2025 Special Events
March 20, 2025
Bike Overnighting 101! (FREE)—The best thing about our Off-Leash Overnighters is how easy they are for just about any kind of cyclist with any kind of camping gear on any kind of bike. But going bike camping for the first time can seem daunting. So let GoodSpeed staff and bike overnighter veterans break it down for you at our third annual Bike Overnighting 101!
At Bike Overnighting 101, you'll learn:
* The camping and bike gear you'll need (hint: you are more ready than you think!)
* The best bike for bike camping (it's probably the one you're riding!)
* How to carry your camping gear by bike!
* Bike overnighting opportunities in Chicagoland and NW Indiana!
We'll roast marshmallows and make s'mores, plus sample some of the beers from this year's Off-Leash Overnighter route. Even if you're a bike camping veteran, it's going to be a fun night! PLUS: Everyone who attends will get a coupon code to save $5 on registration for the Off-Leash Overnighter.
May 24, 2025, All Day
GoodSpeed 15th Anniversary—Fifteen years! On Saturday during Memorial Day weekend in 2010, GoodSpeed Cycles opened its doors in Homewood, Illinois. We want to celebrate with you a decade-and-a-half of building and serving our local cycling community.
We're planning:
* 15 Year Anniversary editions of Barb & Dan's Road Ride and Off-Leash Ride
* E-bike demo rides
* Specials sales
* Grilling burgers and dogs
* A special anniversary Saturday Choo-Choo Ride, with beers and music after
We're honored to be your bike shop, and look forward to another 15 years of helping you find your good speed. See you May 24!
August 10, 2025, 8am–3pm
The 2nd Annual Ho-Flo Hundred ($10 donation) The Ho-Flo Hundred is 100 kilometers, 62 miles, of JRA—Just Ridin' Around—entirely within Homewood and Flossmoor. It's largely stitched together from two rides you might know well: Flossmoor's Bike the Gem and Homewood's Off-Leash Ride, with a sprinkling of Choo-Choo Ride here and there.
NEW THIS YEAR—Rad Stations! Along the route, you'll find 10 Rad Stations where you can perform one of ten rad bike tricks to earn points toward an exclusive t-shirt.
The miles sneak by while riding three laps, reversing direction each time, through the beautiful and interesting and surprising neighborhoods, parks and natural areas of the Ho-Flo.
Donations benefit the James Hart School's Outride program that teaches middle and junior high kids to ride more safely and more often. Register here
August 17-18
Off-Leash Overnighter: Dunes Edition—Here's your Now-You-Know moment: if you ride our Off-Leash Overnighter to Griffith, Indiana, but instead of stopping at Oak Ridge Prairie you continue along the Oak Savannah Trail, you wind up at Indiana Dunes.
So why the heck aren't we bike camping there? We fix that on August 17-18 with our first ever Off-Leash Overnighter: Dunes Delight ride to the Dunbar Group Camping area on the shore of mighty Lake Michigan. Register here
October 28, 6:30–8pm
Haunted Ho-Flo Halloween Ride! Starts (6:30pm) and ends (8pm-ish) at GoodSpeed Cycles. A party-pace tour of horror and high camp as we find all the best home and yard decorations in the Ho-Flo by bike. Cost: $5/person donation to benefit the Homewood Cancer Support Center. Donate now
November 8
A Ho-Flo Cranksgiving! Cranksgiving is a food drive on two wheels—part bike ride, part scavenger hunt. The event is FREE, but you'll need a minimum $20 to purchase food. Starting at high noon at GoodSpeed Cycles, Crankies (you) will pick up a manifest listing area grocery stores and food items. Using any route, and in any order you'd like, go shopping by bike, buying at least one item from every grocery store on the list and bringing it all to the Cranksgiving finish at Rabid Brewing (17759 Bretz Dr, Homewood)—take as many trips as you need to—by 4pm. Post-cranking, we'll celebrate your cleverness, your swiftness, your thoroughness, and your generosity, awarding copious prizes and partying with our friends at Rabid.
The enormous pile of food will be donated to the food bank at Restoration Ministries in Harvey, Illinois. Click here for deets!
December 16
Holiday Lights Ride! A party-pace bicycle tour of the Ho-Flo's bestest, funnest and beautifulest holiday lights and decorations. Starts and ends at GoodSpeed Cycles, 6:30pm–8pm, covering 7-9 miles. $5/person minimum donation to benefit the partner abuse support work of Anew (formerly South Suburban Family Shelter).