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