RIDE
ACROSS ILLINOIS (RAIL) SOUTH
Updates
General Company Wide Updates
RAIL South Specific Updates for the 2023
Season
4/5/23
- Valve extenders, dry lube, 3' micro USB power
cables, 3' USB C power cables, USB wall chargers
have been added to the parts and accessories
we will have available for sale on the road.
- The prices of all parts and accessories have
increased. Click
Here for the current list of prices
of all available parts and accessories.
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!
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