Tony Autumn1 has finally fallen upon our humble community. I might be alone in this, the brief but beautiful shine of the cooler months has to be one of my favorite aesthetics and is likely the eighth best reason to live in the Midwest.
Life has infinite possibilities, but autumn has even more infinities in terms of outdoor recreation. Hiking, jogging, and walking are just three ways to stay ambulatory during the changing of the leaves, but my personal favorite is cycling, and what a rich community we share in Champaign-Urbana for living the biking ideal!
In this spirit, while we still have a few more weeks until it gets dark at 3 PM, I thought I’d share my street knowledge of “hidden gems” of biking around the Champaign-Urbana area, and maybe in your exploration, you can find some exciting spots yourself!
The Kickapoo Rail Trail
The Kickapoo Rail Trail is one of the most nature-immersed greenways in the Central Illinois area. Although bureaucratic and government largess has left much of the trail incomplete as of 2025, it is fun to pretend that it isn’t.
The amount of nature in the route does not come without difficulties. Most rabbits begin to give birth earlier in the season and, lacking any kind of street smarts, the newborn rabbits have the tendency to hop out unexpectedly into the trail. I advise my readers to keep your hit count below seven per ride for the best chance of a safe and comfortable experience.
Sunset Ridge Park
As far as suburban developments go, this park is less cringeworthy than most. Nestled in the far Northwest side of Champaign, Sunset Ridge Park sports a multi-use trail, botanical garden, gazebo, skatepark, and basketball court. The “star”2 of the show is the park’s location giving it an unencumbered view of the midwest sun, giving park-goers a unique opportunity to claim the bragging rights of being the last people in Champaign to see the sun on any particular day.
I would advise my readers to visit the park sooner rather than later as outward suburban expansion has not ended in Champaign, and once a new subdivision is constructed west of the park, thus blocking its view of the sunset, the area will have lost its entire market niche.
West Kirby Avenue
West Kirby Avenue is one of our community’s foremost multimodal bike trails, promoting the twin city’s core values of being a livable, compact, and sustainable destination to live, work, and play. Less cultured observers might consider the trail’s lack of bike lanes or any separation of infrastructure whatsoever and conclude that the corridor is unworthy of the “hidden gem” label, but I would disagree. I believe it was C.H. Greenblatt who once observed that “Life is as extreme as you want to make it.”3 Much in the same way that every zoo is a petting zoo if you’re not a coward, I believe every lane is a bike lane if riders project enough confidence to fellow road users.
Cycling has a lot in common with the warrior’s path, and, like the kings and commanders of antiquity, we must take risks for what we believe in. Those lacking integrity of character would consider riding a bike on West Kirby dangerous, but the real danger is in not taking on the challenge at all and living life isolated, sad, and unworthy of love, which can hardly be called a life at all.
Island Line Rail Trail
The Island Line Rail Trail is truly a breathtaking site to behold, featuring 13 miles of uninterrupted multi-use paths, scenic vistas, and clippable moments. Converted from an old railroad, the Island Line is a tremendous example of what post-industrial conversion to green space, active transportation, and quality of life can look like with enough political will and citizen vision.
The Island Line Rail Trail actually isn’t in Champaign-Urbana, it’s in Burlington, Vermont, but I bring it up in this discussion because I believe in the power of imagination and childlike wonder. Nothing stops us from riding down any street in our community, closing our eyes, and simply pretending that we’re riding down a beautiful bike trail such as the Island Line. Your enjoyment of life and experience should not be limited by geographic bounds.
Your House…?
As much as we can gush about the new and shiny bike routes of the community, nothing quite comes close to time remembered. The joy and whimsy of getting your pals together, riding around on bikes through the subdivision until the streetlights come on.
For all the planning, grant-farming, and buzzwords that surround modern active transportation infrastructure, perhaps the real hidden gem of autumn cycling was the friends we made along the way.
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