When all racers stay indoors.

Meet Billabong, aka William Noll. Commuter extraordinaire, teacher, VietNam vet and the nicest guy on the planet. I was lucky to meet Bill when I started working at Hartley's. Bill is kind of a legend around where we live. You see, this guy rides all the time and except for the nasty crashes that he has encountered nothing keeps him from riding to work everyday. Bill is a teacher at Proviso and takes care of Special Needs kids. Bill has toured the U.S. by bike , has worked for Outward Bound and has been physically active all his life. The picture above is of Bill leaving the shop. HE brought us a coffee roll and stopped by to warm up and look for any new blingy parts that had arrived.
Todays ride was an old trek 7000 equipped with nokian studded tires, moosemitts and panniers with raincovers. Bill has so much gear and he is always prepared for any weather. When on a ride with Bill, he carries extra tubes, power gels and whatever you need. His daily commute is around 30miles and when the weather is nice he does an extra 15 tagged onto the commute.
Today we had blizzard conditions and it snowed all day. The temperatures hovered in the teens and we had winds with gusts up to 40mph. They plow trucks just could not keep the roads clean. Thousands of flights were cancelled in Chicago and the highway system was slow as molasses. I closed shop today at 6pm and mounted my Ruffian 29er with studded tires and got home at 620 pm. I enjoyed the ride, did not fall and got a good workout plowing thru the white stuff. I am thankful to work close to home and not having to be stuck on a highway for hours.
My bridgestone Rbt is on ebay and if I sell that and some more stuff I am ordering a Ira Ryan Porteur frame. Punch him up in google and check out the loot.
Can't say enough about my lake boots and my Ruffian. The Quickbeam is waiting for spring weather.
careful out there,
aRi