Rockford, Illinois is on its way to becoming a strong town. There is a noticeable increase in collaborative efforts between various groups in the city and region, and the strong citizens of Rockford are coming together to make their town a better place to work, live, play… and bike!

I Bike Rockford (#IBikeRKFD) is a grassroots community group that aims to unite all kinds of cyclists – road bikers, mountain bikers, people who bike for transportation, and people who just love bikes – to advocate for bike safety and awareness. Our mission statement is: “Working so that more people of all ages, abilities, and biking styles can say ‘I Bike Rockford’ for fun, recreation, and transportation.”

I Bike Rockford started simply as a Facebook page created by a cyclist interested in increasing awareness about something he cares about. The group has morphed into a living organization with visible leaders, champions, and advocates in the area focused on safety, infrastructure, and community building. Zak Rotello, who started the I Bike Rockford Facebook page says, “I'm just amazed at how it has taken off and become a real community advocacy group.”

Zak runs a local restaurant called the Olympic Tavern and each summer hosts an event called “Tour de North End” focused on bike safety awareness and local businesses in Rockford's North End neighborhood. Popularity of the event has grown over the past several years and it is well attended by cyclists of all abilities and ages. It was recently featured by a local company, Our City, Our Story and shows the collaborative nature of this group and this town.

In June of 2016, this spirit of collaboration was taken to a new level with the help of I Bike Rockford when we heard about a new sewer project getting underway on a main east-west thoroughfare in town. Todd Fagen, a civil engineer in the Rockford area and avid bike rider, recognized that this road would need to be torn up for the sewer work and saw it as an opportunity to save money on the street project by doing two projects at once. He proposed the addition of a biking and walking pathway to the sewer plans.