Steve Whitlatch 

Last minute I know but the weather looks good. I know there was interest the last time. I am going to do the 54 mile ride this Saturday morning along the fox river trail. Anyone that wants to join me is welcome. Meet at the Otto Engineering parking lot in carpentersville at 9 am. Rode starts at 9:15. We go from Carpentersville to Aroura,stop for a snack, then back to carpentersville for lunch. Let me know if you are interested?

Steve Whitlatch 

Here is a link to the map to Otto in Carpentersville...

Steve Whitlatch 

The 5th. November 5th. Lol.

Prowler 

Will anyone in Chicago be sober by then? Musta bea biga party. Nice goin Cubbies.

cb400bill

I fixed the date in the thread title.

big chainring 

This sounds nice. Depends on how my body feels. 54 miles might do me in though.

Steve Whitlatch 

Thank you very much.

cb400bill

We've ridden together before. You can do it!

Steve Whitlatch 

Its an easy 54 miles. I may be able to shorten it up a few? Should be a beautiful day.

Steve Whitlatch 

Yes it has been fun. I still can't fully believe it yet. Waiting for the nukes to start falling any minute. Lol

Steve Whitlatch 

Ride Report.
The weather was perfect. It started out just Scott, aka crank_addict, and I leaving Carpentersville and joining up with John, aka jjhabbs, in Geneva to join us on the ride to Aurora, then back to Geneva, leg of the ride. I rode my Raleigh , Scott a gorgeous Le Champion and John rode his beautiful chrome Ochsner.

The scenery was beautiful all along the trail and the ride was a lot of fun until Scott went down hard on a downhill a little more than half way back to the finish.. Not sure what happened as I was in front and had no idea he went down for at least 5 minutes until I realized he was no longer behind me. Back tracking, I found him collecting himself on the hill, bike was fine but for a scuff on his saddle, his knee was scraped up and the side of his helmet was scuffed up. He has no recollection of the wipe out and he was a bit out of it for the rest of the ride. Best guess is braking on a down hill slope full of wet leaves? Scott says he is fine now. Somehow his bike was left relatively unscathed. We rode slowly the rest of the way back to the cars. Pretty scary. Thank god he had a helmet on.

steelbikeguy

Thanks for the ride report!

Sounds like a nice ride, with the exception of Scott getting a little too intimate with the pavement. Man... I've had incidents like that on wet ice, where you are suddenly on the ground wondering "what just happened??". Glad to hear that the injuries were minimal and the bike was unharmed (I haven't seen the Le Champion yet, and don't want it damaged before I see it!).


Steve in Peoria (where I took the '74 International out for a 45 mile ride with friends in the countryside, and no wet leaves were seen)

Steve Whitlatch 

45 in the countryside sounds like fun too. Such a great day for a ride. Scott`s Le Champion is so cool. The colors, the build, so much to see. The Manager at Main Street Cycles even called the mechanic out from the back of the shop to look at the brake set up. Cool stuff.

There were lots of leaves on the trail. At some points it was hard to tell were the edge of the trail was. There could have been something under the leaves as well that caused the wipe out.

crank_addict

Hi all. Perfect day until the end.... but thankful I'm OK. Had worse but as we age, it hurts more- LOL. Absolute a save by the helmet. Bell ringer. Hand is sprained but manageable. Zero recollection, but likely damp leaves on pavement OR sprouting tree root underneath.

A week ago I nearly launched on another trail with unseen broken asphalt under the leaves. Different riding vs. gravel because its not anticipated after smooth cruise speeds. Bike unscathed, except for minor saddle scraps. Helmet shows scrapes.

Anyways, great company with both John and Steve, super bikes too! No matter the group size, getting together with fellow C&V riders is always terrific. Cheer's!

greg3rd48 

Thanks for the ride report and thankfully all is well in the end. It is great to see other C&V group rides!

RobbieTunes

Glad you're ok, Scott, and glad you had good company. I half expected it to be a blowout of a 30-yar old tire, but I think you've moved to 20 years old and newer.

Again, glad we can see pics and hope the brain heals. In case you don't get your memory back, you've been storing 3-4 bikes for me, for years.....

Steve Whitlatch 

I am sure that even though you do not remember the crash, you did whatever it took to save the bike. That gives you hero status in my book. Hope you mend fast my friend.

crank_addict

^Ha, thanks but whatever happened, I'm just grateful to escape anything serious. I don't even recall you taking the above pics.

Anyways, captured from the phone. (Sorry for the poor quality pics. Need a decent cam.)

[IMG]Steve and John at Fox River by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

John with his rare ALL chrome Ochsner. Maybe he could pipe in more about it and / or correct me. Possibly a Swiss made frame. Ochsner at one time was the US distributer of Campagnolo.

[IMG]John at Fox River by carrera247, on Flickr[/IMG]

beech333

Glad to hear you are ok. I had a similar crash this spring on the same trail, but closer to Aurora. I am fortunate that I wasn't hurt more than I was. At least we both were able to limp back home.

jjhabbs 

I only did 25 miles because I couldnt keep up with the two skinny gents on the ride! Steve asked more about the bicycle. Here is a short Road Test review I did on the Ocshner after I did my first big ride on it. Careful, beware of satire.

https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...-included.html

Steve Whitlatch 

That Ocshner is total bling. So beautiful. Every bolt looks mint !