steelbikeguy

Skip's custom Monti Special

Skip has a separate thread about this bike... go check it out (link?), but the short story is that he built this frame in a class he took with the esteemed Doug Fattic. Lots of fun details, great colors, love the contrasting panels, etc.! It was a pleasure just to see it in person and check it out.

















Steve in Peoria

smontanaro 

Not sure I ever started a thread specifically about my bike, but I do have a large Flickr album about it. (If I started a thread, I can't figure out how to find any threads I started. I'm pretty sure there's a link that generates that somewhere, but the details of my User CP and other smontanaro-related pages escape me. I can never find this sort of stuff. Am I the only BF user to which this happens?)

steelbikeguy

oops... forgot that I had a few more shots of the Monti Special!









Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

I'm glad it's not just me who has trouble dredging up specific old threads!
In cases where I know I'll want to refer to the thread in the future, I'll just save the URL in some suitable location. Searches have been remarkably unhelpful.

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

On the road!

The route follows the scenic River Beach drive along the Illinois river to the south... because it really is a unique road with a great view! We then traveled west a bit, and then headed north...









of course, while enjoying chatting with the others, there is still time to wonder "How does Julian keep that bike so clean?". I've had a white bike before, and was amazed at how much crud was attracted to it.


Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

We've been riding in the Illinois river valley so far, enjoyng the level ground. Still, we all knew that Blue Ridge road lay ahead, along with a climb of a few hundred feet. Despite some concerns, we all got up the hill, and regrouped at the Blue Ridge church.





Did I mention that Dale was riding a Waterford too? A nice metallic red one.






Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

From the Blue Ridge church, only about 10 miles remain to get to Tanners Orchard, and it's mostly flat.. flat-ish.

Of course, not everyone had the day off... some folks were busy harvesting the soybeans.














Steve in Peoria

76SLT 

Looks like I missed a great ride this year. Always love all the pictures too.

philbob57

Thanks for the photos.

Maybe next year ....

steelbikeguy

Arriving at Tanners Orchard, we parked the bikes, took off the helmets, and tried to look a little more human before we mingle with the crowd. Surprisingly, the crowd wasn't too thick. Maybe the warmer weather hasn't put people in the mood to get lost in a corn maze or eat apples? In any case, the line at the bakery was short and we were at a table in no time at all!






Dale, Bob, and Brian (they look different w/o the helmets and stuff). In the background, between Bob and Brian, you can see Michael and George.



Jason enjoys a pastry (or was it a slice of pie?) with ice cream on top. As a patron of the culinary arts, he went back for a donut too.


Steve in Peoria (I just had two donuts, which symbolize the two wheels of a bike. I consider it a religious ceremony that is part of the Church of the Wheel)

steelbikeguy

I'm not sure that it's possible for the weather to be any better than this year, and we had a very large number of folks who traveled a few hours or more. We were very fortunate, but now the pressure is building to do even better! I'm not sure I can take that kind of stress.

I hope you can make it next year, and perhaps we'll attract a couple of new riders. Fingers crossed!

Steve in Peoria

steelbikeguy

Calories were consumed, stories were told, and eventually it was time to think about getting back on the bikes and pedalling the 15 miles back to Shore Acres park in Chillicothe.

Back to the bikes to don helmets, gloves, etc.


We do depart Tanners Orchard and head east, going uphill on (relatively) busy Rt. 17. Not the best way to start after stuffing yourself full of donuts, but we take it easy. Eventually we are back on the quiet, narrow roads.





Jason and Steve H are at the front, with Dan visible just behind and between them.


George and Dan on Berchtold road.


Burlington, Northern, and Santa Fe gave us the opportunity to stop and rest a bit. We are just a couple of miles from Chillicothe, so the day is almost over.


Waiting at the tracks, Dan waves to the camera, while Michael watches Skip and Ken roll up.


That's all of the pics that I've got.
If anyone wants to get the higher resolution files, I've thrown them into a google drive folder (for temporary storage):
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...usp=drive_link

Thanks to everyone for coming out to the ride and making it fun and interesting!

Steve in Peoria

smontanaro 

I take full responsibility for keeping the average speed to a reasonable level. Thanks variously to Ken, Michael, and Julian for hanging back with me and chatting.

I have no pix, but Dan, Michael, and I had a nice post-ride lunch at Odie's in downtown Chillicothe.

spclark 

You just never know, do yah?

(Curious if anyone who did the full tour has a mileage total for the ride they can share? I need a number I can aim for before I even consider making the trek to participate on two wheels. (I remember that flat land well; went to college in Galesburg, drove weekly over to Henry the last year working on the school paper, there's a sweet hill where the road I drove [Marshall County 8?] came down into the river valley, then a left turn up 29 into Henry. I was ~ 50 years younger back then, hadn't ridden a bicycle for maybe ten years.)

steelbikeguy

In the first post of the thread, I have this info:


Distance: roughly 41 miles.
Speed: The pace tends to be 15 or 16 mph. We typically ride as a single group, and regroup as needed. If there are questions or concerns about speed, please contact me.

-- Terrain: There are a variety of moderate rolling hills as well as some flat ground in the river flood plain. As usual, road work has required changes. The route goes up Blue Ridge road with a 1/4 mile stretch of about 4% grade.
I've entered the route on RideWithGPS:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/44013457


The Ridewithgps link has the full info about feet of elevation climbed, distance, etc. Kinda handy.
The route is pretty flat.. but the act of climbing out of the river valley introduces some climbing that can't be eliminated.

With a year to train, this shouldn't be a problem.

Steve in Peoria

schundog

Your assumptions about the bike were both correct, Steve! It's very comfortable, reliable, and the paint scheme gets a lot of positive comments. The previous owner included the new wheelset, and, while I don't know the brand, they make it a quick bike (for me, haha). All this for $150; are you kidding me?!

steelbikeguy

wow... $150?
I'm surprised that people even bother to buy a new bike when this sort of used bike is available ... except for the folks who are convinced that they need the latest and greatest, or have no mechanical skills. I'm glad that you gave it a chance to get back on the road!

Steve in Peoria

motogeek 

Thanks for posting the pics from this year, always enjoy seeing this ride. Maybe next year (sounds like a Cubs fan).

steelbikeguy

A question... the decal and color scheme for the Monti Special are quite nice, but after looking through some photos from the last Classic Rendezvous gathering, I think I found the inspiration. Perhaps Skip can comment on whether this was the basis for the graphics of the Monti Special?

Here's the Monti Special:


and here's a 1963 Masi Special,


As they say, if you are going to copy, then copy from the best!

Steve in Peoria

smontanaro 

Yes, though the specific inspiration was a '61 Pista.