Sunday Riding and finally the first Century for the Year

The beautiful Sunrise in Woodstock, IL.
Hellmut and Smokey Mike

The first rays of the morning

Riding in the dark

Our start time this morning

An exceptional ride today. We met at the Ari house at 4am and headed north into a steep headwind. We figured to be smart and struggle against the wind gods and pay the price for an easy ride home with the wind at out backs. Rode straight north on rte 23 then took collins rd towards Woodstock. Went to Smokey Mike's Parents house for soup and coffee. We arrived their at 7:10a.m. and Mike's mom had food ready for us. The soup and toast was sooo good. We refueled, got the feeling back in our toes and headed back home. The ride home was great. We were able to strech the legs a bit on some smooth roads and also liked rolling with that great tailwind. Hellmut was riding his Surly Crosscheck with 700x42c tires, I was cruising the Rivendell Quickbeam Singlespeed and Mike was on his dad's vintage Trek road bike. Everyone rode steel and fat tires. At around 9:10 a.m we stopped for a break and took comunion in the form of a Pinky's worth of Irish whiskey (hey, st. Pats is coming up) and a gel. Warmed the blood and got some energy. The soup was still holding but the little break was great. We suffered no mechanicals, no flats and no issues with cars. Lots of lights and mean looking mutants keep them at bay. By the time I got home I had 85 miles and then around 9:30 p.m. I suited up and returned to the streets looking for that 100 miler. Hellmut had continued on to finish the century this morning. We also got in our time to allocate todays riding into a DBD category.

Tomorrow is March 1st and the time is perfect to get out and make yourself bleed.

best,

Ari