Mind numbness

shoulder riding on the way home. Hey plenty of gravel there

Determined to finish Trans Iowa 2010

Hellmut's favorite slice of Pizza

Amazing carving in Oregon, IL.

Sunday's torture machine

Heading out on Mowers rd. This one is for you Giggles.

So we go serious today and took advantage of the 40 degree weather and the wetness. We decided to go out to Oregon and back on the Singlespeeds. Hellmut was on the crosscheck outfitted with monster 400x40c michelin tires running a 38x16 gear ratio. I was on the Ruffian running a 34x16 gear with 29x 2.1 motoraptors. We had a pseudoheadwind all the way out and then we went across the river and took route 2 heading north towards Byron. Route 2 was pleaseantly resurfaced with a bit of a shoulder. We hung a left on Mudcreek and climbed up the hill then made another left on Limekln and then rode out to rte 64 and took that all the freak way back to Sycamore. Almost 40 miles in a straight line on the single gear bikes. I was so sick of pedaling but I kept thinking of what great excercise we were having and how much oxygen we were breathing.
I arrived home and without missing a beat, washed my bike, showered, got dressed and promptly went grocery shopping. I was a complete zombie in the car and all I could think of was food and a large coca-cola. We went out for Gyros and Hot dogs with my daughter and called it a night

Total for the day 80 miles
Rode from 7:30 a.m to 2:30 pm. Stopped for water and food.
Singlespeeds really kick your ass!

Ari

Post # 401

Hellmut hiding in the trees

Todays sunset, ain't it pretty??

Enjoying the lack of rain

Lloyd road

Surly 1x1 with 29ers, Fixed, No brakes

Gumby's Trail Killer Bike

Slender Fungus Organization

Soaked Riders

Secret Meeting Place @ 9 pm

That's a lot of posting and my english still needs improvement. Thanks to all of you who read and comment once in a while. This week was a hard week of riding.
Sunday: Group ride on gravel and tar total 40 miles
Monday: I was off to Campton in search of more hills
Tuesday Rode in the rain with Hellmut 50 miles total for the day with the commuting
Wednesday: GWT trail ride with Hellmut and Gumby. Rode in the flooded trail
Thursday: A brisk 40 miler to Kirkland, with gravel, tar, grass, singletrack and creek crossings.
Friday: Had the day off and did a good 20 miler solo.

All in all a good week with some hard efforts. Thankful to start having some regular company on these outings. Been really happy with the $7.99 wool gloves with Thinsulate from Farm and Fleet. Also been using long wool socks with the toes cut as leg warmers. Keeping calves warm helps to keep feet warm.

Had a ton of laundry to do and three trashed bikes are awaiting washing and tuning.

Hope you had a chance to get out and once again thanks for your readership!!

Ari

Day off Riding

An impossible hill to climb, The Windings in Campton Hills

another view of the hill

Thats my bike midway up the hill

Salsa La Cruz, all out

King hubs, Avid bb7, mavic tn719, xt der, xt cog, xtr chain

Rick Hunter fork, Rick hunter stem, Nitto bars, tektro levers,
Lizard skins awesome tape, 105 converted cranks with salsa chainrings
King Bottom bracket, Thomson Post, Rolls saddle, Ritchey tires, XTR pedals. A sick ride.

Salsa La Cruz Finalized. Two Days 100 miles.

Rode out on the Great Western and investigated a couple of spots that I was curious about. Ended up in the subdivision of The Windings and found a good hill to climb. One on grass and the other on a road called Jen Jensens rd. (?)
Ended up with 50 miles and then came home and road the roller for 30 minutes to get my clothes fulled sweated. Might as well. Also went to Campton forest preserve and did some riding there. I still don't know if riding is allowed and I figure if some Ranger stops me I will just tell him to start making some signs on his time off. The grass trails were really beat up by the horses and there were a few bogs. I got my heartrate up a couple of times and this is were we will be coming to snowshoe soon with Trapper Tom.
Preparations for Trans Iowa will comence right after Thanksgiving with a full blowout schedule that will see no excuses. Stay tuned to witness the pain.

out,
Ari

Trans Iowa Update

Country Action

Break at Baseline and Mulford

A perfect day.

So far the little crew from Du Page county is in:

Dr. Giggles
Pizza Dan
Dorkus Enormous

That stress for the year is over but I am sure there is more to come with training all winter and keeping that fat off. Sunday turned out to be one of those astonishing days. We had a very pleasant group ride with the boys from the shop. Jay b., Hellmut, D'evan, and meself attended the festivities in a perfect November morning. We mixed up Petroleum products with Vitamin G. to end up with a decent 40 miles. The wind blew steady on the way back home and we lamented the harvest, our natural wind barrier is slowly dissapearing. I was aboard the monster La Cruz and that will entail a post of its own. Today will be another long ride and for now I am waiting for the fog to lift.

It is still possible to ride out there!!!

Ari

A Slender Fungus Night

Jay, Arik and meself met up at the trailhead at 8300 hours and rode out to St. Charlies and back. The trail was a bit soft but the spirits were high and the lights bright. It is so nice to be able to get out and ride with another warm body. Despite all the endless nights of riding alone one can never get used to it. The night is a weird thing and when the fatigue starts to set in the mind starts to play those devilish games. So, we left right on time since we figured nobody else was coming and did the whole ride in about 3 hours. Jay and I rode the 29er singlespeeds with 2 to 1 gear ratios and Arik was on his freshly resurrected Trek Free-roader.

Saturday 2 hours
Sunday 5 hours
Monday 5 hours
Tuesday 1.5 hours
Wednesday 5 hours


out,

Ari

Why not ride tonight???

Great Western Trail head @ 830 p.m

bring

food, water, lights, a fender, extra clothes

One of the greatest Fixed Gear Videos of all time!!

I have watched this video countless times and I have finally had the chance to upload it. It comes from the old website http://www.oldskooltrack.com/ and it is super-genius. I miss the old days of riding fixed into the city everyday. 250 miles of fixed gear a week and then Sundays was the long ride.Long live the past. I hope eveyone is getting out on their bikes and enjoying the shorter hours, the wind, the cold and the rain. I am so excited to be preparing for the Trans-Iowa. I am priviledged to have made it into the roster and to have my most excellent partner Dr. Giggles to be on my side. We are still waiting on seeing if Pizza Dan makes it in and also the surprise of Hellmut wanting in also. Lots going on.

Ari

Ari

Trans Iowa race roster

Gurler and almost home

Hanging on tight with a frozen head

Forest preserve near Kaneville. 5 mile loop of grass trails. Bikes allowed

Kaneville General Store, Old stomping grounds of the Bicycle Specialties Boys

Shortened Life,

Alfred Hitchcock out with his camera again

Awesome barn on Harter rd.

Harter rd, courtesy of Arik

I don't feel so good. Somebody make a windproof hat that works

Went out again with the 29er and did some more gravel roads south of I88. Went all the way down to Kaneville and then returned with a great tailwind all the way home. On other news I have made it to ther Race Roster of the Trans Iowa. I am sitting on postion #4 just like last year. It is such a relief at this point. Now it is time to ride a lot!!!
out,
Ari
2 hours Saturday
5 hours Sunday
5 hours Monday

Today
2 bottles heed
ham and cheese sandwich
minestrone soup
string cheese
small cup apple sauce
Red bull

Here is the Trans Iowa Race Roster for 2010 so far.


http://transiowa.blogspot.com/2004/11/race-roster.html

Saturday and Sunday Riding

B-Road coming off Afton forest preserve

Good dirt trail and out of the wind

Hard grass trails in Afton

Wetlands off Crego Rd. A great place to ride trails in the cold weather

Private Property, too bad

Sunday's machines: Crosscheck Single and Gunnar Ruffian single

Enjoying the heck out of my Ham and Cheese Sandwich

Hellmut and his rather large piece of chicken

Gravel, lots of gravel on Saturday and Sunday

Saturdays ride started on pavement and then varied

Saturday was a good group ride we started going south on Rte 23 and then split up since we were going to do some gravel. Got in a solid 2 hours before work and it felt just right.
Sunday saw the members of the Slender Fungus ride out to find new roads of the Vitamin G type. We were arranged a route by fast becoming rider Arik. We rode, got lost, rode, got lost and had many adventures on Sunday. Ended up on private property to be chased by a disgruntled farmer on his Moto-cross bike. We admitted all the guilt of trespassing and were on our way without any gunshots being fired. We hit pavement, Gravel, grass trails, dirt trails, and even did some corn wacking along the powerline road off of Afton forest preserve. We rode for 6 hours on Sunday and were pretty beat up by the end.
We feasted on Pomegranates @ the Ari house and had toast, and tons of coffee. This ride did not qualify as a DBD but it sure put the pain in our legs. In the evening we went to the inlaws and ate a very long dinner, italian style. It was great to have Hellmut over.
Tomorrow more riding and more suffering and I will keep my eyes open to see my name on that roster for Trans Iowa.

best,

Ari

Go

15 DBD sessions
8 hours or longer
leave before 6 am
or after 8 pm

Thanks for setting me straight Charlie. Todays 2 hour ride before work does not count for anything. I am so amped.

Ari

Trans Iowa V6 registration is open!!

I want this c.d. bad, really bad


Got the call from dr. Giggles today and promptly ran to the post office to mail in the postcard in hopes of allocating a spot in the American Spring Classic known as Trans Iowa. I will be training really hard all winter to stay in shape, lose some unwanted weight and acclimatize to riding through the night. All this effort will go towards having a chance if finishing this incredible event. The course for 2010 will be around the 320 mile range with most of the surface being gravel. Equipment , physical and mental fortitude are the only ingredients to finish such an event. When we drove out to Syracuse from Sycamore I zeroed my odometer in the car and found out that the Trans Iowa is like riding offroad from Sycamore, IL to Toledo, Ohio on gravel no less.
I am so excited to have a chance to make it on the roster next week. On other news I finally remembered a C.D. that was stolen from us while on vacation with the wife about 6 years ago. The Band name is "Guided by Voices" and the title is under the bushes under the stars. If anyone has a copy of it please let me know. I am also searching for a used San Marco Rolls Saddle since last Sunday I broke a rail on mine. You will be compensated

best, Ari

Oh to make it official the scheduled group rides are:::::


Saturday 7:30 a.m at North Central Cyclery in Dekalb. Usually 2 hour ride. Winter rides are not cancelled due to weather. The idea is to ride.

Wednesdays 8:30 p.m. at the Great Western Trail head. Please bring food, lights, clothing, more clothing, money, bananas, food, water, clothing. Ride as much as you please. We are going in a straight line to St. Charles and back. Sometimes longer.

Slender Fungus will have impromptu rides in the night. I will be riding all the time and will always welcome a warm human.

out,
Ari

Slender Fungus Attacks 2 for 2

The Great dinottelighting above my huge helmet

Hellmut in his Kraftwerk outfit. Aerodynamik und Dynamisch!

Hellmut had missed out on riding with us on Sunday since he had to help with a move. After last nights long ass ride I decided to get out tonight and strech the legs. It wasn't as cold tonight and we decided to do the Aldrich rd. loop. We go up Brickville then make a left on Aldrich, go up the gravel hill then up to Pleasant hill rd. make another left to Grove make another left and then back to Brickville. The wind was feisty and out of the S.E. I got tired and my legs were sore from last night.
Oh, speaking of last night. We got together and rode out of the Trailhead at 830 pm. We had a good group including Tobie, Jay, Eric, Evaaaaaaaan, Richie Rich, Jay bird and me-self. We rode out and then groups went so far and turned aound and so forth. Jay, mysefl, Evan and Eric (forgot the right spelling) made it to StCharlies. Then Jay and I rode through Leroy Oaks, took the Randall Rd. Trail to Silver Glen Rd. in South Elgin, then headed east on Silver Glen to the Fox River. We then took the trail and ended up in the Riverside neighborhood were Al Capone's hideout is. We did some mad Hills there Including the Hitler hill and the Capone hill. We then rode into St. Charles, grabbed some junk station food and rode home. it was really cold and damp and we got really cold. I arrived home at 1:30 am and Jay must have hit home around 2 am. I shivered in bed until I woke up in the morning. I estimate I had a 70+ mile day yesterday.
More photos to come.

Ari

Note to Rich

I did a Gallery on my wordpress and then the photos open up. I am using Firefox on my old-old I-Mac from 1998.

Check it out:

http://straightshot.wordpress.com/

Slender Fungus and More and the new Stylus 400

Airport Lights from the car, yes me driving car

Ari's Workbench, This is where its at.

My lovely wife, the one who puts up with my crazy training hours

I would like to make a post about last nights ride but my brain is still frozen. On other news we have started a wheelhouse here at NCC. If you need any type of wheel give us a call or stop by, preferably with cookies, and let us know what you would like.
the link is:::::))))))))))))

http://catalog.northcentralcyclery.com/product-list/components-81/aris-handbuilt-wheelhouse-103/


Ari
I am so glad a found a replacement for my dead olympus. Picked up a used one from the Ebay empire. Hope it last a while and I promise I will try not to drop it. I love my new Canon G11 but I don't feel comfortable carrying it around to shoot photos while I ride. Onwards for another Slender Fungus ride tonight out in the freezing, dew dropping fields of the midwest. I hope my brain don't freeze again.