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