Trek to Three Floyds Brewery

The Riders at Queen's Landing

Making the trek to Munster, Indiana is one of the mainstay bike rides in Chicago's bicycle touring community.  Having grown up nearby and being extremely familiar with the area its a wonder why I have never made the trip before, by car or bike.  It was high time to join some friends and make some new ones on the ride down.  So on Saturday the 10th of April I did a brewery to brewery bike ride.  I began at (a still closed) Half Acre at 9:15am and met up with a group of riders at Queen's Landing across from the Buckingham Fountain at 10:30am.  We introduced ourselves and waited for the rest of the group and hit the path south at 11am.  Along with a few Half Acre teammates there were another handful of riders all as nice as can be.


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The bike path ends at the South Shore Cultural Center so we took the street bike lane on Rt. 41 down to the Burnham Greenway bike path.   I have never been on this path and loved it.  It bisects the East Side Neighborhood and the town of Burnham Il. The bath abruptly ends and turns into Ave O which then becomes Burnham Ave. where the two towns meet.  We continued south on Burnham Ave until State St where you can head east or west to meet up with an unknown Indiana bike path to the east or pick up the Burnham Greenway path again to the west (recommended).  The path ends at the state line so the best bet is to take Ridge road east to Calumet Ave and head south.  The brew pub is across from the Centennial Park in an industrial corridor.  If you choose to take the eastern route which we did on the way down I would suggest exiting the path on Columbia Ave south.  It dead ends at Rt. 45 and that is where you can pick up Calumet Ave just to the west.  Its about 25 miles from Queens Landing and a 35 mile one way trip for me starting in North Center.  Its a great trip unfortunately the kitchen at the brew pub is under construction and the BBQ they were serving was way overpriced.  For $12 dollars a four inch bun with a couple cuts of pork roast and a bag of chips did not cut the mustard.  The beers I had were excellent Belgium style ales and most of their fans are in love with beers hoppy enough to wake the dead i.e. Zombie Dust so for y'all its a super treat.

Some of our group split off to take the Metra Electric Line back to the city.  Its about 10 miles to the west in Flossmoor Il.  Which incidentally also has a brew pub in it.  I could have made it a Triple Brewery Trip.  Hey, I might be on to something there.  The rest of us bought some beers to imbibe along a secluded point of the path for the ride home.

Peel back some layers.

Pit stop with the Chicago Skyway in the background.

Underneath the Skyway is the Burnham Greenway Path.

As the sun was coming down we got back into city limits and as we cornered the South Shore Cultural Center heading north we got the big skyline reveal which really made the entire trip top notch.  About a mile later I got a flat.  Booooo.  We were back to it in no time and we one by one peeled off the path to go home or make evening plans.   

Of Beer and Bikes

A few years back when my brother was getting hitched I phoned up a local brewery, Half Acre Beer Co., to give us and his buddies a tour.  They had just opened up in the neighborhood of North Center and didn't even have an official tour but they were happy to pour us some brews and give us a spiel.  Having been on a number of brew tours this one stands out as one of the best.  One of the owners led the tour and it was mostly about how they run a small business.  It was a nice break from the old standby of ingredients and process talk.  The beer was great and the dudes working there were super cool.   Immediately I knew that I wanted to live within walking distance and that this was going to be my new neighborhood.  When my lease was up later that year that's exactly what happened.  Breweries and churches used to be town anchors in fact North Center was originally called St. Ben's due to the huge church in town.  Prohibition put a stop to the brewery and it seems that only now the local brewery is coming back to communities.  I mean it when I say communities too.  When I fill up my growler I ride my bike though the bay door and rest it against a wall of the inside of the brewery and I might hang out for a while before pedaling off.  Much to my excitement I found out they sponsor a bicycle team.  With my bicycle crew no longer in Chicago I was in dyer need for people to ride with, so when my friend Laurie from work said she joined Half Acre Cycling, I asked her to put in a good word for me.  Much to my surprise she sponsored me to join.   Within a month I became a member.  I have raced in exactly one criterium and that is the extent of my competitive cycling.  I have now committed myself to 7 races this year.  I figured a few road, mountain, and possibly cyclo-cross too should make for a fun year.   Hitching my wagon to this brewery has been coming up aces for sure. 

Highlights of 2011

The year is just about in the books and it was so full of change it made my head spin.  Lousy PHD programs took another one of my closest friends across the country.  So there was one less number to call for last minute trips which led to a lot of solo mountain bike rides and tamer outings.  I hit up the Honky Tonk Happy Hour after work on Fridays like it was my job and found a whole new family of Honky Tonkers.  When I needed a break from it all there was always the baseball diamond.  I went to more baseball games than I ever have in a single season in 2011, and had a winning streak that lasted until the final game I went to.  My record of attended White Sox games ended at 6-1.

Opportunity came knocking more than once, I climbed Camel Back Mountain at dawn outside of Phoenix, AZ.  There was more climbing with the Chicago Mountaineering Club, I went to Devils lake 3 times, my cousin invited me on a 4 day fishing trip to Lake Clinton (I still have never caught a fish) and took a trip out to Yosemite that really got my head right.   I saw the sun rise and set all over the country.  My GoPro Hero Helmet Camera became my favorite piece of gear.  I documented my morning commute, cross country mountain biking, rock climbing and anything else that caught my eye.  I saw some amazing art and some great rock shows.  

By the numbers I spent a total of 11 days sleeping with my head in the dirt, climbed 30 pitches with 5 days on the rock,  3 days of skiing, 0 powder days.   I was on a bike around 300 days this year with an estimated 5500 miles of pavement behind me. 7 White Sox games and 2 Cubs games.

The year started off with a blizzard that shut down the whole city.

Lake Michigan right after the blizzard.

This sunset photo took me so far from my back porch where it was taken.

A happy day with Dr. Vincent Pham who was bound for sunny California.

One of many Chicago White Sox winners including my first Opening Day.

A fog on the lakefront path.

Go Go White Sox.

My Go Pro helmet camera mounted on my touring bike.

May Arizona trip to visit with Chris and his wife Kassie. 

Top of Camel Back Mt. AZ.

The "L" ride home on the Orange Line.  The end of my AZ. trip.

Go Pro Rig on my MTB.

4th of July with Melissa. 
I took this picture after every White Sox winner it was my good luck charm.
Ozzie would leave the team come the season's end.

The Beer and Crew for Tour de Fat.
 I love it when the mountain culture comes to me.

The Bikes.

The Ballyhoo.

Devils lake.  One of many trips.

Brendan leading my first multi-pitch climb in Yosemite National Park.

Atop Tenaya Peak in Tuolomne Meadows in Yosemite National Park.

California Sunset.

Brendan and me atop Cathedral Peak.  It was bad ass.

The Honky Tonkers got out of the bar and went on the road to the Homer days Harvest Festival.

At summers end this sunset appeared over the Yorkville Days festival grounds.

A day a of hiking at Devils Lake Wisconsin.

I never quite saw the park like this before.

Magic Hour atop the East Bluff Trail.

Wisconsin Dells.

Best Halloween costume ever.  Aron Ralston anyone?

 

The best Thanksgiving turkey fry in all of Chicago had me keeping the beat into the night with Steve and Jonathan. 

I did a lot of living this year. Here's to next year's adventures.

A Country Mile; How about one hundred.

Last year a few friends set out to use our bicycles to their full potential. The plan was made to ride what is known in the bicycle world as a century. One hundred miles atop a bicycle saddle. It was a feat we trained for with marathon like tenacity (see: A Century of Progress). Little did we realize what a thrill it would be, so much in fact that we organized another. A few weeks back as RAGBRAI was finishing up the crew assembled yet once again in Champaign-Urbana, Il for our second century ride. This time with a different flare. The riders were made up of the regular players including, Chris, Vincent, and myself along with the addition of a handful of the best pedal people from the Bike Project, Urbana's own bicycle co-op. Our destination would be a loop out to the Bloomington, Il wind farms and back into town for celebratory suds. Country roads the whole way with the only official route being north west.The night prior was rocked with down pours and thunderstorms, the kind you only get in the country. I got very little sleep. The ride time was pushed back a few hours and we rode out the the meeting point to see who would show up for the late morning departure. Once assembled our bicycle cranks began to turn as we headed west out of town. Seven deep, we began to meet each other while we rode. The state of Iowa was well represented on this tour by Joel and Phil. The regular players plus Frank hail the south suburbs of Chicago, and another character, Anthony, was from the North East. Obviously all bicycle people we had at least one thing in common.
It didn't take long before we were on a bike path in The Lake of Woods park and last nights rain left a slimy coating on the trail that crashed three riders. Some bandaids and gauze cleaned all involved up and we rode on. We got back to the country roads and back to corn and soybean territory now with no set route. As farm land breaks up the roads they come to a T we just turned North or West. The natural heading took us through towns with not even a stop sign much less a convenience store to refuel. Our water bottles were refilled out of water spigots on the sides of churches. Then came the lemonaid stand that we cleaned out. Perfect for our ride little girl lemonaid made with more sugar than lemon. Anthony rolled over something that punctured both tires twice. Four patches and 30min later we rode on. Finally 50 miles out we got to the wind turbines. After relaxing we took a new heading; south and east as we rolled into town about 10 hours of actual time and 7hrs of pedal time. Some of us felt better than others and most of us got back on different bikes to meet and toast to our success.