Welcome
Greetings y’all,
Hope you had a great January and you have been able to get outside with this warmer weather. It has been a good January at OOFD with some fun events and big moves happening. We had a very well attended Where the Wild Things Grow Ride to do service at LaBagh Woods, the Berguary ride as well as a Monthly Hang at Monochrome Brewery in Pilsen.
In even more exciting news, OOFD has its first ever part-time Special Projects Intern, long time OOFD volunteer Ashley Huerta, who will be working 20 hours a week from now through June.
And in case that wasn’t already enough to blow you away with a newsletter, our 2026 Overnight Rides are live and open for registration on our new CRM and ticketing platform! Oh yeah, and this newsletter is coming to you from our new CRM as well:)
So read on for more details about our recent events, our intern, our 2026 overnights, and so much more.
2026 Overnight Bike Camping Trips Are Open for Registration!
Goodness! Hard to believe the day has come. All of our overnights in 2026 are open for you to register. It no doubt has been a journey to get these events all built out in our new CRM/Event System after 10 seasons of putting our events up on Eventbrite. We did a “soft launch” with a handful of the rides, and everything seems to be going smoothly so now all the rides are up. Huge thanks to all the OOFD volunteers that helped get these up and running.
If you’ve ridden with us in years past, you know the program. Definitely don’t snooze on registering for the rides you know you want to do as many of them do sell out. Even the few we opened up a couple weeks ago already are more than a third of the way to selling out, and those rides aren’t for a few more months!
You can register for rides here. And we should have all the rides up on our website in the next week or so.
If you run into anything funky on the new events platform, please don't hesitate to reply to this email to let us know. We are ready for random little bumps as we roll out this new system and welcome any feedback you have.
Upcoming OOFD Events
Monthly Hang at Eris Cider House (and Camping Gear Collection Drive)
Tuesday, March 3
Come out to Eris in Irving Park for what usually is one of the biggest hangs of the year. We always have a great crowd of the OG guide crew and folks brand new to OOFD at this hang. The main idea is to hang with our community and welcome new folks that are interested in OOFD. Come meet some of the OOFD crew, ask questions, figure out ways to get involved, ask your questions about bike adventures and camping, and start dreaming up which rides yer gonna go on. Deets and sign-up here.
This month, we are partnering with Switchback Gear Collective to collect any used camping gear that you have. They focus on making the outdoors accessible to all and are in the works of establishing a Chicago chapter. Donated gear will be sold at a pay-what-you-can price to fund future gear libraries, workshops, and more! See above flyer for more deets on what you can donate.
OOFD Guide Training at Big Marsh
Saturday, April 4
This training was really something special last year with 40 folks in attendance from OG guides to people very new to OOFD and interested in how they can get involved and contribute. We have a separate Volunteer Newsletter that we send once a month, so if you are interested in joining that mailing list and hearing more about this guide training and other volunteer specific news, simply fill out this form, and we’ll get back to you with next steps to get involved.
The Hootenanny Fundraiser
Thursday, April 16, 2026
We’ll be back, rocking, at Midwest Coast Brewery again this year for one of the most fun-filled fundraisers of the year. So get that date on your calendar and keep an eye out for the event page and tickets coming soon.
Adult Overnight: What Lies West - Blackwell Campground
May 2-3
Yes, its a little less than 3 months away, but it's our first overnight of the year! And this one always sells out way in advance, so don’t miss your chance to crack open the 2026 bike camping season with us on this ride. Deets and sign-up here.
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Intern Gratitude - Ashley Huerta
Super exciting news! OOFD has welcomed Ashley Huerta as our part-time (20 hours a week) Special Projects Intern for February - June. Ashley is one of the longest standing OOFD volunteers, having started guiding back in 2019 and even was the Director of our Youth Program for some time. She brings a ton of great knowledge and deep belief in the importance of adventure, type-2 fun, and inclusivity.
She’ll be helping with all kinds of things for the next 5 months with a major focus on further building out and maximizing our new CRM as well as supporting the Guide Training, fundraising, the Adaptive Program, and lots more. You can see the general job description here if yer interested in more details.
In her own words, Ashley is happiest when she is riding her bike. She is a believer in accessibility to biking and wants everyone to find the joy biking brings her. Many moons ago, she brought this joy to her students by starting a bike club at the school she worked at in Pilsen. Since then, she has expanded her love to leading rides of all sorts, be it overnight adventures, WTWTG service days, youth programming, adaptive rides, or the Workers' Rights ride she wrote for Labor Day. The rides she looks forward to the most these days are the ones that she gets to share with her family, pulling her young daughter in the trailer! Ashley lives in Humboldt Park with her loving partner, Jordan, her daughter, Fiona, and her giant retired greyhound, Finley.
Recent Events We've Done
Monthly Hang at Map Room
Tuesday, January 6
We had our first hang of the year at this classic Bucktown pub. Some of us arrived early and stuffed envelops with ride flyers to send to bike shops. We had a good 15+ folks out, a good mix of OG and new folks.
Where the Wild Things Grow Ride to LaBagh Woods
Sunday, January 11
Such a highlight of the winter. We had over 15 folks ride in pretty frigid temps from Hexe Coffee up to LaBagh Woods to cut and burn invasive species. It was inspiring to roll up with 15 cyclists and see over 40 others already gathered, ready to do good work to make the local habit at LaBagh even more vibrant than it already is. Goodness do they have something special going up there with their site stewards and volunteers, a number of which are also OOFD volunteers and guides.
Berguary - Decemberg Rescheduled (Adult Overnight)
January 31- February 1
They did it! A brave and hearty crew of folks rode the rescheduled Decemberg ride. We decided to cancel that ride back in mid-December because the temps were double digits below zero. It was our first overnight we'd ever canceled due to weather. But we believe in adventure, and so we rescheduled for the end of January. It honestly was not a whole lot warmer but it at least was above zero though the crew did have plenty of snow and ice to deal with. Huge props to the guides and participants that made it happen:)
Monthly Hang at Monochrome Brewery
Tuesday, February 3
Second hang of the year at a good brewery in Pilsen. We had over 20 folks come out. It was a bumping place for a Tuesday night with another group’s party, an open DJ deck, a group doing a video game tournament and over 20 OOFD folks. Always great to be a part of a thriving local business.
Table at the Winter Bike Swap in St. Charles
Sunday, February 8
This is one of the bigger bike swaps in the region. There were tons of shops and individuals selling new and used bikes and parts and gear. OOFD has had a table to spread the word about our rides at this swap for 4 or 5 years in a row. Always a fun start to what is usually a pretty busy tabling season for us in the Spring.
OOFD Magical Moment - Ryan completes a century
August 2025
Ok, this happened on last year’s Waterways to the West Ride to Starved Rock, but we just finalized the story in blog form this past week. You should definitely check it out as it tells the rather inspiring story of one of our volunteers and riders with a disability, Ryan, who rode the whole 110 miles to camp at Starved Rock with us last year. Check it out here.
Other Awesome Upcoming Events
Cosmic Bikes
Whole year of events!
Y’all already know that Cosmic Bikes is one of our most beloved bike shops. And this year, they have a whole calendar of amazing events from Tune-up classes to Brompton Rides to even a couple of bike camping trips! Check out their whole line-up of events here.
Gateway to the Great Outdoors Fundraiser
Saturday, February 28 at The Plant
This is a super cool non-profit that we just connected with. They are having their fundraiser at The Plant. Deets and sign-up here.
BFF Bikes
Full calendar of winter events. Lots of indoor cycling training and some classes. Deets and sign-up here.
Bike Winter Art Show
February 7-27
This is the event that OOFD officially went public with our idea, back at the Bike Winter Art Show in 2016 when it was at a “gallery” in Motor Row. It has been running at the awesome Agitator Gallery in Logan Square for a number of years now. It is always a great show highlighting bikecentric art. The February Critical Mass usually ends at the show. Deets here.
Critical Mass Chicago
Friday, February 27
Join one of the most fun group rides each month on the last Friday. Meet at Daley Plaza round 6pm. Happy Friday.
NOLS Wilderness Medicine
Thursday, April 23
They are having an open house here in Chicago. Deets and sign-up here.
Ok. That does it for this month. Happy Black History Month to ya and happy last full month of winter to ya as well. Now go get out there in the fresh air and even out to the woods or to the lake this week with these warm temps! And take this opportunity to get hyped for all kinds of bike camping this year with us. Remember to snag tickets for the rides you know you want to do before it's too late.
Here’s a quote from Gwendolyn Brooks that feels like it can touch so many parts of life, bike adventures included:
“Live not for battles won.
Live not for the-end-of-the-song.
Live in the along.”
Thank you as always for reading these newsletters.
Much love,
Glenn and the whole OOFD crew
