Cinco De Bike-o

I know I know! It makes no sense when you translate it. But it sounds funny and this is ONLY a bike blog.  So who cares? Anyways, after I got off of work at six in the morning I wasn't ready to sleep yet. So I decided to get in another ride on the Fox River Trail. Headed North from Carpentersville towards Algonquin.  In a past posting I was talking about a bridge over a creek in the Algonquin area of the FRT bike trail and how that bridge was out for repairs. Well, they had removed the whole dang bridge, as my pictures had attested to.  The signs had said the bridge was going to be inaccessible until May 5.  When I got to the area the signs were still up and the barriers as well. I thought I might as well go take a look for myself to determine the current conditions. The picture captions are numbered but not in order. I am too lazy and short on time to fix it right now. Heh.

1)That lite spot ahead is the location of the bridge.

4)A look up the trail from the center of the bridge.

2)Much closer to the bridge now.

3)Entering the new structure from the South.

And then I decided to lengthen my bike trip now that I have established that the bridge is useable again. I am going to head North to Lake In The Hills to see if I can see the site of that small plane crash that happened yesterday. Also, the new pedestrian/bike bridge over that nasty intersection of Pyott and Three Oaks Road should be nearing completion and is right next to the LITH Airport.

Riding North on the FRT. LITH Airport on left side of pic. Gravel pit on right where I THINK that small plane crashed. But no signs of it there now.

Looking across the street from the FRT at the LITH Airport.

Looking South on the FRT at Pyott rd. and the LITH Airport.

More looking South on the FRT.

More looking North on the FRT.

In that last pic, if you look hard, you can make out an old grain silo. That is where the new section of trail will open and go around the nasty busy intersection of Pyott and Three Oaks Roads and over a new bridge.

Left old trail leading to nasty intersection. Right new trail with new bridge.

Looking East up the new trail.

Looking North up the old trail.

On the new section of trail looking North at the new bridge.

Looking NorthEast from new trail section.

On new section of trail looking West towards old section of trail.

Looking directly North uphill towards new bridge.

New bridge construction not complete yet! Bummer.

A closer look at the forms.

Forms and corrugated galvanized steel on bridge.

Looking down and NorthWest at nasty intersection.

Looking parallel with West side of bridge.

On the bridge.

Good sturdy bridge! 20000 lbs!

Looking parallel with East side of bridge.

Looking down and East at Three Oaks Road.

Looking back South at my bike and the new trail.

Looking SouthEast at gravel pit from new bridge.

Alas, the new bridge is not done yet. I think I will continue North for a few more shots of the bridge and then into Crystal Lake to finish half of the ride.

On MCPP looking North towards the nasty intersection.

Entry gates at nasty intersection.

Just past the entry gates at the nasty intersection.

Construction everywhere.

Waiting for cars to pass in order to cross.

Looking East at the new bridge.

New lanes being added under new bridge.

And the old trail keeps heading North.

Looking South at the nasty intersection.

On the MCPP looking South at the nasty intersection.

Where the old and new paths merge.

Looking South where the two paths merge.

Looking South at the beginning of the new construction.

McHenry County Conservation District trail sign.

The Rules

A Few Weekend Rides

I thought I would try to get in a Saturday night ride down the Fox River Trail. but I was stopped by the line of nasty storms that stretched all the way across the country and was responsible for all those tornados. I watched the radar and finally got in an early dawn ride up the trail from Carpentersville to Algonquin.

Not sure where I took this picture.

I made my way across the Fox River bridge and then over the Rte 62 bridge to find that the construction, or rather the deconstruction and reconstruction of a bridge over a creek just a quarter mile North of Rte 62 is only about half done. Here is what I saw.

Trail Closed

Trail Closed

The new pilings for the bridge.

That creek is pretty swollen.

A few weeks ago we were able to navigate that creek via a few well placed planks and a bit of good balance. All the planks have been since removed and the new foundations for the bridge put in place.
On the way back I stopped at a few bridges to get a few pics of the swollen creeks.

Looking West up the Fox River Trail from the bridge over the Fox River.

Looking East over the Fox River bridge on the FRT

Me and the bike on the bridge.

My bike and all the casing for my phone is sitting next to it.

  I had to take all the protective Otterbox casing off of my phone in order to get the reverse shot with me and the bike in the frame. I got in about 10.5 miles that day.  Today I rode the same trail just before dawn in order to try out my lights on the bike. 56F and overcast. Got in 10.9 miles.

This is from the opposite side of the under construction bridge looking North.

A week ago I was able to ford the creek via planks. The above picture is from the North bank of that creek. That was on my regular mountain bike. This weekend was on my hybrid folding Swissbike TX.

I'm on a MFin bike!

 I saw this video over at Change Your Life. Ride A Bike.

Man jailed for intetionally driving into cyclist

One of my friends alerted me to this article in the BBC News about a man who intentionally ran into a cyclist using a bus as the weapon! I guess the road rage is only getting worse as the automobile world ages.

If you ask me, I dont think 17 months jail time is not enough justice. I hope the cyclist sues the pants off this guy.

Biking on Abandoned Rails

This is a subject I have thought about before but never put much more into it besides an initial thought. But some other people/places have gone much farther with the topic. The folks over at Biking Bis had a nice post about the History of Railbiking.

This picture is from the Railbike Tours, Inc. website, where you can purchase a railbike or tour etc. Seems like a great idea doing the railbiking as another method of avoiding too much contact with automobile traffic when biking. But the mere hassle of trying to get permission from the rail owners makes this seem a bit prohibitive.

Critical about Critical Mass

I saw this article a little while ago and thought maybe you guys would like to see it:

Go here to view the article. Do you agree with this. Drop me a comment and let me know what you think.

Do EVERYTHING on a bike! HAHAHA!

I saw this on Vimeo yesterday. Hahaha! Impressive!

THE MAN WHO LIVED ON HIS BIKE from Guillaume Blanchet on Vimeo.

Time flies when you're having fun... NOT!

Perhaps some people who had been following my  blog have wondered where I have disappeared to. Well, back in the beginning of September I started a new job and it is graveyard shift and it is 12 hours a day. Between that and the holidays, I had a heck of a time trying to have a stable weekday that allowed ANY free time besides when I was sleeping. And that is enough about that horse hockey.
      I managed to get in a few miles on the bike here and there during that time. But nothing like the earlier part of the year when i had put on almost 2700 miles! So as winter was approaching I had my eyes on some rollers and machines to attach my bike to while indoors. I decided to go with rollers with a optional front wheel stand for stability when I want it. There was two brands I liked. Turns out one brand is made in China and one is made in the good old USA. So I took the monetary hit and went for the American brand. It is Kreitler brand rollers. I haven't put alot of miles on it yet. But definitely more miles than I would have gotten outdoors this time of year!

    That is all for now. I hope to get back to blogging a bit more now that we are in the new year.