General Company Wide Updates

• Click Here for general company wide updates.

RAIL South Specific Updates for the 2026 Season

12/12/25

• Registration is now open for RAIL South 2026! Click Here to register!
• The base price of the event has increased by $5.00. Please note that the prices for all transportation services remain unchanged. Click Here for more information about our pricing schedule.
• We have implemened the following pricing changes for Bicycle Illinois merchandise. Click Here for more information about our pricing schedule.
  • The price of Bicycle Illinois jerseys has increased by $10.00 to $99.99 each for all all cuts and sizes.
  • The price of Bicycle Illinois water bottles has increased by $1.00 to $12.99 each.
  • The price of Bicycle Illinois t-shirts has increased by $3.00 to $19.99 each for sizes S-XL, $21.99 each for size XXL, and $22.99 each for size XXXL.
  • The price of Bicycle Illinois baseball hats has increased by $2.00 to $19.99 each.

11/12/25

• Web site updated with 2026 dates.
  • RAIL South will occur on Sat. June 27, 2026.
• Room block information for the St. Louis hotel updated for 2026. Click Here for more information.
  • Our room block reservation cut-off date at the St. Louis hotel (the event starting location) will only be held until Friday, June 5th, 2026 which is a week before the regular registration deadline. DO NOT WAIT TO MAKE YOUR RESERVATION AT THE ST. LOUIS HOTEL OR IT MAY NOT BE AVAILABLE!!!!!!
• We have revised our transfer policy as follows. Click Here for more information.
  • Registrations cannot be transferred to events in future calendar years.
  • Transfers will be charged at the current registration rate for the new event at the time of transfer. Participants are responsible for paying any difference between the new event's rate and the amount originally paid. Transfers made after the regular registration deadline for the new event will also incur that event's late registration fee.
  • Due to the high cost of charter buses, transportation services may only be transferred to another person for the same date and time schedule and cannot be transferred to a different event.

Major Previous RAIL South Specific Updates

Arrival In and Departure From St. Louis

• Our opening meeting on the day before the event will now be held at 7:30 pm in order to better accomodate participants driving to St. Louis after work. Click Here for more information.
• If you will not be able to check in and attend the opening meeting at the supported hotel on Friday evening before the event we will also give you your registration materials at the opening meeting at 4:30 am the next morning and no longer leave them at the front desk of the hotel for you to pick up when you check in.

Arrival In Vincennes

• The ending location in Vincennes is now at Gregg Park. Showers, a swimming pool, and parking for the event are available directly there at no charge!
• Baggage to be delivered to the Vincennes hotel will now be identified using hotel baggage delivery tags.
• Room blocks will no longer be available at the Vincennes 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! Click Here for more information.

Route and Riding

• We have added six new "water stop" locations along the route.
  • Click Here for more information about the specific new water stop locations.
  • Click Here for more information about water stops in general.
• A supported lunch stop will be available directly on the route at the Subway restaurant in Olney, only 0.5 miles before rest stop 4. Click Here for more information.
• The route opening and closing times will be "around" sunrise & sunset at 5:30 am CDT and 8:30 pm CDT (9:30 pm EDT) for year after year consistency purposes and to make the route opening and closing times easier to remember for participants on the road.
• Rest stop 3 in Flora is now at the Kiwanis Park.
• 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.

Transportation Services

• Due to lack of interest we no longer offer a transportation service from Chicago to St. Louis before the start of the event or from Vincennes to Chicago after the end of the event.
• In order to assist capacity planning, we now charge a $30.00 late fee for all transportation services.
• Greyhound no longer serves Vincennes so all participants will travel either aboard a charter coach bus or in one of our support vehicles for both of our transportation services from Vincennes to St. Louis.
• We have added "e-bike" as an additional option for the type of bike you will be transporting.
• There will be an additional $30.00 fee to transport bicycles that require special handing and care (recumbents, e-bikes, tandems, etc.) on all transportation services. However a tandem bicycle will not incur an additional fee if both people riding it register for the same transportation service.
• MegaBus no longer serves St. Louis.
• The staging time in Vincennes for the transportation service to St. Louis before the start and after the end of the event will now be at 11:30 am EDT (10:30 am CDT). Click Here for more information.
• The staging location in Vincennes for the transportation service to St. Louis before the start of the event will now be directly at the ending and parking location. Click Here for more information.

Other Event Services

• The fee for registration transfers has increased by $5.00 from $75.00 to $80.00.
• New Bicycle Illinois and Bike Wisconsin cycling socks are now available! Click Here for more information.
  • A free pair of Bicycle Illinois and Bike Wisconsin cycling socks will be included with every registration instead of a Bicycle Illinois t-shirt.
• We now directly accept credit card payments but will charge a 3.6% surcharge to cover credit card processing fees. If you do not want to pay this surcharge you may submit your payment to us through Zelle or check or money order instead.
• If you register using a paper registration form:
  • You can now submit your payment through Zelle.
  • We no longer have incoming fax service so you can't send us a copy of your completed form this way any more.
• If you sign up for the Mechanical Support Plan, you will need to specifically request the pre-ride inspection yourself as we will not be able to search out each participant individually to provide it.
• Registration procedures for postponed 2020 participants posted. Unfortunately, we can only allow postponed 2020 participants to register for an event at the original 2020 pricing schedule one time. Click Here for more information.
• No refunds will be issued in the event we are unable to run an event due to circumstances beyond our control. These circumstances include but are not limited to disasters (natural and/or manmade), pandemics, war, acts of terrorism, government regulations, strikes, civil disorder, curtailment of transportation facilities, or acts of God. (Force Majure)
• Only online registration will be available four weeks before the start of the event in order to assure that we receive all of your information and payment in a timely manner due to laspes in mail service. This includes all late registrations. Click Here for more information.
• We have implemented an increasing price schedule. Click Here for more information.
• The regular registration deadline is now two weeks (no longer three) before the start of the event, which is the same cut-off date as the one for our room block at our supported hotel in St. Louis.
• 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.
• The regular registration deadline will now be three weeks before the start of the event to at least be the same as (if not after) the cut-off dates for our room blocks at our supported hotels.
• A personalized Certificate of Completion will no longer be available.
• RAIL South will be held on the Saturday on or after June 21st (the longest day of the year) on a recurring basis which gives participants the maximum amount of daylight possible to complete the event. Despite several of our other events changing their recurring date structure in order to accommodate our new Bike Wisconsin events, RAIL South will continue to occur on this recurring schedule due to our participants' overwhelming preference to keep it on Saturday. Click Here for the dates of the future RAIL South events.
• When you check in you can now request that we give you your t-shirt and any other merchandise items at the ending location instead. No more worrying about where to put your new stuff during the ride!