General Company Wide Updates

• Click Here for general company wide updates.

RAIL South Specific Updates for the 2023 Season

1/19/23

• 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.

12/7/22

• RAIL South will be on hiatus for the 2023 season.
• Web site updated with tentative 2024 dates.
  • RAIL South will tentatively occur on Sat. June 22, 2024.
• Due to skyrocketing prices for fuel, food, and many other tour services the regular registration price has increased by $5.00 from $95.00 to $100.00 through Dec. 31st, by $10.00 from $100.00 to $110.00 from Jan. 1st through Jan. 31st, and by $15.00 from $105.00 to $120.00 after Feb. 1st. In addition, the price of all transportation services has increased by $20.00. Click Here for more information about our pricing schedule.
• The late registration fee has increased by $5.00 from $25.00 to $30.00.
• 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 e-bikes on our transportation service each way. This is because e-bikes generally require special handling and care since they are are typically heavier and/or take up more room in our vehicles than standard upright bicycles and therefore cannot be transported on any outside roof racks and must be transported inside a support vehicle.
• The fee to transport bicycles that require special handling and care (recumbents, e-bikes, tandems, etc.) has increased by $5.00 from $25.00 to $30.00.
• The price of all merchandise items has increased:
  • The price of Bicycle Illinois jerseys has increased by $10.00 from $79.99 to $89.99 ea.
  • The price of Bicycle Illinois water bottles has increased by $2.00 from $9.99 to $11.99 ea.
  • The price of Bicycle Illinois Baseball Hats has increased by $2.00 from $15.99 to $17.99 ea.
  • The price of Extra Bicycle Illinois has increased by $2.00 from $14.99 to $16.99 ea.
    • The additional price of oversized t-shirts (size XXL and XXXL) are still $2.00 extra.
  • The price of Bicycle Illinois Polo Shirts has increased by $2.00 from $23.99 to $25.99 ea.
    • The additional price of oversized polo shirts (size XXL and XXXL) has increased by $0.50 from $2.50 to $3.00 extra.
  The price of the following extra services has not changed:
  • Towel rental
  • Standard and jumbo tent rental
  • Chair rental
  • Mechanical support plan

Major Previous RAIL South Specific Updates

Arrival In and Departure From St. Louis

• Our opening meeting on the day before the ride 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.

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

• The Vincennes, IN Greyhound bus stop location has changed. Click Here for more information.
• MegaBus no longer serves St. Louis. All related public transportation schedules have been updated. Click Here for more information.
• People will now travel directly from Vincennes to Chicago after the end of the event using just the Greyhound bus - they will no longer need to transfer to an Amtrak train in Effingham. This is because the Greyhound bus from Vincennes to Chicago now departs Vincennes at 3:30 pm EDT (2:30 pm CDT) (15 minutes earlier than before) and arrives in Chicago at 10:00 pm CDT (2 hours and 25 minutes earlier than before), which we feel is now a reasonable time to arrive in Chicago. In addition, the bus ride itself is 2 hours and 10 minutes shorter with only a 40 minute layover in Indianapolis now. Click Here for more information.
  • Our transportation service from Vincennes to Chicago after the end of the event now only includes bicycle transportation so you must purchase your own Greyhound bus ticket and carry your baggage with you aboard the bus. Accordingly, the price our service has decreased from $109.00 to $59.00.
• Our transportation service from Chicago to St. Louis before the start of the event now only includes bicycle transportation so you must purchase your own train or bus ticket and carry your baggage with you aboard. The price this service will be $69.00.
• The Greyhound bus from Vincennes to St. Louis now departs 25 minutes later from Vincennes at 12:55 pm EDT (11:55 pm CDT) but still arrives in St. Louis at 5:10 pm CDT (6:10 pm EDT), decreasing the total travel time by 25 minutes. Click Here for more information.
• The staging time in Vincennes for the transportation service to St. Louis before the start 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 before the start of the event will now be directly at the ending and parking location. Click Here for more information.
• The staging time in Vincennes for both transportation services after the end of the event to St. Louis and Chicago will now be at 11:30 am EDT (10:30 am CDT). Click Here for more information.
• 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.
• 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.

Other Event Services

• 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!