Long Ride Saturday

Got up at dark thirty to meet up with Ron at the secret location. The morning was perfect to say the least. I was aboard the Mondonico since I was again testing the whole geared versus SS thing. We rolled out westbound with the goal to make it to Woodstock,IL. We zigzagged from one town to the other until we got to the Woodstock Town Square. We intersected Cookie as he was on his way to Wheelwerks. 
We arrived to Woostock at 930am with 60 miles under our belt. We ate some great food at a Vegetarian restaurant and then started to head home. I was feeling good and knew that I had to keep rolling to make it in time for work. On the prairie path I flatted the rear  which I changed in a flash. Again closer to home I flatted the rear again with a defective tube that came apart from the seams. I thanked having a full size frame pump. 
A made it in time to shower and put my restaurant clothes on and bolt out the door. My legs were tired and I was a bit deydrated. Totals for the day ended up at 120 miles. Left the house at 530am and returned at 230pm. July, Aug and Sept have given me some good rides. July the 140 mile Death Ride. August the 205 mile Demi-Dirt, A 105 Ride to Kane County, Yesterdays 120 mile Woodstock run. 
Good stuff this long distance riding. 
best, 
Ari

The morning was excellent. Cool , no wind and No effing cars!!

Ron aboard his trusty Gunnar Streetdog.

We rode around Crystal Lake

WE ate here and it was awesome. Really awesome. 

On the way back we cruised through Bull Valley. 

More thoughts on the Singlespeed thing.

I have been spending a lot of time on the Rivendell Quickbeam singlespeed as of late. The 42x18 gearing has become second nature at this point and is easy to turn with no effort. Revving up to get the bike to roll at 20 mph and then coasting,then coming down to about 16mph then another revving up. 
Singlespeeding is not a constant speed if you try to go fast. It gives you a chance to breath, a chance to relax. Again yesterday I took my road bike out with the gears. I felt the gears too hard and too easy. I started to wonder whether I was "unlearning" to ride a geared bike. Maybe after all these years I don't really like gears.  A moment of confusion set in. I arrived home tired with sore legs. 
I had breakfast, got dressed and hopped on the Quickbeam for the ride to work. 
It seemed calmer, easier and I was still going at a good speed. 
This experiment has me thinking a lot. I want to go for another long singlespeed ride on Sunday and keep thinking about this. It has me intrigued. 

Last minute change of plans

We were supposed to head out south for the holiday but my little one brought home a flu bug on Friday afternoon. By Friday night she was sick and we canceled our trip. So last minute I arrange and early, early ride with long distance companion Ron. We met up at the Greek Islands in Lombard and started heading west and southwest almost all the way out to Yorkville. I was again on the Quickbeam and Ron was on his Custom Gunnar Crosshairs pushing a 42x18 same as my singlespeed on the Rivendell. We picked up Bruce in Naperville and had a good ride. I arrived home fresh with no leg or muscle pain. I did not have any food to take with so the whole ride I drank some roctane and had 1 gel. I was really hungry when I got home but did not bonk during the ride. I am fortunate to have these riding companions. Getting up early pays again since I arrived home at 1130 am with 75 miles in the legs. Todays pace was a bit calmer since we just wanted to chill and enjoy the peace of the early morning. We did some trail riding also since the fog was very dense and we worried about getting hit by a car. 
best, 
Ari 
Below is the route we did. According to my Garmin. 

Singlespeeding versus Geared bikes. What do you think??

Singlespeeding to freedom. 42x18  and 42x15 fixed on the other side. 700x33mm Rivendell Jack Browns. Rivendell Quickbeam bike.

So I was having this thought while riding the Demi-dirt a couple of weeks ago. I started the ride quite stiff and feeling kind of painful at the start at 330 am. Soon enough my legs started to loosen up as I went up and down the hills. I spun out the gear and was churning at about 18 miles per hour. I had a little fear in thinking of tackling 200 miles in this way. I truly thought I would have a horrible day with my cocky, dumb decision. Who was I kidding? Who was I trying to impress? I guess I just wanted to see what would happen. 

In just 3 hours we had made it to Sycamore and my legs were fresh. No pain, no nothing. At around mile 150 I got sick and tired of spinning my legs off. We had a slight tailwind and I just wanted to get home. So I flipped my wheel over to the fixed side which is 42x15. It felt great to have a higher gear and I instantly brought it up to 20mph. 

I felt awesome riding this way. My feet were killing me with my old shoes and the Flite Max saddle that I was trying out was killing my behind. I should not experiment with a saddle on a 200 mile ride but I should did find out the Max is a no go. 

This past Sunday I rode 105 miles on my Gunnar Geared Cross bike. This bike has a 34x45 in front with a 11x34 in rear. All day my legs felt heavy. All day I searched for the right gear with no avail. I spun out and I mashed the heavy gears. I arrived home tired and sore. I went straight to bed and fell asleep. 

Why is this? Why did I end the 200 mile ride on the singlespeed fresh?? Does not thinking of shifting have something to do with it? Does having only one gear  condition the legs to work with that gear alone???  Is it easier to ride a singlespeed in long distances??? 

These are the questions I have and am working on. IF you have any ideas let me know. Ben Shockey, Troy Krause, Jay Barre and others have finished Trans Iowa on singlespeeds.  

I need to find out. Soon. 

Ari 

Early Riding times.

It hasn't been easy but I am trying to adopt to riding early, early morning on Sundays. This means getting to bed early on Saturday. That doesn't work since I am serving at the restaurant until late. But once you set your alarm and just jump out of bed it gets easier. I also have all my stuff layed out the night before. I put a little extra pressure in my tires so by morning they are pumped right. Bottles in the fridge ready to go. So, I wake up at 330, get ready, and by 4 I am rolling out there. At this time there is no traffic. All the drunks are home. There is a couple of delivery guys out there and you pretty much have the whole place to yourself. 
So last time I left at 4 am and got home at 1130 am with 105 miles on my legs. I napped and had the rest of the Sunday to enjoy with the Family.
Give it a try and let me know if you want to ride with me. 
Ari 

Ogden ave is a ghost town at 4 am on Sundays. 

The new Stearns rd.  project. Truly impressive. 

Fox river over Stearns rd. 

Making it into 2013.

As most of you know I am not very techy at all. However, we at the shop are making an effort to be up with the times. We have been updating our facebook account so you know what we do. Also good friend Ricardo passed onto me a Garmin 705 so I can learn all about GPS. I think it is a valuable tool for when I get lost out there. Here is what I did today. Departure time was 4 am and I arrived at 1130 am with 100+ miles.
Thank you again Ricardo,
Ari

T.J.'s Macho Man Disc

Certain people can ride certain bikes. T.J. can only ride bikes that are well made and bombproof. His Pugsley has seen endless miles and variations and is one of his favorites. Then he added an All City Spacehorse and fell in love with it. It's his do it all bike. Now he has added the new Macho Man Disc. This bike is amazing and he says that it handles like mad. I can't wait to see it live and throw a leg over it. 

Ari