Heated up
Posted: June 9, 2021 Filed under: Ride | Tags: dirt, MTB, ride, woods Leave a commentWhen I ride by myself, I end up pushing to see how hard I can go. When I’m with others, I wait for them, or (more often) they wait for me, and we take plenty of breathers. Today at Broemmelsiek Park I was by myself.
Add to this, it was a warm afternoon, mid-eighties, and Jack’s Loop is only 60% wooded. So I was out in the sun on a hot day, pushing. It was fun, but I was a little beat, tripling my average speed from the first time I rode this loop.
The fauna at Broemmelsiek seemed surprised anyone was out riding on a Wednesday – A baby rabbit was convinced that I was chasing him down the trail, and two (presumably?) different squirrels darted back and forth across the trail in near-fatal indecision. Dragonflies basking in the singletrack lit away at the last moment at regular intervals. It was a good workout and a good nature ride.
Endurance Test
Posted: June 7, 2021 Filed under: Ride | Tags: dirt, MTB, ride, SIUE Leave a commentA return to SIUE’s trails for me on a humid 87 degree afternoon – I wanted to ride the half of trail 2 I hadn’t done before and take trail 3 as well.
I rode the steeper, less meandering side of trail 2 to its connection with trail 6, took water on the fly along the road to the trail 4 trailhead without stopping, and pounded my way to trail 3. I took trail 3 to its trailhead at Cougar Village before stopping for water and a breather. I continued on trail 3 back to it’s juncture with trail 4, but more slowly, with sweat pouring into my eyes. I popped out at the trailhead on New Poag Road, took another water break and a selfie, and then connected with trail 1, riding it all the way to its southern end. I dropped into the lowest gear to slowly climb the abandoned blacktop while I took even more water.
The entire ride was 56 minutes, and I was soaked with sweat. I’ve wised up and started bringing a change of t-shirt. My car’s upholstery approves.
Many Bridges
Posted: June 4, 2021 Filed under: Ride | Tags: bike, dirt, MTB, ride, son, trails, weekday Leave a commentTwelve Year Old Henry and I explored the trails at Silver Lake in Highland Illinois today. The trail runs along the banks of Silver Lake, and there are many little bridge features to cross. We did the entire length of the trail out-and-back and took some pictures and video.
Different Strokes
Posted: June 3, 2021 Filed under: Ride | Tags: bicycle, MTB, SIUE, trails Leave a commentFor reasons I may some day describe, I gave up motorcycles. More than a year ago I let go of the ten (!) motorcycles in my garage.
But I couldn’t stay away from riding. This Spring I have returned to my roots – I bought a bicycle. The bike I chose was an inexpensive and decidedly “old school” 27.5″ XC mountain bike featured at my local sporting goods store.
I’ve been riding on paved trails for exercise, which is completely unworthy of a blog, but more recently, I’ve been going off road trail riding. I love it. It’s all the best parts of dirt biking, but with more local options, far less transportation hassle, and very little cost.
So the riding, cheesing, clicking, and repeating have resumed, just in a more economical and ecological manner.
To celebrate, here’s some shots from my latest trip to the SIU-Edwardsville Trails
Weekday Hooky
Posted: December 10, 2015 Filed under: Ride | Tags: dirt, Husqvarna, weekday Leave a commentWednesday was too beautiful a day to stay cooped up. I took a long lunch and burned laps at Ride Organic.
Beautiful day for a ride, had to sneak out and burn some laps
Gift of a Day
Posted: November 15, 2015 Filed under: Ride | Tags: 450, dirt, ride, Ride Organic, weekend Leave a commentToday’s weather was incredible – high sixties and breezy at the halfway point in November, with lots of moisture in the dirt from the previous week’s rains. I made the most of this gift by taking my Husqvarna to Ride Organic for a splendid afternoon of dirt riding.
The TC 449 is a GP machine
Bill relishes the perfect November weather
I got to rip around the GP track and relax in the November sunshine.
Resurrection
Posted: October 26, 2015 Filed under: Shop | Tags: 400, Street Tracker, vintage bike, weekday, XS, Yamaha Leave a commentMy brother moved recently and needed a place to store his motorcycles while his family was between houses. One of his bikes is a 1978 Yamaha XS400 2E done up like a street tracker. It suffered a maintenance mishap at our hands a couple years ago – when trying to replace the oil filter, we snapped the bolt that holds the oil filter cover. We tried a bolt extractor with no luck. At the end of that day, we just kinda gave up, and the bike sat in his garage for years.
When I picked up John’s bikes in preparation for his move, I offered to try to fix it. I ended up snapping the bolt extractor. That sucker was really stuck. The good folks at Elli’s Cycles saved my bacon by welding another bolt to the stuck one and freeing the now shredded fastener.
But the bike had deteriorated while it was dormant. It needed a new battery and it needed thorough carb cleaning. I took on both tasks – the battery replacement was actually pretty hard – the entire tail section of the bike had been modified to accept the dirt tracker seat, and getting the old battery out was like solving a Chinese puzzle. Somehow I figured it all out, replaced the battery and got the seat and subframe re-assembled.
Next was the carb work – one of the carbs was so gummed that the throttle wouldn’t even return. I pulled it apart, and the emulsion tube was mummified. Additionally, one of the constant velocity slides was gummed pretty bad and would stick and hang. I replaced the needle valves, cleaned everything up, and was satisfied to have it fire up within the first few kicks.
Today I took it out for a ride around the neighborhood. It had three problems: 1) the idle is too low after it warms up. 2) it backfires through the carbs at low RPMs. 3) The kick starter apparently only engages in my driveway, NOT when I stall it in traffic. For a few minutes I thought it was going to be a long push back home, but I found a hill and got it bump-started, and got to ride around the neighborhood for a bit. It accelerated crisply, ran surprisingly quiet (mechanically – not counting the obnoxious reverse megaphone “mufflers”) and was actually kind of fun. Also, apparently during that ancient oil change, some oil got on the exhaust wrap on the left header – it smoked like a poker party when it got hot.
It’s not a perfect bike yet, but it’s got potential.
Gnarly
Posted: October 26, 2015 Filed under: Ride | Tags: 450, 50, bikes, dad, dirt, kids, Ride Organic, son Leave a commentHenry and I spent Saturday morning riding our dirt bikes. Henry brought both the 2-stroke PW50 (which he learned on, and loves) and the bigger 4-stroke TT-R 50 which he is learning to operate. Henry rode the PW50 for about 4 minutes before switching to the bigger bike. He stuck with it for the rest of the day and made big strides in in his shifting and braking on the more complicated machine.
I got to ride a little on my bike, but spent most of the day tagging along behind Henry. He’s really building his confidence, and his initial reaction to most tricky situations seems to usually be the right one.
Mighty Little Man
Posted: October 23, 2015 Filed under: Ride | Tags: 50, bikes, father, Ride Organic, son, weekday Leave a commentHenry had a challenging day of riding. Wednesday night was his first time out on a three speed dirt bike. It’s hard to get the hang of shifting with one foot and braking with the other. He loves the bigger bike, and it fits him well, but the extra coordination it requires sapped enough of his concentration that he crashed twice.
Henry alternately mean mugs me and enjoys a snack
He didn’t let it get him down though. Henry dusted himself off both times and jumped right back on the bike. He’s my mighty little man.
We retired to a well deserved and much anticipated dinner at Arby’s. But before we could go eat, Henry had to sit on his bike for a minute in the parking lot.
Henry had to straddle his bike on the trailer before we could eat our dinner
Zipping Fifties
Posted: October 15, 2015 Filed under: Ride | Tags: 50, dirt, father, kids, Ride Organic, son, weekday Leave a commentHenry got to ride with his buddy Jayden yesterday after school. They zipped all over the place, riding on the flat track, the pit bike track, and even taking a lap of the GP track. Henry had a great time despite a minor crash on the flat track, hopping back up and continuing like it was no big deal. He’s getting more proficient and more adventurous each time we go ride.
ride, cheese, click, repeat. 