steelbikeguy

When I got to Shore Acres Park, Jack and Ken were unpacking, and I noticed Julian and Bob getting their bikes unloaded. Julian is from nearby Bloomington/Normal and has a nice collection of bikes. You can check the Centenario Coppi threads for shots of his Paramounts and his Dale Brown... very cool! He also has a Bilenky tandem, and today, he brought a touring bike made by Tom Teesdale in Iowa.

By chance, I was riding my bike built by Gordon Borthwick. Gordon is out of the frame building business, but back in 1989, he was a retired mechanical engineer who was primarily building tandem frames. Really neat and nice guy! As a native of Iowa, I was quite happy to see two Iowa bikes, and the fact that they were both orange was just more fun.



Julian was nice enough to get a shot of me with my Borthwick, next to his Teesdale...
oh... both bikes were running Sugino AT cranks too, although mine were a modest 175 and Julian's were 180.




Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Brian had pulled up and was getting his Bianchi out and putting on his gear.....
The sun had broken through the clouds, which was greatly appreciated!





Ted, also convinced by Julian and Brian to join our happy little group, was chatting with Bob. Ted brought a fine Fuji Del Rey. More SunTour shifters and Sugino cranks! As a SunTour fan, I was enjoying seeing two bikes sporting the Power Shifters.





Steve in Peoria

76SLT 

My bike was strapped to the carrier on my car since last night, hoping for the rain to end and the roads to dry up. I don't have fenders on my bikes, and it wasn't looking too good at 5 am when I got up so I decided to pass. It's too bad about the weather. If we have a nice weekend forecasted soon, I'd be up for another try.

steelbikeguy

Ken brought his 753 Raleigh Team and wore his matching jersey. I would go on to describe the sublime beauty of the Raleigh Team bikes, but since I've also got one, you might not think I'm unbiased.
Well, I'm definitely not! Still, heck of a nice bike, and I'm far too protective of mine to take it out on a sloppy day like today! Kudos to Ken for not being quite so worried as me.
BTW, Ken is looking for a matching track frame, so drop me a line if you know where one is.

Here we see Brian getting a shot of such a stunning bike (did I mention that I'm biased?)


and a shot of Ken on the bike. btw, those shoes look better with his Colnago than with the Raleigh..


Jack brought his lovely Colnago! He restored it a couple of years ago, even letting me build the wheels for him (I enjoy a good excuse to build a nice set of wheels). Really fine bike, and again, kudos for having the nerve to bring it on a rainy ride.



The group was pretty much all prepared and had gotten to meet each other, praise each others' bikes, etc., was about set to go.
Local friend Rebecca showed up too.... the bike isn't vintage, but her dad used to race and has immersed her in bike culture since she was little. She's also the president of our bike club, so I have to do whatever she wants.



Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

yeah, I wasn't expecting anyone to show up. My plan to was to just ride to Tanners by myself, grab a donut while standing in wet clothes, and do a bee-line for home.
It was a nice surprise to see folks show up for the ride, but part of me was still thinking "what, are you crazy?".

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

The first leg of the route is south along River Beach Drive. This goes along the shore of the Illinois River. It's a favorite scenic location, and the morning is prime time. It's also a place that flood easily, so we are a bit fortunate that the river hasn't risen much since the heavy rains last night.

Julian on the Teesdale....





After 5 miles, we transition to the flood plain, heading towards the gradual climb up the river bluffs...



The bluffs are heavily wooded, and it was surprising how much the trees had lost leaves and branches and generally covered the road in spots. Some gravel driveways had left quite a bit of gravel in the road when the heavy rain erode it.

Even when we were out of the river valley, there was a lot of standing water and plenty of dirt and vegetation where water had washed across the road.



Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

The cruise up to Tanner's Orchard was generally uneventful.... just folks enjoying a ride and chatting with each other...







We did have a fellow in a truck stop and advise us that our road was under about 5 feet of water about a half mile further. Fortunately, we were able to just take the road a mile further west and avoid that obstacle. No further problems with the road.

Ted on his Fuji....


Bob on his KHS....


Ken and Jack....


Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

The silver lining of the cloudy day was that the orchard wasn't as busy as usual. We were able to park the bikes and get to the bakery with little delay. Today was Jack's birthday and he generously picked up our tab! What a guy!



We grabbed an open table and proceeded to snack and chat...

Jack and Bob:


Ken (caught mid-chew) and Brian:


and eventually we went back out to the bikes and prepared to get back on the road... and hoped that the rain was still at least an hour away...

Jack's Colnago.. (and it does deserve better photos)


and gear ready to get back on the bikes.....


Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

back on the road, and getting back to Chillicothe...





We got back to the park without any rain or other misfortune, which was a bit of a relief!

Thanks to everyone for ignoring all common sense and coming to the ride and keeping me company!

Also, thanks to those who decided to bail on the ride, thus ensuring that the Weather Gods would spite you and make the weather decent.

Of course, thanks also go to Tanner's Orchard for producing such delicious goodies!

I expect to do this again next year, but am considering moving the date up a couple of weeks or so. The primary reason is to move a little further from the rainy season. Any thoughts about this??

Steve in Peoria

schundog

Steve, thanks again for hosting such a cool ride. I’m pretty sure we all had a blast! Here are a few of my pics.

schundog

F

schundog

steelbikeguy

glad that you didn't look out the window and just say "screw that... I'm going back to bed and stay dry", like a rational person would.

Also glad that you and Julian coerced/convinced Bob and Ted to come along and experience Tanner's Orchard, also known as the Disneyland of northern Peoria county (or is it Stark county by that point? I forget). If nothing else, the line for the checkout registers was as long as a ride at Disneyland.

Thanks for the photos too. This one captures the most sun we had all day. Not that I'm complaining, of course. Any day when I end up with dry socks is a pretty good one.

Steve in still-dry-Peoria

RobbieTunes

Sorry I missed it. I've followed that orange thing on the Hilly Hundred...
Sounds like we'll have a crowd there, will be good to see you again.

thinktubes 

Thanks for the pix - looks like a good ride. Those cider donuts are hard to resist.

Nice job with threading tbe needle with the rain. It's been pouring in Chicago all weekend.

Gravity Aided

Glad to see everyone had a good time! I don't think moving the date will help much, it rained a couple of weeks ago, too. But you guys in Peoria area had lots more rain than we in B-N did, 4-8" compared to our 2 inches over the weekend. Temps seemed pretty good for a ride yesterday. I'm coming over for this next year, might as well start training and building up the Bianchi Squadra secret weapon for next years' ride. As this seems to be quite the event for Italian bicycles!

steelbikeguy

well, if you had shown up, that would have just tempted the Weather Gods to dump on us.

The Hilly is just a month away! Start working on the hills and get your warm clothes out of storage!
If the forecast is good, I'd like to bring the Hetchins. If not, you'll get to follow the orange Borthwick again (or it'll follow you).

Steve in rainy Peoria

steelbikeguy

Yep, start building up the Bianchi, and then you'll feel obligated to join the ride!

I hadn't considered declaring a theme for the bikes... I am limited to English bikes, Italian bikes, and midwestern (Iowa and Illinois) bikes. My Olmo hasn't been on this ride yet, IIRC, so that would work. I believe Ken has a Viner that he could bring. Another local friend has a Gios too. Lots of possibilities!

Steve in Peoria

motogeek 

Looks like a great ride in spite of the 7+ inches of rain North Peoria had.

If I can get my fat butt out of the MGB seat then maybe I can contribute a French bike to the herd next year. Here's hoping ….

steelbikeguy

was it 7 inches? It sure seemed like it, and we've been getting a fair bit today too. Crazy!

The ride could certainly use a little French class and style. I'll save you a spot.

Steve in Peoria

nomadmax 

I'm sorry I missed this but we have an organized bike tour here in town and I work the event. Maybe I can make it next year if the weekends don't conflict. Heck, if they don't maybe I can coerce people here on BF to come to both

Looking forward to meeting more BF members at Hilly in a few short weeks. I love the Wheaties jersey!

steelbikeguy

It would be fun to have you attend. Maybe carpool with Robbie?

It'll be fun to meet more BF folks at Hilly. Any chance that @RobbieTunes has started a thread on this already?? I know that Dale was planning to be there.
Of course, there are also the folks who are on the ride and might be BF members or just have bikes that make us drool. We saw a really nice Waterford last year....





There are a number of gems like this scattered among the multitude of carbon fiber bikes on the ride. It's a bit of a fun game to see what you can discover while riding along.

Steve in Peoria

nomadmax 

Yes, one way or another if the weekends don't conflict I'm coming next year. I may even stay an extra day to explore the area. I don't know if @RobbieTunes has done a BF Hilly thread but I know for a fact that he and Dale are coming. I believe there are others as well.

The lugs on that Waterford are stunning.

Gravity Aided

There are a few things in the area, lots of Abraham Lincoln, also Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Park. Great hilly country in the river valley. Fine cycling. Good shops, and a couple of stellar bike co-ops, one in Peoria, one in Bloomington-Normal, 40 miles to the east. Bloomington - Normal rather flatter than Peoria. Great mountain bike trail on the Tazewell County side of the river, Farmdale Recreation Area. I could go on and on. I usually do.

steelbikeguy

looking forward to 2020....

I'm thinking of moving the ride a couple of weeks earlier. Part of this is due to the desire to get slightly better weather (there have been a couple of instances of lousy weather, and I've only been doing this for 4 years), and possibly to fit into people's schedules better.

For now, I'm thinking that Sept 12, 2020 will be the date for the next ride. No doubt that there will still be conflicts with event that are always on this weekend, but let's see how it works.
Thoughts??

Steve in Peoria