2003 Year in Review

GITAP Passes Through Morrison

The hospitality tent provided by Friends Of the Parks.

Area businessees and organizations donated door prizes to the riders (photos by Barb Benson)

On Tuesday, June 17, over 150 bike riders came into Rockwood State Park as a part of the GITAP (Greater Illinois Trails and Parks) ride. The ride encompasses over 500 miles of northern Illinois trails, including the Hennepin, Great River, and Illinois and Michigan trails, and back roads in Illinois. Once the riders got to the park and set up camp, they were taken to the Lakeview shelter, where the Morrison Rockwood restaurant served them Italian Beef and Mostacholli. Later at the shelter the Park Family played bluegrass music and provided a relaxing atmosphere to the riders.

I interviewed Chuck Oestreich, the chief organizer of the ride. This is a new ride that was organized because Chuck and many other riders believed that Northern Illinois had great trails to ride on, but most riders would always talk about Michigan and Wisconsin trails, so as a committee, they decided to organize a path using back roads and trails to ride on, and State Park campgrounds to stay at.

I also had the chance to speak with Ed Barsotti, from Aurora, who is the Executive Director of the League of Illinois Bicyclists. He is very interested in helping small towns, like Morrison in getting a bike trail, and making the town more biker-friendly. He pointed out the fact that in this ride, two thirds were from the Chicago area, and many of them had never seen small towns like Geneseo and Morrison. He also stated that people from 11 states were represented in this ride, which could potentially result in tourism into towns through bike riding, and bike tourism is good, because biking involves people of all ages, and he commented, the average age of the riders here is 55. Later, he went on to state that he was excited about the work that we had done for the bike trail, and he thought that his organization could help in raising the funds, because he thought that it was a great cause.

At the end of the night I talked to George Bollovics of Dixon, who is the DNR coordinator of the ride. In the ride, he is being a rover between groups, and has been busy with directing the riders where to go. He said that the main purpose of the GITAP ride was to celebrate the riding trails in Illinois, and to spread tourism, and show what an impact a bike trail can have on a town, and that a bike path can be a catalyst to a town changing for the better.

A special thanks to Barb Benson, Ann Slavin, and the rest of the Friends of the Parks Foundation for providing the riders a hospitality tent, and for the pictures.

by Larry Gatz, theCity1.com
June 18, 2003