Mr. John Goes to Minnesota

So the shop has been bouncing off the walls lately, and we've been working like hamsters to try to keep up. As such, I've been neglecting the website as well as my duties as Making Things Look Pretty in the Shop Coordinator in favor of getting my hands dirty with the mechanics. We're currently scheduling exactly 1 week out, much better than 2 weeks like last year at this time, but Dan and I are going to burn the midnight oil until we catch back up to our goal of 3 days out.

It's also been race season, so when we're not having more fun that a barrel of monkeys at the shop, we've been out training (Anona and I at least). She's been having a breakthrough season, tearing up every race she enters. I'm adjusting to the speed of the Pro/1/2 fields, and my results have been up (5th) and down (someone riding over my face). We're all excited for the upcoming heart of the season, especially the Champaign Criteriums!

John and Michael rode their bikes to Chicago a few weeks ago. I one upped them and rode to the near north suburbs, so Michael put his foot down, borrowed my rechargeable headlight (Stella 200N by Light and Motion), and did a crazy 16 hour 240-something mile ride. I won't be chasing that until I'm done racing and do 1000 miles in 3 days. Some day. Anyway, everyone at the shop (except Peter and Larry) just ordered some of the last available 200N, which is the NiMH version of the Stella 200L. It's a bit heavier, and doesn't have quite as good long term battery life, but it's a great deal. If anybody's interested in ordering light that will literally make oncoming traffic pull over and stop, the blog special price is $139 while supplies last. I really enjoy having a stupid-high-power headlight, as at night it gains me instant street cred with motorists. I also use it for longer rides into the country, usually alone, which is exciting in a somewhat scary way--I expect an ancient swamp monster to stretch its tentacles out of one of the flooded fields and gobble me up. We'll see. Last time I rode through the middle of a herd of deer crossing the road. That got the adrenaline flowing.

I don't think the bathtub-rollers is going to happen. I assign this project to any and all readers.

If anybody from Mahomet has been in looking for Dr. Alumbaugh, he is on vacation up nort':

We are enjoying the touring options that Minnesota has to offer. Frankly, we have been very surprised by the sheer number of people enjoying their biking options in the Minneapolis area. Lots of paved trails into and around the city.

After a brief ride on last Friday to the Coon Rapids dam we declared our bikes ready to tour through June 27th. The new Trek Portland is a lot of fun and the Axiom panniers have made my bike the "pack mule" for the three of us. If we think we might need it, we put it in the bags. Brian is riding his new Project One Trek Madone 5.2 and Mary has her Trek Pilot 5.2. My bike is the heavyweight in our group. I will send a photo of my truck with our bikes and gear loaded for the trip up here.

We filled the day on Saturday by riding into the city and back using mostly the paved trails and saw THOUSANDS of people riding. Sadly, too many were not wearing helmets. Interestingly enough, those on road bikes were much more likely to have a helmet on their head. I always knew that roadies were smarter! Sunday another day on trails with hundreds of others on the trail before heading north to an overnight in Hinckley, Minnesota in a hotel with a DQ next door!

Tomorrow we are on to Moose Lake and back in the tents.

BTW, we stopped in a Minneapolis bike shop and saw the new Trek single speed with the carbon fiber belt instead of a chain (The District--ed.). Very cool in gray paint, orange trim and wheels. $925 and I could have ridden it out the door. Champaign Cycle will love this bike. Is it there yet? (They're finally starting to ship, and we may have ours in less than 3 weeks! Ditto for the new Soho--ed.). More later on the logistics of travelling through a city without maps or cue sheets and how we are moving up to the Canadian border.

Finally, watch out for the right hook--when a car passes you and then turns right, cutting you off. I've avoided this one a couple times recently. This is also a very common type of accident when cyclists use the sidewalk or ride in the gutter, out of the normal path of auto traffic. Note that Illinois law says you must ride as far to the right as is practicable, which basically means you get to decide how far is far enough--there's a grey line between being in the way and being visible.

But don't wear lime green jerseys--a concerned motorist informed me they blend in with the grass in these parts...?