43.69 miles / 2:47:43 time / 15.6 mph avg. / 915 ft. climbing
Staying at North Branch Conservation Area

Some six weeks ago, I joined Dennis for his shakedown trip preceding his Rocky Mountain tour, which kicked off a month before my own upcoming tour along the Oregon coast and up and down the length (and height!) of the Sierra Nevada mountains through California. For me, that was just a “get in shape” trip (and I definitely need to get in shape for this one!), as I didn’t yet have all the new equipment that I would need to “shake down”.

What new equipment? Well, I’m leaving the solar panel behind for my electricity needs, and instead using my hub generator with a Pedalpower+ cable to charge my USB-powered devices. One of those USB devices is Nexus 7 tablet, which sits between my smartphone and my ultraportable PC in terms of functionality (and weight!) I’m using it to write up this post right now, and also used it to import photos from my DSLR camera, like this one:

In that photo you also see another new thing, my JetBoil stove, which replaces my liquid white gas stove.

Between Dennis’s shakedown trip and the start of my tour, I began to get scared that I wouldn’t have a chance to do my own. One weekend I was attending (and photographing) my cousin’s wedding, another weekend I came down with a brutal cold, and all the while work was getting more and more insane. So any out-and-back trip would have to be short. But where is there a campground within 50 miles of Hoffman Estates?

When I did a 90 mile training ride a couple months ago, I learned about this new McHenry County conservation area at the end of the Prairie Trail near the Wisconsin border. It’s on the Grand Illinois Trail, a 400-some mile loop around Northern Illinois, and the County was cool enough to mow an area of grass near the parking lot and allow cyclists to overnight there. There’s water, a vault toilet, and some tables. Technically you’re supposed to get a permit, but there is no information at all about how to get such a permit (or how much it costs), neither on the Internet nor the brochure and information kiosk here at the park, which I interpret to mean they don’t give a crap. After doing a bunch of work, I rolled out of my house near 4pm (latest start ever!) and got here shortly before sundown. There were three cars in the parking lot, which slowly trickled out, and no one ever stopped by to ask for my permit (or even close the gate). 2nd free-camping shakedown trip in a row, woo hoo!