steelbikeguy

For anyone within range of central Illinois, this is a chance to ride with fellow vintage & steel bike enthusiasts and perhaps show off the pride of your fleet! It's intended to be a medium speed ride along quiet rural roads north of Peoria, IL, including a stretch along the scenic Illinois river... nothing too serious, and no dropped riders.


Date: Saturday, Sept 28th. Meet at 8:30am. Roll out at 9am.

Start/Finish location: Shore Acres Park, 100 Park Blvd, Chillicothe Illinois 61523
Meet in the parking area adjacent to the swimming pool.
https://www.chillicotheparkdistrict.org/shore-acres-park

Distance: roughly 43 miles.
Speed: the target is approximately 16mph or so. The plan is to regroup at turns and key points to keep the group from getting too broken up.

Mid-ride destination & break: Tanner's Orchard, Speer, Illinois. https://www.tannersorchard.com/
baked goods, hot cocoa, coffee, water, and restrooms. Plenty of apples and cider are available too, but you'll want to bring a pannier or big saddlebag to carry it in. Fortunately, it's mostly downhill from Tanner's.

Other ride info:

-- Support: This is an unsupported ride. Bring your own food and water, and be prepared to handle any mechanical issues that might occur.

-- Terrain: The route is slightly changed from last year, so the hill going up the Illinois River bluffs is quite gradual. The slope barely exceeds 2%, so even classic racing gears should be sufficient. There are a variety of moderate rolling hills as well as some flat ground in the river flood plain.
I've entered the route on RideWithGPS:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30754654

-- Road conditions: primarily narrow rural roads with chipseal surfaces and very little traffic. This is Illinois, so there are spots with poorer conditions, especially one 100' stretch of small gravel. I've ridden it on 23mm tires, and don't consider it to be a problem.

-- Cue sheet and map: posted to a Flickr album:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kurtsj...57710111918766
… but also available on the RideWithGPS link.

photos from last year's ride...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kurtsj...57696657345642

Please let me know if you plan to attend or if there are any questions.

thanks!

Steve in Peoria (of course)

Murray Missile 

Looks like fun, I'm close enough, I'm halfway between the Quad Cities and Galesburg but that date is booked and I'm too out of shape, maybe next year.

riverdrifter

Looks like fun! I'm a slow newbie, and I'm interested. I've got relatives in the Metamora area, and may be there for a visit about then. I'll try to work it out.

RobbieTunes

I enjoyed it last year, and so no reason not to go again. I have a friend from St. Louis that may be interested, too.

Since no one knows the route, we make Steve pull the entire time. I enjoy that, too.

It's a nice warm-up for the Hilly Hundred. OK, that's a lie; it's not. But it's a good ride.

I'm just rationalizing.

steelbikeguy

it is certainly a busy time of year!
As far as conditioning... well, not a lot is required, but it does help to be comfortable with covering the distance.
I'll save you a spot for next year.

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

If you are in the area, then please do grab the bike and spend the morning with us. Always nice to meet someone new!

Steve in Peoria

speedevil 

It's on the calendar. Are we going to meet Friday night for dinner? @RobbieTunes and I found a pizza place that was pretty good close to the hotel in Chillicothe.

We'll get lunch at Tanner's. Apple cider donuts are the perfect refueling choice - well, maybe not - but they are very good.

Last year I said driving 6 hours and then riding 20 miles for a donut might be a valid reason to question our sanity - and it's probably still true.

I've been looking forward to this ride.

steelbikeguy

that reminds me that I am still thinking about doing some sort of vintage ride in the St. Louis area. My preference is for the area west of the city, around Babler park and the Wildwood area. Just wonderfully scenic and with plenty of hills to make you appreciate that T.A. crankset with the 28T granny sprocket.
In fact, I'm planning to go down there soon and scout out a route on the trails along the Mississippi... starting at Chain of Rocks bridge, go down the trail on the west bank towards downtown, cross over on the McKinley bridge back to the Illinois side, and go back north. Maybe loop up to Alton too. No low gears required.

I don't really pull at the front so much as work on herding the cats.
As far as training for the Hilly Hundred, it does train you to eat a few donuts in the middle of the ride. Well, it might also train you to bring some warm clothes. That will apply to the Hilly this year, I expect, since it takes place at the end of October.

Hope you can make it!

Steve in Peoria

Murray Missile 

I'll sure try to make it next year, I used to cruise those roads on my motorcycle years ago, some nice scenery around there. I haven't ridden that far since May of last year and I haven't ridden 45 miles TOTAL since then, I just recently got back on the bike and I lost a lot in the past year, it's going to take awhile to even get back to where I was. For anyone wanting to get back into riding condition I highly recommend getting an old Schwinn Varsity to train on, it's a workout LOL.

bikemig 

Sounds like fun but the dates won't work for me this year.

76SLT 

I put it on my calendar. That's a real nice area, and Tanners is a great place to refuel.

Gravity Aided

I'm going to try and make it this year, but 16mph may be a bit of a stretch. I'll also have a few changes at work coming up, right then, of course.

steelbikeguy

16mph is the target, but I think Dale (@speedevil) was a fair bit below that value last year. Robbie was hanging back with him some of the time, and it seemed to work out. I believe Dale is planning to attend, so maybe a slower group can form. We'll still want to regroup and such, just to make sure no one is lost or has some mechanical issue.

As for work.... I highly recommend retirement.
If that's not an option, then you gotta do what you gotta do. Hope things work out and you can attend!

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

I hope you can make it.

The area along the Illinois river is certainly a source of scenery and variety for those of us here in central Illinois. You're not too far from Lasalle/Peru, with Starved Rock Park and the rest of the Illinois River bluff area. Very nice! I've done the Pumpkin Pie ride there a few times. Nice routes, etc., although the weather tends towards the wet and cool end of the spectrum.

Steve in Peoria

RobbieTunes

Ride in the back, and it's 14-15mph effort. Steve does all the work, we just suck his wheel.

RobbieTunes

Dale has had a decent year of punishment, as well:
Bourbon & Tobacco, 2 metrics in Evansville, Thunder Ridge, and RAIN.
Nice "break-in" year, for anyone.

steelbikeguy

excellent point!
Maybe Dale can let us know how he has progressed over the last year? More miles? Increases in speed?
and has he learned to spend less time with crazy jarheads with crazy ideas of fun??

The Hilly Hundred is still looming ahead... have you two been flying up and down the hills of southern Indiana a lot? There are a few 14% grades near Chillicothe if you want to squeeze in a bit of hill work during your visit.

Steve in Peoria

speedevil 

I've improved over last year. More miles, more hills, and working to become a better rider. @RobbieTunes and @nomadmax have been giving me tips to save energy and keep the pace up at the same time, and they've definitely made a difference. What will make the biggest difference for my riding is to lose more weight. I've lost some, but have a ways to go.

Still more improvement can happen, but no - I haven't learned to keep away from crazy Marines with strange ideas of "fun".

Remember - a friend will tell you how crazy you were last night - a good friend will tell you while you're both in the same jail cell.

nomadmax 

Sadly I won't be able to make this ride. We have an organized ride here in my little town in conjunction with a weekend festival and I'm a volunteer at it. I will be at Coppi and Hilly and am anxious to meet/ride with more BF members.

RobbieTunes

A friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a body.

schundog

This was a lot of fun last year! I really enjoyed meeting you guys, and kudos to Steve for "herding the cats." I really hope to make it again this year; I'm putting it on the master calendar as a priority!

I saw Julian at a local function this weekend, and we were discussing the ride. I believe he is planning to attend, as well as a mutual friend of ours, Bob Althouse who also volunteers at the Bloomington Co-OP. In fact, Bob didn't HAVE a vintage steel bike, but found a suitable frame at the coop and built one up. I guess he and I will have to leave the really NICE stuff to you guys. I WILL try to do a little better than my 85 Trek I love to ride. To be honest, I was a little embarrassed when I realized how nice the bikes on the ride were, compared to mine.

RobbieTunes

It's not about the bike.
It's about talking about the bike.

schundog

The talking about the bike was fine; it was the laughing and pointing that hurt my little feelings...lol.

steelbikeguy

Good to hear from you Brian! Also good to know that you and possibly Julian and Bob will attend.

No need to apologize for the Trek! I've had friends show up on carbon fiber, just because they wanted to ride to Tanners and get a donut. As long as they can take a pull into the wind and have some good stories, I don't give them any grief.
The plus side to your situation is that you now have a reason to go looking for a nicer or fancier bike! I've managed to stumble across some very nice vintage bikes in the last 20 years or so, and haven't bought another since 2005 or so. If I were to find a nice Bruce Gordon or Weigle in my size, though, I think I'd find room for it.

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Since the local road crews have a tendency to abruptly tear up roads now and then, I like to ride the route now and then, just to ensure that the roads are still navigable.
I also like to check the donuts at Tanners, as a bit of a quality check.

For these reasons, I did a ride of much of the route on Sunday. The roads looked fine, and the scenery was incredible!......



just look at the dew glisten on that corn silk!!

For those of you who didn't grow up in the Midwest, let me offer this alternative:




This year's route differs from previous years in that instead of going up Blue Ridge road, it goes down the nearby Berchtold road. It is a narrower road with its own eccentricities, such as this view of a collection of road graders.




Everyone who enjoys a nice pumpkin pie will be glad to know that this year's pumpkins are in progress and seem fine. I forget the specifics, but the majority of the nation's pumpkin pie filling comes from the Peoria area (and I have no idea why).




so, in summary, things are looking fine and there are no obstacles to the ride so far!

Steve in Peoria