Our Mission
We are a nonprofit that leads bike adventures to immerse and educate in local history and nature.
Out Our Front Door welcomes you to join us on our immersive, inclusive, and educational bike camping adventures. We aim to deepen your reverence for the region by exploring local trails while learning about the culture, history, and habitats native to the beautiful Lake Michigan area and beyond.
Our Vision Statement
We Believe in Adventure.
Through adventure we come to better understand ourselves as well as our world, from our neighbor down to the smallest piece of prairie grass. Through this growth and shared experience, we learn to love with a more open heart and inspire others to do the same. Appreciation for one’s self and one’s environment flourishes in the atmosphere of adventure. In the challenge. In the self-reflection. In the vulnerability. In the completion. In the stories shared long after the adventure is over. Stories that put the twinkle of inspiration in the eyes of the listeners.
Adventures make the story of one’s life. We believe in the unlimited growth potential found in adventure, and we will help to inspire others to open their front door and make the stories of their lives. To learn about the beauty of their local area. To realize that adventure doesn’t always mean a trip to a distant place. That adventure lies right outside at any moment, and that moment is always ours to embrace as we see fit.
Go on a bike camping trip and see if you won’t be telling that story for years to come! And then . . . And then . . .! Learn about the unique structures around you. From wetland plants to skyscrapers, statues to fellow humans! Appreciation deepens as one better understands the miracles inherent all around them. In the wildlife. In the stories of those who came before us. In the creations of humans. In the creations of nature.
And Chicago is not just city sprawl surrounded by boring corn fields! It’s not! But you’ll only come to see its magic that relaxes right beneath your nose when you get out the front door! Explore. Get to know your home. Connect with it. Celebrate it. Become an ambassador of it. Help preserve and improve it for this generation and those to come. Finally, be like us, get so darn inspired that you simply have no other option but to share your adventurous spirit with others, thus aiding them to go out and explore as well!
Through adventure we come to better understand ourselves as well as our world, from our neighbor down to the smallest piece of prairie grass. Through this growth and shared experience, we learn to love with a more open heart and inspire others to do the same. Appreciation for one’s self and one’s environment flourishes in the atmosphere of adventure. In the challenge. In the self-reflection. In the vulnerability. In the completion. In the stories shared long after the adventure is over. Stories that put the twinkle of inspiration in the eyes of the listeners.
Adventures make the story of one’s life. We believe in the unlimited growth potential found in adventure, and we will help to inspire others to open their front door and make the stories of their lives. To learn about the beauty of their local area. To realize that adventure doesn’t always mean a trip to a distant place. That adventure lies right outside at any moment, and that moment is always ours to embrace as we see fit.
Go on a bike camping trip and see if you won’t be telling that story for years to come! And then . . . And then . . .! Learn about the unique structures around you. From wetland plants to skyscrapers, statues to fellow humans! Appreciation deepens as one better understands the miracles inherent all around them. In the wildlife. In the stories of those who came before us. In the creations of humans. In the creations of nature.
And Chicago is not just city sprawl surrounded by boring corn fields! It’s not! But you’ll only come to see its magic that relaxes right beneath your nose when you get out the front door! Explore. Get to know your home. Connect with it. Celebrate it. Become an ambassador of it. Help preserve and improve it for this generation and those to come. Finally, be like us, get so darn inspired that you simply have no other option but to share your adventurous spirit with others, thus aiding them to go out and explore as well!
Our Values
Our Core Values are: Welcome. Adventure. Volunteer. Educate.
Below is additional insight on each of those values. The bold words in the below section are additional values we hold ourselves, each other, and OOFD to.
Welcome
Foundational to who are and always will be. Everyone, and we mean everyone, is welcome to roll with us. We have a spirit of radical inclusivity and strive towards greater diversity in our organization and our participants. We are a community of bike riders that warmly support and encourage each other and everyone that rides with us regardless of what they, their bike, or their gear looks like. We operate with a genuine open spirit and kindness.
Adventure
This is how and why we began. We believe in adventure. Read that vision statement. Ya see? We embrace all adventures and strive to help folks realize that they don’t need to go to a far off place to have an adventure as adventure is always waiting right out their front door. Wrapped up in this adventure spirit is an embrace of type 2 fun, exploration, and knowing that often those rough moments of a journey make for the best stories and forge the deepest connections. Our curiosity about our home pulls us outdoors. Wrapped up in this adventure is usually a bit of celebration and a party.
Volunteer
As a mainly volunteer run organization, we believe in developing our volunteers and creating a culture that fosters growth for everyone involved while also remaining sustainable in our rides and as an organization. We collaborate with all sorts of organizations and companies to partner in stewardship of the habitats and trails we so happily pedal along. We understand that our mission hits home the strongest with those that voluntarily become a part of OOFD and give big and small parts of themselves to make it the outstanding org that it is. Our volunteers are a huge part of the heartbeat of Chicago’s adventure and bike camping community. We gush with gratitude for all that give their time and brilliance to make OOFD such a rad place.
Educate
We have a deep appreciation, curiosity and reverence for our home. Some may even call it topophilia. We are a hyper local organization that strives to be more thoughtful and connected to the places we visit. We desire to share our knowledge and gratitude for our homeland with you while also learning from you. Together we can deepen our reverence for our home, its stories, our stories, and all of our neighbors from the ant to the oak tree. We educate because we want you to gain the skills to sustainably adventure on your own, and we want you to get so stoked about our native habitats that, like us, you start to share this knowledge with others. And ideally you go so far as to put efforts into conserving and restoring our native habitats by volunteering with us and/or the heaps of local orgs that care for these ecosystems.
In other words, we are Welcoming Adventurous Volunteers that Educate.
Below is additional insight on each of those values. The bold words in the below section are additional values we hold ourselves, each other, and OOFD to.
Welcome
Foundational to who are and always will be. Everyone, and we mean everyone, is welcome to roll with us. We have a spirit of radical inclusivity and strive towards greater diversity in our organization and our participants. We are a community of bike riders that warmly support and encourage each other and everyone that rides with us regardless of what they, their bike, or their gear looks like. We operate with a genuine open spirit and kindness.
Adventure
This is how and why we began. We believe in adventure. Read that vision statement. Ya see? We embrace all adventures and strive to help folks realize that they don’t need to go to a far off place to have an adventure as adventure is always waiting right out their front door. Wrapped up in this adventure spirit is an embrace of type 2 fun, exploration, and knowing that often those rough moments of a journey make for the best stories and forge the deepest connections. Our curiosity about our home pulls us outdoors. Wrapped up in this adventure is usually a bit of celebration and a party.
Volunteer
As a mainly volunteer run organization, we believe in developing our volunteers and creating a culture that fosters growth for everyone involved while also remaining sustainable in our rides and as an organization. We collaborate with all sorts of organizations and companies to partner in stewardship of the habitats and trails we so happily pedal along. We understand that our mission hits home the strongest with those that voluntarily become a part of OOFD and give big and small parts of themselves to make it the outstanding org that it is. Our volunteers are a huge part of the heartbeat of Chicago’s adventure and bike camping community. We gush with gratitude for all that give their time and brilliance to make OOFD such a rad place.
Educate
We have a deep appreciation, curiosity and reverence for our home. Some may even call it topophilia. We are a hyper local organization that strives to be more thoughtful and connected to the places we visit. We desire to share our knowledge and gratitude for our homeland with you while also learning from you. Together we can deepen our reverence for our home, its stories, our stories, and all of our neighbors from the ant to the oak tree. We educate because we want you to gain the skills to sustainably adventure on your own, and we want you to get so stoked about our native habitats that, like us, you start to share this knowledge with others. And ideally you go so far as to put efforts into conserving and restoring our native habitats by volunteering with us and/or the heaps of local orgs that care for these ecosystems.
In other words, we are Welcoming Adventurous Volunteers that Educate.
