Biketropolis curates Chicagoland day-long adventure cycling tours. Adventures include cycling through historical neighborhoods, searching for urban archeological ruins, street art, and visiting exciting destinations. Riders should be capable of biking 20+ miles and have mechanically sound bikes to participate in Biketropolis Tours. All tour prices include a donation to a cause related to the topic of the tour, or to fund activities at the destination point, as outlined in each tour’s details.
An Interview with Tom Limon
Tell us how you got started with Biketropolis? And what is your experience with bike touring?
A few years ago, I decided to purchase a new bike to become more fit and participated in as many local tours and group rides I could find. After a while, I started exploring the city on solo adventures posting photos of curiosities in and around Chicago, of architecture and street art, on social media. The more I biked and shared my experiences and photos, the more I found out that others were very interested in doing the same to learn more about the city.
What is your company’s mission? And why do you donate back to tour-related preservation efforts?
Biketropolis’ mission is to facilitate urban cycling adventures for those who want to learn more about the city’s history, architecture, and art. During many of my early solo adventures, I stumbled upon more and more neighborhood area focused historical societies and discovered their wealth of artifacts, documents and knowledgeable volunteers. I decided I wanted to incorporate these organizations in my tours and expose them to new visitors by turning their place of history into a stop along the route and quite often our destination point. Lately, I have also incorporated authors of books covering Chicago architecture, history, and art into the tours including Chris McAuliffe, Greg Borzo, Errol Magidson who often ride with us or meet us at one or more points of interest. This has recently led to a partnership with Arcadia Publishing/The History Press which gives Biketropolis access to more resources to facilitate tours of this detail.
Adventure cycling is an old sport making a renaissance in urban locales, why do you think this is?
Cycling has been on a major upswing throughout the world and we’re all learning what better way to explore a city than on a bicycle. It provides a low impact, efficient and healthy means of transportation. I’ve often been told by riders, when you go on a Biketropolis tour your very engaged and it doesn’t feel like a huge workout. Comments like “Wow! I never knew I could bike that far!” are very common.
What is a sampling of Chicago area cycling tours offered in 2019? And how long have you been in existence in the city?
Biketropolis is going on its fifth year curating and leading tours a few of our staples include Pedal to Pullman, Cycling to the Givin’s Beverly Castle, Graffiti and Gears, The History of Cycling in Chicago, The Pothole Bike Art Tour, and The Historic Cemetery Cycling Tour. We also introduced a new tour this past year titled Art Deco Twilight Cycling Tour with the help of The Art Deco Society and Preservation Chicago. I have some very interesting new tours in development that will be announced and ready for scheduling after the new year.
What has been your most popular cycling tour? Best experience?
Pedal to Pullman is one of the most popular tours, although the Pullman neighborhood has been around since the late 1800’s. There never seems to be a shortage of riders that are willing to make the trek down to the Southside to spend the entire day at the once railroad car factory town to learn about its controversial past and promising future. The Historic Pullman Foundation, The A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum, local artists such as JB Daniel and Ian Lantz, and local residents always go out of their way to make us feel welcomed whenever we visit.
For 2020, you are branching out into licensing complete curated cycling tours to other local guides. What inspired you to do this and how do licensed tours work?
It’s been a challenge to keep up with the demand and scheduling a tour date that works for everyone. I know of other groups and tour leaders out there that have their own following and will be providing them with the complete content to lead their own Biketropolis tours which includes detailed maps, routes, cue sheets, and audio content recorded by local historians, authors, and artists to be enjoyed at all points of interests.
Who is your typical tour attendee?
A typical attendee is a resident who has lived most of their life in Chicago or the suburbs and wants to learn more about the city and sort of embark on a staycation for the day. New residents of the area also enjoy participating in Biketropolis tours to learn more about the city they now call home.
How do interested riders find out more about Biketropolis and what it offers? Are you on various social media sites?
The vast majority of riders learn about Biketropolis tours on our website (www.biketropolis.com, Facebook (@biketropolis), Meetup (www.meetup.com/biketropolis), spotting a poster in local bike shops, and of course word of mouth.
What do you find to be the most rewarding aspect of running Biketropolis cycling tours?
I find bringing like-minded people together to be the most rewarding aspect and enabling others to learn more about the city. It’s very motivating and creating new tours has now become second nature. For example: there are many treasures hidden throughout the city like Jim Bachor’s Pothole Art who I learned about randomly biking around the city. I stopped at the side of a street to rest and I looked over and found a pothole brilliantly filled with mosaic tiles and posted my findings on social media. I then learned these were scattered all around the city, and after a few social media posts, it has been turned into a tour where the artist joins on the ride, to give us the backstory of each work of art.
What should an interested attendee be prepared to bring, do and know?
An appetite for adventure and any sound working bicycle. Biketropolis Tours range anywhere from 20-40 miles round trip and often require about a 6-8 hour commitment. We are not actually biking 8 hours, we visit many points of interests along the way and include a historical society visit and lunch stop.
Are you in any other urban locales?
At the moment Biketropolis operates in and around the Chicagoland area. I’m hoping to eventually find like-minded tour leaders to assist in following my model and offer the same types of experiences in other cities.
What is your 2020 schedule? And how do I sign up?
The 2020 Biketropolis tour schedule is currently being finalized. We kick off the season with an updated Steelworkers Pilgrimage Cycling Tour on Saturday April 4th, 2020 as we head out to the Calumet Region of South East Chicago and Northern Indiana to learn about the history of the steel industry in the area, with assistance from Rod Sellers of the Southeast Historic Society, and Paul Myers of Marktown Preservation. There are a few ways to learn about future tours, visit www.biketropolis.com, follow us on Facebook, join our Meetup Group, or signup for our mailing list.
