090713
Try this one on for size:
Monday, July 13, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Kettle Moraine, etc.
090711
Last Sunday I went for my first ever proper mountain bike ride. Having spent years riding a mountain bike in the wrong terrain before discovering that road bikes are for roads (!?), I finally went to see some of the terrain that spawned the most common bikes in the city.
As stated on the Wisconson Off-road Bicycling Association's website:
"Located in the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest are some of the best mountain bike trails in the country. Both the John Muir and Emma F. Carlin trail systems offer a great opportunity to test your riding skills.
Well, my friend JBI and myself drove up so I could take said test. He is an old, old hand at the mountain biking who had hit these trails many times, but hadn't been in a couple of years. After some reallly dumb driving detours courtesy of the iPhone's Google Maps app (do not put too much trust in such maps in rural areas as "approximate location" can, and did in this case, mean "give or take 20-ish miles"), we arrived at Backyard Bikes where I was to rent a suitable bike for my foray. I just told them my size and to set me up with what seemed good. What I ended up with was this Gary Fisher Cobia, a 21" frame 29er mountain bike. These are mountain bikes with 700c wheels (rather than the smaller 26" wheel), which seem to be all the rage these days.
The first thing I had to do was ride this thing about a mile and a half down the road to the trailhead and, let me tell you, I remembered why I was so floored when I first rode a decent road bike. Riding even a modified mountain bike in the city is like riding a road bike through molasses, but with the Stay-Puft tires on this thing, it was like riding through setting cement! I pulled up to JBI in the parking lot and asked "are these tires really necessary?" to which he replied "you'll see once we're in there."
He did a little parking lot tinkering on his custom built Ted Wojcik bike, which apparently regularly gets some "whoa dude, old school!" reactions in the forest, I futzed with my seat position and went over and bought a couple of trail passes and off we went.
We went in on the Blue Trail, which is the big loop around the whole area (10 miles) and is "intermediate" apparently. I would not yet want to see "advanced" because intermediate was plenty! This trail is like a roller coaster that you have to navigate yourself. In many places the clearance is barely wider than your handlebars and its just a shoulder shaking, upper body crushing job to move along at a decent pace and keep yourself on the trail. I found it highly amusing what you could roll over on this bike. I'd be swinging wildly back and forth on the narrow trail and suddenly hit a little jog left, not quite staying on the trail and see that I was veering into a 2' high boulder and think "I'm done for," only to roll right up over it without even trying. Same for giant tree trunks in the path, pipe-sized tree roots, etc. etc. It was pretty funny! Another thing that you learn very quickly (thanks for the tip beforehand JBI!) is that it doesn't really pay to climb out of the saddle as your traction pretty much completely disappears if you are not in the saddle to weigh your back wheel down. Sometimes it can't be avoided (standing) and then you just end up in this comedic mix of climbing and skidding in place. There were a few climbs where I was absolutely sure I was not going to make it, but somehow I always did.
I had to stop about every 15 to 20 minutes to just sweat from every pore in my body and gulp down some precious water. The nice part was that the sweat was great air-conditioning once you started back up.
Did I mention that this is some GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS forest out there? Every once in a while we'd come into a clearing where you could look around (like the area in the picture above) and it would just take my breath away. We rode around 3/4s of the John Muir trail loop and then went off onto the Emma Carlin connector trail to add a few miles in. The main loop is one way, which means that once you're on it, you're on it! The connector was ostensibly two way, but we ended up being the only people we saw going back the way we came, so that was a bit confusing. There were some pretty new cuts and confusing signage back there though, maybe next time I'll ask at the bike shop.
After a couple of miles on the connector trail, JBI came down with a flat and we decided to fix it and head back as the day was waning a bit by then.
Speaking of which, what a beautiful day it was! Low 80s, sunny, just a picture perfect day. All told, we rode something like 15 miles in about an hour and a half. Not exactly a marathon distance, but it left me feeling as if I'd ridden 60 hard miles on a road bike.
Once we got back to the bike shop, we sampled the wares from their great little cafe/snack shop. They make an assortment of tasty healthy sandwiches and salads and also have a STELLAR beer selection. I pounded a New Glarus Cherry Ale (750ml) to slake my considerable thirst and then finished off the last 1/3rd of JBI's for good measure. We had a nice drive back home (nice for me anyway as I just vegged out in the passenger's seat) and I collapsed onto the couch for an hour or so before I could do anything. Exhausting!
I would not describe it as relaxing, by any measure, something that I often think of with road biking, but it was certainly exhilirating! I am looking forward to my next trip. Not sure if I'm ready to dip my toes into building/owning a mountain bike yet, but knowing myself, I'm sure that will change eventually!
In other news, I have ridden about 140 road miles this week and am still hoping to squeeze in another 30 today. I'm feeling pretty good about my very unstructured "training" so far. I did a really nice ride day before yesterday into the Forest Preserve off-street trail system up northwest of me. It is a pretty beautiful ride up there. Similar to Madison but with more crappy major street crossings to contend with (Touhy, sheesh!!!). I didn't make it all the way to the Botanical Gardens, but got pretty close before having to ride back to some work in the real world. We'll see if I make it today. The missus might come up there with me for a ride later.
I am going to shoot for riding to Milwaukee a week from tomorrow. I'll have to research the route, but I feel ready to do it. This will be the real test run for the HHH ride. I got some clip on aero bars in the mail yesterday at work, though I probably will not get them mounted until Monday. I think having this option will be a big help on a long, windy ride. Also, provides a great position to stretch a tight back out.
More soon...
Last Sunday I went for my first ever proper mountain bike ride. Having spent years riding a mountain bike in the wrong terrain before discovering that road bikes are for roads (!?), I finally went to see some of the terrain that spawned the most common bikes in the city.
As stated on the Wisconson Off-road Bicycling Association's website:
"Located in the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest are some of the best mountain bike trails in the country. Both the John Muir and Emma F. Carlin trail systems offer a great opportunity to test your riding skills.
Well, my friend JBI and myself drove up so I could take said test. He is an old, old hand at the mountain biking who had hit these trails many times, but hadn't been in a couple of years. After some reallly dumb driving detours courtesy of the iPhone's Google Maps app (do not put too much trust in such maps in rural areas as "approximate location" can, and did in this case, mean "give or take 20-ish miles"), we arrived at Backyard Bikes where I was to rent a suitable bike for my foray. I just told them my size and to set me up with what seemed good. What I ended up with was this Gary Fisher Cobia, a 21" frame 29er mountain bike. These are mountain bikes with 700c wheels (rather than the smaller 26" wheel), which seem to be all the rage these days.
The first thing I had to do was ride this thing about a mile and a half down the road to the trailhead and, let me tell you, I remembered why I was so floored when I first rode a decent road bike. Riding even a modified mountain bike in the city is like riding a road bike through molasses, but with the Stay-Puft tires on this thing, it was like riding through setting cement! I pulled up to JBI in the parking lot and asked "are these tires really necessary?" to which he replied "you'll see once we're in there."
He did a little parking lot tinkering on his custom built Ted Wojcik bike, which apparently regularly gets some "whoa dude, old school!" reactions in the forest, I futzed with my seat position and went over and bought a couple of trail passes and off we went.
We went in on the Blue Trail, which is the big loop around the whole area (10 miles) and is "intermediate" apparently. I would not yet want to see "advanced" because intermediate was plenty! This trail is like a roller coaster that you have to navigate yourself. In many places the clearance is barely wider than your handlebars and its just a shoulder shaking, upper body crushing job to move along at a decent pace and keep yourself on the trail. I found it highly amusing what you could roll over on this bike. I'd be swinging wildly back and forth on the narrow trail and suddenly hit a little jog left, not quite staying on the trail and see that I was veering into a 2' high boulder and think "I'm done for," only to roll right up over it without even trying. Same for giant tree trunks in the path, pipe-sized tree roots, etc. etc. It was pretty funny! Another thing that you learn very quickly (thanks for the tip beforehand JBI!) is that it doesn't really pay to climb out of the saddle as your traction pretty much completely disappears if you are not in the saddle to weigh your back wheel down. Sometimes it can't be avoided (standing) and then you just end up in this comedic mix of climbing and skidding in place. There were a few climbs where I was absolutely sure I was not going to make it, but somehow I always did.
I had to stop about every 15 to 20 minutes to just sweat from every pore in my body and gulp down some precious water. The nice part was that the sweat was great air-conditioning once you started back up.
Did I mention that this is some GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS forest out there? Every once in a while we'd come into a clearing where you could look around (like the area in the picture above) and it would just take my breath away. We rode around 3/4s of the John Muir trail loop and then went off onto the Emma Carlin connector trail to add a few miles in. The main loop is one way, which means that once you're on it, you're on it! The connector was ostensibly two way, but we ended up being the only people we saw going back the way we came, so that was a bit confusing. There were some pretty new cuts and confusing signage back there though, maybe next time I'll ask at the bike shop.
After a couple of miles on the connector trail, JBI came down with a flat and we decided to fix it and head back as the day was waning a bit by then.
Speaking of which, what a beautiful day it was! Low 80s, sunny, just a picture perfect day. All told, we rode something like 15 miles in about an hour and a half. Not exactly a marathon distance, but it left me feeling as if I'd ridden 60 hard miles on a road bike.
Once we got back to the bike shop, we sampled the wares from their great little cafe/snack shop. They make an assortment of tasty healthy sandwiches and salads and also have a STELLAR beer selection. I pounded a New Glarus Cherry Ale (750ml) to slake my considerable thirst and then finished off the last 1/3rd of JBI's for good measure. We had a nice drive back home (nice for me anyway as I just vegged out in the passenger's seat) and I collapsed onto the couch for an hour or so before I could do anything. Exhausting!
I would not describe it as relaxing, by any measure, something that I often think of with road biking, but it was certainly exhilirating! I am looking forward to my next trip. Not sure if I'm ready to dip my toes into building/owning a mountain bike yet, but knowing myself, I'm sure that will change eventually!
In other news, I have ridden about 140 road miles this week and am still hoping to squeeze in another 30 today. I'm feeling pretty good about my very unstructured "training" so far. I did a really nice ride day before yesterday into the Forest Preserve off-street trail system up northwest of me. It is a pretty beautiful ride up there. Similar to Madison but with more crappy major street crossings to contend with (Touhy, sheesh!!!). I didn't make it all the way to the Botanical Gardens, but got pretty close before having to ride back to some work in the real world. We'll see if I make it today. The missus might come up there with me for a ride later.
I am going to shoot for riding to Milwaukee a week from tomorrow. I'll have to research the route, but I feel ready to do it. This will be the real test run for the HHH ride. I got some clip on aero bars in the mail yesterday at work, though I probably will not get them mounted until Monday. I think having this option will be a big help on a long, windy ride. Also, provides a great position to stretch a tight back out.
More soon...
Thursday, July 9, 2009
TDF watching / HHH100 training
090708
So, Tour de France watching is happening after all. Starting on day 2 (unless I missed it before, but I thought I looked), there was suddenly an online package thingy at Versus.com to watch on the website. It's not super great quality video, the first hacker guy I found at dustin.tv was a much better feed of Versus' broadcast, but it's pretty decent, and it was not terribly expensive, like $35 I think for the whole tour.
Lots of weird action over the last few days. I liked the hard TTT. I guess a lot of riders don't but, man (respectfully) if all the courses were just made to be easy to ride, this probably wouldn't be a multi-million dollar spectator sport. Half a team crashing does shake things up a bit and those who did their homework (like Astana) had some serious spoils to gain.
I'm hard at work getting up to snuff for my late August century ride. I rode 31 miles along the lakefront Tuesday and 35 miles out on the Forest Preserve bike path towards the Botanical Garden today. It was my first day to go riding out there and it's pretty nice, though it's also pretty broken up by roads and crossings of very major, highway-like streets. Nice for around here anyway.
I'm going to try for at least 30-ish miles every other day and at some point, I'm planning on riding to Milwaukee to see what a 16-17mph pace is like for something close to 100 miles.
I just realized I haven't put anything up here about my first ever for reals mountain biking experience. Crazy, crazy riding. Coming shortly!
So, Tour de France watching is happening after all. Starting on day 2 (unless I missed it before, but I thought I looked), there was suddenly an online package thingy at Versus.com to watch on the website. It's not super great quality video, the first hacker guy I found at dustin.tv was a much better feed of Versus' broadcast, but it's pretty decent, and it was not terribly expensive, like $35 I think for the whole tour.
Lots of weird action over the last few days. I liked the hard TTT. I guess a lot of riders don't but, man (respectfully) if all the courses were just made to be easy to ride, this probably wouldn't be a multi-million dollar spectator sport. Half a team crashing does shake things up a bit and those who did their homework (like Astana) had some serious spoils to gain.
I'm hard at work getting up to snuff for my late August century ride. I rode 31 miles along the lakefront Tuesday and 35 miles out on the Forest Preserve bike path towards the Botanical Garden today. It was my first day to go riding out there and it's pretty nice, though it's also pretty broken up by roads and crossings of very major, highway-like streets. Nice for around here anyway.
I'm going to try for at least 30-ish miles every other day and at some point, I'm planning on riding to Milwaukee to see what a 16-17mph pace is like for something close to 100 miles.
I just realized I haven't put anything up here about my first ever for reals mountain biking experience. Crazy, crazy riding. Coming shortly!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
TDF watcher - It's not going to be that easy
090705
Doh!!
I'm picturing a massive control room full of copyright control specialists in the Amoury Sports Group batcave with massive supercomputers scouring the world for any way that unauthorized viewing is taking place. Yesterday I literally watched all sorts of web peer 2 peer feeds getting shut down one at a time. That nice Australian feed was fully happening then. Oh well, the internet will find a way. Or maybe I'll just get Comcast cable.... wait a minute, no I won't!!!
Anyway, I'm watching it "elsewhere" on the interwebs now. We'll see how long that lasts!
Doh!!
I'm picturing a massive control room full of copyright control specialists in the Amoury Sports Group batcave with massive supercomputers scouring the world for any way that unauthorized viewing is taking place. Yesterday I literally watched all sorts of web peer 2 peer feeds getting shut down one at a time. That nice Australian feed was fully happening then. Oh well, the internet will find a way. Or maybe I'll just get Comcast cable.... wait a minute, no I won't!!!
Anyway, I'm watching it "elsewhere" on the interwebs now. We'll see how long that lasts!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
misc. things
090704
Happy b-day USA! The usual din of bombs bursting in air is happening all over the city tonight. I saw a guy zip down my street in all black on a stealth black bike too and thought "don't catch a bottle rocket in the face buddy!" It's a bit scary out there, at least my dog certainly thinks so!
Here is an interesting op-ed a friend just sent along. It's a neat perspective on a situation that is usually viewed in a totally car-centric way. Namely, the desolation of the "Motor City."
TDF started today. I like watching the time trials even though, ostensibly it's one of the most boring parts of bike racing to watch. I guess it's just the understood tension and personal exertion that keeps me drawn in. It seems as if you can legitimately watch it on this Australian network's website, I thought they would somehow see your IP location and shut you down but it seems to be cool. Vive le tour! Fabian Cancellara, ouch!! Take that, mere mortals!
I'm officially "in training" for the Hotter Than Hell 100 in Wichita Falls, TX on August 28th now. I'm not sure what that's going to end up meaning, but I certainly think I need to be riding at least 120 miles per week from now on. I did bring my bike down to Houston for a trip home to visit family and did a nearly 40 mile ride with my old friend Ryan in some upper 90s heat. It was just fine, we actually literally rode abreast and talked the ENTIRE 38.5 miles. I guess that's some kind of cross-training!
I'm also going to take a trip up to Kettle Moraine Park in Wisconson tomorrow and do my first offroad biking since I was a little BMX-er back in 7th/8th grade! Going to rent a bike up there and see what it's all about. I will update you, faithful (3 or 4?) readers!
Happy b-day USA! The usual din of bombs bursting in air is happening all over the city tonight. I saw a guy zip down my street in all black on a stealth black bike too and thought "don't catch a bottle rocket in the face buddy!" It's a bit scary out there, at least my dog certainly thinks so!
Here is an interesting op-ed a friend just sent along. It's a neat perspective on a situation that is usually viewed in a totally car-centric way. Namely, the desolation of the "Motor City."
TDF started today. I like watching the time trials even though, ostensibly it's one of the most boring parts of bike racing to watch. I guess it's just the understood tension and personal exertion that keeps me drawn in. It seems as if you can legitimately watch it on this Australian network's website, I thought they would somehow see your IP location and shut you down but it seems to be cool. Vive le tour! Fabian Cancellara, ouch!! Take that, mere mortals!
I'm officially "in training" for the Hotter Than Hell 100 in Wichita Falls, TX on August 28th now. I'm not sure what that's going to end up meaning, but I certainly think I need to be riding at least 120 miles per week from now on. I did bring my bike down to Houston for a trip home to visit family and did a nearly 40 mile ride with my old friend Ryan in some upper 90s heat. It was just fine, we actually literally rode abreast and talked the ENTIRE 38.5 miles. I guess that's some kind of cross-training!
I'm also going to take a trip up to Kettle Moraine Park in Wisconson tomorrow and do my first offroad biking since I was a little BMX-er back in 7th/8th grade! Going to rent a bike up there and see what it's all about. I will update you, faithful (3 or 4?) readers!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
73 mph jet bike
Not even sure how to feel about this Flash Gordon-esque contraption. Certainly removes the carbon savings from bike riding, but as a simulaneously futuristic/old-fashioned curiousity it's hard to beat:
from Wired magazine
from Wired magazine
Saturday, May 30, 2009
critical mass almost reached / training wheels
090530
I'm punning it up today. I'm killing me. But seriously folks....
I went by the start of the Critical Mass ride on Friday. I just so happened to have made other plans (as always seems to happen), right down the street, but I knew a few friends would be there, so I stopped by to say hello and feel the good vibrations. It was a fantastic day for it. Mebbe next month!
Andrew, you're famous! Actually, you are just in a blog that a very small amount of my friends read, sorry!
I did go check out the new modern wing at the Art Institute. It's free on Thursday and Friday evenings starting at 5:30 throughout the summer. Go check it out! The Cy Twombly "Peonys" paintings are pretty great and also, nice job Renzo Piano! It's a pretty great space that really just makes the city seem like a lot more compelling and dramatic place, in this writer's humble opinion.
Saturday morning, I did something I've been trying to get it together to do for several months, which is finally get up at the crack of dawn and go on this XXX Racing training ride. So I did, and on about 4.5 hours sleep, no less! Here is the skinny on it. It was really fun! There was a bit of an intimidating super spandex bike dude vibe, though not overwhelming and I would say I was made to feel somewhere between not unwelcome and welcome by the different people I met (there was also a good mix of gender out there). At any rate, officially, you are made to feel welcome. It was a huge group. About 30 to 40 people at Wicker Park at 7am and then probably that amount again up at Warren Park, which is the second meet up before riding on to Highland Park. They have a great route and riding at 7 to 9am in the morning on a Saturday, you can really get a taste of what an almost car-free world would be like. That world is very, very nice. The ride up to Highland Park is "no drop" so the group (we actually split into 2 groups due to the total amount of riders there, probably 70 to 80) stops for gaps at traffic lights, mechanical difficulties, etc. We cruised at an average speed of around 20 mph on the way up, which is a nice comfy pace, particularly if you were me and you got to draft behind an approximately 6'5", maybe 210 pound rider. Not super difficult, but it's DEFINITELY a workout! The ride was 2 abreast, about 20-ish riders long and we would often go a few miles at a time without having to stop due to the great route and time of day. Got a little rain close to Highland Park, which had me getting a nice road water spray down from the rear tire of the bike in front of me (Oh, so that's why so many people are wearing the tweaker bike shades on this cloudy morning!), but it ended pretty quickly. We went past some beautiful homes, the Ba'hai Temple, the entrance to Ravinia, all sorts of stuff I'd never seen before. I met some nice folks, did a little chatting about the Giro and took in some serious eye-candy with all the fancy bikes around. There was a dad and his perhaps 10 year old daughter on a tandem road bike, NICE!!!
We ended up at a pretty good coffee shop, Fresh Grounds (?) I think. Nice double espresso, long but very friendly bathroom line and some nice chit chat. After about 20 minutes of hanging around, there was an announcement about one offical ride back and then a bunch of other people go out in impromptu groups according to ability, etc. Unfortunately for me, I didn't end up in the official ride back, which I sort of thought I was, but I should have realized that it was only about a dozen or so people. So we got going and then eventually the tempo picked up to a pretty consistent 28-ish mph. I hung with this for about 4 to 5 miles and then I got dropped like a hot potato! Suddenly riding solo down Green Bay Road, I realized I didn't really have any great idea where I was. Fortunately in the post-iPhone world that I'm currently living in, I could have sorted it out, but I noticed a rider or two that had gotten dropped about a half mile before me and figured I'd wait and see what their deal was. They turned out to be a couple of guys who I'd noticed speaking Spanish to each other on the way up from Wicker Park and I they were in the same boat as me, though one of them had been on the ride before and seemed to have a vague idea about how to get back. I just jumped in with them and we rode a more reasonable 20-ish mph pace for a few miles until one of them flatted. I figured we were a team by then, so I stopped with them and we finally got to meet each other officially and chat. They were Christian and Alejandro and they were guys who met at NW doing their masters program together, from Mexico DF and Colombia respectively. Super nice guys and we had a really mellow and fun ride back down into the city. Nice job on the navigation Christian! Once we got down and popped out on Western, I said goodbye and hopped over onto Rockwell and headed south. That is a nice street to stay on if you have to head south near Western Ave. by the way. Goes for miles in a very mellow fashion. I eventually moved over to Francisco and on over to Addison and home. Made it back in just over 3.5 hours from when I left this morning and rode a total of right about 49 miles. I felt pretty great when I got home, but after eating a big brunch I crashed like a college student after an all night study bender. DOH! I guess naps are kind of the norm for this deal.
Thanks to XXX for creating such a fun event that is open to all and also to all the nice folks I met today, especially to my dropped buddies on the ride home. I think I shall try it again soon!
Here are a couple of quickly snapped iPhone pics from the Warren Park stop (guy standing there is giving everyone the skinny on splitting into 2 groups) and from the coffee shop in Highland Park.
Here is the route from mapmyride.
I also just got done talking with Andrew about what an awesome time he had at Critical Mass. Color me jealous!!! I am going next month!!!!
I'm punning it up today. I'm killing me. But seriously folks....
I went by the start of the Critical Mass ride on Friday. I just so happened to have made other plans (as always seems to happen), right down the street, but I knew a few friends would be there, so I stopped by to say hello and feel the good vibrations. It was a fantastic day for it. Mebbe next month!
Andrew, you're famous! Actually, you are just in a blog that a very small amount of my friends read, sorry!
I did go check out the new modern wing at the Art Institute. It's free on Thursday and Friday evenings starting at 5:30 throughout the summer. Go check it out! The Cy Twombly "Peonys" paintings are pretty great and also, nice job Renzo Piano! It's a pretty great space that really just makes the city seem like a lot more compelling and dramatic place, in this writer's humble opinion.
Saturday morning, I did something I've been trying to get it together to do for several months, which is finally get up at the crack of dawn and go on this XXX Racing training ride. So I did, and on about 4.5 hours sleep, no less! Here is the skinny on it. It was really fun! There was a bit of an intimidating super spandex bike dude vibe, though not overwhelming and I would say I was made to feel somewhere between not unwelcome and welcome by the different people I met (there was also a good mix of gender out there). At any rate, officially, you are made to feel welcome. It was a huge group. About 30 to 40 people at Wicker Park at 7am and then probably that amount again up at Warren Park, which is the second meet up before riding on to Highland Park. They have a great route and riding at 7 to 9am in the morning on a Saturday, you can really get a taste of what an almost car-free world would be like. That world is very, very nice. The ride up to Highland Park is "no drop" so the group (we actually split into 2 groups due to the total amount of riders there, probably 70 to 80) stops for gaps at traffic lights, mechanical difficulties, etc. We cruised at an average speed of around 20 mph on the way up, which is a nice comfy pace, particularly if you were me and you got to draft behind an approximately 6'5", maybe 210 pound rider. Not super difficult, but it's DEFINITELY a workout! The ride was 2 abreast, about 20-ish riders long and we would often go a few miles at a time without having to stop due to the great route and time of day. Got a little rain close to Highland Park, which had me getting a nice road water spray down from the rear tire of the bike in front of me (Oh, so that's why so many people are wearing the tweaker bike shades on this cloudy morning!), but it ended pretty quickly. We went past some beautiful homes, the Ba'hai Temple, the entrance to Ravinia, all sorts of stuff I'd never seen before. I met some nice folks, did a little chatting about the Giro and took in some serious eye-candy with all the fancy bikes around. There was a dad and his perhaps 10 year old daughter on a tandem road bike, NICE!!!
We ended up at a pretty good coffee shop, Fresh Grounds (?) I think. Nice double espresso, long but very friendly bathroom line and some nice chit chat. After about 20 minutes of hanging around, there was an announcement about one offical ride back and then a bunch of other people go out in impromptu groups according to ability, etc. Unfortunately for me, I didn't end up in the official ride back, which I sort of thought I was, but I should have realized that it was only about a dozen or so people. So we got going and then eventually the tempo picked up to a pretty consistent 28-ish mph. I hung with this for about 4 to 5 miles and then I got dropped like a hot potato! Suddenly riding solo down Green Bay Road, I realized I didn't really have any great idea where I was. Fortunately in the post-iPhone world that I'm currently living in, I could have sorted it out, but I noticed a rider or two that had gotten dropped about a half mile before me and figured I'd wait and see what their deal was. They turned out to be a couple of guys who I'd noticed speaking Spanish to each other on the way up from Wicker Park and I they were in the same boat as me, though one of them had been on the ride before and seemed to have a vague idea about how to get back. I just jumped in with them and we rode a more reasonable 20-ish mph pace for a few miles until one of them flatted. I figured we were a team by then, so I stopped with them and we finally got to meet each other officially and chat. They were Christian and Alejandro and they were guys who met at NW doing their masters program together, from Mexico DF and Colombia respectively. Super nice guys and we had a really mellow and fun ride back down into the city. Nice job on the navigation Christian! Once we got down and popped out on Western, I said goodbye and hopped over onto Rockwell and headed south. That is a nice street to stay on if you have to head south near Western Ave. by the way. Goes for miles in a very mellow fashion. I eventually moved over to Francisco and on over to Addison and home. Made it back in just over 3.5 hours from when I left this morning and rode a total of right about 49 miles. I felt pretty great when I got home, but after eating a big brunch I crashed like a college student after an all night study bender. DOH! I guess naps are kind of the norm for this deal.
Thanks to XXX for creating such a fun event that is open to all and also to all the nice folks I met today, especially to my dropped buddies on the ride home. I think I shall try it again soon!
Here are a couple of quickly snapped iPhone pics from the Warren Park stop (guy standing there is giving everyone the skinny on splitting into 2 groups) and from the coffee shop in Highland Park.
Here is the route from mapmyride.
I also just got done talking with Andrew about what an awesome time he had at Critical Mass. Color me jealous!!! I am going next month!!!!
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