Please read this and then share it with people that don't ride bikes.

http://albertmcwilliams.com/post/54015994028/youre-going-to-kill-someone

Thanks for posting this Cookie.

Ari


Yeah, Slow your life down so you don't kill somebody. Too many close calls lately.

Heck of the North September 28th, 2013

The Slender Fungus will be heading north to Duluth, Minnnesota to participate in the Heck of the North. I will not be able to participate for various reasons. I have also crack a molar and have to wait until Monday to visit a dentist. Cookie, Gumby, T.J. and the Bonk King will be representing our gang. I wish you all a great time and hope that the weather cooperates. I shall be thinking of you during the weekend. 

T.J's All City Macho Man Disc





Good Luck Men,

Ari 

The Big River Assault ride.

Yet another one in the bag. Because of this years Transiowa I have committed myself to do some longer, more difficult rides. A lot of the difficulty has to do with working late on Saturday and completing these rides with little sleep. I did arrive late on Saturday night. The wife tried waiting up for me but I found her sound asleep on the couch. My daughter was up trying to sneak in some time on SNL. I swiftly sent her to bed and started to assemble my stuff and prep my bike. I hit the sack at 12:30 am and had until 3:00 am to refuel my body with sleep. 
Actually it felt like I did a wink and woke up. My chest was burning and my stomach was a mess. I rolled down my street and cursed myself for about 1 hour. I had second thoughts. I fought them off. I started to think how far the Miss. was. I fought it off. 
So, around 6am I was around Wasco, IL and it started to rain. It rained on and off from that time until 2pm when we ended the ride. The ride turned out to be a soaker and very cold. The Bonk King and Kirt ended up in Oregon. Cookie and I continued with 50 more miles to go. At that point I was determined and knew I would accomplish my goal. We rode Townline rd in some mushy Gravel. We climbed a bunch of hills and finally started to relax. I was enjoying myself, specially when the rain let up for about 30 minutes. With 10 miles to go we got the big soaker and all waterproof stuff caved in. Thanked The Bonk King for the Ibex Knickers he had given me for my birthday. I thanked Rapha for the Wool Jersey. I would have frozen in Lycra. The Bonk King also left us with his flask and when we got too cold we would take a drink and that warmed us up. That was a super generous thought. 

Dark Thirty Am 

Bonk King, Kirt and Cookie. Pee Break. 

It was a gnarly day. We saw no epic Rapha Riders out there

Townline rd was super cool. Thanks Jakey La Cruz

I think my brain was frozen. I know my hand were. 

Cookie and I have had some good rides together. 

These rollers started to hurt after all those miles.

Took a break in Lanark,IL. no much going on there. 

Antifreeze

My daughter wanted to bring this friendly dog home. 

Yes, there is Pelikans in Iowa. 

Our goal was met. 

Off to the Pumpkin Patch. 

My daughter was very excited to hang out with Cookie

My lovely wife and I. She deals with my endurance stuff. Thank you! 

We arrived in Savana at 2pm and then seconds later the wife showed up. She had warm, dry clothes for me and a huge Stanley Thermos with Tea. I really love this woman. She drove for 3 hours to pick us up. We had Pizza and then crossed over the bridge for drinks at Bombfire. 
On the way back we loaded up the wagon with Pumpkins and enjoyed the drive back listening to 80's music. It was a fantastic day that I will never forget. Total mileage for the day was 135 miles, our average was about 13mph.  Thanks to all who were part of it. 
Long live the Slender Fungus!
Ari 

Assault to Mississippi ride on Sunday

Ride was a success. Left at 330am and arrived at river at 2pm. Rode in the rain for at least 7 hours. 
Photos and details to follow.
Ari

Assault on the Mighty Mississippi River Tomorrow Sunday the 15th of September, 2013

The shoreline of the Mississippi River

Tonight I will most likely have to work at the restaurant so I will have a late night and early rise again. My intention is to ride from Westmont,IL to Savanna,IL completing the ride of 130 miles to make it to the river. It is supposed to rain, storm and be cold. Wool, a rain jacket and light will be in order to make the ride. I don't know if I will have a pick-up for the return or I will just U-turn and hobo my way back home. I need an adventure and tomorrow seems to be the time for one. I will most likely be on a geared bike to have bail out. I really want to ride the Quickbeam but I will experiment with the Chili con Crosso and the Thudubuster seatpost. 

I will be at the old house in Sycamore at 7 am and will head west. Anyone wanting to tag along is welcome. Bonk King and Kirk are riding out to Oregon and back. T.J. is a possibility. Cookie might meet me there as well. The summer is dwindling away and it's time to stay rolling. 

Hope to see someone out there,

best, 

Ari 

Tentative Ride sometime soon.

I thought that we need to get together and do a ride soon. Yesterday I was out in White Pines Forest and came back on some roads that Giggles and I used to ride. I thought I should start the route out of my old house and have a decent start time. Not Darkthirty. So, I have a weddding coming up and some other stuff and will work out a date. We will have some pavement and some gravel. Route will about 1100' of  climbing in the 80 miles. We will stop in Oregon for some food and re-supply. So if you are interested let me know. 
Ari 

                    Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRide

               

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.