Illinois Trail Breaking Lifts the Veil

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2004
Contact: Chuck Oestreich
309-788-1845
oestreich@qconline.com

In spite of a cold and misty veil hiding the Mississippi River's splendor, more than 150 riders biked through Mother Nature's sputterings and "trail broke" the Illinois Mississippi River Trail on the Saturday morning of May 1, 2004. These bicyclists completed an unprecedented riding of the entire 585 miles of the Illinois MRT in one morning, each going an average of 35 miles either up-river or down-river to one of eight "celebration sites."

Moreover at the eight sites along western Illinois - Savanna, Moline, Gladstone, Quincy, Hamburg, Hartford, Chester, and Anna/Jonesboro - more than 40 officials welcomed the riders and the emerging MRT to their communities. These officials included federal congressmen, state senators and representatives, mayors, county board members, tourism representatives, chamber of commerce people, bike club officers, and four board members of the Mississippi River Trail, Inc. Also eight Illinois Department of Natural Resources representatives and four League of Illinois Bicycles board members acted as hosts and chairpeople.

And the media was present - both before, during, and after the event. Newspaper accounts, radio interviews, and TV segments up and down western Illinois brought the message of a viable Illinois MRT to the general public.

The event was the sendoff of a newly produced "Illinois Mississippi River Trail User Guide 2004," that is available now on the LIB web site www.bikelib.org/mrt, with hopes for printed publication at a later date. All riders at the event received a limited edition of the guide and a specially produced, commemorative T-shirt.

But the real focus of the morning, like the weather's veil slowly lifting, was the reality of the MRT in Illinois emerging from the vision of the trail. With the catalyst of this event and the publication of the "Guide," bike travel and enjoyment in western Illinois is set to move from obscurity to clarity - from vision to reality.

Trail Breaking the Illinois Mississippi Trail was sponsored by the League of Illinois Bicyclists, with wonderful cooperation and assistance from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.