From: Bob and Eve Schofield Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2019 10:44 PM
To: Tom Evans Cc: Bruce Day; David Shumaker; zDavid Irvine; Brian Shumaker; Shay Taiya Shumaker; Malcolm McRae; Doug Depew; philip vickery; Mark Holcomb; Andrew Getter; Tom Benim
Subject: Your Bike Tour Research
Hi Tom, You mentioned Chicago and the Dakotas as possible venues for future bike tours.
If it helps, I'd like to draw your attention to The Grand Illinois Trail. It's 535-mile loop trail in northern Illinois. It goes from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi along the northern border of Illinois and then loops back across the state along the Illinois River and the Hennepin Canal. Chicago is a good start and finish point,
Also, Illinois has a very good system of intra-State rail routes, bike-friendly as I recall, which could help if you're planning a multi-modal expedition.
As for South Dakota, I'd definitely recommend a visit to the Badlands National Park. Probably not cycleable from a tour centred on Rapid City but definitely worth a detour on SR240, when en route to/from the start of a bike tour.
From: David Shumaker Sent: Thursday, August 22, 2019 10:04 AM
To: Tom Cc: Bruce Day
Subject: Re: Chicago
I believe the 3rd week of Oct (~13th-20th+/-) is ok for me. My sister and one cousin live in the city and we have visited it many times. We have seen many of the sights. I will ask Alicia but suspect she will not be able to join this adventure because of the walking requirements. So I think it is best to plan especially for the wishes of the Day's and Evan's.
As far as the routes are concerned, I like all (12) of them. But practically, Option 1 will give us the best immersion into the Chicago scene. It will also be a concentration of riding that is much different from our usual tours.
Other Fogbees may like to join but I suspect that we then should plan the 3 days of riding on a weekend.
From: David Shumaker Sent: Sunday, August 18, 2019 9:18 PM
To: Tom Cc: Bruce Day Fogbee; Tom Benim; Andrew Getter; philip vickery; Doug Depew; Holcomb Mark; zDavid Irvine
Subject: Re: Great Chicago Bike Tour
Thank you very much for putting in this effort to start planning a Chicago tour. I especially like Option 1, the southern loop idea. If enough of our spouses wanted to join us we could add in a day or two at the end to do some of the Option 2 sightseeing tours. We have visited the Argonne National Labs. It is very interesting but visiting Natural History, Aquarium, Planetarium, and/or the Science and Industry museum would be closer and a great reward and highlight after completing the cycling.
The only guidance I would offer is to not get too late a start in the Autumn. It can get pretty cold in late Oct or early November in the Windy City.
From: bruce Sent: Monday, August 19, 2019 1:52 AM
To: Tom; dhshumaker1@gmail.com; Tom Benim; Andrew Getter; pbvickery@comcast.net; Doug Depew; Holcomb Mark; zDavid Irvine
Subject: Re: Great Chicago Bike Tour
Just now remembered I had not commented. I'm favoring option 2 as it keeps a home base. I know little about Chicago so would want to explore the city as much as possible.
Wilma is off to the beach with her sisters Sept 28-October 4. So earlier in September would be best. Maybe the second week in Sept. Not much time for planning. Maybe I can get Wilma's attention long enough for her to voice an opinion during our 8 hour drive to Biloxi. Right now she's occupied in preparing for leaving Wed morning.
From: Tom Sent: Monday, August 19, 2019 8:45 AM
To: 'bruce'; 'dhshumaker1@gmail.com'
Subject: RE: Great Chicago Bike Tour
Here are my thoughts about this trip.
- I don’t see getting people and trip specifics together by mid-September. We don’t even have a consensus of ideas yet. Also, as you’ll note below, I/we need time to research.
- Weather-wise, the best time to visit Chicago in late October. I have an October 26’th conflict, as do most of the FOGBEES and maybe Bruce.
- The traffic in that area approaches ten-times worse than what we are complaining about for Hendersonville. I have not ridden most of those roads (for Loop and Option #1) and wouldn’t like to schedule a ride until I have time to research them. I have selected only roads tagged as bike-friendly, but need to research those areas of town for white-boy friendly.
- I offered Option 2 because I struggled with finding the “Loop” and “Option #1” work, mainly because of the extensive urban biking which does not appeal to me, especially with heavy car traffic and lots of stoplights.
- Five years ago, I rode a lot of Option 2 and found the Lakeshore portion into Chicago most enjoyable. I also rode the northern Indiana section out to Indiana Dunes State Park. It is almost all greenway trail (R2T). Straight as an arrow and, so flat, I could see from horizon to horizon, maybe a little boring.
- About the only reasonable way into Chicago for our daily visits would be by South Shore Train. Rush-hour traffic eliminates the driving alternative. The train does have stops near the Riverwalk and the museums, but the ability to walk a couple of miles is a must.
I am struggling to see how this tour can come together for something yet in 2019. I have not heard a thing from anyone else. However, Option #1 and #2 are “unsupported” rides and don’t need any “base” group for SAGGING. Option #1 has the problem of booking a reasonably priced hotel downtown Chicago. In most cases, we are talking $500/night including parking.
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