Out Our Front Door Newsletter - October 2019

It's Official. We're Official. 

The Out Our Front Door Organizations is an official 501c3 non-for-profit organization! 

Becoming a non-profit has been a major goal of the organization since its inception. There have been big chunks of the last 3 years that went into all of the major and minute steps to get this official government approval. And now, here we be. Leading one of the raddest, most adventure, outdoor, bike, camping Chicago thangs that ever did exist. A part of a city, of a community, and a community in unto ourselves. How freaking cool is all that!!?

And for us to be at this point, we have so much freaking gratitude. For the adventures. For the stories told and stories made. For the nights outdoors. For the campfires. For the endless miles pedaled. For the beers shared. For the friends made. For the platform to shine our best and creative selves through. For our native habitats and all their beings. For the amazing folks that come out and support us. And most of all, for the very special folks that show up and make OOFD what it is. For everyone past, present, and future that has a passion for our mission, our vision, our adventures, our connections

Celebrate With A Party

The 𝚋𝚒𝚐 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚊 𝚋𝚒𝚐 𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗!

Come toss back some beers and fill your belly with chili mac. This not-to-miss event will be a gathering of some of Chicago's coolest, most-bike-camping-celebrators of the great outdoors and it'll all be going down at the rad neighborhood dive bar Reed's Local (3017 W. Belmont)!

Tickets $30 in advance. $35 at the door. 
𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚜:

• 2 Beers
• 1 entry ticket for the raffle
• All-You-Can-Eat Chili Mac
• Some other tasty, homemade potluck style dishes
• Friends, Family & lots of bike folks!
• Party from 6:30-10pm (and even later if that's your style)

𝚆𝚎'𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊 𝚛𝚊𝚏𝚏𝚕𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚕𝚕.𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝.𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐.
𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙧𝙚:

• Custom-built bicycle from Cog Cycles!
• Set of Ortlieb panniers courtesy of Boulevard Bikes
• Bike Tune-up from Roscoe Village Bikes
• Bike Tune-up from Trek
• Abus folding bike lock
• Pair of Veetire Co. Speedster tires
• Set of Shimano Disc Rotor (SM-RT81)
• Hot off the presses OOFD swag including T-shirts, koozies, and camp mugs

All proceeds from the night go towards making our 2020 schedule of events 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓷 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓪𝓬𝓾𝓵𝓪𝓻 by reaching more people and getting 'em outside on two wheels to soak up the bodacious nature and history of our home!

𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙴: 𝗥𝗲𝗲𝗱'𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗖𝗔𝗦𝗛 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬. 𝗔𝗹𝘀𝗼, 𝗮 𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮!​

Major Props and Shoutouts

Out of all of the awesome times and big things this year, nothing has been as huge as the simply incredible folks that have joined our team. So many most excellent humans have contributed to the success in very small and very big ways. And some of the major players deserve some major accolades not only for what is listed below but for the positive, can-do spirit and the sense of community that they fostered while being fun-loving, goofy, and all around enthused individuals. 

Ben Blair - Joined our board in a real way, rode his first family overnight and will be leading his first ride this weekend!
Bradley Fischer - Also joined our board in a very real way. He also went on a number of rides including family and adult overnights and even helped lead a truly special family ride to Shabonna. 
Breanna Bertacchi - Helped lead a number of both adult, youth, and family rides including being the lead guide for the epic Waterways to the West ride to Starved Rock.
Clara Thames - Helped lead a number of rides including adult and family rides and was the lead guide for the Migrations from the North ride to the Indiana Dunes. And did a number of art pieces for us including that awesome Hootenanny image above. 
Jerod Powell - Major roles with the Youth Program, contributing hugely to all of the events. Helped lead adult rides as well as Where the Wild Things Grow rides. 
Ashley Huerta - Led and completely organized some Adult Where the Wild Things Grow rides and contributed to the Youth Team.

So many other new folks have contributed in all sorts of ways such as Jose A Terrazas, Korena Dill, George Dill, Thomas Kehrer, Daniel Wear, Wayne Mahn, and Alex Shaffer helped lead overnight rides and two new guides are coming on board this weekend:  Cody Wolcott and Kate Kliner! Nicole Pellegrini, Marijke Wijnen,  Ahleli Pineda, Michael Beyer,  Elizabeth Murphy, Tammy, Zach Schneider, Nick Anderson, and Sarah Anderson all helped in a wide variety of ways. And there are so many more who have supported us not to mention the OGs of OOFD such as our board of directors and an extra rad fella named Miles. 

Autumn Sun Harvest 2019 = Wow

The 4th Annual Autumn Sun Harvest Ride

​We always cap off our main ride season with this beaut of a ride up to the IL WI border to catch the colors. I mean look at that picture. Who doesn’t want to be on a bike adventure through that?! And wow was that a blast! We are rolled nearly 50 deep for the third biggest ride we have ever done as an organization. 52 miles skirting the lake day one. Big communal dinner, cider, s’mores around the fire at Illinois Beach State Park enjoying the thrashing of a "tropical storm". Many of us slept outside for the last time this year. Then up bright and early on the most pristine fall day one could ask for and rolled the 80ish miles back to Chicago enjoying the most bodacious fall colors. Those maples were poppin! Such an amazing group of people and extra mad props to all the first time bike campers (over half of the riders) and those that rode their longest day (probably almost 75% of the riders). Y'all inspire. 

The As Always Section

Wanna volunteer? You totally should. Especially now that we are npo, the potential to really do some extra special things has increased exponentially. Don’t you want to be a part of that? Our community is very much open and welcoming to all that want to join. See who currently makes us up here. Join our team here. Or if you haven't already, join our newsletter here. We are especially looking for a couple of experienced board members as well as some solid guides to train for next ride season.

Consider taking a ride. We have a Where the Wild Things Grow Ride to LaBagh Woods on November 9 leaving out of the Logan Square Monument at 8:45am. The ride is about 5 miles at chill pace. 2-3 hours of environmental service. Then a ride back. 

And of course, Decemberg. Many folks don’t want to think about December right now, but we say, embrace it! Don’t hide from the outside all winter! Hop on this ride out to Camp Reinberg in Palatine to stay in a cabin in mid-December. 
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Help spread the word. If you know us and like what we do, help connect others that you think don’t know us but would dig what we do.

Much love,
Glenn and the whole OOFD team