About-Bicycles Bike Blog

OK, I just can’t pass this one up! I saw the story about Lance Armstrong and the Radio Shack Team’s attempt to wear the black jerseys with the number “28″ to signify the 28 million people living with cancer today on the news last night and I knew that I had to write something about this.

I understand the need for organization and rules for events like this but I really wish that they could have given him a break on this one. I don’t know if Lance had tried to go through the proper channels or procedures first but if he did and was denied then I can see the reason to go for some publicity in this way.

Lance Armstrong Black 28 Jersey

Well, perhaps more of the story will come out soon but I saw a CNN story that quoted Lance as saying “Today, we’re riding for every one of the 28 million people all over the world whose lives and families are affected by this disease…” and I am totally in on that one!

I know that Lance and the organizations that he is affiliated with has made considerable donations to the fight against cancer. Even a portion of the sales from the Indoor Cycle exercise bike that I have been recommending on this site for quite some time now, the Livestrong LS9.9IC, goes towards the fight against cancer.

Anyway, I just wanted to join in and mention that we, at about-bicycles.com, support the Black 28 Jersey Tribute and are proud to display our Jerseys on this site!

Rob Cycling

I was asked to co-write  a magazine article for a new start-up magazine, “Way of the Wilds” on the Fox River Trail (which is a pretty easy subject for me to write about since I have ridden the FRT so many times and have had some very memorable experiences on it) and as I was writing my part of the article, it occurred to me that some of what I was writing was sounding very familiar to me.

I started the article with a brief description of some of the benefits of bike riding and it turns out that a little over a year ago I wrote an article that was all about the love of bike riding and I went back to look at the web page article and it all came back to me. I remembered that I did put some effort into that article and it does express my feelings on the subject very well.

The web page article has an unusual theme and is mostly called “Bike Riding Nirvana“.  I was hoping that the article did not get totally lost on the Internet due to the unusual title and I checked Google for the underlying theme “the love of bike riding” and I don’t think that it got totally lost on the Internet since it comes up in the #1 position for that search term!

 Anyway, I did want to mention that web page and I think it’s always nice to consider some of the joys of cycling.

As for the new article, in the hard copy magazine, that will probably not be published until August or September so I’ll save more of the details on that one for after it comes out. Besides, I’m still just on the first draft for now.

Rob Cycling

Bike Trail along Lake Michigan in Kenosha

We had a great ride on the Kenosha Bike Trail and along Lake Michigan on the 4th of July. I took quite a few photos and am still planning on doing a complete bike trail article with all the information and photos (in the bike trails section of this site) but I just haven’t had the chance yet. So many bike trails and so little time!

Anyway, you can get to the Kenosha Trail from The Robert McClorey Trail which also connects to the Green Bay Bike Trail(on the south end). So you could actually ride from Wilmette, Il all the way up into the southern part of Wisconsin on these trails. I’ve ridden all of these but all on different days.

OK, getting back to the Kenosha Bike Ride… A friend of mine and I drove to the southern end of the Kenosha Trail (where it meets the Robert McClorey Trail) , just off of Russell Road. We parked in a subdivision that had a very convenient entrance to the trail.

The Kenosha Trail itself is crushed stone and is not really all that long (a few miles). The bike trail ends at 89th street. I guess they still call it a “trail” but you need to ride on some roads and connecting trails at that point.

The roads are not bad to ride on at there is a bike lane along 7th avenue as you head north. We continued north and east and ended up riding along the shore of Lake Michigan for quite a while.

I love riding along Lake Michigan! Once we got to the part of the trails that goes along Lake Michigan, we rode north all the way to Carthage College. As I mentioned, it was the 4th of July so there was a ton of stuff going on and the beaches and parks were packed with people. That was fun in this situation but I would also like to ride this trail sometime when it is less crowded (maybe some nice fall day).

Like I said, I’ll try to get to writing a more complete “trail page” with more of the details on the route, etc. but for now I just wanted to mention the ride and that it was really a very nice place to ride.

Rob Uncategorized

I just wanted to mention that I interviewed with a free lance writer, Arlene Miles, for a magazine article on biking with your family a few months back and the article was published in the June edition of Family Time Magazine (a local Chicago suburban  magazine).

They have a website and it shows the June edition and the table of contents but not the article so I can’t link to it and I don’t have the copyright permission to publish it here but I did want to mention it and touch on the theme a little.

The magazine article is called “Bicycling, Just You and Your Family” and the writer did an excellent job. She researched family biking and local bike trails and there was a full page of the article based on the information that I supplied.

Here we are in the heart of summer (the forth of July weekend) and I thought that it is a great time to mention family bicycling.

A lot of the information that I supplied for the magazine article had to do with local bike trails and choosing local bike trails and local rides. Bike trails can be great especially if you can find trails in your area with low traffic and very few streets to cross. That helps with your own peace of mind and I know it makes the rides more enjoyable for me when I rode with my younger kids.

After that, if you can find local trails or rides that have a fun place to stop, like a playground, park, a lake, beach, etc. then you really have some great options.

Another thing that I mentioned in the article was taking a fairly long ride with a destination. Quite a few years ago, I rode with my whole family (me, my wife and 2 kids) from Dundee, Illinois to Genoa City Wisconsin on the Fox River Trail! This was a 32 mile ride with my kids which were around 7 and 10 at the time.

It’s important to have the right frame of mind, bring supplies (some snacks and plenty of water and liquids), take breaks and to take your kids lead on the time and distance too so that everyone is involved (and happy). In our case, for the Wisconsin trip, my kids made signs (on duct tape) that said “Wisconsin or Bust” and taped them to their shirts! I guess that explains where their heads were at on that day!

I wasn’t sure if the kids could handle riding that far at first, but they both made it and we had some major quality time with the family and fun stories for years to come.

I have an article on the FRT trips somewhere in the archives of this website but I would have a hard time finding it myself (and I know the pages on this site fairly well) so maybe I’ll post a current update on that story here soon.

Anyway, my real point here and a key point in the magazine article is that bike riding can be an excellent family activity with kids of all ages. When your kids are very young, there are bike seats, bike trailers, trailer bikes, etc. and when they get older you can take them with you on their own bike for distances and locations that are appropriate for their ages.

I actually would like to write more on this subject, but as I mentioned, it’s the 4th of July weekend and it’s a beautiful day and guess where I am going?!?!?

(riding, of course!)

Rob Uncategorized

I just received a notification that REI has their Summer Sale going on right now (6/25) and through July 7th which includes cycling gear.

The cycling gear is 20% to 25% off which is pretty decent in the middle of summer when you are probably needing some of this stuff.

I just went out to the REI site and checked out what items were on sale. Unfortunately, it does not seem to include bikes although there are a few selected models on sale.

What I did find marked down quite a bit were Car Racks, Bike Bags, Cycling Clothing, Bike Lights and one of the Bike Kid Trailers(the Burley Solo ST Bike Trailer to be specific – See the “Quality Bike Trailers” link on my kids bike page for access to REI kid bike trailers).

Enjoy the sale (and the ride!)

Rob Uncategorized

I was just checking the bike product and bike sales pages on this site and discovered that Performance Bike has a really good sale going on right now and through Sunday 6/13.

Sorry that I am just now getting to this notification. I’m not sure how long the sale has been on but it is ending after this weekend.

The prices that I have posted on the bikes for sale on this site (through Performance Bike) DO NOT include the 10% off and the prices at Performance Bike do not show the 10% off until you add the bike to your shopping basket.

So if you are in the market for bike accessories or even bikes that can be purchased online (Fuji, GT,  Schwinn, etc.) this would be a good time to check the prices at Performance Bike.

Rob Bicycle Sales, Bike Accessories, Cycling, Equipment, Supplies

This should probably just fall under the “just my rides” post but I wanted to include one of my photos here and I can’t do that (easily) in a reply.

Daisies Along the Paul Douglas Bike Trail

Anyway, it’s a beautiful spring day here today in Chicagoland and I just took a really nice ride with a friend (mostly in Inverness) and on the way back home I managed to get some photos of some of the many daisies along side of the Paul Douglas Bike Trail.  

I had noticed that there were quite a few daisies along the trail and wanted to play flower photographer on some nice day. Well, I guess today was the day!

I am only an average photographer (even though I really like photography) but I did get a few nice photos. My biggest regret is that I didn’t get my photos before they groomed the trail and mowed down all the daisies that were within 2 or 3 feet of the trail.

It really looked cool when the daisies  came right up to the trail. I am glad that they keep the trail maintained but I wish that I would have gotten the photos before they mowed.

We can’t always “stop to smell the roses” but maybe we can “ride and enjoy the daisies”.

Anyway, here is the Paul Douglas Bike Trail Daisy Photo Page that I just posted if you are interested in checking it out. I also created a link to this page from the main Paul Douglas Bike Trail page (I originally called this the Algonquin Road Trail before the main Paul Douglas part of the trail was complete).

Rob Bike Trail Photos, Bike Trails

Wright Woods about 3/4ths of the way around the outer loop

Well with the rivers being as high as they are right now, it’s no surprise that parts of the Des Plaines River Trail (DPRT) is flooded and some of the underpasses closed.

I have not been on the DPRT myself this year, but I just received an update from a friend who has just been on the trail. I also do not have the conditions for the entire trail but for the part of the trail around Route 60 and Wright Woods. 

My friend told me “The trail was mostly good with only a few puddles and damp spots but then there were a couple spots where it was completely flooded out.” 

Rob Bike Trail Conditions

This is just a quick update to let you know that REI is currently having it’s Anniversary sale and offering 15% off on all full price bikes. REI sells bikes from: Cannondale, Raleigh, Electra, Marin and Novara, Burley, Dahon, Ellsworth, GT, K2, Kona, Scott, Swobo and Urban Mover.

I just put a notification on all of my bike sale pages that go to REI but I wanted to be sure that the word got out so I am posting this entry also.

See: Our Online Bikes Stores page for a quick, easy link to Bikes at REI.

Rob Bicycle Sales

I was just doing some work on the exercise bike pages on this site and completed a few reviews on some of the mid-range and inexpensive indoor cycle / spinning bikes available online.

I have had the Livestrong Exercise Bike out on the site for quite a while and I really do think that this is one of the best indoor cycles out there, in addition to the fact that purchasing this bike helps with the fight against cancer, but until now I did not have any information on inexpensive or mid range indoor cycles.

Well I just added the ProForm 290 SPX review (for a mid-range indoor cycle) and the Spinner® Sport review (for a low cost indoor cycle / spinning bike).

I had a little background info on Proform bikes, from discussions with my friend who was the marketing manager for Smooth Fitness and I recently reviewed the Spinner Sport bike at a local fitness shop.

Both of these exercise bikes, being indoor cycle trainers, are great choices for serious workouts and indoor training and are much more affordable than the Livestrong bike.

Next, I’ll be getting back to the regular bike reviews (since it’s outdoor riding season now) and I will be adding some more low cost and mid-range bike reviews to the bike review section of the site. Initially, I have started with reviews of some of the higher end bikes that are available online, but I want to have more choices in the regular bike categories also.

Rob Cycling, Equipment, Exercise Bikes, Fitness Equipment