Any bikers out there? I need some trails to explore in the spring. Any ideas?

Seasons over, see ya in the Spring

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

The prarie path in Maywood is very nice.

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Try the Stevenson Expressway.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

or LSD

http://voices.suntimes.com/news/transpo ... ore-drive/

mofo?

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You looking for paved bike paths? Offroad mountain bike trails?

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Are you in cook county? The forest preserves have lots of paved trails. I bike in Deer Grove and Busse Woods. But depending on day and time you may be competing for space with runners, walkers and roller bladers.

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

I borrowed a biker trainer but there was no trainer skewer. Do I need to purchase one or will the one on my road bike suffice?

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"I honestly don't see a good bet on the board here."

I ride those as well. Busse isn't far from my office, so I head there after work a couple times a week. Nice to do a couple laps there.

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-- source

A certain CSFMB member and I will be biking a local trail tonight. I'm a Tad excited.

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-- source

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

When I was buying my bike, the guy at Village Cycle said "Don't worry, we'll take that bell off there for you." You bet your ass I told them to leave it on there. DING!

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-- source

I don't bother yelling because no one can hear you anyway. I just blow by the slow bastards and give a little wave. Eat my dust, Fuckers!

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-- source

RUN.HIM.OVER. But only if wearing a sportcoat and not reclining in an airline seat.

I used to ride my bike all the time. I loved riding around McHenry County back roads, though I once came within inches of being hit by a van in Wonder Lake. I'm glad I didn't have to die in Wonder Lake.

The summer after high school, I rode my bike from Lake Geneva to Barrington because I wanted to see how far I could go (no consideration was given to getting back home). I felt like could have made it farther if I hadn't gotten a flat, but my ass was sore for a whole week.

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This should probably go in the "Brag" thread but I wanted to bump the "Biking" topic.

So, I'm in the back half of my twelve mile ride this morning. Heading north was tough and I was glad to be going back south with the wind at my back. I'm coming off the lakefill at Northwestern and the wind is strong behind me. I must have been going close to 20 mph. So I was surprised to see a guy roll up next to me to pass. It was a Japanese dude, probably about ten years younger than I am. He had no body fat and his calves looked like Clincher softballs. He was in a full spandex outfit. He was on a custom road bike with tires about the diameter of a dime. There I was a fat old guy on a twenty year old factory Trek 820 with big knobby tires. I can understand why he wanted to get around me. I absolutely didn't think I could ride with him. But as soon as he crossed over in front of me he dropped his pace. That pissed me off. I never pass someone unless I'm damn sure I'm gonna outride them. I wasn't lollygagging out there. So now I'm on top of him for about a mile going through the lakefront park. Nobody was out there because of the threat of rain, so we could really rock and roll. I had my front tire so close to his rear tire it looked like we were riding a tandem. But you know what? Fuck him. When we moved out onto the street in front of Lee Street Beach, he figured he was going to blow me away. He started clicking madly through his gears and was grabbing his handlebars in a racing stance. When I came alongside him, he looked a little shocked. I wasn't even working hard. Then I decided to go. He couldn't keep up. That'll teach him to mess with a fat old man. I hope he feels bad about himself.

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Don't take it personally.

I'm still rocking a twenty-year old Trek 850.

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

I think we tend to overestimate how quickly people age. We compare it to professional sports, where most of the players have to be at their absolute physical peak to even sniff the league. But regular dudes don't have the slim margin, and regular dudes also don't have broken down legs and backs from playing years of professional sports. Go watch hoops at the local gym. In a halfcourt game, the 40-year-olds are typically dogging the 20-year-olds. When it goes full court is when it gets a bit dicey.

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They're great bikes. Up until this spring I had probably only spent $400 on mine over twenty years. And there are a lot of miles on it and $240 of that came when I flipped over the top of a car door. But last winter I never stopped riding. The bike got pretty beat up over the winter and there were a lot of issues with it including the gearing and the brakes. I went to the Pony Shop in Evanston and the Swedish mechanic told me it was gonna be about $500 to put the bike back in real shape. I could tell he thought that was silly. My wife was telling me I should just get a new bike. I considered that but the Pony Shop doesn't carry Trek. I was gonna have to go down to Village or somewhere else or go with a different brand. Then I started thinking, what if I bought a new bike and it just didn't feel right? I've been riding this one for twenty years. I spent the money to fix it and it's like new now anyway.

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Don't take it personally.

What a difference a day makes! This morning I was out there slogging home against a wind out of the south and this dope wearing a polo shirt and Sperry Topsiders and riding a shitty jalopy like the one Margaret Hamilton had in The Wizard of Oz comes flying past me. I followed him about two bike lengths behind for about a mile but I was killing myself to do it. Finally, I gave up and let him go. I was out late drinking last night, so that's my excuse. The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass everyday.

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Don't take it personally.

So I'm out there this morning sitting at the light at Oakton and McCormick, I get the green and start going and suddenly a goof in full spandex on a racing bike is passing me in unnecessarily close quarters. I mean our knees almost brushed. Okay, he's trying to assert his male dominance over me. I get it. But we get going and I'm right on top of the motherfucker. If you're gonna pass me like that you better keep going. But we've got a strong wind at our backs and I'm following him at a pretty good pace. All of a sudden he realizes I'm back there and starts freaking out. Now he's his true #betamale self. He starts barking at me about "riding on his wheel". I said I was nowhere near his wheel. (I wasn't.) He said, "You were pretty close." I said, "How about this? You ride your fuckin' bike and I'll ride mine." Now were going along at 20+ mph and pretty much motherfucking each other. I can see that he has low body fat and that fast ass racing bike. I can probably go with him for a couple miles but no way I can stay with him much further than that if he really starts riding. He starts waving at me to pass him. He wants me to pass him so he can come back around and assert his dominance again. But I wasn't having that. I yelled, "Your pace is great. I'm fine back here." The next time the path split he took the shorter route and started riding as hard as he could. Give that man the yellow jersey!

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Don't take it personally.

I've got a trick for you that I would think you would know, but I never see anyone else doing it. If you want to get south to the lakefront trail from Evanston but mostly avoid Sheridan, this is what I do. Stay east of the cemetery along the lake, then take Eastlake until it ends. Take the alley parallel to Sheridan rather than Sheridan itself, down to Sherwin where it ends. Then you have to jump over to Sheridan, but the alley picks back up again at Greenleaf, and dumps you out at Loyola. You avoid about 10 blocks of asshole drivers and 6 traffic lights.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

I take a route very similar to that but not exactly. I always use Eastlake. I usually take the sidewalk on the east side between South Blvd. and Eastlake. It can get a little hairy riding Sheridan along the cemetery.

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Don't take it personally.

A friend of mine was heading north on the Channel trail along McCormick last night and he saw a small coyote. On his way back south he was between Touhy and Devon and the motherfucker lunged at him. Be safe out there!

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Don't take it personally.

I was warning people of the threat of coyotes months ago. Keep up.

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JORR's friend is not a domesticated dog riding a bicycle though.

Wait. Is he?

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost