Just some thoughts

Salsa La Cruz

Pugsley

Motivation will come when some stuff decides to finally slow down. Working the two jobs and having the wife take summer classes plus work has left us empty handed in regards to free time. For example This week I worked :

monday shop
tuesday shop
wed shop
thurs restaurant
frid shop and restaurant
saturday shop and restaurant
On Sunday it is Greek Fest in Dekalb and I have to help out my Church. My dad is Greek, thus i am half greek and I respect and enjoy my Greek heritage. I will get up early and go give a hand.
I don't know how the rest of the day is going to pan out. We'll see. I am starting to think that we stay indoors in our cocoons for months on end and then when the summer comes its like an explosion of activity that everyone has to do. There is like a mad dash before its over again and the leaves start to fall.
At this point I really don't enjoy nice weather anymore. Nice weather is lame. Nice weather means noise, crappy bikes, and people yelling crap out their windows. It like a bunch of convicts out enjoying their freedom from the quiet of the dark and cold weather.
I know this is a lame post but sometimes I have to get some ideas out. I am having a huge glass of hot Mountain tea with real, white sugar. My stomach is a mess and I am trying to calm it somehow.
Tomorrow would be ideal to get up and meet the guys at 730am and do for once the morning ride. Problem is I come tired and wired from the restaurant and I can't just go to bed. I then fall asleep super-late and never make it to go ride early. I also don't look foward to coming back to the shop and starting another double duty day which only lasts a mere 12 hours. Man am I bitchy or what?
Anyhow, I will come out of all this. I will get the Pugsley built for the winter and finish the Salsa La Cruz for some mega-miler rides in the Fall.


For the La Cruz is the following
Rick Hunter custom Super-crown fork. Have it in my possesion. Thank you Rick.
King headset. Want to buy one.
King hubset Want to buy one
Nitto steam want to buy one
Thomson seatpost Want to buy one.
Rolls Saddle No more saddle sores
The rest is undecided.
Pugsley
Endomorph tires
larg marge tires
cane creek headset
rolls saddle
Bin Seatpost
Stem, handlebars Not sure
shifting not sure
cranks, bb, chain not sure
derailers not sure


better and more cheerful posting to come soon!

argh,
Ari

Time to get back on the bike again

Byron Nuclear reactors. Byron, IL.




It has been a rough time with all the work going on at the shop. Add to that the saddle sore issue and it has been no long distance riding for me for a while. There was huge build up for the Trans Iowa and after that somebody popped the balloon and left me lifeless. I had not direction, no goal to work towards. I have been spending time indoors and reading, thinking, and thinking. Maybe I am just getting old. Maybe the days are long and I get tired. I just don't know. At any point I have some new ideas and some new locations to check out. It will soon be time to get back out there and start working hard for the next big event of 2010.
best,
Ari

It's Hamburger Time!!!

Couple of Saturdays ago. Cold in June.

Carlos, our Neighbor that loves bikes.

Helmut, on route to marengo, IL on Harmony hill rd.

Surly Steamroller making love with gravel.

Been kinda not posting for a while since I was dealing with a little big issue. Just like pal Cornbread out in the Nebraska state this Illinois boy has been afflicted by a hefty case of the Burger. The Burger is a consecuence of riding too much, pounding the little innocent hair follicles into oblivion until one day they say enough and they Rise!

Yes, they rise and they sure let you know about it. Sometimes it is just a little, lonely one and other times they group up, (in this case about 8 of them) and they form a Burger. There is no saddle in the world to accomodate it.

I have still been riding to work though. I ride the tipy of the saddle and I do a lot of standing. I figure old T.I. veteran me can handle suffering for 7 miles.

Now the case of this burger is the consecuence of commuting to work, sweating a bit on the commute, getting to work, changing into shorts, sweating all day, and then riding home with the same morning shorts.

At Hartleys I washed my shorts everyday and then hung them out in the back alley to get bombarded by the Sunlight. It killed all germs and my Butt was happy.

At this point I have switched from regular soap to Grandpas Pine Tar soap and have been washing 3 times a day. Heavy coats of Bag Balm. Next step if the situation does not improve will be grounding and driving the Pantanimobile to work.

I hope you understand my absence but I promise that when I am done with my burger I will come back with a vengeance. My next big ride will be a 125er.

I received my custom Rick Hunter Supercrown fork for the Salsa La Cruz. I will post photos of it soon.

Hope you are burger free,

ride on,

Ari

This Fuji Professional must keep rolling.

Fuji Professional, Circa 1970's

It was last summer that a handsome, tall, lanky man walked into the shop that I used to work. It was winter and the day was consumed drinking coffee and re-organizing the same items over and over. Must keep busy even if there is no business.

He told me of all the adventures that he had as a young lad. The many rides, the agony of being lost and without food, the single water bottle. He had spent a lot of time on his bike and it had carved fond memories in his head. All this had been had on board a Fuji Professional. A wonderful lugged japanese bike complete with lightweight lugs and Suntour Suberbe Pro dropouts. He had ridden on the road, on trails, off road and had done the occasional race with the sewup tires that originally came with the bike.

I was intrigued by all the stories that he shared with me. He later told me that arthritis had ravaged his body and that he was unable to pedal the bicycle. He had made unsuccesful attempts at riding the steed with no results. The arthritis had attacked his knees, ankles, elbows, and hands. He then tried riding a comfort bike just to have some glory in riding a bicycle. That did not work. He sometimes rides the Airdyne at the YMCA and he closes his eyes and remembers.

Ron had sized me up and he was correct that we were both 6'4" and that I had some youth left in me.

He wanted me to have the Fuji so I could continue riding it. So that it would not turn into rust powder in his garage, that it would continue making memories. The thought of looking at it, lifeless, hanging by the hooks made him sad. I accepted the honor and brought the bike home, along with the sewup tires. He told me to fix it up and ride it. That the idea of the Fuji roaming around would make him happy.

Last night I finally finished it up. New stem, bars, barcons, rear der, crank, wheels. The fit is perfect and I think that it will serve great on gravel and road since it is built with lots of clearance. When I ride it it will always remind me of Ron. I hope his pain is o.k., I hope he can ride the Air Dyne a little longer.

Ari

Pulmones=Lungs=Air=Supply to muscles.

Since I was about 15 I have been dealing with Asthma. As I am getting older my condition seems to worsen. I have always been controlling it with exercise, Albuterol and some anti-histamine when it starts to kick in in the spring.

At this point I am at a loss. Since returning from Trans Iowa I have been short of breath and my usual medicines have slowly but surely stopped to really kick the Asthma away. If you haven't had Asthma try riding your bike while breathing through a thin straw.

So.... with much regret I will visit the "Doctor" and see what wonderful ideas he has in mind. I don't usually run to the doctor for anything. I fight colds, flus, and just about anything on my own. I am dumb, stubborn and bullheaded mediterranean style.

I have been laying low in the past days since I cannot ride past the 15 mph mark without getting winded. So, a visit to the doctor, some EPO enriched Steroids should shake the Portobello mushrooms out of my sensitive bronchios and lungs and I should be ready to demolish all racing fields young and old.

Anybody with knowledge or experience with acupuncture to help with Asthma please send me a comment. That is another route Iam considering.

Don't Smoke , ride your bikes.

Wheezy Ari

Day Hiking and some Indian Cuisine

7th year anniversary Madison, Wi.

Rock Cut State Park, Rockford, IL.

Atop the Convention Center Madison, Wi.

The Yellow Jersey Bicycle Shop Madison, Wi.

The Capitol, Madison Wi.

We have been taking some small trips with a range of 2 hours by car around where we live. Feeling a bit stiffled , so we figured that that small excursions would cure that. We started the trips at the beginning of May. We have explored Freeport,IL. There we visited an Art Museum and found some beautiful gravel roads en route to town. We then headed out to Savannah, IL where we hiked the Palisades State Park and lunched at the scenic outlook over the Mississippi.

We also went to New Glarus, Wi to visit the Swiss Colony and the New Glarus Brewing Company, makers of the Uff-da and an awesomist Coffee Stout. Cheers Charlie!!

Last Sunday we focused our attention to Madison Wisconsin. There we celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. What a great town! Bikes everywhere, great bike lanes, great food and even greater beer!

Today we went to Rock Cut State park to investigate. Walked for two hours, checked out trails and decided that at 40 minutes by car it is worth going there to ride. Good paved loop around park and many small trails. Will definetely take bikes there. For lunch we packed it at the India House on East Riverside dr. in Loves Park (suburb of Rockford) Great food and great Indian Beer.

Helmut should be back on Saturday from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and another intense session of bicycle riding will comence. The small trips were also another great opportunity to discover some different riding areas. I have this feeling that this will be a great summer.

See you out there,

Ari

Mutant Night Century #1

The final miles of our Night Century

10:00 a.m. Pepperoni Pizza, Stout and Salad

Helmut the Mutant

Naperville, IL.

The newly graded GWT

After the Trans-Iowa I have spent some time catching up with things and trying to plan out
what is going to happen in the next few months with my riding. Working from 10am-7pm and having family commitments has always been difficult for riding. Last night Helmut and I went out riding on our Salsa Chilis. We ended up riding all through the night and that was truly an experience. We came to my place and had a hearty pasta meal and downed some stouts. My belly felt really full but I knew it was packed with fuel.
We took the GWT,Great Western Trail and made it to St.Charles then we ran thru Geneva, warrenville, naperville,lisle, Downers Grove,Clarendon Hills and ended up in Hinsdales. WE got there around 1:30 a.m and had 52 miles in our legs. WE took a break and then headed home with a headwind and to confront the demons. It was easy riding through the wee hours and before we knew it, around 430, the skies started to turn colors. The EPO laced pasta held us until about 530am and then we had some homemade fruit bars, courtesy of lovely wifey. Washed it down with a gu and we were set to make the assault on the last strech of gravel, 17miles.
We arrived to Sycamore around 645am and picked up blueberry muffins for breakfast. We were really tired but happy to have made this epic ride.
The numbers
107 miles
7 hrs 21 minutes
max speed 31
av speed 14.5 mph