Unearthed: Autumn Rides on the GWT

Autumn is the ideal time to ride. I've always believed this. The waning midwest heat and humidity brings forth a climate perfectly suited for outdoor activity.

As the insects and humans prepare for hibernation, we prepare for night life on the trails. We pull out the wool jerseys, charge up the lights, and enjoy the long evenings on The Great Western. We rarely saw other cyclists out there in the fall. It was quiet and dark and surreal. I miss those nights - Nocturnal picnics in the park, cobwebs in your cockpit, struggling to fix a flat in the shadows... Wouldn't have it any other way.

Here's a collection of photos I dug up from one of those outings with the SFCA. These photos were taken 10 years ago. (Yes, TEN years ago. I can't believe it.)

Unearthed: The Night Bison 2016

Here's an old one, from almost 4 years ago. It was 2016, the fourth of September. Marcus and I loaded up the Honda Fit that afternoon and rolled out to DeKalb for what felt like an annual homecoming. Little did we know, this was the last time we'd be doing this. Wait - is that actually true? Was 2016 the last year of The Night Bison? I think it was... but correct me if I'm wrong. Either way, it was the last time that we rode in the event. Damn. Realizing this again brings me a bit of sadness, because this was always such a fun ride.

The concept of the event was to create an abbreviated (and nocturnal) version of The Gravel Metric that marked the conclusion of the summer season, and it quickly became my favorite evening of the year. The Bison was conceived in the bike shop that I worked for at the time, and I remember the skepticism we had when initially planning the event - would people actually come out to our small rural town in Illinois and ride 50-something miles of gravel roads through the night with no support? The answer was "hell yes". We had an exciting turnout each year, and the popularity of the event always surpassed my expectations. Eventually, I left my job at the bike shop and moved out of DeKalb, but the Night Bison was always reason enough to return. The ride had traditionally begun at the shop, but in 2016 the ride began in a location that felt like the middle of nowhere - and it was better that way. We were able to hit those gravel roads we longed for almost immediately.

Anyways... Chronically running behind schedule, Marcus and I rolled up in the car just as the ride was departing. Fortunately, I arrived dressed with my bib shorts on under my regular shorts, and in order to save time I quickly grabbed my bike from the trunk, hopped on, and joined the group - riding into the sunset with cut-off denim shorts and a T-shirt. Despite the late start, we finished earlier than ever, giving us plenty of time to enjoy the after-party. We sipped a few brews, saw a sasquatch, and drove back to Chicago around 11pm with heavy eyelids. I don't recall much about the actual ride, other than we had a blast and it went as well as it could have.

Although we may never ride The Night Bison again, we can at least relive it through the photos taken. Below are the photos I took 4 summers ago, but never posted:

Bison de la Nuit MMXIV

As the last dusty sweat-drenched episode of summer, the Night Bison occurred. On a Sunday afternoon, Andy swung by the Milk Lodge, and I tossed my Nature Boy in the back of his truck. We drove west from Chicago, flying through every toll (we neglected to bring my iPass or any cash) until there was nothing but corn. We arrived and it had really felt like I was just there days ago for the Gravel Metric. We headed to T.J.'s for a pre-ride BBQ and a couple brews. Thanks again, T.J. and family for the excellent hospitality. 

I've attended all of the Night Bison(s) so far, but this was definitely the most enjoyable. It was the first time that I, more or less, rode with a single group throughout the entirety of the ride. In the past, I had let impatience get the best of me, and broke away from my buds. This time, I rode with my pals Marcus, Andy, and Jake. We all rode together, and we rode surprisingly fast, believe it or not. Andy's a bike messenger now, so he's used to riding fast all day. Marcus was practically turning a track gearing on his vintage Puch fixed gear conversion with monster tires. I was really quite impressed that he was able to turn that crank on gravel, and in fact, I had trouble keeping up with him on my gravel-geared All-City.

Sure, we had our fair share of fun too. In fact, the Rapha race trailer showed up to bring the party about mid-ride, with some tallboys of Coors, fresh shots of Stumptown espresso, and the tunes to get us goin'. It was a nice opportunity to hang out and light off a couple fireworks.

We finished tired, drenched in sweat, and coated in a veil of beige dust. We consumed a lot of pizza, and even more High Life. All-in-all it was a good time, and riding at night in the country is cool, and friends, and yadda yadda ok back to work...

DeKalb Bound

Pre-Ride hangz at T.J.'s. Awaiting nightfall.

Just before the ride. About 250 in attendance or so...

Mid-ride breaky with some treats.  

Thanks to Rapha for the outstanding support. What a surprise!

The only riding photo I got, blurry as all heck, but you can see the giant tires on Marcus' very old Puch conversion (with bullhorn bars). An unexpected gravel shredder.

The Night Bison, Gravel Nocturne - This Sunday

The Night Bison has always been a fun ride. It was even fun the time I did it with a 102 degree fever and unbearably sore throat. Hopefully I'll be in better health this Sunday, but riding out in the country at night is always bound to be a good time. Starts at sundown. Meet behind the 'ol mothership, North Central Cyclery, in DeKalb, IL. I might get out there early for pizza n' brews.

Milwaukee Weekend Getaway

Travel is mandatory in the summer time. It wouldn't be right to go through the season without a "summer vacation", and what better way to travel than by bike, so we decided on a short trip up to Milwaukee. This trip was also partially in celebration of Darrien's birthday. It is about 100 miles to Milwaukee from Chicago, and a bit further to our final destination. We would be staying with some very nice friends who were willing to lend a few couches to us for the weekend.

The crew and I left Logan Square early on a Friday morning, and headed north along the lake. The toughest part of the ride was just getting out of the city. There are segments of trail, but sticking to them isn't necessarily intuitive. We ended up riding through lots of residential areas, stopping to check the map and to wait for green lights at intersections. Somehow, we stopped long enough for me to capture what must be the most amazingly photogenic picture of the ladies that I have ever seen.

Once we escaped from the city and the majority of the northern suburbs, it was smooth sailing, more or less. We remained mostly on well-maintained, scenic, wooded trails, and a good amount of crushed limestone. It was a real treat. Three of us were riding single speed, and Darrien was actually set up fixed gear (a pretty tall gear too). Between that gearing and her skinny road tires on limestone, she really proved her undeniable toughness throughout the entire century. Everyone rode incredibly, in fact, and moral was consistently high. The weather was perfect, and I enjoyed nearly every mile.

Note the homemade frame bag above.

A small portion of my mid-ride snack. This convenient store literally saved all of our lives, as we collectively neared the inevitable bonk in what seemed to be a nutritional desert.

Some intense fog rolled in, which made for a really cool environment to ride in. It remained this way practically untill the end.

Unfortunately, after nightfall set in, we took a shortcut to make up for lost time. The shortcut led Darrien into a giant pothole, which took the life of her front tube and made us realize that the only tool we didn't bring happened to be the most important: a 15mm wrench. We phoned the friends and got picked up at a nearby bowling alley, where we were found relaxing with some treats. We ended up getting 100 miles in anyways, and to tell you the truth, I think we were all about done for the day. The fun was running low, and we were all just anxious to be done by that point. Perhaps it's a good thing we forgot that wrench...

The next day was spent doing some touristy stuff. We checked out a neat bike shop called Corey the Bike Fixer, and made some new friends.

We happened to arrive on the weekend of the Summer Solstice festival, and so we hung out there and treated ourselves to the traditional Wisconsin grub and brew.

The remainder of the day (and night) was spent hanging out behind the bike shop, making more new friends and quickly forgetting their names. We drank our fair share of New Glarus, perhaps a bit too much considering we planned to make the second century back to Chicago the following day. By the way, you may not recognize it, but that's an All-City Nature Boy up there - The same bike that Ruthie and I rode on the trip. It had a bolt on derailleur hangar added and a custom paint job, which made it really hard to recognize at that point, unless of course you love that frame as much as we do.

The next morning, we came to the realization that maybe we did have a bit too much fun the night before, and that perhaps even the hardiest of breakfasts couldn't save us at that point. Regardless, we gobbled up the grub found on Brady Street and pressed on towards home.

We said our goodbyes to the fine city of Milwaukee, and thanked it for all of the fun it provided that weekend.

The ride home was surreal.

I told ya it was surreal...

We made it to Kenosha (halfway home), at which point we threw in the towel. We just so happened to do so about 30 minutes before the last train to Chicago arrived for the day, and seconds before finding Darrien's tire to be flat yet again. We were truly lucky. We were clearly meant to take that train home. Nobody minded taking the train home either. We got a good 150-something miles in for the weekend and had a blast.

Good trip.

(All photos taken with an iPhone and edited with the VSCO app)