Anyone Wanna Ride to Indiana Dunes?

I'm thinking we could leave early on a Saturday, stay the night, and then head back Sunday afternoon. It's about 50 miles, so probably take 5 hours or so. I've never ridden it, so if anyone has a path or suggestions, post em!

Maybe last weekend in May or First in June...?

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Permalink Reply by DonRay A.K.A. Zesty on May 14, 2009 at 3:29pm
hey brett - its josh from the Milwaukee ride!! - as long as we can find out how many people we have for sure I dont think it'll be that difficult right?

Brett Ratner said:
Don...I was sortof thinking the same thing. I'm sure they have big sites for organized groups.

Who wants to take the lead on reserving a big spot? I'm happy to do it if no one is already looking into it.

Also, I was wondering if someone should post this as a Chainlink event so people can RSVP and we can get a decent idea of who's coming.

DonRay said:
I think it would be cool if we could reserve a spot big enough for the group, that would also secure a spot in case we ended up arriving super late due to more broken chain rings- - that is if we can get a # of definates.

Lindsay E. Stout said:
Sounds good! o0_dan_0o said:
i'd be interested to meetup at the border and do this ride..

i ride to the dunes pretty regularly and i normally take the "all bike paths" route..

i posted it on bikely, but i cant find it anymore.
Permalink Reply by Brett Ratner on May 14, 2009 at 4:23pm
Excellent...this is shaping up to be a good trip. It's looking like at least four or five of us from the Milwaukee ride are going...as well as several people from the Three Floyds "Dark Lord" ride. We're going to need a lot of beer.

Are you riding the LHT? That's the perfect bike for a trip like this.

I'm gonna put in some calls tomorrow to see about a big campsite suitable for a group.

DonRay said:
hey brett - its josh from the Milwaukee ride!! - as long as we can find out how many people we have for sure I dont think it'll be that difficult right?

Brett Ratner said:
Don...I was sortof thinking the same thing. I'm sure they have big sites for organized groups.

Who wants to take the lead on reserving a big spot? I'm happy to do it if no one is already looking into it.

Also, I was wondering if someone should post this as a Chainlink event so people can RSVP and we can get a decent idea of who's coming.

DonRay said:
I think it would be cool if we could reserve a spot big enough for the group, that would also secure a spot in case we ended up arriving super late due to more broken chain rings- - that is if we can get a # of definates.

Lindsay E. Stout said:
Sounds good! o0_dan_0o said:
i'd be interested to meetup at the border and do this ride..

i ride to the dunes pretty regularly and i normally take the "all bike paths" route..

i posted it on bikely, but i cant find it anymore.
Permalink Reply by joe on May 14, 2009 at 10:38pm
i enjoy reading this... i need to get my BB replaced...its a standard cup and cone at the moment...i dont have much exp in this area...anyone no shit about this..im rockin a Vivo Sport Univega...id like to upgrade to a decent BB...not sure about the threading and what not...any way....back on target...im down and ill turn it to an event...ive got it off work. if i need to get the 5th off as well i can...ill ride down with who ever to get it set up...im in Pilsen and im not a slow rider...tho i do ride a fixed...if u wanna ride down prior Brett, let me know this week so i can request that day off as well...im drunk and prone to drawing shit out...but yeah..get at me
Permalink Reply by Brett Ratner on May 15, 2009 at 2:56am
Hey...

I'm not an expert at bike repair, but I replaced a BB not too long ago so I had to learn the basic info. I have all this written down somewhere, but this is what I remember off the top of my head

There are two kinds of bottom bracket threading: English and Italian. English threading is much more common, but Italian frames and I believe French frames use the Italian threading. I'm blanking on where Univega was made.

The other thing to pay attention to is spindle length. If you are riding a fixed gear, you want a straight chain line.

My fixed gear has horizontal dropouts and takes a hub with a traditional track width (120mm I think? I forgot). I'm trying to remember your bike, but if it is a road bike converted to fixed gear, the rear dropouts may be spaced further apart...something like 130mm if I remember correctly.

Anyway, there may be better ways to do this, but the way I figured out the spindle length I needed was to find the center point between my rear dropouts and measure the distance out to my rear cog. Then I measured from the center point in the bottom bracket out to where the chain ring needed to be.

For example, if my dropouts are spaced 120mm apart, the center point is 60mm in. Lets say the rear cog is 10mm in from the right dropout. Again, I'm doing this off the top of my head, but I'd then subtract 10 from 60...meaning that I need a spindle length of 50mm.

Definitely check to make sure I'm giving you good info by asking a real bike mechanic. But hopefully this gets you pointed in the right direction.

I gotta go to work...I'll respond to your comments about the ride.

joe said:
i enjoy reading this... i need to get my BB replaced...its a standard cup and cone at the moment...i dont have much exp in this area...anyone no shit about this..im rockin a Vivo Sport Univega...id like to upgrade to a decent BB...not sure about the threading and what not...any way....back on target...im down and ill turn it to an event...ive got it off work. if i need to get the 5th off as well i can...ill ride down with who ever to get it set up...im in Pilsen and im not a slow rider...tho i do ride a fixed...if u wanna ride down prior Brett, let me know this week so i can request that day off as well...im drunk and prone to drawing shit out...but yeah..get at me
Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on May 15, 2009 at 6:13am
ugh... no! sorry buddy... the stoker seat is reserved for petite ladies.
DonRay said:
Hell yeah jaun, I think I'll just ride on your stoker seat if that's cool!

Juan Dominguez said:
Yay! I failed miserably last time a friend and I tried to make it past all those steel mills. oil refineries, road locked casinos and nasty ghettos. I will try again.
Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on May 15, 2009 at 6:14am
stay away from trying to ride close to the lake front!
Lindsay E. Stout said:
Hells yeah, try again! What route did you take, so we can avoid it. The one posted earlier looks good, I'm asking around and doing some research though. I know there is a way to get there taking mostly bike paths...Not exactly sure what it is yet.
And it's a $15 camping fee, hope it doesn't break the bank!


Juan Dominguez said:
Yay! I failed miserably last time a friend and I tried to make it past all those steel mills. oil refineries, road locked casinos and nasty ghettos. I will try again.
Permalink Reply by DonRay A.K.A. Zesty on May 15, 2009 at 8:11am
That's too bad juan - i could wear a wig, but I dont think i can lose enough weight to be petite. I guess Ill have to just take my surly...
Permalink Reply by Lindsay E. Stout on May 15, 2009 at 9:31am
Permalink Reply by Brett Ratner on May 19, 2009 at 6:46am
Ok...

The national park does not take reservations, the state park does.

For weekends at the state park you have to reserve 2 nights. As of this very moment, they have 6 sites available, $25.50 per night. Two tents per site, six people total per site.

phone # 866-622-6746 or camp.in.gov to reserve.

I say we make a decision quickly to confirm who's going and then start reserving sites. Another option is to take our chances and try to get a site the day of, but I'm told both the state and the national park fill up fast in the summer.

What say ye?
Permalink Reply by joe on May 19, 2009 at 7:19am
sounds like a plan. im 100% in. and i can go down on the 5th if need be. just need to know sometime next month so i can make sure to get it off. im also down with just gettin hammered pissing my pants and passing out on the beach. we should also look in to a place to eat in the morning cause im usually pretty fucking hungry after riding and drinking and beaching and what not...im sure theres a store near by we can pick up supplies and shit as well.
Permalink Reply by Brett Ratner on May 19, 2009 at 8:25am
Hey, Joe. Good to see you at the MM ride!

Good call on breakfast. When planning the route, we'll need to figure out a place to buy beer and such, decide whether to eat dinner at a restaurant or to cook out at the camp site...and find a place to eat breakfast before riding back on Sunday.

Since the state park requires people to reserve two nights on weekends, I guess we should reserve spots for Friday and Saturday.

That way, anyone who wants to come down on Friday will have a camp spot, but no one has to come down Friday. In other words, our spots will be there no matter what.

I'm gonna go ahead and pay for a spot for myself for Friday and Saturday. Two tents are allowed on each site, so whomever wants to...ummm...pitch a tent on my site is welcome to.

But everyone who plans to come and wants to sleep in a tent should probably reserve a camp spot as well. Other options are a lodge, possibly cabins, and passing out on beach.

As I said there are only 5 or 6 sites left so we'll need to act quick.



joe said:
sounds like a plan. im 100% in. and i can go down on the 5th if need be. just need to know sometime next month so i can make sure to get it off. im also down with just gettin hammered pissing my pants and passing out on the beach. we should also look in to a place to eat in the morning cause im usually pretty fucking hungry after riding and drinking and beaching and what not...im sure theres a store near by we can pick up supplies and shit as well.
Permalink Reply by joe on May 19, 2009 at 12:09pm
cool..yeah it was a fun ride...youlll be seeing more of me for sure.

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