Note: This post is from an email sent on June.06th.
I pre-rode the double century route yesterday, on 6/5. Actually my ride was slightly modified from the planned route but only at the beginning and end, so I covered all of the main route.
So here is a general report - I'll send out the RWGPS link once the route is finalized, along with some additional notes.
Here's a link to my ride annotated with the places I stopped for more than 60 seconds:: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/123720536
The last number is the number of seconds stopped (e.g. 891 second in Oregon). All those stops add up.
This is not the final route but very close. I got a very late start and ended up riding five hours in the dark.
The good news is that the route looks fine right now for the ride planned on 7/1.
Of course things can change in four weeks but I don't expect anything major to come up.
There's been some minor changes to businesses offering services along the way, this will be reflected in the RWGPS route.
Overall the roads are in pretty good shape, same as last year.
On the down side the following are unchanged:
- occasional crumbling pavement on Lindenwood, although there has been some recent work to patch the worst spots.
- Crumbling shoulder on the short section of IL-38 before Ashton
- The really annoying bump-bump on the section after Ashton between I-88 and Reynolds.
On the plus side there is new pavement in places:
- heading into Sycamore
- leaving Sycamore - but WATCH OUT for some wheel-trapping drains on the shoulder
- heading into Hinckley
- heading into Plano
- heading into Yorkville, including the 2022 hike-a-bike section before the RR tracks,
- Reservation Road. (after Yorkville)
More to come later,
Eric