Welcome
Greetings y’all,
Hope you had a great holiday season and happy new year. We just wrapped up our biggest fundraising season in our history which included our 5 Year Plan Launch Party and Fundraiser. We had over 40 of y’all out at the event including our beloved partners, The Recyclery, Cog Cycles and Yarn, Patagonia, and Wheelie Good Bikes.
Over the course of December, we fundraised $13,574! Freaking astonishing and bowling us over with the support y’all have shown. Heaps and heaps of gratitude to all y’all that supported us especially the 17 new folks that became monthly donors in December.
In other exciting news, we have two events coming up in the next week. We have our first Monthly Hang of 2026 at the excellent tavern Map Room in Buckown this Tuesday (tonight), January 6th, and our annual Where the Wild Things Grow ride to do service at LaBagh Woods this Sunday, the 11th. Read one for some fun updates, exciting news on ride registration, and of course some gratitude.
Where the Wild Things Grow Ride to LaBagh Woods: Sunday, January 11th
Join us for a day ride to LaBagh Woods for 3 hours of environmental education and service. The plan is for us to clear invasive brush and burn it in a bonfire!
We will meet at the Hexe Coffee (2000 W Diversey Pkwy) at 845am and will ride the roughly 7 miles to LaBagh on mostly bike lanes. Our service project will be about 3 hours, ending around 1pm.
If you can't make the ride up, but want to volunteer for the day we love that! Meet us at the LaBagh Woods Grove #1. Afterwards, we'll have an optional hangout to get lunch and a drink nearby.
$5 registration fee will be donated to the organization we are partnering with for the event. Deets and sign-up here.
Upcoming OOFD Events
Monthly Hang at Map Room
Tuesday, January 6
Come out tonight to Map Room in Bucktown for the first Monthly Hang of the year. The main idea is to hang with the Out Our Front Door community and welcome new folks that are interested in riding or volunteering with OOFD. It is a fun, chill, casual time to socialize and hangout/have a good time. Come meet some of the OOFD crew, ask questions, figure out ways to get involved, ask your questions about bike adventures and camping. Deets and sign-up here.
This month, we will have our quarterly Marketing Committee Open Meeting during the hour before the Hang starts (so from 630-730pm). Come out to learn more on how you can help with marketing at OOFD as well as help us put our 2026 Rider Flyers into envelops and address them to send to local bike shops.
Where the Wild Things Grow - LaBagh Woods
Sunday, January 11
See details above. Deets and sign-up here.
2026 Ride Registrations Opening
We are working out the final details with our new CRM where we will be selling our tickets this season. The tickets should be open for registration in the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out on our social media, our events page, and/or next newsletter.
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Volunteer Gratitude - Dave Glowacz
Dave, aka Mr. Bike, joined OOFD as a guide in 2024 and has been a solid force of fun, humor, and welcoming spirit. He has guided overnight rides and WTWTG rides and generally is a solid part of the OOFD community. He is a wealth of knowledge and even built out and facilitated our first group bike safety training at our Volunteer Training back in March. Dave’s warmth and ability to connect with and support fellow volunteers and riders is second to none.
In his own words, Dave is "a Chicago native and past East Coaster, Dave lives in a North Side housing cooperative with 9 adults, 6 kids, and counting. Dave has bike-camped throughout the U.S. and in Europe, and has had a blast on Critical Mass in SF, NYC, Honolulu, and Paris. He works as a journalist and urban-bicycling instructor, tho not at the same time. Dave has led canoe trips on wide stretches of the Chicago River and believes that barefooting on that riverbed has boosted his immune system. But scraping daily against Chi's sharp edges makes him crave escape from the sirens & sidewalks--by riding with wind, dozing in trees, and drifting on lakes. While speaking of himself in the third person!"
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Events We Did (or didn’t do) in December
5 Year Plan Launch and Fundraiser at Sketchbook Brewery
December 14
Goodness did that 5 Year Plan Launch Party and Fundraiser rock! We had 40+ folks come out. Heaps of gratitude to the our beloved partners who were there: The Recyclery, Cog Cycles and Yarn, a coming soon to Rogers Park bike shop, Wheelie Good, and of course, Patagonia Chicago.Our goal was to get 10 recurring donors, and we got exactly that! And at the event alone, we fundraised $682 and sold around $260 in merch.
All in all, a very awesome public launch of this plan. And you being there for it is what made it truly a success. So whether you bought some raffle tickets, became a monthly donor, or just came out to support and hang with us, thank you so freaking much. Your support means the world to us. And in case yer curious, here is the OOFD 5 Year Plan. So pumped to start reciprocating with y’all!
Decemberg - CANCELED
December 13-14
We canceled an overnight due to weather for the first time in 10 seasons (150+ overnights). This was a painful decision to make. The guide crew, Adult Program Director, and myself have had a lot of discussion, and I got to say, the OOFD guide crew for this ride was so top notch, filled with considerate and thoughtful folks. Our instinct was to push through, and we made a bunch of adjustments to the ride, but in the end, we all came to the agreement that is was better to cancel the ride.
The cool news is that we are going to reschedule it forJanuary 31-February 1! We are working out the final details. We will offer the ride spots first to those that were signed up for the initial ride, and then will open any remaining tickets to the public. Keep an eye out for that registration to open in the coming days.
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Other Awesome Events Upcoming
Cosmic Bikes
Whole year of events just dropped!
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. The next event is January 13, a tune-up class. Deets for that class here.
BFF Bikes
Winter full of events
Full calendar of winter events. Lots of indoor cycling training and some classes. Deets and sign-up here.
Gage Park Cyclists (community group ride)
Wednesday, January 7
A social, non-competitive group ride, typically around 7:00 PM (check for updates). Meet at 55th & Artesian (across from Gage Park Fieldhouse). Check them out on facebook or IG.
Critical Mass Chicago
Friday, January 30th
Join one of the most fun group rides each month on the last Friday. Meet at Daley Plaza round 6pm. Happy Friday.
Wild Things Conference in O’Fallon, IL
Saturday, January 31
This conference is a celebration of nature, wildlife, ecosystem restoration, birding, botanizing, networking, and discovery – from the lowly mushroom to the high-flying falcon. The conservation community comes together to learn from each other and the best experts, and enjoys a day jam-packed with handpicked panels that run the spectrum in causes, complexity, and creativity. Spend a day with other people who care for the ecosystems of Illinois, and the planet, and find ways to help. OOFD Board President, Breanna, will be presenting there! Deets and sign-up 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.
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Happy heart of winter to ya. It's a great time to be dreaming up what kinda adventures you want to get yourself into in the coming year. Hope you consider doing some of your 2026 adventurin’ with us. Overnight ride registrations are coming soon, but mark your calendars with the dates/rides you want to get on.
We'll close with a quote from one of my favorite books, Gavin Van Horn’s The Way of Coyote: Shared Journeys in the Urban Wilds.
The city should neither be vilified nor championed. We need to understand the city in the country in the country in the city, for they create each other, and perhaps one of the great tests of our time is to achieve a more harmonious unity between them.
Thank you as always for reading these newsletters.
Much love,
Glenn and the whole OOFD crew
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