Friday, January 1, 2010

New Year's Day Ride

I rode the 15th annual Chili Challenge on this New Year's Day in Fort Wayne. A bunch of people turned out, but only about 1/2 as many as last year. Last year the temp was around 30 degrees, this year it only made it to 18 degrees with a stiff breeze.

All in all, though, it was a great day to be on the bike. There were several wipeouts along the Rivergreenway where there was a bunch of ice. Not a problem for me however with the studded tires.

About mid-way we stopped at Johnny Appleseed park (a historical note - Johnny Appleseed (Chapman) is said to be buried along the river bank around here somewhere in the park, but nobody knows exactly where).


Hundreds of people gathered for the annual Polar Bear Festival.

The swimmers are lucky - the area just below the dam here is ice-free. A little farther downstream the river is frozen over.

Madness, I tell you.

At the other end of the park, we re-grouped for coffee and cookies.

This guy's fixed gear attracted a lot of attention. It was a Schwinn World frame - a beautiful conversion.

There were several cut-offs, I was one of only seven people who went the whole 21 miles. It was a fun day.

I ended up riding 3,448 miles in 2009; my goal was 3,000 miles for the year. Bike-wise it was a great year for me. I did a bunch of organized rides, 5 of which were centuries. Alex and I went on 3 weekend trips with our bikes. And, I commuted to work more than I thought I would.

I don't have any goals for 2010, but I would like to ride as much as I can. I plan to do more club rides during the week this year. There is a group that meets on Wednesday nights to do some cyclocross training - the only down side is during the summer Wednesday nights are the summer disc golf league nights.

Happy New Year, have a great ride!

6 comments:

Jon said...

And, Happy New Year to you!

(I agree, about the Polar Bears...Madness!)

Mike J said...

Good for you for getting out today. I slept in for a change.

Steve A said...

Your 2010 goals, stated in the last paragrph sound very sensible.

Oldfool said...

Brrr. It got up to about 50 today and I went out to adjust a friends bike but after about 15 minutes my hand were so stiff they wouldn't hold a wrench.
I'm such a wimp.

rlove2bike said...

Happy New Year and that Polar stuff...I made a deal with my niece that I would do the Polar plunge into Lake Superior this Feb and her side of the deal is to ride the MS150 with me this year. Thanks to your pictures and editorial, I am now questioning my sanity...lolol. No, I take that back. My sanity as been in question for a long time.

Big Oak said...

rlove2bike - you'll definately need to cut ice in the big lake in Feb. Hope there's a sauna nearby!

While you're in there, see if you can grab me a few smelt, eh? When I lived in Wausau, I used to go up to Washburn every April for the smelt run. Lake Erie has smelt runs too, but nothing like in Washburn. The frozen smelt is up to $7.99 a pound down here!