illiniwek Tuesday 10-21-2014 @ 1900

[unhunguy]

A couple of us are gonna ride tomorrow night if anybody Else wants to join

[cyprianne]

Night rides are fun!

[Chief Illiniwek]

You need to have approval from the ranger to night ride at Illiniwek. There is an approved night ride for Thursday the 23 at 7:05pm.

JB

[unhunguy]

I had a nice conversation with a local police officer that stopped me a couple of weeks ago because our ride went a little longer than anticipated and he informed me that he was the officer that walked these trails at night to stop people from any wrong doing and as long as we weren't doing anything wrong and we were out of the park at 2200 when it closed he was cool with us riding the trails.

[Chief Illiniwek]

Just saying the ranger who is in charge of the park would like to know when we were going to have night rides at the park. So in order for us to stay on the good side of the ranger it's best if we don't do things he doesn't want us to do. If your going to ride just call 309 496 2620 let him know, his name is Mike.

JB

[unhunguy]

Thank you for his number I will call him this morning to let him know also to get some clarification on what constitutes a night ride because here in a couple of weeks it's going to get dark at 430 in the afternoon is that really a night ride if you go out at 5?

[cyprianne]

Ride until they lock us away.... my opinion

[Chief Illiniwek]

[QUOTE=cyprianne;25990]Ride until they lock us away.... my opinion[/QUO

Some of us have hunderds of hours into making this park what it is today and don't want to lose the privilege to ride bikes at the park just because someone doesn't want to follow the rules.

JB

[unhunguy]

Just got off the phone with mike the Illiniwek park ranger he just informed me that as long as we are done riding by 2200 when the park closes we can ride till our hearts content no need to call him so the ride tonight is on see you there


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The above statement contains incorrect information. See below for details

- DH001
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[jimithng23]

Just got off the phone with mike the Illiniwek park ranger he just informed me that as long as we are done riding by 2200 when the park closes we can ride till our hearts content no need to call him so the ride tonight is on see you there

is this a one night agreement or he is cool with us riding until 2200 (10pm) any night?

[unhunguy]

If you come out and ride with me next time I post I'll give you the answer to that question

[Chief Illiniwek]

Hey Drew, can you confirm this is turely the story so all of us can enjoy some night riding? Sure doesn't sound like what we have heard from Mike in the past.

JB

Just got off the phone with mike the Illiniwek park ranger he just informed me that as long as we are done riding by 2200 when the park closes we can ride till our hearts content no need to call him so the ride tonight is on see you there

[DH001]

Just talked to Illiniwek Ranger Mike Peterson about this and here are the facts:

1) Night riding is still NOT allowed at the park after sunset unless you have received clearance from the Ranger.
2) Mike did NOT give permission to unhunguy for this ride to take place. See below for an explanation of how this confusion came about.
3) Mike tried to track down those who were night riding yesterday to tell them it was not allowed but was unsuccessful.
4) I previously told unhunguy unofficial night riding was not allowed at the park on 10/9/14 during an officially organized night ride.


Trails close at dusk. This information is listed on both FORC's Illiniwek Trail Description and the Rock Island County Forest Preserve website. The sign at the entrance to the park, stating "park open until 10:00", does not apply to the trails, only the open grass field areas and campground. Yes, the park could be a little more clear about this.

Spreading this rumor is going to cause us a lot of unnecessary work to quell and shows a blatant disregard for the rules established by the county as well as FORC's mission of promoting responsible riding practices. After talking to all parties it appears unhunguy was fed misleading information from the Illiniwek park staff. He did call and ask for permission to ride and thought he talked to the ranger but instead talked to his assistant who was unfamiliar with the night riding policy and gave the all clear for the ride.

However, if we see any more non-official night ride threads posted for Illiniwek, they will be removed. Information about that ride may also be forwarded to the IFP Ranger so he can tell you the rules in person if you decide to follow through. If you want to night ride at the park we are having regularly scheduled weekly, ranger approved, night rides (posted in the Let's Ride forum).

Repeating what the ranger told me: trespassing tickets, fines, and bans from the park are possible if caught using the trails when they are closed.

Closing the trails after dusk was the decision of the RiCo Forest Preserve board shortly after the trail system was created. We pushed for more night riding opportunities at the park and were granted the current exception. Even though it isn't the optimal outcome (from our perspective), it is better than no night riding. Hopefully in the future we can convince the RICo FP board to be more open to night riding at the park.

The next official IFP night ride is scheduled for Thursday 10/23 @ 7pm.

[jimithng23]

Thank you, Drew for vetting the source.