Our September e-news contains relevant, useful information and stories.
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Dear Ride Illinois,
Thanks for your interest in Ride Illinois your statewide, nonprofit bike advocacy organization for Illinois. Ride Illinois is celebrating 30 years of advocacy in 2022! With the support of members, we are making Illinois better through biking! If you are not already a member, please join today as Ride Illinois begins its next 30 years of important bike advocacy efforts. Get on board with us and enjoy the ride!! (Not sure if you're a member? You can check your status here or email us at info@rideillinois.org.)
To celebrate the 30th anniversary, Ride Illinois created this 9-minute video -- part celebration, part interview, and part fun! “In order to really experience any community, you need to be in the community,” Ride Illinois executive director Dave Simmons says in the video. Enjoy the video and our efforts to expand the Ride Illinois Community to communities across Illinois!
Visit rideillinois.org/join-support to join or donate to support the critical work to make biking safer and easier in Illinois. Current members can check membership status and renew here.
Letter to IDOT and Governor: Focus on VRU Safety
Ride Illinois, along with nearly two dozen other organizations, recently sent an important letter to IDOT* Secretary of Transportation Omer Osman and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. Collectively, we demand that billions of dollars that the state will receive from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) be used in a meaningful way to improve safety and accessibility for everyone, especially vulnerable road users (VRUs). Ride Illinois was proud to initiate this effort and take the opportunity to remind IDOT and the governor of the inadequacies of Illinois’ present-day transportation system.
Click here to read more. We’ll be sure to share the responses we receive to this appeal for action from IDOT and Governor Pritzker in a future issue of our E-Newsletter.
New GIBT Tour Director
Ride Illinois is excited to share that Gregg Murphy has been hired as our GIBT Tour Director. In this part-time role, Gregg will assist Ed Barsotti to organize and manage the 2023 Grand Illinois Bike Tour (GIBT). Gregg has participated in several Grand Illinois Trail And Parks bike tours and GIBT’s, which will prove useful as he manages Ride Illinois’ most important fundraiser and event, the Grand Illinois Bike Tour.
Gregg had a successful 30-year career in education. Prior to his retirement from education, he was Regional Superintendent of Schools at the I-KAN Regional Office of Education supporting 20 schools in two counties in the area of Health/Life Safety. Gregg is a firm believer in the power and importance of teamwork, which will serve Ride Illinois and the Grand Illinois Bike Tour well! Gregg can be reached at gibt@rideillinois.org.
(Photo credit: Dan Terpstra)
Drive Less, Bike More Challenge
The Drive Less, Bike More Challenge continues through the end of September, but we hope the impact will last much longer and that you’ll continue to ride a bike for transportation often. Through the Challenge, League of American Bicyclists and Ride Illinois encourage all Americans to experience the practicality of biking for transportation. Thus far, Illinoisians have logged more than 12,000 miles for transportation with this challenge. Let’s see if we can reach 15,000 miles before the Challenge ends! Learn more at rideillinois.org/events/driveless-bikemore.
‘Bicycle Friendly Driver’ Course
Monthly bicycle-friendly driver courses continue! These courses are offered through the Ride Illinois Safely education program. The free, online "Whose Lane is It?" course focuses on the Illinois Rules of the Road, sharing the road, bike infrastructure, causes of common crashes, taking the lane, and the information that Ride Illinois shares with cyclists in education courses. We encourage you to register and invite someone you love to take the course with you. You’re certain to leave with some additional knowledge which can help reverse the trend of increasing traffic violence on Illinois roadways! As an incentive, we will have a prize or two to raffle off to attendees! The next course is at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28. Register here.
2022 Illinois Bike Summit
The biennial Illinois Bike Summit, which will take place on October 12 in Champaign. Registration is open for everyone! Ride Illinois members can use a discount (email us at info@rideillinois.org for the discount code) to save $40 off the cost of registration (a great reason to join Ride Illinois today!) The Illinois Bike Summit is the state’s most important bicycle-related conference. Professionals and advocates from communities of all sizes attend to learn, network, and collaborate. Attendees have the shared goal of improving safety and accessibility for adults and children who ride a bike for recreation and transportation in Illinois.
The Theme for the 2022 Illinois Bike Summit Is: Pedaling Forward Together. The sessions and workshops on October 12 can be attended in-person or online, though not all sessions will be available to online attendees.
Session topics include:
Bicycle and Motorist Education, Favorable Legislation: What’s Next?
Lessons from Abroad: What We Can Learn from Europe and The Americas
Great American Rail Trail and Efforts to Close the Gap
Efforts to close the 16-mile gap between the I&M Canal Trail and the Hennepin Canal Trail have been ongoing for the past 20+ years. The two trails are key components to theGreat American Rail Trail in Illinois and closing the large gap between them is at the top of the list for advocacy organizations, such as Ride Illinois and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, as well as individuals and businesses near these trails.
In mid-October, Ride Illinois will be meeting with several organizations, advocates, and former Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, to develop a strategy related to funding and engineering focused on connecting the I&M Canal and Hennepin Canal Trails. Doing so will create a contiguous route across Illinois which will have a positive impact on tourism, active transportation, and economic development for the communities near these trails. We’ll be sure to share an update after this important meeting.
Ride Illinois in the News
Ride Illinois is honored when journalists offer the opportunity to discuss bicycling in Illinois - the good and the bad. Ride Illinois executive director Dave Simmons recently spoke with reporters from WBEZ and Illinois Country Living.
Illinois Country Living’s article, Blazing a trail: Bicycle through Illinois, discusses all facets of biking including trails, bike networks, bike tourism and benefits of biking. Ride Illinois agrees with former lieutenant governor Sheila Simon: “Bicycling is just a perfect way to be able to stop anywhere you’d like to see anything,” says Simon. “You don’t have to worry about finding a parking spot, and by going slower, it’s easier to stop and see anything, and it’s very easy to say hello to those people you pass along the way.”
WBEZ’s Reset with Sasha-Ann Simons spoke with Ride Illinois’ executive director Dave Simmons about bicycling, safety, and the continued rise of traffic violence on Illinois roadways that is affecting all users. Recently released data notes that fatalities on Illinois roadways (and in 45 of 50 states) continue to rise at an unprecedented rate. In 2021 alone, over 1,350 people died on Illinois roads. Pedestrians and bicyclists are particularly vulnerable. Decision makers and elected officials must take decisive action to reverse the trend. Ride Illinois firmly stands behind the tenet that it's time to prioritize active transportation modes as a means of efficient transportation in Illinois, not just an afterthought. You can listen here.
WGEM also produced a story titled "Keeping fallen bike advocate, judges legacy alive" on plans to build a trail in the honor of Ride Illinois board member and Schuyler County Circuit Judge Ramon Escapa, who was killed while riding his bike in June near his home in Rushville, Illinois.
In a written statement to WGEM, Escapa’s family wrote: “This is the place where Ramon built his home and his legacy and it means so much to us that the Schuyler County community is honoring him with this. We hope that this trail can stand as a testament to his strong devotion to this area so that his memory can live on and he can continue to inspire others for years to come.”
Upcoming Events
Ride Illinois helps to promote the organized rides of affiliated bike clubs and supporting organizations with our annual Ride Guide and our Ride, Advocacy & Education Calendar. Below are some events we think you’ll appreciate:
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