Elise and I in Chicago

Elise recently tried out for the Voice out in Chicago. Was it cold out? Yes. How about standing at Navy Pier for two hours at 5am cold? Yes, very cold. We can bike in 10 degree weather with -6 windchill, but standing and not moving is the most terrible feeling. Needless to say, once she went inside to audition I was off to my cousin's condo to go back to sleep!

Poutine from Goose Island Brewery

My cousin Eric and I drinking soda flavored adult beverages!

And so begins the wait at 5am. Thermals, blankets, and even a sleeping bag around us to keep us warm!

I was waiting for an awesome sunrise but it never happened

The line went all way, and even off the pier

We had fun. We hit up Goose Island Brewery along with Revolution Brewery. Did some shopping on Michigan Avenue, had a big family dinner in Chinatown, then it was back home after that! Fun times with Elise and my family. So much fun in fact that my cousin came down this weekend and stayed with me one week later! Crazy good times in Benson, Alpine Inn, downtown, and even made it out to Desoto NWR to see the sunsent.

Inside of Eataly

It's like a food Ikea

Popcorn!

Crate and Barrel

And more eating!

Pops and I doing a selfie at the restaurant!

Squid. It wasn't all smiles after she bit into it! HA!

Now those are some big tires! Probably 40s?

SURLY on tap!

Was at Binney's in Chicago and came across these beers on tap. Anybody recognize the names??? Did some research and turns out the two companies are not related. Boo.

They turned this old warehouse into a bar, which is owned by a huge liquor store, which is too close to a school so they can't open their doors in the summer!

Polaroid cube

Lots of new action cams are out, small, shockproof, waterproof, ready for your adventure. Came across this Polaroid cube. Kinda cute. Haha. Any good? Looks like its $100 which isn't too shabby. I know Sony, Garmin, JVC, ion and many others have gotten into the action, but for double the price.

http://youtu.be/ePO6OKYyOec

Picture from internet

Win a State Bicycle Company fatbike!

Contest. Enter. If you win, you can thank me later!

Sent from my iPad

All alone...

Not a single rider or car at Tranquility on a Monday night at 7:30 pm. How sad. But then again, it was 17 degrees with a slight bone chilling wind coming from the north. Can you blame the riders for staying indoors tonight?

Nobody on the trail tonight, kinda nice actually. But it was bone chilling cold. My finger had gotten really cold while my glove was off to take a number of pictures. 

We got a dusting of snow last night and today during the day. Just enough to make it slick while riding one handed and taking photographs with the other. Its become second nature to me. Heck, when else am I going to get my photography fix in?

The temps have gotten much much colder since Christmas day (which was in the 40s if I remember right). Its now 20 degree highs, if that, with -20 windchills. And this is during the day with the sun out and shining. One of those breathe in real hard through your nose and it freezes the inside of your nostrils! Good stuff right there. Hope everyone had a good NYE. I stopped by Linda's for a party, then went to Perry's Place after picking up Cody and heard Elise sing with her band. Good times. Nothing too crazy, amateur night out there on the road with cops galore.

New Year's Day ride with some friends. That sun felt so warm and great!

Paul was umm...testing out the trail for us as we watched from below!

We rode bikes on New Year's Day at Tranquility, good 12 miler on singletrack to start 2015 the right way. Then proceeded to drink and took an all too long of a nap for the rest of the day. Happy New Year to everyone and I hope that 2015 brings lots of joy and happiness!

Jenny's Xmas party!

So I'm cheap. I started making my own costumes. Made one for Halloween. Made one for a Christmas party last night at Jenny's new house. I had originally planned to buy my costume from Nobbies or the party store. But for $30, all you got was the elf tunic and a hat. No shoes, no tights, no satisfaction in that! So looking at a $50 costume at the least.

Well my supervisor said, buy the fabric and make your own. That got the hamsters in my head spinning. Yeah why not? Stopped at JoAnn fabrics and found the fabric. $5 a yard. Cheap! I took a number and waited to be helped. How much fabric do you need? I have no clue. Its for an elf costume. I chuckle. The older lady laughs, well this will be a first as she holds the fabric up against my back and measures out 7/8 of a yard. Cool. Got some half priced red holiday fabric and I was good to go.

I don't have a sewing machine, and have only really sewed once in my life (home ec in 7th grade doesn't count). I had to fix part of my grill cover and wow, the sewing job I did on that was horrendous! Time to learn the trade! I traced my scrub top from work to get a sizing, and my supervisor suggested that I take it in a little bit to make it look better. Okay. So I cut it in a little bit.

Well I had cut too much. It would be a tight fit. Oh well, I'll make it work. I cut, I sewed, and tada, I was done! I told my supervisor about the fit. She said just take it out a little bit. Ahh...no room to take it out. Why not? Because I had cut it to size. Ha, guess I'm suppose to cut it and leave about an inch a half of extra fabric. No clue. You live and you learn. Anyway, found some striped tights. Found some funky glasses and suspenders. Costume done!

Ebikes...what do you think of them?

It's cheating was what came to my mind the other day when the topic had popped up on FB. You don't have to pedal. It's like a motor bike. It will just tear up the trails.

But today, a person that I follow on FB and he follows me posted about his new Felt Lebowske that he recently acquired. I've seen pictures of him riding previous fatbikes, so I know he has them (Moonlander, Krampus, etc). Well now he has this ebike, that happens to be a fatbike. What do you think?

Now before you start objecting so fast. Here is the kicker. This rider named Craig Smith has an incurable muscular disease. Craig lives out of state so I have never met him. His muscles are dying and they don't work how they are suppose to. Similar to ALS but its not. That's as much details that I know about his health. So now what do you think? Imagine you have biked all your life, you love being outdoors with friends and family, and you just love hitting the the trail after work. But suddenly, that is taken away from you because of a health condition. Or say you have bad knees and those hills are impossible to ride up. So now what say you? Anyway, this is copied directly from Craig's FB post (with his permission). Read on and maybe ebikes will change your mind. Mine was changed after reading his post today.

Picture from Felt webiste, linked below

http://www.feltbicycles.com/USA/2015/Bikes/electric/Mountain/LEBOWSKe-10.aspx

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Contributors: Craig Smith (owner) and Sue Franz
Taken at South Kettle John Muir Trails

My 1st ride on the new Felt Lebowske went well. This bike will change my life. The LEBOWSKe is electric assist and the motor only gives you a boost when you pedal.
1st Impressions... The bike fits and handles excellently, but I wouldn't mind a little more standover clearance.
I rode the entire ride, 8.98 miles, in ECO (50%-lowest assist) for 98.5% of the time, and used the TOUR (125% assist) only for a couple hills. The bike has 2 more levels of assist, but I'm just getting familiar with the bike and was wary about possible ice (there was none) so the two lowest settings were fine, fun, and still a very good workout. My muscles may be dying but I can still improve my fitness.
For me, this is very similar to riding when my muscles worked and I was in shape. I was still huffing and puffing at the top of the hills, but this time I waited for Sue. The last few years she's had to wait for me. I will need to get in shape to ride fast enough to ride with my fast and fit friends again and this bike will be fun getting me there.
We were passed by 10 to 12 other riders and didn't pass anybody, but that's normal for us.
Comparing times from the same route on my Krampus last May on dirt, I was slightly faster (6.82 mph vs 6.73 mph) but didn't work as hard and had plenty of energy left. Part of the problem of my muscle disease (besides dead muscles) is I lose a lot of energy after an hour, it's kind of like starting a ride already bonked, but today I rode for 1 hour and 20 minutes and was still fresh.
My hands got a little tired, but I'm not sure if it was from the thin Felt Grips or muscling a 48 pound bike around the trail. As heavy as the bike is, it feels fairly light when moving. And the SRAM Guide RSC hydraulic w/ 4-piston caliper: 180mm Centerline rotors were fantastic at keeping the big beast under control down the hills.

MNbrrrr(R) and Elise's Birthday celebration WEEK

Monday night start off decent. Got out of work, temps in the 40s. Okay, I'll take it. Late to MNR, can't find anyone but start talking to a guy named Peter that I met while riding the Fort Street Loop. He's on his Motobecane Fatbike. Cool! Lives north of Tranquility.

The famous xmas houses next to the trail. One had to show the other up. Music. Dancing lights. Crazy!

The fatman is trying to lose some weight

Eventually come across the gang, the fatbike gang. I think there were probably 5 fatties that I counted. That is alot of fat. But then it got cold. The wind picked up and my sweat was starting to get cold. Time to call it a night and go run some errands.

More specifically, order flowers for Elise's birthday. Happy Birthday babe!