In recent years, this site has seen increasing interest in bicycling the length of Route 66. That interest undoubtedly will increase with the recent publication of the Bicycle Route 66 map series by the Adventure Cycling Association.
However, cycling Route 66 is not new. Check out this video from 1996 by a central Illinois television station.
The cyclists’ impressions of their trip remains on the Internet at the Cycle66.com website.
And Net66.com, touted in the video, disappeared from the web more than 10 years ago, according to the Wayback Machine.
(Hat tip: Dennis Toeppen)
The only problem with bicycling on Route 66 in Illinois is that in most places, the ‘official’ Route 66 bike path isn’t actually on — or even near — historic Route 66 itself. In which case, it’s just another bike ride on the back roads of Illinois. That’s what I really hate about the official bike path. Route 66 communities should do more to actually help bicyclists tour down the actual path of the historic road and not on even-less-traveled side roads. That would be a welcome change.