About Bicycles > Bike Trail Articles > Bike Trail Blog 1b
Bike Trails, Bike Stories
and Articles - Archive 1b*
3/30/02 - 10/27/02
This page is dedicated to bike trail
information, cycling articles and casual bike stories, comments and articles...
10/27/02 - Daylight Wasting Time
I hate daylight wasting time! (It's a slow news weekend so I have to fill in
with a commentary on the time change...) I hate having it get dark so early. I guess the
extra hour on the weekend is OK, but it's a hight price to pay the rest of the winter.
I think I've made my last bike goal for the season, so any riding that I do now
is just for fun or excersize... (of course, that's the ultimate goal anyway). It sure was
a nice and eventful bike riding season though. The trips to Wisconsin (first with Casey
(both ways) then the whole family one way), the ride to Lake Michigan with Dale and we all
made new records and had a great time.
10/20/02 - A Great Fox River Encore... and 4 Digits!!!,
We headed out to the old Fox River bike trail today
and squeezed in another great family (+1) bike ride. It was a little on the cool side, but
really a beautiful fall day! OK, I made my recent goal of over 1000 miles in one bike
riding season!!!
We brought Caseys friend Kyle with us too. Somehow I squeezed 5 people and 5
bikes into Blacky (the van). 4 bikes in the back (with a shoe horn!) and one on top on the
roof rack. It was a little bit of a trick, but it worked!
We had to be back in a few hours so we didn't do any major records or anything,
but it was just a great day to ride... and a quick stop at the Dairy Fairy...
9/11/02 - I witnessed another 9/11 PLANE CRASH today! (a True 9/11 (2002) story)
Yes, it's true! Less than a
mile in front of me! I saw a plane start diving to the ground... I don't know what the
pilot was thinking! I thought he would pull up and break out of the dive! Then,
before I knew it, I saw it crash straight into the ground!!! The plane was smashed to
pieces! But the pilot walked away (or actually TO the plane) unharmed...
Yes, this is completely true, but I am, of
course building the story up (kind of like a real news story) and making more out of it
than it really was... I was riding my bike through Deer Grove and noticed some model
airplanes (the clue) doing some great manuevers... it was cool to watch.
Then I see one of them diving to the ground (not at all unusual for these things, they
were doing this stuff the whole time), Then before I know it BAM! No
more sound from that model engine! This was only about 1/10 of a mile in front of
me... within seconds I ride by the wreakage... Those little planes are VERY expensive. It
was smashed to bits... I don't know if the engine or controls could even have survived
that! The pilot was not physically hurt (of course) but I bet he took a little
bit of a financial hit on that one!
Anway, with many of our thoughts on 9/11 a
year ago, I couldn't help but think of the analogy or similarities. In a matter of
seconds things change very unexpectedly. It was really fun to watch these things fly
and I am sure that the pilot was having a great time. Well, I don't think this is how he
planned to end his day, but unlike a year ago, no one was hurt here and life goes on
pretty much as usual (maybe a little like a year ago as far as that goes)... just some
passing thoughts...
I'm not sure why, but I hung the old flag out
last night to get another days use out of it...
9/8/02 - New
Bike Season Record and Ride
I wanted to do my traditional (so far) bike
record breaking celebration with the whole family (as usual) but Casey was sick today so
we were down one... He was with me for our other record breaking trips so we are all still
pretty even :-). Dara, Corinne and I did the Fox River trail today for the ceremonial
ride. We had some fun with the walkie talkies (that I just found) and made a little trip
to a Dairy Queen in Algonquin.
Breaking the record this year was actually
fairly easy since I have had so much additional time from not working. I wasn't really
intentionally pushing myself for this, but I have ended up doing quite a bit of riding
just because I have the time and really, really enjoy it. Now, I am curious if my bike
odometer will actually store 4 digits! I may find out soon...
7/19/02 - Been There, Done That. Did it again. ...and did something else!
We did another casual family bike ride again
today... to Wisconsin!!! :-) This is getting to be our normal little
family ride now... and it was Casey and Corinnes idea (I wasn't really sure if I was ready
to do this again). Casey has been wanting to ride to his cousins (once removed) house in
Cashton Wis. and wanted to find some routes that connected to our original trails. Corinne
would not be left out of this either... so we did it again.
It was a really nice day for it. Warm, but
not too hot and a little overcast (this helped us to not get so sunburned). A friend of my
had just described bike riding as a "family sharing sport". I think that this
can be very true. This is really some great quality time with the family. My parents used
to camp a lot and I have lots of good memories from that... Well, I'm not really that big
on camping and, of course, like biking a lot, so the kids just naturally get stuck into
some of that... Hopefully, we will be making some good memories...
... and for the something else part, when we were driving back (yes
driving, I doubled back to get the van in Dundee again at the 1/2 way point) through
Richmond, Il. we stopped for this little old/hot rod/antique car show deal that they have
goin on in the street on Friday evenings... It was fun to see these fancy dancy cars...
and reminisce about my old 62 Nova, 64 Impala and 66 Chevelle... (I guess the Hornets and
Citations have not reached antique, cool car status... yet... :-) :-) :-) ) Casey and
Corinne even liked some of the cars, and a little fudge stop was fun too...
Well it's getting really late, so I guess
I'll just call it another great summer day and get this update uploaded...
Check in again soon... later Rob&co...
6/28/02 - "Wisconsin or Bust"... and Back! Escape to Wisconsin... New
Distance Records!
I finally got off my bike long enough to do
an update! Wow have we been bike riding alot!!! (check out my usual bike
odo readings above...). First: Casey and I rode our bikes from East Dundee, Il (about
even with Palatine as far as North/South goes) to Genoa City Wisconsin... AND BACK!!! 64 miles total!!! (It took us about 10 hours with stops and meals, etc.) Corinne
really wanted to go but we had a late start and she turned back with Dara at Crystal Lake
(about a 24 mile trip).
Next (Friday, 2 days later (I was not ready
for this)) I agreed to do it again so Corinne could make it all the way to Wisconsin (on a
20 inch bike you know...). Well, Casey Corinne and Dara did the trip to Wisconsin again!
(one way) Due to logistics and us not wanting to ride back again, I turned around 1/2 way
and went back for the van this time (one of the more sensible ideas recently :-).
Here's the full story:
Fox River Trial,
Prairie Trail Bike Trips
Dundee Illinois
to Genoa City Wisconsin
At the start of our trip, in
East Dundee, Casey made a sign "Wisconsin or Bust"
and Corinnes sign was "Going to Wisconsin... or else..."
with duct tape and markers, and stuck them on their shirts. Then they both yelled out
their slogans to each person on the path that we passed! (in a fun way, when they felt
comfortable (and brave) enough to do it).
The first part of this trail we had already been on. The Fox River
trail is really beautiful (and fairly shady). It is pretty much along the river. In
Algonquin, the trail connects to the Prairie Trail and has a lot of wooded areas followed
by a section by some railroad tracks and gravel pits. In Crystal Lake you have to cross a
few streets but there are some nice places for breaks. Corinne and Dara turned back a
little after this.
Casey and I went on the what we call "hill hell". This is
a really hilly, curvy and dangerously fun part of the trail! It really is a little
dangerous, so we do take it a little easy, but still have some fun too...
After "hill hell"
there are these long stretches along the railroad tracks, this is all still blacktop at
this point, and a very hot part of the ride, but the background scenery is still really
nice (country, farms, sod fields, etc.) A little after this the path turns into a gravel
and dirt road. (We only saw a few other people on this whole 15 to 20 mile section). I
kind of liked the dirt road path, but it got a little harder to pedal after a while...
On to Richmond Illinois and
a few miles later Genoa City Wisconsin! I asked a lady where we were and she also told us
about a nice restaurant in town which is where we ended up eating dinner... a real nice
break!!! (but now we are only 1/2 way!!!!).
Ok, moving right along... It was about 7:00pm when we hit the trail
back to Illinois... I figured a few hours of daylight if we were lucky. Well, I didn't
know if we could handle the trail in the dark and figured that we may have to call for a
ride, but neither one of us really wanted to give up and do that. So, as it got darker we
checked it out and it seemed OK so we just kept going... As long as we went slow it seemed
OK.
Well, it turned out that the
very last stretch (that beautiful shady area by the river) was really really dark and
scary! (we didn't really plan or bring our bike lights, of course) I can hardly
explain it! I estimated that we were going about 4mph (and running into deer along the way
also)... Then, the thunderstorms that they promised started up... We got back to
the car about 5 or 10 minutes after the rain (about 11:00pm)... The dark and creepy trail
really kept our minds off of how tired and sore we really were... Safe, and comfortable at
last...
A new distance record for me (and for
Casey, of course) and an adventure to be remembered!!! I really think
that we shared a great adventure together (you know, ... "and for everything else,
there's MasterCard" :-) )
OK, our Wisconsin and Back story took quite a while, so I will keep
this next one brief (it's getting late too).
Today, Corinne, Dara and
Casey made it from East Dundee to Wisconsin yet again!!! Corinnes (duct tape) sign today
was "Escape to Wisconsin" (we told her that this
used to be the old saying...). The kids drew names to see which licensed driver would have
to turn back 1/2 way to get the car, and I lost :-(. (No more night river trail riding for
us!!!).
This went pretty well, and since Casey had been on this before (and
Dara was with them, and I knew it was safe) I turned back after "hill hell" (I
wanted to do my safety stuff there).
We had another nice dinner
at Kellers restaurant and a nice easy car ride home this time!!!
6/20/02 - The Unexpected FOURTY, Mud Riding...
OK, first the bike news. Casey and I went out for a little ride
Tuesday... I wasn't planning anything extravagent, but decided to go on the Fox River
trail, that I did a while ago, since Casey didn't like the hills on our main local route.
The last time I was on that trail I did about 18 miles and I wan't sure if Casey would
want to go that far... (yea, right!)
We started in East Dundee and went North... Past Algonquin... to
Crystal Lake... asked Casey if he wanted to keep going... yep... I also told him that the
trail actually went to the Wisconsin border... he wanted to go for it! (Note: I wasn't
planning a marathon ride and didn't have any food, money for food, a hat, or anything
practical, except for our water bottles)
Well, we went on to Mchenry (some really tough hills and long
plains along the railroad tracks... Went 20 miles and Casey wanted to keep going!!! Well,
since this was just 1/2 way, I convinced him to turn around (he had a game later that day
and I had my Java class and we had to get back (besides for getting tired and just being
1/2 way...)) Well, the way back was pretty hard and gruesome. We both looked pretty ragged
by the end... but we made it! 40 miles
round trip! Later, when we were talking
about the trip I realized that this probably ties my all time distance record (from when I
was in my twenties... Not that I am any big-wig distance rider or anything, but it's an
interesting milestone).
Casey (and me) still want to go for the
Wisconsin trip (I estimated to be about 64 miles round trip). Of course, if (I mean when)
we do it, I will post it with the bike news on the ol page here...
And our last story for tonight... this just
in... Corinne did a pretty good followup to Casey and my ride by doing about 15 miles with
Dara and I tonight and into some really rough off the road trails! We were trying to make
this place in the woods that we used to go to and took the back roads and trails... It
started out OK, but then the trail just kept getting worse and worse. The Mud was the biggest problem.
Eventually we just had to turn back. But Corinne kept up with me (and Dara) and went as
far as anyone really would really want to go on those trails. Corinne came really prepared
though, and we had a GREAT Picnic, by a little lake on the way back.
OK, that's the news for this very late spring
day!!! Can't wait till summer gets here! :-) :-)
5/2/02 - Bike Club, New Member...
OK, Dara decided that she wanted to join the
bike odometer mileage club (above). I've hooked up an odometer on her bike and we went on
a little warm up ride in Inverness...
5/1/02 - May Day, May Day! Out of Work...
It's May!!! ... and a beautiful day it was
today! I am actually not "out of work" as it says above, but I am done with the
contracting assignment that I just had. It was supposed to take 5 months but I got the
work done in 3 months!!! I actually feel really good about that... but yet now I have
no income... but now I have time!... and the weather is really nice...
I signed up for unemployement benefits today,
had a real nice bike ride, did some lawn work and played catch with Casey... All in all it
was a great day and I feel great! Sometimes I have an almost ridiculous (almost stupid) optimistic
view (other times not...) but for now, I will "Enjoy
the Ride"
I was going to write my "I don't
understand boredom when you are not at work" speeches (when there are bikes to
ride, songs to write, kids to play with, recordings to make, books to read, web pages to
update, cheap web tricks to learn, walks to take, pictures to take, camcording to do,
beaches to go to, boats to ride in (like my inflateable), pools to go to (not open just
yet though), (work to do... yuk) etc, etc (ie life to live))... but I'll save that
for later... (or maybe I just wrote it J )...
03/30/02 - Bike Season Begins...
As you may have noticed, I've officially
started my bike riding season and I've dug out and got Dara and the kids
bikes up and running too... I've put air in all the tires (Dara's still may need some tire
work) and I went out and bought new odometers for Casey and Corinne. At first I just got
Corinnes because she lost her old one, but then Casey wanted one like hers (which was a
little nicer (and he didn't loose his)) so I got him one too! (and installed both of
em)...
* Note on Bike Article pages: Although I have tried to keep these
articles sequential (chronologically), there is some overlap with the other article pages
due to the fact that I have moved some of these bike articles from a multi-topic site to
this site. |
