Nice time off everything and now it is back to the ratrace. Thanksgiving day was a blast. I started the day by leaving the house at 8 am and heading out towards my father in laws house in Sycamore. The ride is about 50 miles. The sun was out and it was rather mild for the end of November. I rode the trusty Gunnar Fixie. I rode towards Batavia thru Fermi lab and all the while I thought about how cool it was that Jamie had sent me out on the bike. She was to get the girls ready , pack the car and drive all the way there. I felt blessed. I took an old backpack from Billabong with a couple of bananas my inhaler, camera and some water. I was afraid to miss out on this one. Damn , I did not even inflate my tires. I got to Batavia and headed north to Geneva, then St Charles hunting down the Great Western trail which runs along 64 and goes all the way to Sycamore. The trail is flat, straight and gravel. Man if you want to meditate, chill , think, that is the way to go. I kept a good pace since I was targeting 1130 for arrival time. I took two short breaks to strech and shoot some pictures. I took the second break to strech and eat my naners. I was dressed perfect. Shorts, Knee warmers, wool socks, wool undershirt, jersey, windbreaker, my beloved craft balaclava, cotton cap and my windproof gloves. Bike, position, everything was perfect. Ran into Ken in Wasco and said a quick hello and kept booking. I arrived in 3 hrs 20 minutes with no pain..... as if the ride had been too short.
Thankgiving dinner was great and it was cool to hang out with the fam. Friday was work, saturday work and today Sunday we went with JAmie to Argonne and did two good laps of the gravel. My gunnar had a flat so I took the Bianchi. It was really weird riding gears and freewheeling and also the low (conventional) bars on the bianchi felt really strange. The bike also felt loopy. Riding a fixie offroad with a quick steering fork and skinny tires is like cheating. I hope Matt Chester comes back, that dude sure knows a lot about position.
Image #1: The Great Western Trail St Charles to Sycamore
Image#2: Taking a break along the trail
Image#3: Almost two hours on the bike and twenty to go.
Peace to all,
Ari
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