The Chainlink

Century Rides and Multi-day Rides

We have groups for RAGBRAI, beer exploration by bike, randonneuring, camping by bike and who knows what all else.  But what about just trying to hook up with someone or some ones who ride at a similar pace and might want to do all or part of a century or one of the many multi-day rides popping up on the calendar?

I am a slow-poke, but I want to do some longer distance riding this year.  Le Tour de Shore looks good; Amishland looks good.  I know there is the Apple Cider Century and I imagine there are many other multi-day rides out there that don't show up in our events but would be great fun!

Last summer a thread about the North Shore Century ended up being used to make connections between riders to ride together.  I am hoping this thread will start some connections for different rides.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on March 29, 2013 at 10:38am

Now that is a multi-day, long distance ride!  Very cool.

James BlackHeron said:

We are going to Sikkim & Nepal later this year and that's going to be over ten grand so we have to conserve somewhere with the vacation budgeting for the year. 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 29, 2013 at 10:39am

It seems that there is a brewpub ride down to Flossmore/Three Floyd's about every couple of weeks, even at this time of year.

Here is the next one I found with a quick search of The Chainlink's awkward calender section.  

The Dark Lord Preview Ride

These brewpub rides usually tend to start at the Clocktower on the North section of the LFP or at the Daley Center.  It seems that someone is always putting them on and in the summer there is usually one going down there just about every weekend.   I'm sure there are more unofficial rides heading down that aren't even listed on the calender. 


If one does a search for "Three Floyds" or "brewpub" in the calender tab section above you will find a bunch of hits.  Unfortunately a lot of them are in the past since the crazy thing doesn't allow you to search only upcoming dates.  I don't have a time machine so going to events that are already over is a bit difficult for me... 


prof.gfr said:

What is the Brewpub ride that James mentions? I don't see it on the otherwise extensive list at http://www.mikebentley.com/bike/ilrides.htm

Also, to anyone who is interested, the Apple Cider Century was a terrific ride last year.  Very well supported and great signage. A few small hills, which was great fun and good practice for us flatlanders.  I actually wish there were *more* rides with hills in these parts. Anyone know of any?

Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on March 29, 2013 at 11:03am

And if you're specifically interested in rides which have brewpubs as destinations or on the route, you should check out the Chicagoland Beer Exploration Society on this site. The Group's Mission Statement is that every member of the Society (CBES) should aspire to have a beer at every brewery or brewpub located in a day or two bicycle ride distance from Chicago (and, of course, within the city limits). There are frequent rides posted with the Dark Lord Preview Ride on Monday 4/1, and the Horse Thief Hollow ride on 4/7.

prof.gfr said:

What is the Brewpub ride that James mentions? I don't see it on the otherwise extensive list at http://www.mikebentley.com/bike/ilrides.htm

[snip]

Permalink Reply by Duppie on March 29, 2013 at 11:05am

You may want to carefully read the information on that Dark Lord Preview ride ;)

James BlackHeron said:

It seems that there is a brewpub ride down to Flossmore/Three Floyd's about every couple of weeks, even at this time of year.

Here is the next one I found with a quick search of The Chainlink's awkward calender section.  

The Dark Lord Preview Ride

These brewpub rides usually tend to start at the Clocktower on the North section of the LFP or at the Daley Center.  It seems that someone is always putting them on and in the summer there is usually one going down there just about every weekend.   I'm sure there are more unofficial rides heading down that aren't even listed on the calender. 


If one does a search for "Three Floyds" or "brewpub" in the calender tab section above you will find a bunch of hits.  Unfortunately a lot of them are in the past since the crazy thing doesn't allow you to search only upcoming dates.  I don't have a time machine so going to events that are already over is a bit difficult for me... 


prof.gfr said:

What is the Brewpub ride that James mentions? I don't see it on the otherwise extensive list at http://www.mikebentley.com/bike/ilrides.htm

Also, to anyone who is interested, the Apple Cider Century was a terrific ride last year.  Very well supported and great signage. A few small hills, which was great fun and good practice for us flatlanders.  I actually wish there were *more* rides with hills in these parts. Anyone know of any?

Permalink Reply by Duppie on March 29, 2013 at 11:07am

Here is a complete list of rides "organized" by CBES.

http://www.thechainlink.org/events/event/search?q=CBES



Kevin C 4.1 mi said:

And if you're specifically interested in rides which have brewpubs as destinations or on the route, you should check out the Chicagoland Beer Exploration Society on this site. The Group's Mission Statement is that every member of the Society (CBES) should aspire to have a beer at every brewery or brewpub located in a day or two bicycle ride distance from Chicago (and, of course, within the city limits). There are frequent rides posted with the Dark Lord Preview Ride on Monday 4/1, and the Horse Thief Hollow ride on 4/7.

prof.gfr said:

What is the Brewpub ride that James mentions? I don't see it on the otherwise extensive list at http://www.mikebentley.com/bike/ilrides.htm

[snip]

Permalink Reply by Albany Park Al on March 29, 2013 at 11:09am

D'oh!

I had not checked, but somehow had the idea that the Tour de Shore was later in the summer.  Yes, it is the same weekend as the Ride for Nature in Door County.  Hmm, that's a tough choice.  Much less hassle to do the Tour de Shore, on the other hand...Door County!

I'll have to wait and see what happens before registering for either.  I work freelance and making personal plans far in advance (ie more than two weeks) is a guarantee of trouble and even lost deposits.

Thanks for everyone's advice on training, particularly core.  I'm on it.


Lisa Curcio 4.0 mi said:

That looks like a good one, too, but I am committed to leTour de Shore that weekend. :-(

Albany Park Al said:

There is a Century up in Door County in Wisconsin, the Ride for Nature, that I'm thinking about doing as my first.  It's obviously flat, so that's good.  And I've read that if you are a regular rider, you should be able to handle 3x that mileage at a sensible pace.  My 'regular' ride during the three seasons is the North Branch loop which takes me 2 hours for 32 miles.   And I'll be practicing longer rides before then, too.

Also despite living in Chicago for over thirty years, I've never been to Door County.  The UP, yah, but never Door County.

There are shorter rides as well: Metric Century, 50, 25, etc.  Might possibly do one of those instead, with the wife.

http://ridefornature.com/register1/#.UVTXlxl3bpR

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 29, 2013 at 11:11am

 

I doubt we will be doing much riding.  We usually don't when we travel.  We will be covering a lot of ground trying to see all the sites in the time we are there.  I'd love to be able to rent bikes at some of the places but I really don't like driving myself on roads when traveling -even on a bike unless the roads are deserted.

The number one source of traveller injury/deaths is road accidents and trying to self-drive/ride in unfamiliar territory is a good recipe for disaster.  Our travel doc says that rental scooters are a real killer of tourists.  As much as we complain about the crazy driving here in Chicago and the USA, the rest of the world (with the exception of Europe where driver skill is much higher than the USA) is even crazier.  Even in places hat drive more sanely we are just not familiar with the driving/road conventions and that makes it even more dangerous for us to attempt to pilot any vehicle on their roads.  Just trying to perambulate on foot and crossing roads as a ped is stressful enough in these places.  We really don't realize how much worse it can be until we travel to the third world.   Our concepts of what is "safe roads" is not exactly what the rest of the world is comfortable with.

So I have a personal rule that I don't drive a motor vehicle when I travel, we take a cab, car for hire, or bus to get around.   I close my eyes and try not to look out and use the seatbelt as tightly fastened as I can make it (if they even have one) and pray even though I'm an atheist/agnostic.   I think of it as meditating.  Being light and limp in an accident is a good survival strategy.

When we were in Peru a couple of years ago I didn't even like looking out the window of the buses we took everywhere.  You would see quite a few burned-out buses down in bottom of the valleys far below as the roads picked their way through the mountains and they would look just like the ones we were riding in -often with the same operator names on the sides of them.   Just pull the shades and relax and try to sleep until you got to the next destination...

Those roads through the Andean Mountains are some of the most dangerous and deadly in the world. 

Lisa Curcio 4.0 mi said:

Now that is a multi-day, long distance ride!  Very cool.

 

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 29, 2013 at 11:21am

I saw that it was a little slow for my tastes but I'm sure that others may not mind it, or the company. 

Duppie 13.5185km said:

You may want to carefully read the information on that Dark Lord Preview ride ;)


Permalink Reply by David of the North (David606xx) on March 29, 2013 at 12:39pm

I've got just the thing for you!  Last year's Frozen Snot Century got pushed back into March--remember that crazy weekend in March with temps over 80? Yeah--sunburned on the Frozen Snot.  

Anyway, we went to Madison from the Harvard metra, stayed the night at a house with home-cooked meal and plenty of spare mattresses and then rode back the next day.  gorgeous.

I put up a planning page to get folks together for a repeat in April or early May.  Spread the word and chime in on the details.

http://www.thechainlink.org/group/no-theme-ride-to-madison-the-plan...

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 29, 2013 at 12:55pm

This sounds great and I joined the community.  

I see it is still in the planning stages but any idea as to a rough idea of when?  Spring, summer, fall?  Next winter?

David of the North (David606xx) said:

I've got just the thing for you!  Last year's Frozen Snot Century got pushed back into March--remember that crazy weekend in March with temps over 80? Yeah--sunburned on the Frozen Snot.  

Anyway, we went to Madison from the Harvard metra, stayed the night at a house with home-cooked meal and plenty of spare mattresses and then rode back the next day.  gorgeous.

I put up a planning page to get folks together for a repeat in April or early May.  Spread the word and chime in on the details.

http://www.thechainlink.org/group/no-theme-ride-to-madison-the-plan...

Permalink Reply by David of the North (David606xx) on March 29, 2013 at 1:00pm

April if we can get it together, maybe early May.  I need to get back to my friend in Madison about which weekend she's able to host.

James BlackHeron said:

This sounds great and I joined the community.  

I see it is still in the planning stages but any idea as to a rough idea of when?  Spring, summer, fall?  Next winter?

David of the North (David606xx) said:

I've got just the thing for you!  Last year's Frozen Snot Century got pushed back into March--remember that crazy weekend in March with temps over 80? Yeah--sunburned on the Frozen Snot.  

Anyway, we went to Madison from the Harvard metra, stayed the night at a house with home-cooked meal and plenty of spare mattresses and then rode back the next day.  gorgeous.

I put up a planning page to get folks together for a repeat in April or early May.  Spread the word and chime in on the details.

http://www.thechainlink.org/group/no-theme-ride-to-madison-the-plan...

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 29, 2013 at 1:10pm

April works great for me, May not so much. 

My parents live on the far West side (Spring Harbor, right off of University Avenue near Brennan's Market) and maybe might be willing to let a few folks crash.  I have a friend who lives near First & Main on the near East side but I'm not sure if he would be willing to help host. 

I was born and raised in Madison and lived in Dane County up until 2005-6 ish when I transitioned down here to Logan Square.   I'm pretty familiar with the area (except for all the crazy changes)  I was up there last week and was totally blown away at the new bike lanes on UA near my parent's house.  I can't wait to ride them. 

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