Relevant news, updates, and encouragement from Ride Illinois to your inbox!
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Greetings
Thanks for your interest in Ride Illinois and our efforts to make Illinois better through biking! Individual contributions fund our important advocacy, education and awareness efforts. Learn about the ways you can support Ride Illinois at rideillinois.org/join-support.
Not sure of your Ride Illinois membership status? Click here to log into your account. Once you’re logged in, you also can check your status, view your giving history, plus update your profile.
Let’s Ride, Illinois!
The fourth annual Let’s Ride, Illinois event, continues through Sunday, September 22, 2024! There have been 32 rides scheduled in Brookfield, Carpentersville, Chicago, Downers Grove, Elk Grove Village, Elgin, Evanston, Hoffman Estates, Homewood, Libertyville, Normal, Palatine, Rockford, Tunnel Hill, Urbana, Warrenville, Wheaton, Willow Springs, Winfield, and Yorkville! Find more information, here.
Generosity
Ride Illinois Summer Membership Appeal
Ride Illinois is the nonprofit organization advocating for bicyclists at the local, state, and federal level. The #1 goal in our strategic plan is to greatly reduce, and ultimately eliminate, bicyclist fatalities in Illinois. Achieving this meaningful goal will require collaboration, creative solutions, political will, and YOU!Your membership matters! During our Membership Appeal, we’re asking people to become members to support our important work by joining Ride Illinois for as little as $15. Your generous donation will help us end our fiscal year on solid ground and fund our advocacy, education, and awareness efforts in 2024 and beyond. Already a member? Please encourage your friends and family to join too!
You can use (or encourage your friends, colleagues and family members to use) “PEDALPOWER” to receive a $5 discount on any membership!
The Town of Normal offered Ride Illinois’ BikeSafetyQuiz and free bike lights at the “Sweet Corn Circus” at the end of last month. The event attracts thousands of visitors and residents, including many of the 21,000 students from Illinois State University. People were remarkably patient, often taking up to 10 minutes to complete a quiz in very hot weather! Town staff and volunteers took time to explain that the lights are mostly to make people more visible to cars and other cyclists, particularly at dusk or at night. Over the course of two days, the Town administered approximately 350 quizzes. Learn more about our BikeSafetyQuiz for events here.
MANY recent RAT appearances
Our Regional Action Team volunteers have been busy representing Ride Illinois and offering their time and knowledge to make Illinois better through biking. RAT volunteers represent Ride Illinois at events and offer assistance on important tasks. Recently, RAT volunteers attended the Streamwood Environmental Resource Fair, the WeGo Together for Kids Back to School event in Winfield and the New Lenox Back to School Bash. Interested in becoming a Regional Action Team volunteer? Virtual check-in meetings are held every two months. Learn more and apply here.
Education & Safety
BSQ mini-grant applications Open
Applications open for our BikeSafetyQuiz Mini-Grants are now open! We encourage you to invite your local school to join more than 400 Illinois schools that use BSQ to increase their students’ knowledge of bike safety. Find more information here.
E-Bike Smart: Safety Guidance for E-Bike Riders
PeopleForBikes and the League of American Bicyclists recently created E-Bike Smart to share the basics of maintaining your e-bike, handling and charging your e-bike battery, and riding safely while out on the road or trail. You can find more information here.
Environment & Awareness
Outreach to Colleges and Universities
Students pedaling to class with a backpack on their shoulders is a common sight on many college campuses. The college years are also a time when life-long habits are formed, including bicycling for recreation, transportation, and everyday trips. To connect with students and faculty associated with colleges and universities in the state, Ride Illinois has reached out to contacts at more than 65 institutions of higher learning in Illinois. The purpose of our initial outreach was to share information about Ride Illinois and introduce them to our mission and available resources. Initial outreach has resulted in collaboration with UIC, UIUC, Joliet Junior College – to name a few.
If you have contacts at an Illinois-based college or university, please share information about Ride Illinois with them or send their contact info todave@rideillinois.org.
Book Suggestion
Looking for a book to read? Check out Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality, by Chris Bruntlett and Melissa Bruntlett. In the book, Melissa and Chris Bruntlett share the triumphs and challenges of the Dutch cycling story, show how some of the ideas are already being adopted in global cities, and draw out concrete lessons for other places to follow their lead.
What bike-related books do you recommend? Send your suggestions toinfo@rideIllinois.organd we may include it in a future newsletter.
Advocacy & Legislation
Illinois Bike & Walk Summit
Please save the date for the Illinois Bike & Walk Summit on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 and Thursday, May 8, 2025! The Illinois Bike & Walk Summit will be held at the Wyndham Springfield City Centre.
The theme for the summit is Creating Connected, Livable, Thriving Communities. Partners include Ride Illinois, the Active Transportation Alliance, the American Planning Association – Illinois Chapter, Equicity, the Illinois Environmental Council, the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Metropolitan Planning Council.
Registration will open in January. Find more information here. Please email info@rideillinois.org with questions.
Fallacy of Induced Demand
An interesting article in Slate discusses highway construction and induced demand. The author compares it to a surge of dam construction previously and the unlikely alliance that slowed the construction of them. You can read the full article here.
Advocacy & Legislation
Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program Grant Applications
Applications for the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program (ITEP) grants are due at the end of this month, on September 30, 2024. The Illinois Department of Transportation, the Active Transportation Alliance and the Illinois Public Health Institute hosted a three-part webinar series with information on ITEP basics, eligibility criteria, what’s new, best practices, scoring, and an application walk through. Find more information, including the slides and recordings of the webinars, on the Active Transportation Alliance website.
Events Calendar
Ride Illinois helps to promote the organized rides of affiliated bike clubs and supporting organizations. Below are some events we think you will appreciate:
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