't work as well as being able to search the rides around you first.
One thing I do think could have been improved is to add some more photos to the descriptions.
Don't get me wrong here; even without photos, the book would still be extremely successful, because the descriptions of the rides are, as previously mentioned, first-rate. But on a number of the rides, there's some empty space on the page that is just asking for another photo.
A little bit of layout nitpicking can't detract from the overall quality of the book, however; Biking Illinois is a spectacular resource for any level of bicyclist in Illinois. On top of the fact that many bicycling books only focus on well-traveled areas and forget the lesser known and off the beaten path biking trails this book does a good job of covering, Biking Illinois is much more personable than a normal cut and dried "here's the trail, ride this way," biking guide.
Johnsen does a good job at making each ride interesting to read. On top of the spot-on descriptions, he also includes little tidbits of history and trivia about the towns and historical landmarks that the rides travel through.
It's worth knowing that the author is a veteran bicyclist who has pedaled over 9000 miles in sixteen different states over the last seven years, because it shows in the book. Johnsen's writing is descriptive and well thought out, and his obvious experience seeps through at every turn.
Biking Illinois is available at most Borders and Barnes and Noble bookstores in Illinois, and the author can be contacted through his website (www.bikingillinois.com), where he also posts updates to the book and other information on biking. |
