Best Motorcycle Roads - Episode 30: Top Motorcycle Roads in Illinois
Discover the best motorcycle roads in Illinois, from the Great River Scenic Byway to the iconic Lincoln Highway. We also dive into heat gear essentials for summer riding and share tips for planning your next adventure.
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Welcome to Best Motorcycle Roads! Hosted by Tom and Todd, we share our 65+ years of motorcycling experience to help you make your next motorcycle trip the best it can be. Each episode dives into technology, planning, packing, routes, and everything in between. From essential prep to unforgettable routes, we've got you covered.
Transcripts
Episode 030: Top Motorcycle Roads in Illinois - Best Motorcycle Roads - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtJKxe4wYGI
Transcript:
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(00:42) Unforgettable Roots we've got you covered before we Kickstart today's Journey we ask you to sign up for our BMR Rider alerts it's our way of keeping you in the loop with the latest rides tips and stories we promise no spam only the essentials to enhance your motorcycle Adventures join the BMR crew today we'll put a link in the show notes this segment about motorcycle gear reviews and tips we call the toolkit let's talk about heat gear gear for the heat we're rolling summertime now and it
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(01:44) my skin when we riding the better I always felt so like I continued to kind of add different things including like mesh gear to ride and and really I'm a fan so that's kind of what we're promoting here I guess but you can get everything from a mesh coat to mesh pants to you know long sleeve shirts that Wick kind of the sweat away and cool um it's all really good I mean and every major manufacturer has some sort of a gear like that um we've talked about different kinds there's some armor
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(02:45) really does my favorite thing about riding the heat we riding to Memphis I think you were meeting us that day and we pulled into this convenience store and we walked in and the AC was on of course which was great and I just remember we asked do you mind if we step in the cooler for a minute and just hang out cuz it was so freaking hot oh my gosh and the lady's like okay I bet that felt great oh my gosh it's probably bad we probably over overcooled overed yeah ridewise is the section we focus on planning and safety tips in ridewise
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(03:50) writers um and and those can often include things like reviews difficulty ratings uh some stunning visuals you know to help you pick the you know your adventure and then join some communities well I think even just in that vein before you go on to the communities like YouTube videos there's a lot of great people that have taken time to record their own video instead of cheating and borrowing somebody else's and I'm not going to throw people under the bus but like look for authentic videos from people that rode the the the roots I
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(04:50) choosy and when you find them you know like them and give them comments because that helps them too yeah and I know I mentioned you know the forums or Facebook groups yeah yeah there's so many Facebook groups out there you can find Illinois Facebook Illinois you know motorcycle riders you know join join one but if there's a bunch of garbage in there uh you know advertisements and people not even really sticking to the subjects or the topics get out just go find another one there's more the same noise will be in half of them like it's
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(05:44) and that's okay people like them they're funny but like stick to the rules and then hold those people accountable to it you know yeah but there's so many great communities the motorcycle Maps one oh gosh that's fastic yeah um I saw that he just went over 100, th000 subscribers which is insanity it's a great group too you know like ours is different we do just motorcycle advice for people we try to keep it just to that that's not posting your ride picks that's not promoting your YouTube video none of
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(06:43) ask certain questions and they'll get answered in those you know we posted pictures of potential rides that we've taken and people are like oh do this do this don't do this don't I mean it's amazing yeah it's amazing the next segment is what we call the mile marker it's our story segment now we have the mile marker so we're in the middle almost is by the end I guess we'll be at the middle of a six-part series we're in Three of six now what we're doing is is talking about the top five best
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(07:45) Road of Illinois is called the Great River Scenic byway so basically where Mississippi Missouri and Illinois rivers come together that's this and so there's some it's not a long set of roads it's just kind of a lot of Roads around Rivers which we always like oh yeah but um one of the things we've also been doing lately is getting better pictures of our bikes with with certain places so in Alton it's the world's tallest man statue which I thought was cool and then there's a mural of a Native American
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(08:45) interesting so um it just looks like there's a lot of things to see um number four which is closer to Chicago so people that are in Chicago Illinois River Road and so basically just outside of chic Chicago per Peru Illinois you go down the southeast side of the river down to Peoria and then you cut back and come up the northwest side um a couple state parks uh star Starved Rock henpen canal and then this was self-proclaimed as I was doing the research but probably worth a drive now the world's most beautiful Drive Grand
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(10:03) they have a lot of activities going on in the area um and just a very scenic route around the Kaki river which I think is great for just a casual ride it's not going to be something that's going to take you days and days it's easy to get there and around it and back in a day so um coming in at number two for us was the Illinois Lincoln Highway so this is state border to state border um so Sterling Illinois to sulk Village um and along that way many people know Ronald Reagan's boyhood home and then there's
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(11:09) towns coming across Illinois are really cool gets you off that big Interstate Tollway kind of keeps you rolling at times I think some of it's actually on that but I think you can take the old road as well yeah I've ridden I think I've ridden most of that have you yeah yeah through Illinois I mean it's not exciting a lot of cornfield it's not really hilly but I think the historical markers in the small towns is the thing to see there more or less yeah yeah it is and then of course I think hands down no question
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(12:12) there's barbecue on the Illinois side and then it all ends down in the shaune National Forest which is pretty awesome in itself it is awesome um late spring early fall of course just a if you don't if you're into a Native American historical sites this ride is it there are so many sites down there that you just forget about if you don't believe me go on YouTube they tell you everything great food the scenery along this is just amazing so yeah I mean we didn't talk about uh savanas on there
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(13:14) because I think isn't that the same place where the uh is it the Bald Knob uh cross yeah I think I think so and it's just interesting because like if you go to that cross you can see this Valley and there's so much of that still Illinois and you have a panoramic view there too it it's just kind of interesting it's just it's not like big mountain areas it's just different it's a river valley you know the podcast can be found on best motorcycl roads.
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(14:13) outside of the popular Roots like the Great River Road uh asking if there's any Hidden Gem roads in in in what region of Illinois uh or illino Illinois that offer stunning views interesting historical stops uh those sorts of things and the the Elizabeth Scales Mound Road it's a scenic route in Northwestern Illinois takes you through some rolling farmlands past your's occasional glimpses of the Mississippi River in the distance and at the the top if you climb up to the very top of the mountain there's a small town uh with
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(15:22) bunkers where they I think still today store ammunitions that they make from from at the at Arsenal so that they can have stock piles and you'll see them right on Google Maps it's not a big secret you'll just see roads with these mounds and you you'll start to think oh that's what's in those so that's kind of an interesting history buff and second thing we didn't really recognize because I don't think it's one of the best rides but we probably should have put it in there as a bonus is you know Route 66
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(16:24) oh yeah but it doesn't end there no no no no but I'm saying it travel traverses through Illinois yeah of course you it's a road it's a historic Road um so that's another you know again many of the places I've researched it are closed and shut down in Illinois and they haven't opened them ever again but but there are you know stops yeah you know it was popular yeah for sure I I couldn't agree more that yeah try and find that now it's time for The Last Mile it's the way
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(17:24) Charming little towns um on the two-lane roads and and as you get into those places talk to people yeah talk to people along the way they're happy to point out um Scenic and interesting things to see places great point just talk to people because they're going to really point you the way to the really interesting hidden gems yeah no that's a great one I would say the same I mean the Great River Road is just awesome like it's so much better than every other Road in this in Illinois in my opinion um but you know even down in
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(18:30) Volkswagen parts place and you know we love moonshine Illinois there's gems in every state yeah and it's more about the people than it is anything else and I don't know oh for sure for sure it's just a good time and I you know funny Illinois has the weirdest like secondary roads in the southern Illinois part you know it's basically I think most the farmers just run them but I know when we've been cutting through I mean I think they just take care of them because I don't think anybody comes out
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(19:25) share it with your crew we're all about the thrill of the ride and the bond it creates keep keep the spirit of Adventure alive and remember bikes friends and endless roads the stories ride forever take care [Music] [Music]
