steelbikeguy

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 drops.


Date: Saturday, Sept 29th. 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.
Chillicothe Park District - Chillicothe, Illinois

Distance: roughly 40 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 hill going up the Illinois River bluffs is pretty modest, except for an initial bit of steepness at the bottom.. about 1/4 mile at 10%. 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/25797104
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...57696657345642
… but also available on the RideWithGPS link.

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

thanks!

Steve in Peoria


A few photos from last year….

At Shore Acres Park, along the Illinois river:


Toodling through the corn fields on the way to the orchard:


Parked outside Tanner’s Orchard:

beech333

I might be able to make it to this one! Is it vintage only, or are other steel bikes permitted? I've got a couple vintage bikes I would like to ride, but I might switch to a more modern steel bike if it is wet.

RobbieTunes

I am only 5 hours away.

beech333

Tanners' apple cider donuts are worth it. They are the best I have ever had, especially if you get one that is a bit crispy on the outside. Consider the vintage ride as a bonus.

cb400bill

I'm about 4 hours away...

steelbikeguy

The enthusiasm for the ride tends to fade as conditions get wetter, but I tend to still show up on one of my newer-but-still-classic bikes with fenders.
I like to encourage folks to ride vintage bikes but any steel bike is appreciated, and I've had a friend show up on carbon fiber (but the friend was "vintage", so I have to permit it).

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

The fellows in Chicago speak highly of you, so it'd be a pleasure to have you attend!

FWIW, I've been traveling down to St. Louis to revisit some of the roads I used to enjoy 25 years ago when I lived there. If you, or any others, were interested in joining, let me know.
Or.. I can share some of the RideWithGPS routes that I've mapped. There are some great hilly/scenic rides just west of St. Louis!

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

just a quick bump of the thread, to get the attention of anyone who missed the original announcement and might want to attend.

okay... now that I've done that, let me offer something interesting!
One of our local shops hosted a small classic & vintage bike show. Nothing fancy... just bring your interesting steel bike and show it off. One of the staff has done a bit of frame building, and gave a brief talk afterwards about the subject, showing some of the lugs, BB shells, and fork crowns in his parts box.

The show attracted a lot of interesting bikes... some were vintage lightweights, like the '74 Raleigh International that I brought. Others were modern lugged steel, such as the Riv Atlantis. There were also more utilitarian type bikes, such as roadsters and shopping bikes. Let me share a few with you....

a quick overview of the bikes, from early in the day....




a Bob Jackson, belonging to one of our BF members..




a Ciocc, outfitted with modern parts.. with the curious exception of Campy SL pedals with clips and straps.



and a nice Riv Betty Foy. Don't see too many lugged step-through bikes of this sort. Extra points for matching the handlebar tape twine to the paint.













I should mention that it was the Bushwacker shop that hosted the show, and Robert Woo and Samuel Joslin are a couple of the "vintage" staff that were instrumental in putting on the show (to my knowledge).

Steve in Peoria

natterberry 

steelbikeguy

cool!

question 1: what's going on in St. Louis? (just out of curiosity...)

question 2: any interest in doing a C&V ride in the St. Louis area? I used to live there, and have recently been going back there and rediscovering some of the roads that I used to enjoy. I've been doing a lot of riding west of St. Louis in the Babler Park/Wildwood area. Lots of hills, but also lots of scenery. There are also some nice trails/MUPs along the Mississippi too, along with a ferry across the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.

Steve in Peoria

natterberry 

76SLT 

I'm just a couple hours north so I just may be there. Sounds like fun.

RobbieTunes

...to attend.

RobbieTunes

sitting here 25 miles from da 'zoo...

cb400bill

Where are you?

RobbieTunes

Hastings, right now. May head over to Niles for a 56cm Comp TA.....on CL.

cb400bill

I saw that earlier. While in Niles, you could also pay Doug Fattic a visit.

steelbikeguy

looking forward to seeing as many of the BF crowd as possible!

Steve in Peoria

Sprocket Turner

Damn, damn and oh yeah did I say damn? That said, my guess is that we are not going to be able to make the ride (heavy sigh), and I was so looking forward to it. Steve don't take our inability to attend this year as disinterest, rather take it as our loss and know that we will do everything we can do to attend next year. I will ask, however, for you to NOT schedule for the last Saturday of the month. Almost any other weekend would be great for us.

RobbieTunes

Now, we will all find out what it takes to actually play in Peoria.

steelbikeguy

well, it helps to have a bike.

okay... I was going to bump the thread anyway...
here are some more bikes from the classic bike show that the Bushwhacker bike shop hosted a couple of weeks ago.
A curious Bridgestone Mimollet shopping bike that somehow was transported from Japan to central Illinois, a restored Colnago Superissimo, and a Motobecane Super ... well, Super Something. Maybe someone can tell??

the Bridgestone Mimollet shopping bike, A neat and curious little machine.












1988 Colnago Superissimo





sooo shiny!





oops.. too many photos to include the Moto. Next time, perhaps?


Steve in Peoria

RobbieTunes

In. Hotel booked. I'll probably just come to look and ride.

And play.

In Peoria.

Sept 8, Cincinnati, OH
Sept 15, Paducah, KY
Sept 29, Peoria, IL
Oct 6 & 7, Bloomington IN

Should be an interesting month.
Hope to meet some BF folks.

And I just realized I'm not that far from St. Louis.....

steelbikeguy

cool!

There is some fun stuff in St, Louis. I'm fond of the hilly area west of the urban area. To a large degree, hills = scenic, at least in the midwest. Lately, I've been mapping out a few routes that start from Babler Park.
https://ridewithgps.com/users/831768

I'm working on planning a route that starts in St. Charles, takes the Golden Eagle ferry across the Mississippi, goes over to the Brussels Ferry where you cross the Illinois river, then south to Alton where you take the bridge back across the Mississippi to get you back to St. Charles. The trail along the Illinois river is pretty scenic, IIRC, with no hills.

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

some more photos from the classic bike show hosted by the Bushwhacker shop.....

a nice black w/red Moto. The top tube says "Super ..." Not sure what it is... Super Record? It is built from 2040 tubing, but that doesn't tell me anything. I assume it's a high carbon steel?





A Gitane Victoire..... appears to be a mid-80's mid-level French bike.



and the last French bike, an '85 Peugeot PH11 set up as a fixed gear....




and one of the most intriguing and topical bikes at the show.. a Pegoretti Duende...













Steve in Peoria, where the south winds bring 90F temperatures.. not the post-Labor Day weather that you hope for.

natterberry