Monday Bull Valley Beatdown

Much like last year I have been training on the pugsley without shifting it and riding it as a single speed. This can be quite a tough job especially in the hills of Bull Valley by my house. Today the weather was 32 and was very light winds (shocking) so I got out for a nice ride before having to teach this evening. Punished my legs on some hills and felt great doing so. I love this area, come join me for a ride back here sometime. 

- JB

Sunday Hike

 

Was not feeling like biking today so I went to Glacial Park in McHenry, IL to hike for a couple hours. The park is really neat and has some big bluffs on the west side of the park. The wind was really bad blowing 35 mph gusts, but other than that the day was fairly warm. I ended up finding the "Hippie Tree" which is the last photo in the bunch. A bunch of people go and smoke dope there and put all sorts of prayer flags, clothes, and goodies in the tree. It was kind of neat to see after hearing about it for the past two years but never have discovered it. The scenery was great and I got in a good hike for a few hours in some deep snow. Will get in a ride tomorrow and commute in the bitter cold this week. Gotta stay moving and stay motivated...

- JB

Bike Packing

Starting to acquire some more bike packing gear. This bivy is from Black Diamond and is a waterproof version. I already have a very light weight sleeping bag, I just need to get a light weight sleeping pad. I want to do some over night bike packing trips this year while training for TI and also start training and picking gear for TD. Gonna be some good camping trips this year! Let me know if you want to join!

- JB

Warmer Weekend Miles

Was able to get some good miles in this weekend with our "warmer" temps in the low to mid 30's. Saturday was an icy morning but decided to commute to work and back and logged 25 miles for the day before and after work. 

Sunday, Black Belt Mike met me in Woodstock and we were able to get a nice ride in back down to Huntley to drop him off and I kept riding. The wind was 20-30 mph out of the south and really brutal. I was able to try out the Gunnar fixie set up for the first time and liked it quite a bit. There will be some adaptation before trans iowa but its good to start getting the bike dialed in. Was able to log 53 miles for the day and then received an awesome dinner and cookies from Mrs. Black Belt Mike, Sandy. She is an awesome cook and all of the food is devoured. Thanks Sandy!

Monday morning I got an unexpected text from Mr. David Swanson that he was off work and wanted to ride so we met out on the road and cruised to Lake Geneva. I flipped when we got up there and was glad to have some company and chat with him after the holidays. We had a slight tailwind and I cruised back with a mild head wind. The temps warmed up to the low 40s and I took the long way home to log another 52 miles.

Good to finally get some long miles in after a brutal start to January. Still on track for the month!

- JB

Rollers

For the first time in nearly 3 years I had to bust out the rollers and ride indoors to compensate for the bitter cold temps and my health problems. Have had a bad cold ever since I got back from Texas. Trying to recover and hit it hard after this cold spell passes. 

- JB

Shop Things

Bob will fit whenever, whoever, on whatever....just an example....

Got me a new Brooks Cambium to go with the Rasta themed Nature Boy build. Should be interesting to try a natural rubber seat with an organic cotton top as opposed to the good ol' leather that I love so much. This bike is going to be au-naturale.

New Years Day Ride

Happy New Year!

There are going to be a lot of goals I have for 2014 including some huge changes in my life. 

I am looking forward to new challenges, great rides, and new adventures!

Was able to get out today for 1.5 hours. My feet have been freezing lately just wearing my shoe covers. The snow today was very loose and fluffy and not easy to ride in so I did a lot of hike-a-bike on the trails. Felt good to get out and be productive. It has been hard to get out with the horrible cold temps and lots of snow. Time to toughen up, training for Trans Iowa starts today!

Get a hold of me if you want to ride this year!

- JB