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:

Hopkins CX

Went out to spectate the annual cyclocross race at Hopkins Park in the good ol' town of DeKalb, IL. Historically, this race has always been a wild time. As with most cyclocross races, people come out, grill out, drink the drinks, hoot and holler and have a great time. This year it seemed quite a bit more low key. There was a lot less hooting and hollering, but we still had a good time hangin in the woods and handing off refreshments to the victims of torment that willingly participated this year. We even found ourselves on the podium. Joel won the "fun" category. Way to go Joel. My SLR camera seems to have either a battery that's dead forever, or a charger that's dead forever. Not sure which one yet. Could even be both. Until I get that taken care of, here are some iPhone snaps from the races:

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.

More Than Stores - Golden Saddle Cyclery

GSC seems like a rad shop, and this video is cool, but my favorite thing about this is that Kyle is wearing the barn quilt patch on his hat that Tobie and I worked on for North Central Cyclery. It's really neat to see one of those patches out there in use.

The Gravel Metric Pictorial: 2014

A couple weeks ago, we went out to DeKalb for the annual Gravel Metric and rode the 70 mile corn country racecourse. The weather this year was perfect, which is truly rare for this event. I rode with a couple good friends, as well as the girlfriend, who all decided to make this their longest ride yet, which was really exciting to see. Without having much gravel riding experience, if any, Darrien did an awesome job and didn't even complain once. They all did great actually, and they all finished! A lot of people seemed to be taking the ride pretty seriously, and treating it as a race (which it sorta was), but there were also a ton of people out there just challenging themselves, making this their longest ride ever, or their first gravel ride, and I think that's cool. For me, it was all about enjoying a ride with some friends, seeing some of the more scenic parts of DeKalb Co., and meeting some cool people. We had fun.

Here's way too many photos from the iPhone, edited with the VSCOcam app:

Gravel bikes, pre-ride in front of the Lincoln Inn, with dual photo-taking reflections. We fueled up on some muffins which contained at least 2 full sticks of butter each. Perfect pre-ride meal.

Nice section of road that offered some shade.

The most convenient of lemonade stands. It just happened to be set up along the route outside the home of some very friendly family. Possibly the best lemonade I've ever had. Those kids had no idea what they were in for...

The only portion of the route in which I kinda wished for gears. It wasn't terrible, but I sure did do a lot of standing.

DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! 

The "invisible" checkpoint. By the time a bunch of us reached this checkpoint, the ride/race officials had already rolled out, and our wristbands were left punchless. I witnessed one rider get so upset that he took the liberty of disposing of the sign.

This was a badass Pugsley.

Typical T.J. Saving the day again.

Snack break and a hard cider from Gumby.

The cleanliness of my attire was pointed out multiple times throughout the ride. I believe that the ability to stay clean during a gravel ride is as admirable of a skill as any. Darrien finished the ride without any sign of fatigue and barely even broke a sweat. It probably didn't look like we had just rode 70 miles in the dirt by the end of it.

The trusty Nature Boy successfully carried me once again. As usual, there was not a single mechanical issue. The cheap Jandd frame pack perfectly fit everything in it that I needed for the ride, with room to spare. The two additional bottle cages behind the saddle worked out perfectly, and allowed me to share some extra water with others.

After party on the best porch in town. We stayed up partyin' to the late hour of 9pm... then all passed out and had an excellent night's sleep. By the way, check out Ruthie's sick gradient sunburn on the right.