Oregon, IL

 Since we don’t work today we decided on a short trip out to Oregon, Il. This is a cool old town next to the Rock River off route 64. We like to visit there and grab dinner at the Blackhawk steak pit. 

After dinner we crossed the river and drove up the hill to Lowden State Park, home of the famous Blackhawk statue. The statue was recently restored thanks to a lot of donations. 

At the same time we were enjoying our dinners there were a bunch of gravel grinders participating in the “Dusk to Dust” event. A gravel ride done in the dark, with options of 20,40,60 miles. We saw the bike racked cars all over town as we visited the restaurant. 

When we lived out in Sycamore, IL this area used to be one of our destinations in our training rides. Sycamore to Oregon is 34 miles one way. It was fun riding here via the back roads and enjoying some of the rolling hills in this area. Great memories for sure. 

Thanks for reading. 

Ari

Work with what you have

 A few weeks ago I had commented to my friend GT how I hadn’t been riding a whole lotta gravel as of late. We do have quite a lot of miles of rails to trails. They are so smooth and groomed I routinely do them on my road bike. 

I’ve been doing a lot of road riding and that’s been fine. The group is very good, very punctual and we start super early and get home early as to have time to do other things. It’s always good to ride with others to have the company and mainly the motivation. 

I hope to get out in some real gravel in the coming weeks and enjoy the changing colors which here in Chicagoland we are slowly starting to see. 

I need to do some work on my main gravel bike, Black Mountain Cycles Monster cross disc, aka MCD. Some gearing issues but mainly tires, tubeless and all that kind of stuff. Been toying with the idea of a suspension stem for a while. They are kinda speedy but might be worth it. I’ll post some photos of the MCD so you can have an idea of the changes I wanna make. 

In the meantime have a great weekend, happy Labor Day. Enjoy your rides and tell your family and friends how much you appreciate them. 

Thanks for reading, 

Ari

*** Video above is of this mornings Saturday ride. It was really well attended. 

The long month of August

Salsa Mariachi ti bike. Still a great ride

 August was a busy month for sure. I was able to ride 30 days in a row so far. Hope to ride tomorrow to make it a full month of riding, commuting and plain being outside. I have collected an amazing amount of mite bites. This little mites appeared to eat larvae from the Cicadas we had earlier. Now they are dropping and chewing on us. 

I have noticed some improvement in my riding with all the miles I piled on. I did have some knee pain on right leg, most likely due to a mal adjusted cleat. I carried a wrench yesterday and adjusted that cleat a couple times and today was better. 

I’m excited for the month of September, hoping to make it over to Iowa sooner than later. 

Ari

August 22, 2024 Road and Limestone ride.

The Surly Troll with 26” wheels

Added some Ergon grips for my achy wrists

Took the Continental Race King 26x2.2 and Installed the Panaracer RibMo

Kind of a real pointy profile. Weird

I really like this tire. Will save up for a rear

Traffic was horrible today. I think they hated my jersey

Trails were empty and good

Great western Trail

Prairie Path
 

I woke up kind of achy everywhere but resolved to get a good ride in to see if it would go away. Traffic, construction, tree cutting on the trails was at a peak. No matter what I wanted, where I wanted it wasn’t happening. I just kept plugging along grateful for the perfect weather and sunshine. I had intended to get my Pink Gravel bike out but found the front tire , which is tubeless, completely flat. It probably needs a replenishment since I haven’t used it in a while. 

I took the Mullett, my Giant Contend, and it handled all the surfaces no problem. I started off with arm warmers and soon enough the temps picked up and off they came. I got home tired, dehydrated and wondering whether my Car ‘r’ Coffins Jersey ticked off todays drivers. Oh well! 

Thanks for reading, 

Ari

Third week of August, 2024

 Been getting out in the am before work to get some miles before committing to 8 hours of labor. We are still getting a fair amount of bicycle repairs. The fall riding is in people’s minds. I really like this time of the year. Better colors, shorter days and a drop in the temperature make for great riding, specially on trails and gravel, if you have it. 

This year in Chicago, and elsewhere, we had the 17 year Cicadas emerge. That lasted a while and we all thought it was done. The aftermath of the Cicadas are the mites that have come to feast on Cicada eggs. The mites also like to land on people and give awful, itchy bites. They will supposedly be gone x end of August. Good times for sure. 

On another note been trying to dial in this All City Zig Zag that I’ve been riding. I went with a zero setback post and I truly could not get comfortable on that bike. The reach was the same as my other bikes but it just wasn’t right. I ended up measuring the setback (tip of saddle with plumb Bob then to center of Bb) and the bike that rides perfect was 9.5cm. 

The zero setback with the saddle slammed on rails was at 7cm. I ended up swapping the post to a setback and things are going in the right direction. Now the stem will have to get shortened to get back to that 87cm reach. To me these differences are important so one can sit on a bike and feel comfortable. Otherwise it’s a no go. 

Sunday Road ride

 I talked about this with my friend Mark last weekend as to how I haven’t been riding much gravel as of late. Mostly because I live just outside Chicago and what we have the most of is paved roads. We have some trail systems that have limestone but I just take my road bike on those as well since I turn the ride into a blended surface ride. 

Things were different when I resided in Dekalb county, IL where we had plenty of gravel roads to travel on. In order for me to get out there it entails a 50 mile drive with bike in car. I just cannot afford 2 hours of windshield time to do that. So I work with what I have. I make the best of it for now. As the fall approaches I’ll be doing my SS rides to Chicago and hitting up those limestone trails. 

The next order of business is to get them lights sorted since the days are getting shorter. Time to clean out and maybe rig up a bike with a generator hub. Sounds like a good project for the fall. 

Thanks for reading, 

Ari

Yesterday’s rain ride

It was a good day for a rain ride. Spent a fair amount of time figuring out some issues posting photos on this blog. I’m blessed to have some smart friends that were able to help me out. Thank you!