Entry 101 of 111
By Tom Jones On August 25, 2011 at 1:26 PM

        

            GITAP =          The Grand Illinois Trail and Parks bike tour, is an annual event sponsored by the League of Illinois Bicyclists (LIB) and has the support of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources...Chuck Oestreich is Secretary of LIB and lives in Rock Island.  Chuck tells about this years event as follows:

 

“The ride started out ideally/ We had a tail wind as we left Sycamore High School heading for the fragrant scents and tasty food of White Pines State Park. That night the White Pines Inn put on a Roaring 20’s program that set the mood for the whole week’s trip. Laughter and grinning faces became the norm.

 

We laughed even through the next day which saw us heading into the wind to Rock Cut State Park, just north of Rockford. Many were all set to take a day off from biking on Wednesday, and do some canoeing through a forest preserve river. Alas, the weather forecast called for rain and blustery winds – enough to call for a cancellation. But still we had enough sun to ride around Rockford and its outlying areas.

 

The storms on that day did give us a benefit- the wind turned, giving us a tail wind as we headed out to Crystal Lake. We were located at a brand new City facility, Three Oaks Recreational Center, with its spacious showers, swimming pool, and food facilities proved a fitting last night location.

 

The last leg, on the southern paths leading to Sycamore, gave us a good cross wind advantage.

 

For the week we had some classic biking, no major accidents, much good camaraderie, and many smiling faces. – What’s more to like? This year fully 756% of the GITAP riders were repeats. Also, we were completely sold out by February 1.  If you’ve been on the ride, you will receive notice before the word goes out nationally. But if you are considering joining us as a first timer, send me you email address and I’ll put you on our ‘interested’ early notice list.  Chuck at chuckace2@mail.com  “

 

My congrats to Chuck and to LIB for another successful event!  What ride would you like to ell us about?  Send your story to tom@midwestcyclery.com