Burnham Plan Century: Make No Little Rides

The Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, along with the Calumet Citizens for Connecting Communities, are collaborating to host a 100-mile bicycle ride from Lake Forest, Illinois to Michigan City, Indiana. The event, dubbed the Burnham Plan Century: Make No Little Rides, is scheduled to take place on National Trails Day, Saturday, June 6th.

The ride is in honor of Daniel Burnham's visionary 1909 Plan of Chicago, and aims to celebrate the plan's centennial anniversary by highlighting 10 major off-road trail facilities along the 100-mile route. Another goal of the ride is to raise awareness of the need to link these facilities together since most will not directly connect. Where gaps exist, event participants will be routed along bicycle-friendly roadways with good pavement and low traffic volumes.

The ride will leave Lake Forest at 9 AM, and arrive in Michigan City by 7 PM CST traversing through 18 Illinois and Indiana communities.. The midpoint of the ride will be Lansing, Illinois, where the Lan-Oak Park District plans to have refreshments for participants. Ride organizers are preparing a detailed cue sheet of the route with estimated times of arrival at numerous locations for those looking to join.  There will also be a LIMITED NUMBER of t-shirts for those who participate...first come, first serve!

There will be no participation fees to enter - this will be a come as you are, go as you wish ride. People can enter and leave at any time. There will be no formal refreshment or repair stops along the ride and participants are urged to prepare accordingly.

EVENT SPONSORS INCLUDE: 

• Christopher B. Burke Engineering, LTD
• Lan-Oak Park District
• AC Incorporated, Valparaiso, IN
• Butler, Fairman & Seufert Engineering, Inc.
• Signs On Time
• Calumet Crank Club
• Portage Parks Foundation
• Save the Dunes
• Calumet Citizens for Connecting Communities
• TREK Bicycle Store, Schererville, IN
• John Swanson

REGISTRATION:  We kindly ask that you REGISTER for FREE by sending an email to: regionride@gmail.com.  Please indicate "Make No Small Rides Registration" in the subject line and in the message area include your name, and let us know the locations at which you intend to start and finish.

Here is the proposed ride route as of 5/15/09:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112899147816131725627.000467860aa97249398bb&ll=41.836828,-87.473145&spn=1.176619,2.710876&z=9

Here is the route's proposed cue sheet with times:

http://sites.google.com/site/huffmun/files

CAMPING SITES ARE NOW AVAILABLE!  We have a limited number at the Indiana Dunes State Park and other parks along the route.  If you are interested, please email Mitch Barloga ASAP at mbarloga@nirpc.org.

Please check in at this site for more information as it becomes available.