St. Pat's Day Cruise

Last weekend we seemed to get our first real break from the madness that has been this year's midwestern winter. Saturday morning I suited up, grabbed the ol' Nature Boy and headed out towards the lake for a cruise. It was my first time on a bike this year without a winter hat, and I couldn't be happier. As I passed through Lakeview, I quickly noticed the hoards of green-clad, seemingly intoxicated folks stumbling through the streets. It was only early afternoon. It was then that I realized that it was St. Patrick's day, or rather, the weekend prior to the drinking holiday. I have really no interest in celebrating, and in fact, usually make a point to avoid wearing green on the weekend of. However, after realizing this, I glanced down and found that I fit right in, atop the greenest bike out on the street. After that, I made a point of riding to the Chicago River to take an ironic photo of the Ol' Boy next to the river that had been filled with celebratory green dye.

It ended up being a fun ride. It was cold out, but tolerable, and it was nice to be on the bike without feeling complete misery. At the end of the ride, I was kinda beat. It's been a while since I've really gone out and rode for hours. Motivation has been minimal, in part due to the horrendous season, and in part due to the fact that I'm living in a new area, away from my usual group of riding buds and regular routes. Having friends to ride with is probably the single most motivating thing to get on the bike. When you make plans to ride, it's much easier to back out and turn yourself down rather than turning your friends down. Things are looking up though, and so are the temps. I'll be getting out more often now, and getting back up to speed shouldn't be too difficult.

Monday Motivation

I enjoyed this recent post over on Tenspeed Hero. Really makes me want to get out there and explore again. Too bad it's like -5 degrees Fahrenheit right now, so I'll probably just lock myself up in the house until we reach double digits again...

4th Time's a Charm - BLBBRBK 2014

Well, after 3 failed attempts, it looks like this is finally the year for BLBBRBK (pronounced: Blubber Bike), the North Central Cyclery/Axletree fatbike race/ride/relay/whatever you wanna call it. We planned for the first one in 2011, when I still worked at NCC and lived in DeKalb, but had to cancel due to a lack of snow. We had attempted every year since, with no success for the same reason. After moving out of town, it's actually going to happen, just not in DeKalb anymore. There's more info on The Facebook event page. I don't own a fatbike obviously, but I feel somewhat obligated to go to this, as it's been so long in the works. I imagine a "fatbike event" will be just as much fun as a cyclocross race, just a lot colder. Bring more whiskey I guess.

Weekend Expedition

I was out in the burbs this past weekend to do a few things and visit with some family, and I decided to go for a quick cruise through the woods on the DesPlaines River Trail. All of the park entrances were closed off and blockaded with mounds of snow (Apparently people out here don't do things outdoors in the winter), and so after some searching, I was able to sneak in by parking my car in a hotel parking lot that provided easy access to the trail. 

It was relatively warm, compared to the recent deep freeze that hit Chicago, delivering the coldest temps in THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO with lows hitting -15. I wore no cycling-specific clothing on this ride, only a moisture-wicking T-shirt, a hoody, and a coat, with denim jeans, a hat, gloves, and heavy wool socks with leather boots. When those boots are paired with the heavy wool, they are far warmer than any cycling shoe/bootie combination I've ever tried (plus I can wear them every day while off the bike too. That's a good investment in my mind). With that setup, I was beyond warm. I was actually sweating. That may be partially attributed to the fact that most of the ride was pretty strenuous. Just trying to stay on the bike was a challenge. The trail was so deep with snow that my rear tire was often spinning out and my front wheel was constantly washing out, causing me to frequently put a foot down. It was a bit frustrating and I ended up doing more hiking than cycling, but it was still nice to be out in the woods watching the snow fall.

I'm guessing this terrain would have been better suited for a fatbike than my steel 29'er, but what can you do. I was reminiscing of the Great Western Trail that I used to ride during the winter in DeKalb, where the "slednecks" would pack the trail down so hard with their motor vehicles that it could be easily ridden with a cross bike at times. There were very few tracks on this trail, aside from some footprints. It's a bit sad to see so few people able to take advantage of this great resource.

Cranksgiving Cruise

On Thanksgiving, I took some time between sessions of gorging myself with my mom's fantastic holiday food to go for a ride. I rode out from my parent's place to the Des Plaines River Trail and tried to ride it for a bit. The trail goes straight through a very densely-wooded forest preserve, and so there is absolutely no light surrounding you in the night. Just total darkness and abundant wildlife. It can actually be a bit spooky, when riding alone. Often times you'll turn around a bend in the trail and come face-to-face with an extremely bewildered deer. Needless to say, I didn't go too far. It was also pretty darn cold that night, and I froze pretty bad. The wool socks and toe covers over my shoes just didn't cut it, and towards the end, I was expecting frostbite. It's amazing how cold it is for this time of year. I'm really not used to it yet.

Winter Recap: Essential Items

It seems as though winter has finally come to a close, and while this may not be of any benefit to anyone right now, I wanted to reflect on a few cold-weather items that earned a lot of my appreciation while on the bike this past winter. This, of course, is not all that I wore, but rather a few of the pieces that I couldn't do without.