Wednesday Night Ride

8:30 p.m.
at the Ari House
Plan for 4-5 hours of outdoor time.
maybe rain, maybe drop in temps,
lights,food, money, tissues for tears, bandaids for blood

ari

Grinnell, Iowa starting point for Trans Iowa 2010

The town is making lots of effort to welcome all organizers, volunteers and racers.

Slender Fungus double Whammer

Hellmut suffering sleep deprivation at Merrit Prairie

The long, straight strech of Keslinger rd. Right before sunrise

Whiskey stop at 5:30 a.m.

My beloved Carhartt neckwarmer, great for asthma

The Gunnar Crosshairs and the Salsa La Cruz

Ten minutes before departure time.

I rode 27 out of the 28 days of February. It is on the 20th of February that I was attending the Frostbike bicycle show up in Minneapolis. The DBD committee has somehow found out about it and has laid the hammer on me. I am so ashamed and I hope my humble career as an amateur cylist will not come to an abrupt end. This post is in no way an excuse nor do I have the guts to explain myself. I know I have done wrong. What was I thinking? Boy do I regret those drinks with Jay and Hellmut. I fear to find out what the sentence will be.
This past Saturday I worked all day at the Cycle-shoppe and then commuted home by-cycle to continue to work for more hours at the restaurant. I worked from 10 am until 10:30 pm. I ran home and ready-ed myself as the Slender Fungus was meeting at midnight for an allnighter on the cyclo-cross cycles. It was cold and damp and we started at 12:00 a.m. We rode on the slush, snow, mud and water of the GWT all the way to St. Charles, then Geneva, then Batavia. We stopped for coffee around 3am then continued our ride. We went by Johnson's mound then rode on Hughes, and Keslinger. I was really tired since Friday night I had attended a late dinner at the inlaws. I kept myself awake by listening to Techno and doing short shots of Jack Daniel's.
Hellmut was chased by demons and took micro-naps on his bike while he rode on his trusty Gunnar. The more tired I became the more hyper I felt. We walked up the steep hill on Johnson's, then we rode offroad on Merrit Prairie. We finally made it to Dekalb and stopped for a much needed cup of strong coffee at the bucks. We were outside all through the night arriving at 9:00 a.m. at the Ari house. My daugther was watching cartoons, while the wife was still resting in bed.
Monday morning the Slender Fungus met at the Ari house and headed north Towards Belvedere. We rolled into town and stopped for a quick lunch of Tortas at the mexican place. Rolled back with a stiff headwind, and then rode into Knute forest preserve for some b-road training. We rode the loose gravel and severe mud all the way back home.
Sunday 12:00 a.m. til 9:00 a.m.
Monday 10:00 a.m. til 3:30 p.m
Tuesday 2 hrs commute.
I hope to make up for what happened last month. In the meantime we will just keep riding all we can.
best,
Ari

Frostbike visit on Feb 19-20th, 2010

Dave Gray's Pugsley

Handspun wheelbuilding area at QBP.

Shock treatment workbench. They service your dead shock here. Great work!

an Honor to have my picture taken with Dave Gray

Every winter we looke foward to our annual pilgramage to Frostbike,which takes place in the international headquarters of Quality Bicycle Parts also known as QBP. We loaded up the Honda Element and took off on Friday the 19th. We made record time thanks to a rocking tailwind and Tobie's excellent drafting skills. We fueled up at the gas station with coke and other nasty foods. All the dieting was out the window at this point. We arrived and cruised around St. Paul and went for some food. We later soaked our frozen bodies in some hot water and had a couple of drinks before bed. Saturday was the grand day where we went to the expo. I had a million questions in my head and made a mad dash to get some stuff out of the way. I met up with the awesome guys at Salsa and got a chance to also talk for a long while with Guitar Ted. I also very much enjoyed my conversation with Dave Gray from Surly Bikes, the main guru behind the Surly Pugsley. His personal rig was there fresh from having raced the gruelling Arrowhead 135. Dave is the coolest guy on earth. I stared at his bike and realized how intricate some of his tinkering was. It was a great pleasure to be able to talk to somebody like him.
At the Salsa booth we were able to see all the new Salsa stuff that will be coming out soon. It is so exciting to see where the bike industry is going. Riding is going to be such a blast! I also visited Portland Design Works, talked at length about lights, racks, and pumps. Had a mini-seminar on all things Edge Composites and was thoroughly impressed. This coming from a guy that doesn't have a great opinion on Carbon Fibers. Also met with Thule racks, Knog,Challenge tires, Continental, Brooks,All City,Maxxis, WTB, Selle San Marco, Deda and many more.
All the QBP employees are so nice and will help and answer all questions. I was so impressed. We had the rare treat to hang out with the guys from Surly. I hefty glass of whiskey refreshed the dry throat and it was cool to chill for a while.
We hit the great pizzeria called Luce and dined on some great food. More drinks at the hotel, and that about was the end. I did purchase a Salsa Cycles Big Mama full suspension 29er complete bike. I will write about it soon. I am now concentrating on my T.I. Bikes and want to stop riding other bikes for the time being. Also Cane creek was awesome in giving us a 110 headset along with the info packet that we received in their seminar. Tons of brochures were also collected.
Surly, Salsa Cycles and Civia make great products and if anyone has questions make sure to give us a call since we know their stuff in depth.


Check out the flickr set from Frostbike

best,


ari



Here is the Flicky link to the Frostbike images

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20897064@N02/sets/72157623432337771/

wednesday night riding

Salsa La Cruz beating up the trail, yes there is no kickstand on the bike

Hellmut new mutatig form of entertainment. It's called Lurching.
It entails, hanging out on the side of the rode in the middle of a winter night and as cars pass by you lean over and just stare at them. I think we scared a lot of motorists last night. Took a break here and had a midnight communion of Irish Whiskey and Gels.

Gumby had a busted Truck to fix and was unable to attend the wednesday night festivities. We did ride hard and long in his honor and will be looking foward to riding with him soon. We were on T.I. bikes and hit the GWT and it was a mess. Ice, snow and huges puddles of soft mud underneath. We then rode out to South Elgin, St Charles and then back. Departed at 830 pm from the Ari house and I arrived home at 2:00 a.m. I felt great except for my left leg that after a total of 5.5 hours of saddle time for yesterday was starting to complain. Stopped at the Gas station and some lady told us that once, in the middle of the winter she had seen two riders at 330am on Campton Hills rd. "Those guys were crazy, they were riding in the middle of the fog and ice". I simply replied that it was the Slender Fungus Association going on a mutation ride.
The ride home was crisp and cold. Good riding, legs are getting there, temps are warming up. My only concern is not to get any sickness with my lungs. They hate changes in weather. I should just move to Duluth, Minnesota!
best,
ARi

T.I. machine takes a beating and keeps ticking

Jay built Salsa La Cruz

So I have been without a missing of a beat been outside all winter. I have been called crazy, stupid, insane and other names while going at it. But the goal of toeing the line with Charlie, Ek, the incredible Pramann, the Braun bros, my fellow comrades, and everyone else involved has kept me motivated. Riding with Hellmut has been incredible and a great delight.
Dealing with the snow, ice and horrid conditions has been a delicate situation. Always riding careful, not taking risks, no turning too quickly. The fear of a bad crash always around the corner and without warning.
So today the demons had their way. I saw the warming temps, the melting of the snow, the moderate winds as an opportunity to finaly pull out that T.I. bound bike. I won't be riding the Pugsley and the star studded Rockhopper will not be the other option. My possible bike would be the Salsa La Cruz that my friend Jay so carefully built.
I rode to work without effort as the Chris King hubs float and sang their angry bee song. The nitto noodle bars a comfortable perch for my tired arms. The new Rolls saddle, firm but right.
Hellmut was not convinced about riding tonight. He offered me a ride home since he had driven into school. For a moment I thought it might be a good idea to catch a ride, have dinner, do family time and then get out tonight and ride.
Of Course I made the wrong choice and decided to ride. My princeton tec eos light was low on battteries and my dinotte T.I. light had not been charged. The trail was mostly dry but some sections were covered in that nightmarish thin layer of what is known as "black ice". I rode gingerly picking the right lines in my diming lights. I gained speed for a bit and then out of now part of the field the tall La Cruz was coming down. Ari, the rider never got a chance to unclip and came falling down with the pony. My hand landed in soft mud, brain said: "great suface to land", then the elbow hit the mud as well, then the hip hit the mud, then the section below the knee hit the edge of the trail and the brain said: Bad effing place to hit the leg, might cause bad damage, then the whole rest of me made the ground shake as it all came to a halt.
I quickly jumped up expecting something broken, I shook and streched, I walked, immediately slipping again, my booties off the front of the shoes making me look like a clown. I saw all the winter work slipping away. I cursed my stupidity. I iced the area for a long time and it is sore, really sore, Tea, whiskey and some advil will help and tomorrow I will saddle up again.
My carbon-fibers free bike is doing well. It is covered in mud but nothing is broke. A testament that steel is real.

Watch out for the changes in the seasons. Ride careful, don't underdress as know is prime time to get sick.

best,

Ari

Monday night riding

Got out on my own tonight just to loosen up the legs and start fiddling with the Salsa La Cruz. I am debating between three bikes for the T.I.

Gunnar Crossahairs with 50x34x12x26 (not low enough gearing). Position is dialed, trusty steed.

Salsa La Cruz. Disc brakes 45x34x11x32 Needs work on Position. a bit heavier than gunnar

Salsa Fargo. Crazy bike. Discs, triple with superlow gears. Heavy, ??? overkill if dry.

Anyway, I have time to think about all this. I know I will make the right choice and things will work out. Tonight was bitey cold riding with just booties and my summer shoes. I sure will miss the cold when its gone. I was starting to get used to it and actually liking it. The stars were out, the moon was out and I even heard a Coyote sing me a song. GWT is melting and soon enough it will be possible to make it to St. Charles again. Wow, that is going to be weird.

Best,
aRi