Looks as if central Illinois towns are beginning to embrace bikes as legitimate transportation or am I being overly optimistic?

2012 Central Illinois Bike Summit

I traveled to Normal a few weeks ago via Amtrak for work and brought my (new to me but lightly used) Dahon Speed D7 folding bike. The Constitution trail was a great way to get around, though I only needed to go from downtown uptown Normal to Heartland Community College (note the default directions google provides).

The trail was used mainly as a walking trail for college kids and recreational cyclists with a few using it to commute to work, I assumed from their clothing. There were no lights on the trail so using it at night requires a decent headlight, I had two Knog boomers. There were quite a few bikes in use in the uptown area, mainly college kids, so I didn't feel to conspicuous on a silly looking folding bike, which by the way is a BA bike.