Sunday Night Riding

Looking out for blown up truck tires.

The nice wide shoulder once you get into Kane County.

Sunday was one of those long days and all the opportunities for a ride were quickly dissapearing. It wasn't until 9 pm that I was done with a ton of stuff that just had to be done. I made the decision to go for a ride at 930 pm no matter what. I had a pile of demons to burn. The weather was right, little wind, couple of sprinkles and the traffic on a Sunday night is pretty low. The sheep are all sleeping to start the next week of labor and suffering. I quickly loaded the Quickbeam , took my trusty helmet light and got on the road. I basically road rte 64 to rte 47 made a left then took empire rd to Burlington road. Headed south til I crossed 64 again and it became La Fox Rd. Took that to Campton Hills rd and romped up the hills on the Singlespeed. Took it all the way to Anderson and then made a left again on 64 all the way home. I was able to punch in 40 miles in 2 hrs and 12 minutes. I was motivated. Got home showered and went into a deep coma til the next morning. I got into nobodys way.

Best,

Ari

Slender Fungus Wednesday Riding and ADHD

GWT trail riding at night. Glad you missed it!



Last night was one of those first night when the temps really dropped. I was really tired from not sleeping well the night before and I knew we were going to be in for a long one. We finally made it to the end of the trail telling each other incessant old stories to make the miles go by. I kept blaming my slowness with the weight of the Shocker and Gumby kept saying that his new Wool jacket was weighing him down. We both had no legs last night and add to that the sudden cold and the millions and millions of pounds of Ragweed pollen and that just did me in. We deviated off the GWT and found some secret single track and decided to explore it some more the next time.
We also agreed that the bicycle industry is suffering from a severe case of ADHD. It is crazy the amount of product that is coming out on a daily basis. New products from all the big companies, new niches, new tires, more and more new lights, new fabrics. All freaking bikes have to transform into a dozen different bikes. Bikes have to be 29er, geared, single, 650B, have multiple positions, etc etc. At this point I am just plain sick of it and the worst part of it all is that crazy Interbike Bicycle Show in Las Vegas has not even occurred yet.
Talk about too much information! Talk about too much visual overload! So for the time being I will not be looking at anything for a couple weeks. I will give my rattled brain a rest and concentrate on one thing: Riding my stupid bike.
I will enjoy the coming fall weather, I will welcome the first couple of freezes that will annihilate all those blood hungry mosquitoes. I will welcome the end of allergy season. Maybe on a rainy night I will check out what is new for next year. Next in order will be to get the winter and rain bikes ready with fenders, racks, bags, and lights.I still hope to get out to the magical state of Iowa do some hill work to remind myself of how fat I am.
We are also planning a field trip out to Cabela's for a Winter wardrobe collection. We's getting ready.

I bid you luck in the coming autumn season. Gumby will be doing a ride out of his house and the Flandria ride will happen in October some time.

Until then,


Ari

TRANS IOWA V7 site is up and running

Trans Iowa Version #7
april 23-24, 2011
race starts on saturday at 4:00 a.m.
Pre-meeting on Friday for race packet

The madness starts. First its to make it on the roster. So some training starts now because if you wait to get on the roster and then start , you have missed the boat. Once on the roster all hell breaks loose. Cross bikes, studded tires, Pugsley all set to go. Lights have been checked, Thermos in stock, Maybe some more wool. The desire is there to conquer the greatest monster of them all

Resting, Thinking

One of the great gravel roads around where I live.

As the air freshens and the leaves turn to brown the thoughts of the mega-monster spring event starts to invade my brain. Trans-Iowa Version #7 will happen April 23-24 of 2011. I will be going into to event with 4 years of experience and by know I hope to have ironed out all the kinks and hiccups that I have encountered. Bike setup, tires and all that stuff will start to become more and more important as the months go by. I will start training a lot sooner and will really work on losing some more weight and staying flu and colds free. Last year was my first year ever (47 years) that I had not become sick with any upper respiratory type illness. Even my mom was shocked. Maybe its because I spent so much time outside in the freezing temps.
I drank a ton of fluids, soup, tea, water, washed my hands a lot and made sure to dress properly. It all worked out just like I wanted it. I had two reliable training partners and that made a huge difference. This year that might be a bit different. I know Iwill be able to count on Gumby and I will be doing a lot of solo riding. I have pre-established routes, and will be doing more loop type training rides where I won't be really far from home when the temps drop very low.
New additions to this year will be The incredible Pugsley. I know I will be riding that beast a lot. It is built and the preliminary rides have been very successful. As for a studded tire bike I might be switching to 29er and not opting for the 26er anymore.
Yesterday I took the day completely off the bike and today I am not sure whether I will ride. I might do a night ride later on today. I hope everyone has a great Labor day celebration and that you keep well.

best,

Ari

Friday Riding

The wind brought some incredible clouds and color.

Vitamin-G for afterwork therapy. BTW photo of Shocker Command Area.

Gumby directing me as to where the rocks should go.

Real busy on my day off with Giugi sick, banking and grocery shopping. I opted to forget the riding and since we close at 5 on Friday to call it a ride. We left the shop with Gumby and rode out in a vicious wind coming out of the west. Temps really dropped since yesterday and it was the cool off that we were waiting for. We made it to the bridge that is out on Keslinger and decided to make our own bridge and cross the rivers. We threw a bunch of rocks and made it across and continued our loop. The ride back home with the 25mph wind was a joke. Ended my day with a happy 35 miles and another 2 hours plus of Shocker Therapy.

Ari

One day of riding the Shocker

Begian invasion.

The greatly feared Great Western Trail

The Shocker. Ari's fitness bike

Decided to keep Giugi off the school bus as much as possible. The reason is that it takes her over 40 minutes to complete a 1.5 mile journey. And she has to do a switch at the high school. So starting this week we have been leaving the house much later and riding the trailabike to school. It takes 10 minutes, she gets some exercise, and she arrives happy to class. I then came home and had time to prepare lunch and get my ass to work. Hopped back on the Shocker and rode to work and back. Worked all day, came home and Giugi was getting ready for bed. She was telling the wife how she rode to school and some girls were asking her about her bike. At 9:00 p.m the Slender Fungus ride took place. BTW we are glad you missed it. Temps were warm and it was muggy. Lots of Corn Moths, Spider webs and Mosquitoes kept us busy. Rode into St. Charlies, Got into town, did a couple hills and took the long way home. I totalled a metric century on the Shocker while Gumby clocked 46 miles for the day. Came home around 12:30 a.m. showered, went to bed and passed out.
Trans Iowa is starting to infiltrate my brain. I am already thinking about bikes, training and so forth. Gumby is talking about coming along for support. April is slowly starting to take shape.

Slender Fungus Wednesday

It's rainy, it's crappy and we will meet at 9 pm tonight to do the 50 mile route out to S. Elgin.
Hope you are not there.
Ari