Summer Update

Lets talk about summer. All over the country students are boring their teachers with stories of their summer vacation, why should it stop at grammar school. As I wrote in May I had big plans for summer time. I think I did pretty good. The Midwest Mountain Bike Fest was a success the night ride got rained out and has yet to be rescheduled. I traded the unsupported bike trip of the dunes for human interaction and mountain biking in Central Il. Along with that trip came the Century Ride. Toss in some surprises like white water rafting on the Menomiee River on the Upper Peninsula/Wisconsin border, tons of baseball, Lollapolooza and climbing and I'll say I did summer right.

Vincent is part of the bicycle Co-Op in Urbana and he gave me a tour while I was pretending to be a grad student in July. The shop is in the old mail room of a mall in town you can see what used to be the mail shoot.

Vince wrenchin'

We hit up the MTB trails in Kickapoo State Park on the day of Mark Buehrle's perfect game. These trails are awesome and I highly recommend them. To think the state almost closed this park, tsk tsk on our former Gov.

The bike pic.

It rained for Lollapolooza so we fabed up a fender. The bicycle is the only way to navigate the city especially during major events in Grant Park.

This is St.Joseph in Michigan. A much needed day off after the arduous concert going of Lolla.

The Denver B-Cycle made its way to Chicago. I guess Denver had some issues financing the bikes so we got them for a song. Apparently we have a pilot program going on.
Kenny and I went with the Chicago Mountaineering Club to Devils Lake for some climbing. We got rained out after one climb. We met some great people though and got a great history lesson from all the old timers about the club.

Me

Kenny

The Club

As with every year we make the six hour trek to mecca for some sandstone sport climbing. This year was no different. However the rain forecast scared everyone away and it was empty. It normally feels like summer camp on Labor Day weekend. We got rained on but the tent held up great in some nasty t-storms and still got some amazing climbing in. It is safe to say we own this place now.

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