Death Ride Invitationals Routes Posted

Here are the Map my Ride routes for Guitar Ted's Death Ride Invitational. The ride is happening Sunday, July 14th 2013.

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Here is the link for the Metric Version:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/235978077/


Here is the long one Which starts from the same location. We will all ride together to Maquoketa, Iowa. 

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Here is the link to the long ride:

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/234912071/

               
       Tomorrow I will have a posting with more details. We will provide cue sheets. This is a no drop ride. IF you cannot finish the route you need to find a way to bail out. This is not a race. 
best,
Ari 

Death Ride Recon Trip this past Sunday

We really needed to take a break from IL. so we loaded up the Subaru and headed out to the Grand State of Iowa. WE figured to go out to Bellevue and hit the pool and find a place to pick up some Strawberries. The pool was a great idea and it only cost less than 10 bucks for the 3 of us. 
Heck, they even played country music to make it even more awesome. We picked Strawberries off some farm not far from town. AT 1.50 a lb for fresh strawberries that was a deal. Afterwards we had an early dinner at Kalmes In Saint Donatus. We then took off to check out some of the Death Ride route. With a couple of brews we were chilled and satisfied with our dinners. The daughter did not last long before she went into a Pool/food coma. 
We listened to tunes and hit the gravel. We ventured onto some B Roads with slick road tires, a low battery and no cell phone. Gun it the wife cried out. So, there went the subaru, where the commercials show it can go. 
We made it through all the B roads and I wondered how dangerous I would be with a Range Rover that rich people drive. Do they drive these things offroad I wondered???
They never seem to have mud on them. Anyway. 
We drove lots and lots of miles. On a section of 216th ave we discovered that it turned into a B Road. I skipped that one since it was getting dark and it seem gnarly. I really did not want to have to deal with a stuck car in the dark. 
We had a really long day and drove lots and lots of miles. We were blessed to see Pelicans on the rock river as we drove west. We also saw some Swans with offspring in the wild in a marsh. 
The roads were awesome, the views amazing, the cool water in the pool necessary and the strawberries fraganced our car. We are happy to announce that the route has been approved by the Death Ride Invitational organize Guitar Ted. I will be making a post with all details regarding the ride. 
I warn you that if you want to stay overnight on Saturday that you should get that settled. 
More to come. I had a great day spent with my lovely wife and awesome daughter. We truly love Iowa and we are thankful that those wonderous gravel roads are there. Come out and experience it with us. We would love your company. 
Enjoy the photos. 
Ari 

There will be plenty of climbs. Iowa is not Flat. Not Flat. 

Beautiful Views are bountiful

1998 Forester hitting the B Roads 

One B road brings you out to this View. This is where we stumbled upon Chris, our new friend from Bellevue, Iowa. 

Captured these Swans in the wild. I was in desbelief how beautiful this looked. 

Many Beautiful, wooded roads that we found. 

This 10 year old got really tired. I love those reclineable backseats. 

The wife navigated me reading this map on all the Bumpy Roads.
Yes, this is an Analogue map.  

WE drove from early on all the way to 12:30a.m when we got home.
We also saw the Super Moon out in the fields. 

Stretch out the Back

One too many huffyz and murrays have gotten my back all into a knot. It started with the quick mountain bike sesssion followed by painting in the house. So today I got out on the BMC to relax the muscles and get some much needed flexibility. I am cursed with not being a stretcher. I am of the school that thinks that riding will cure all. I need to get loose to prevent injuries. Tomorrow will be an escape trip to Iowa. We hope to recon part of the Death Ride route.
stay tuned,
Ari

Ricardo gave me a   Deda Stem and I added the Cowbells in 44cm, wrapped in Zipp Service Course CX tape. It feels awesome!!

Quick escapes

Sometimes it is good to just escape for a quick ride before work. The shop has been nuts and that is a good thing. Commuting to work and back has not been enough. Yesterday The Blue Demon and I got up early and hit the trails at Palos for a quick Yellow-Black loop. We got there before 7 am and were done by 8 am. We battled the roads back home elbow to elbow with the mad commuters. It was good to be in the woods. It was still cool, the mosquitoes were still sleeping and the trails were perfect.
Good times, 
Ari 

25 + inches of rain this spring have turned the forest into a jungle.

That's mee with a new prototype helmet that looks like a baseball cap. 

Father's Day Ride

Worked Saturday night at the Bistro and got home at a decent time of 11:30 p.m. My daughter was visiting from Chicago so we hung out for a while and had a couple beers. Then I got my stuff ready, hit the sack at 1:30 a.m to catch 2 hours of sleep. 

     I had been needing to do this ride to clear out some demons and I was excited to make it out to Sycamore before 8 am. I got up with heavy eyes, got ready and was out on the road by 4:09 am. I started heading west right into a headwind. This headwind would persist for most of the day. 

     I made  the 50 mile mark by 8 am on the Gunnar Prototype pushing those 40mm Clements. Bonk King showed up soon and we were heading further west to Cherry Valley, IL. Within 1 mile I turn around and find my old Pal B.B and Derek, "The blue Demon". I was shocked to see B.B since it had been so long since we had ridden together. We did a lot of much needed catching up and we laughed for a solid 4 hours. 

     We ended up a our gas station in Kirkland and had some pizza and mountain dews. We ended the ride with handshakes and I was on my way to the inlaws for a long session of gardening and weeding. I ran off to Dekalb for some espresso and Quinoa and took the bike to loosen up the legs. 

     It was a great day spent with family and friends. The weather was warm and sunny, the weeds furious, the food great, and those Beck's Dark frosty and refreshing. 

I totalled in 120 miles for the day, and was really happy with that. No photos until I catch some from B.B. My battery was left on the charger.

best, 

Ari 

Iowa mission #1 Report

As we had mentioned before we had in mind to get together and do a Iowa Mission ride for the upcoming Death Ride Invitational which is happening on the weekend of July 13-14. Cookie had to work an event and was not going to meet me in the secret location until 11 am. So as I arrived at set time Trans Iowa finisher Derek and Cookie were waiting. We loaded gear and bike onto Cookie's Element and took the 3 hour drive out to Iowa. 
     There we were suprised to see Jakey La Cruz, Agatha and our new Iowa friend Chris. Agatha had just purchased an awesome Surly Karate Monkey Single Speed and was dying to go rip up some trails. She loaded up and hit some trails around the Dubuque area. 
     We got ready and hit up some gravel. As usual it took a long while to warm up as the legs were stiff from wrenching all week and driving for 4 hours. Chris was an awesome guide and helped us make some corrections to the route we had mapped out. The hills were punishing and I felt completely out of shape. I had moments where I felt great followed by stiffness and pain. We hit some really nasty hills just short of Dubuque and also did some amazing B-roads. 
     AT around 630 pm. we broke for dinner and had Bison burgers, drinks and homemade Carrot Cake. Agatha and Jakey headed home, Chris went home and the 3 remaining continued on in the dark. Our first greeting into the darkness was a rather large group of Coyotes yelping and crying in the night. The cold, damp air triggered my asthma and i used Jakey's baselayer to wrap my face and warm up the air. 
     We hit another long B-road with a sharp uphill that burned our legs and my lungs. At this point we had hit our targeted mileage and headed south to the car. We ended up riding 74 miles, with an average of 12.3 mph, max speed was 43.68mph and our ride time alone was 6 hours. We started the ride at 2 pm and got back at 10 pm. 
The terrain around that area of Iowa is extremely hard and I figure that with luck we will cover 10mph on the Death Ride. 

HEre is the link to the flick page with the Iowa Mission Set.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20897064@N02/sets/72157633965095835/


Hope You enjoy the photos, 

Ari 

The meet up 

Getting out of town to hit the Gravel

The valley roads are always my favorite and picturesque

Our new friend Chris

The skies parted and it was awesome!

Way north almost into Dubuque

Eveyone had a blast

We hit quite a fair amount of B-roads. They were all very dry. 

And the hills never ended.

The most obscure B-road ever. Only Chris knew about it. 

This neverending hill would break my legs and make me see stars. I  used my 26 front and 36 in the rear on my 2x10  29er. 

We would later have double Cheese Bison Burgers for dinner. 

My faithful Slender Fungus member Cookie

night took over and so did my Asthma. 

Glorious to have finished such a hard day on the saddle. 

Thanks for reading and hope to see you in July. 

Ari 

Iowa mission #1 June 2nd , 2013

Tomorrow Jay and I are meeting at my old house in Sycamore, IL at 11 am (aprox) and are heading out to Bellevue, Iowa. We will be pounding some gravel. The route I have designed will be 71 miles. It will have 2400 ft of climbing and I expect to see some nice vistas. We will have a stop in Historic St. Donatus for some food. We will encounter a couple of B roads on the way. If anyone is interested in this impromptu ride let me know. Leave a comment or shoot me an email. 
Here is the link to the route. This is some scouting we are doing for the upcoming Death Ride Invitational. 

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/218668321/