Bicycling Menard County backroads can be fun and rewarding. You can take in pleasant rural scenery and often spot some interesting wildlife. My personal preference when riding country roads is to avoid state highways and even county highways, and stick to the more rural road district-maintained roads. I also gravitate towards the northern and western side of the county as it seems the vehicle traffic is lowest in these areas.
Many Central Illinois roads are laid out in a grid fashion following section and township lines. Occasionally, roads still exist that do not follow the boring N-S, E-W grid. These are often the oldest roads, and have stretches that follow old wagon trails used by early settlers. Some of these old wagon trails likely even follow trails that were used by native American inhabitants prior to the arrival of settlers of European descent. “Crooked” roads in Menard County that fit this description include the Lincoln Trail in northern Menard County, and Peoria Road in the eastern part of the county. Continue reading “Lincoln Highway Bike Route”