BICYCLE ILLINOIS
Updates

General Company Wide Updates

• Click Here for general company wide updates.

Bicycle Illinois Specific Updates for the 2020 Season

4/7/20

• If you want to pay directly at the Chicago parking garage, the kiosk there now automatically calculates and charges you the total amount owed after you leave based on the ticket you received when you entered. It no longer only issues tickets for the current day one at a time. You no longer need to purchase enough single day tickets that total to the correct amount due for the total amount of time you will leave your car parked there in advance or leave all the tickets clearly displayed on your dashboard so the garage staff knows you have paid. Click Here for more information.

3/24/20

• The posted daily cost for parking in Chicago has increased by $1.00 per day to $21.00 per weekday and $11.00 per weekend day. Click Here for more information.

2/21/20

• Our main lodging site in Champaign has changed to the Urbana First United Methodist Church. Click Here for more information.

2/6/20

• Registration is now open for the 2020 Bicycle Illinois! Click Here to register!
• There will be an additional $25.00 fee to transport recumbents and tandems on our transportation service to Cairo on the Saturday before the start of the tour to Cairo. However a tandem bicycle will not incur an additional fee if both people riding it register for the same transportation service.

2/4/20

• Web site updated with 2020 dates!
  • Bicycle Illinois will occur on August 15th - 21st, 2020.

1/21/20

• Only online registration will be available after regular registration closes four weeks before the start of the tour in order to assure that we receive all of your information and payment in a timely manner due to laspes in mail service. This deadline also corresponds to the regular registration deadline. Click Here for more information.

Major Previous Bicycle Illinois Specific Updates

• We have implemented an increasing price schedule. Click Here for more information.
• Room blocks will no longer be available at any supported hotel - you will need to call for the best rate yourself. We strongly recommend making your reservation as soon as possible to avoid any availability issues from other participants or anyone else, secure the lowest rate, and assure yourself a room.
• WE NO LONGER ISSUE ANY REFUNDS AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON. If you do not participate and would like a refund you MUST purchase an individual travel insurance plan, which will reimburse you according to the plan coverage.Click Here for more information about our refund policy.
• We now allow trikes (any bicycle with three or more wheels) to participate in our events. However, all participants riding trikes must provide their own on road support for them at all times because we cannot guarantee that we will be able to easily or quickly transport them off the road in any support vehicle in case of mechanical breakdown. In addition, we still cannot accomodate any trikes on any of our transportation services. Click Here for more information.
• The Champaign hotel has changed to the Hyatt Place. Click Here for more information.
• The tour ending location has changed to DuSable Harbor which also serves as a rest stop on the Tri-State Tour Chicago Century. All related information has been updated. Click Here for more information.
  • Short term parking will available directly at the ending location if you have friends or family picking you up.
• Dinner is no longer included with registration. All participants will be responsible for finding and paying for dinner on their own.
  • We still list the restaurants we had previous used for our included dinners as our "recommended dinners" on the in town cue sheets and maps. Click Here for more information.
  • On the arrival day in Cairo, dinner will no longer be served directly at our main lodging site and the main check in and opening meeting will now begin at 4:30 pm (previously 6:00 pm). This will still give you plenty of daylight to bike to and from dinner and either set up your tent and sleeping bag or bike back over to the supported hotel and get ready for the ride the next day. Click Here for more information.
• Ice cream stores have been added to list of in town facilities for all stopping towns!
• Our main lodging site in Champaign has changed to the McKinley Events Center. Click Here for more information.
• Unfortunately Events Bike Ride Services will no longer be available to offer post event massage therapy, towel service, air mattress rental, in-town shuttle, or bicycle detailing services this year.
• The price of all transportation services has increased by $10.00 as a result of increased costs from our vendors.
• The first eight participants to register for the transportation service from Chicago after the end of the tour will transport both their bicycle and their baggage directly with them aboard the Amtrak train. Click Here for more information.
• The price for the transportation service from and to the mid-route stopping towns both before the start after the end of the tour has decreased depending on the distance to travel. Click Here for more information.
• Day 3, Rest Stop 2 has changed to Farina, IL
• Registration for the transportation services To Carbondale and Cairo Before the Start of the Tour and From Chicago After the End of the Tour no longer includes your individual Amtrak train ticket – you will need to purchase it on your own. The prices of these transportation services have been reduced accordingly.
• The Effingham Main Lodging site now has air conditioning!
• The recommeded dinner in Kankakee is at Oliver's Bar and Grill which is conveniently located directly inside the supported hotel. Click Here for more information.
• Day 6, Rest Stop 2 changed to Oakwood Park in Matteson.
• Day 2, Rest Stop 1 changed to Royalton Curtis Ball Field
• Based on participant feedback we will no longer offer the same box lunches we had previously offered for any of our tours and will not serve any type of lunch on the road.
• Breakfast served by us at our main lodging site will end at 6:15 am and not 6:30 am to ensure you have at least 15 minutes to pack your gear up and get ready to ride before our group departure at 6:30 am.
• We have changed the Chicago hotel to the Congress Plaza Hotel for all dates for all events.
• All road name changes across the entire state have been incorporated into all maps and cue sheets.
• We now stay the first night in Cairo instead of Carbondale
  • You will need you arrive at the start of the tour more prepared. Many services and facilities available in other stopping towns will either be limited or not available in Cairo.
  • We now depart directly out of Cairo at our normal group departure time of 6:30 am.
  • The first ride segment of the tour is a loop to the southern tip of Illinois and the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. An additional rest stop has been added at the Cairo main lodging site on the way out of Cairo.
  • We will no longer need to transport any participants to Cairo from Carbondale on Sunday morning.
• Site maps posted for all main lodging sites under the individual stopping town pages
• If you register for a transportation service mid-route pick up or drop off we may have you carry your bicycle and baggage directly on the Amtrak train with you and we may not transport them on a separate vehicle because the Amtrak train can accommodate up to 4 bicycles on each train in order to ensure the timely arrival of our vehicles from Chicago to Carbondale and Cairo by not having to stop along the way.
• Registration for non-riding participants has added.
• Elevation and gross climb profiles added for every potential ride.
• Participants staying at the supported hotels will have the continent breakfast provided at each supported hotel that starts at 6:00 am and begin riding directly from the supported hotel.
• On road and in town cue sheets and maps will be available with directions directly to and from the supported hotel in each town.
• The group departure for everyone has moved to 6:30 am from 6:00 am to accommodate participants staying in the supported hotel eating the continental breakfast there. This applies both to participants staying at the main lodging site and to participants staying at the supported hotel. Breakfast will be served at the main lodging site from 5:30 - 6:15 am.
• A century option will be available every day for both Bicycle Illinois and the Tri-State Tour Chicago Century #2! You'll have the option of cycling over 700 miles in 7 days! No other ride in the midwest even comes close to that amount of mileage!