Two things:
First, the Michiana Bike Map has made major gains recently. NateBarn, who is also a contributor to this blog, has added a lot of nice new roads out to the southwest of South Bend. If you know someone who has a good knowledge of the “bikability” of Michiana area roads and would like to help add roads to the map, please contact us at bikemichiana (at) gmail.com!
The full, automatically updating version of the Michiana Bike Map is at its own website, but here’s a partial sample version:
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=111967022011570651099.0004521b305e019f05349&ll=41.723209,-86.226025&spn=0.164215,0.323082&t=p&output=embed&s=AARTsJoEcgXTvM1AVKN7Ngg5GzS278gDsg&w=425&h=350]
Second, the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission has published bike maps for northwest Indiana. The western portion (Chicago to Beverly Shores) is here, and the eastern portion (MIchigan City to Rolling Prairie and Walkerton) is here. WIth NateBarn’s most recent additions, there is considerable overlap between the NIRPC maps and our own Michiana Bike Map.
As the natural synthesis of the two above items, I’m currently working on mapping a good scenic route all the way from South Bend to Chicago, which should be a good way for determined cyclists to get around the South Shore’s nasty no-bikes-allowed rule. I’ll be sure to post here when it’s finished! (And of course let me know if you’d like to help!)
