Chicago lakefront virtual bike ride during spectacular sunrise. [4K]

Take a virtual trip to the Chicago lakefront trail and enjoy the tour as I bike along the lakefront during an amazing November sunrise.
Please support the channel by hitting the like and subscribe buttons. It helps me to continue to produce these.
If you enjoy relaxing films with carefully curated calm music. Check my other channel "Cinematic Relaxation" where I pick the most stunning footage I captured and edit it to music. / @cinematicrelaxation
Let me know in the comments what scenic location I should shoot next.
Thanks and Enjoy!
#chicago #virtualtour #virtualtravel
Gear I use on running videos, optimized for stability and weight
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, your price doesn't change)
- GoPro 10 (4K 60 FPS, Linear lens, Boost stabilization + horizon leveling)
amzn.to/3puvrWa
- Zoom H1N microphone
amzn.to/30Z4e4u
- Zhiyun Crane-M2 Gimbal
amzn.to/3sIlwOC
Gear I Use for walking tours, optimized for stability, but heavy.
- Sony A7 iii
amzn.to/3sx2vyM
-DJI Ronin SC Gimbal
amzn.to/3mBSH2N
Gear I use for aerial filming:
- DJI Air 2S
amzn.to/3JnIaCa

[@glennpatterson9853]

Wow, great video. Just bought a spin bike today and thought I’d watch this videos for 10-15 mins while I checked out the bike. I ended up biking through the whole video as it was so relaxing to do the ride “with you”. Thanks!

[@darekm101]

We all look for something fulfilling to do, I quietly hope that someone will enjoy this type of work exactly the way you did, that would me this work fulfilling for me, but for the most part I don’t get to know specifics of how others feel. Huge thanks for taking the time to post such honest comment and provide me with a confirmation! Hope you’ll enjoy your bike!

[@hasher10001]

At sunrise or other, Chicago has the greatest lakefront and City in the world. A total pleasure. Thanks.

[@darekm101]

I couldn't agree more.

[@Lexthebarbarian]

I live in Sweden. I cycle all year round. Among the best choices I've made in my life. The world and life is a beautiful gift. I don't want to miss it. (Sometimes when there is a lot of snow and the municipal workers have not had time to shovel it away, I have to take public transport. But that is very rare)

[@darekm101]

Thank you for sharing your story.

[@jabuda]

Thank you so much for this video. I lived in Chicago for 20 years and always loved riding on the lakefront. Now I've been away for 20 years and it's good to see, so clearly, all the changes and all the things that stayed the same!

[@darekm101]

Thank you! Chicago Lake Front is something I fell in love with in 1991 when I first moved here and I’ll also miss whenever I move out.

[@cindyhaglund7589]

When it comes to motivation, this video provides just enough sun I detail and change to keep yo going! THANK YOU SO MIUCH!!!!! ❤

[@cindyhaglund7589]

Yes Is the best waterfront cycling video ever thank you so much😊

[@Blackw0lff]

finally i find a biking video with no music thank you so much

[@darekm101]

I tried to reshoot this today exactly 1 year later and my external microphone with wind screen did not have sd card. 🤦🏻 I love the ambiant sounds of the city. Cars passing by, partial conversions amond friends. it’s very meditative. I’ ll figure out my gear and post more content like that. Thanks for the encouraging me with your comment!

[@tobeornottobe5142]

مناظر خيالية

[@MAXXK75]

thank you. Chicago is so beautiful.I miss going out there

[@brillodelsol2]

Wow. rode betweenBelmont and 35th or so all through the 1980's...pavement was better then! so many memories from this. Back then it was me and about 5 other people on bicycles, even in summer. Especially fun were the windy 25mph south rides and then the 6mph ride back north.

[@N.Sem.]

Nice job man

[@darekm101]

Thanks!

[@garybooth]

Absolutely stunning - the best virtual bike ride I've ever taken (and that includes Jerry's Scenic Cycling - sorry , Jerry!)

[@darekm101]

I appreciate the very kind comment. I am sure Jerry’s rides are awesome, I’ll look for them. It’s all great, we just love riding.

[@garybooth]

@@darekm101 Jerry's channel is great, I really recommend it - mostly up in the Colorado mountains. But I loved this ride because I used to visit Chicago often (from the UK) to see family, and it was great to see the familiar lakefront and skyline in such amazing light. Never biked there, though!

[@AHKent-kd5rk]

Just viewed this one this morning while on my stationary bike...................Fantastic!! It brought back a lot of memories when I did the LATE ride a few times ~2008. Can't wait to view your other works. Thanks for the great ride.

[@geofreyoteng]

Awesome stuff, thanks for sharing !

[@howardkantoff5938]

I’ve rode that path more times than I can count. Best urban trail in America if you ask me. Great video, thanks for posting!

[@darekm101]

Thank you so much for your comment! I keep taking family visitors on that ride and they tend to agree.

[@almacorbellalugo9067]

Perfect Video love it!

[@Nyokee]

Beautiful views! It was great to explore Chicago from my London home gym, a great way to recover from a stressful work week. It’s an awesome form of escapism, and there is something oddly comforting about checking out every small pothole and road sign in a place on the opposite side of the planet. Thanks so much!

[@darekm101]

One of the coolest comments I've read, thank you so much for taking the time to let me know! It's really another level when find out that my work contributed to a little bit of an experience for someone else, that's why I do this. Cheers! BTW.. your town is my short list. Any suggestions for a bike ride or city walk?

[@Nyokee]

@@darekm101Absolutely! I'm a content creator myself, and I know it's nice to share when you've enjoyed a video! :) Oooh, that's such a hard question, so many awesome places around London. I would go for South Bank, past the London Eye and and Tower Bridge, but it's very busy there - so really early morning might be best!

[@tabitom1st]

I got there looking for a video of sunrise cycling. Very nice sunrise!

[@THXbox]

Magnificent! My new go to indoor cycling trainer vid.

[@pennygreenler4351]

fun ride!

[@cindyhaglund7589]

❤best waterfront video ever thank ❤️ the miles fly right on by!! 36:48 36:48

[@alandmcleod5988]

Wonderful ride man! I lived in Chicago in the 80s. This ride evokes fond memories...thx so much for posting

[@FrenchRiviera4K]

Really Amazing !!!!!

[@windycitytwins4487]

Awesome video. You did the LFT proud. The quality is incredible. 👍👍 Keep it up.

[@georgewalker]

I really enjoyed watching .

[@djb1779]

Great ride…. thanks for posting. Not outdoor cycling weather yet here in Canada, so nice to have some sunshine for a ride on my spin bike. I went to Chicago to do “Bike the Drive” on two occasions,. The nice thing about going in the early morning is that you don’t have a bunch of pedestrians waking on the cycling paths by Navy Pier!

[@darekm101]

Thanks! I love Canada! Hope to record some runs in Emerald Lake. That spot is almost mystical. Appreciate you taking the time to comment. I’m heading out to Netherlands tomorrow maybe I’ll get a chance to record some bike rides.

[@bgtw44]

I'm Japanese Thank you for the wonderful video

[@D.N..]

Very nice 👍

[@daveslyk]

I haven’t ridden the path since last fall. Looks like the lake level has dropped about 12” since the summer. Nice to see. That part near Adler used to be under 12” of water even during calm days. Hope they can finish the Navy Pier flyover before summer.

[@darekm101]

Wow really? I thought the level of water was already high at this point. I can't wait for the snow to melt so I can get out there again and try a better video. I have a lot of noise in this one.

[@daveslyk]

@@darekm101 yeah, the level is still 30” higher than normal, it was just historically high levels during the summer. I also suggest doing a ride during the sunset. Pretty neat watching the sunset over the skyline and then riding at night with the city lights in the background.

[@cyclingboss469]

This is beautiful. Great color in the sky. Very well done. Does is start out very cold in the early mornings? I am starting to put some cycling rides on my channel over here in Northern California. I will have to get some sunrise and sunset riding after watching this one. Keep them coming.

[@darekm101]

You know how it goes, it’s cold when you start but then you paddle and it’s all good. 😂 I’ll check out out channel, I am still experimenting with bike mounts and stabilization. Not too happy with the results here. I’ve done landscape photography forever, so I know that getting out there in the sunset/sunrise time is key for great colors.

[@johnphillips4951]

Second time on this one. Great 1 hour ride.

[@darekm101]

Glad you’re enjoying it. I’ve done this one again this year during peak foliage. Feel free to check it out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqqqknyDmpysnNk

[@larryjones498]

Just found your site; love the video and the workout it helped me do! Thanks so much!

[@darekm101]

Thanks for letting me know! I will hope to produce more of these.

[@peggygrant3488]

Beautiful..wish this was 360 vr

[@darekm101]

I messed a little with 360 and resolution wasn’t 4K. I. might revisit with the new insta360. Doyou work out with 360 headset?

[@donnyvgemini1692]

*My apologies to the _Host,_ (darekm101)*... I had mentioned the _wrong city and state... I meant to say: "Chicago, IL*... _"The Windy City"_ ... _"The 2nd City"_ *Again I'm sorry about that...*

[@SoTrue32]

Never been to Chicago before, and just bought a new stationary bike. I loved riding with you and it was beautiful and a wonderful work out! Thank you so much

[@darekm101]

Oh that made my day! Thank you!

[@Leviajohnson]

It's been about 6 years since I was last in town and walked this path, but i do remember the most jaw dropping sunrises and sunsets here. I think I'm ready to move to chicago

[@thenflywjaz6917]

Fabulous. Sorry if this has already been asked, but what set-up are you using ? ( mounting / stabilisation etc ). The shadow of your bike suggests a handlebar mount, but there's no shake and the horizon always stays level. Is there a gimbal involved ?

[@darekm101]

Thanks for the comment! My setup was suboptimal and I plan to reshoot it. I secured GoPro mounts to the handle bar with zip ties then installed gopro gimble with GoPro 7 black in it. Problems: sound came up poorly. Every bump caused noise and vibration. I am going to try GoPro 10 with horizon leveling on. (I use it for my running videos like the recent New York one) and instead of bike mount try to mount the GoPro on my chest. Hopefully that will work even better. Great question, it’s a never ending quest for highest quality result. Thanks again for the kind comments.

[@thenflywjaz6917]

@@darekm101 Thanks for the detailed reply. I must say it looks fab as it is. But you're clearly a perfectionist. Great videos.

[@KakueiAraral]

Thanks, got me through my workout today 🙏

[@darekm101]

Love hearing that. Thank you!!!

[@JerrysScenicCycling]

In the early 70’s I lived on the near north side close to Fullerton Ave and worked on the south side near McCormick Place. I rode this route to and from work hundreds of times. Your video was a treat to ride on my indoor trainer and see how it has changed for the better since I last rode it in 1975. Even the skyline has changed. I was totally surprised to see those new skyscrapers on the south side. Here’s hoping you will ride further south to McCormick Place so I could see how that has changed. In fact why not ride the entire Lakeshore Trail and post it? I see you have posted some videos from Colorado. I live in Colorado and have an indoor cycling channel of rides in Colorado and Utah. Thanks for posting!

[@darekm101]

Thanks for your thoughts. I was born in 1975. Funny how things work. I love Colorado and will definitely check out your channel. Any recommendations on scenic BLM or National Forest? I’d love to fly my drone more so I am staying away from National Parks. So far I explored Loveland pass and Berthoud Pass in the way to winter park. I’ll take you up on the offer, I’ll ride down to McCormick and lost that.

[@JerrysScenicCycling]

@@darekm101 There are so many places to fly over desert canyons or forests. Ok, here's a knock your socks off scenic area, Professor Valley in Utah. That's where they film all those car commercials and several Hollywood westerns. You can get a taste of it from my videos 4, 5, 58, and 67. Forests are available in the nearby La Sal Mountains as shown in video 64.. I look forward to riding more of the Lakeshore Trail in Chicago.

[@marceloacero]

Thanks!

[@Scrottobaggns]

Nice video, can't help wonder what this would have looked like in VR as a 360 video.

[@darekm101]

Thanks! I’ll try it out. I have the gopro max but the resolution is still low on it, but will try.

[@acaza1986]

This is so awesome! Thanks so much for doing these. Just subscribed to your channel. I have a bike set up indoors and I've been doing these virtual rides every morning. I like to use the footpath app to route the exact route as I love seeing what I've done, I'm very visual and it motivates me lol. Can you show a map of what you biked in total? I see you had went over a bridge over the highway and trying to find what bridge it was for my route. Thanks so much.

[@darekm101]

Started at North Ave beach and biked lake front running \biking path to Adler planetarium and back. Thank you so much for the kind words and the sub.

[@12128506]

Awesome video!!! What is the name of the starting point?

[@darekm101]

Thank you. It’s North Ave beach.

[@kc2dc444]

Love this, I will put this on my rotation. I see they have done some nice upgrades to the north side of the trail since I was last there.

[@darekm101]

Thank you for the kinds comments, it is quite nice. I am considering getting studded tires and doing this bike ride in the winter, maybe once the temps go up to mid 20 as opposed to current single digits. I am humbled to be on your rotation! Do you mean for as background video for work out? I am trying to optimize how the vide can be best found. Cheers!

[@kc2dc444]

@@darekm101 I use an indoor smart cycle, so I will often watch videos like this on the big tv with Zwift running in the background. I prefer real scenery. I just searched for 4k cycling or something like that.

[@windycitytwins4487]

@@kc2dc444 If you need a few more LFT bike rides to add to your rotation, we have 2 on our channel. I know a lot of people enjoy having it for their indoor cycling as you mention. In this video it's awesome to see the difference when there's no one really on the trail and then when there's a bunch of people out on a summer day. Have to respect this credit for putting this video out for people to enjoy.

[@augustovazquez2641]

Great video!, was the camera mounted on bike or body?

[@darekm101]

Thank you for your kind words! In this video I had GoPro 7 and GoPro gimbal zip tied to the handlebar. However, as my bike bumped curbs, potholes, etc. The vibration and sound quality suffered. I have now moved the gimbal to be mounted onto Chesty and I am getting much better result. I plan to do more biking videos soon in addition to the running videos I posted. Thanks again for the comment!

[@TheBOMMShow]

Nice! I also post similar videos!

[@StevieDrama]

Awesome video! Where is the starting point?

[@darekm101]

I love the North Avenue beach and than go south from threre.

[@virtualfitnesstv]

also this same path hehhe ,Would be interested license some of this footage for our fitness platforms

[@darekm101]

We're re-tracing each other steps. How would the license work? Feel free to drop me email on my gmail address.

[@worldnaturesounds]

thanks but there no email address in your about?

[@virtualfitnesstv]

@@darekm101 sory the cat is me too:)

[@darekm101]

My email is darekm101 at. Gmail.com. Let’s talk offline. I just started recording these and I have plans for many more. I even considered getting studded tires and doing this ride in the winter. Ha ha.

[@thomasmattphoto]

Amazing Vid - but place is SOOOO EMPTY! Bit of a shock to me ....

[@darekm101]

Sunrise in November. It’s very busy in summer even at sunrise.

[@jasminefreeman1471]

That’s a long ride

[@darekm101]

it was quite enjoyable despite the cold. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

[@lamia1142]

AA d of u