I usually do this, will probably be there.
Icycle Bicycle 2012 - Who's in?!?!?!?!?!
Saw this on the REI & WPW web sites...
When: January 1st
Where: REI Southside Works
What time: 11 a.m.
REI Southside will again be our sponsor with coffee, hot chocolate, tea and cookies the morning of the ride to help get the ride off in its 4th decade. REI will open at 10:30 a.m. to accommodate those who have last minute ride shopping needs.
The ride will leave REI at 11 a.m. Parents and small kids can head across Hot Metal Street on the South Side Trail while big people can cross the Hot Metal Bridge and head towards town. The ride will cross the Ft Duquesne Bridge and up the trail to the 16th Street Bridge. From there its down Penn to Smithfield St Bridge and over to the South Side Trail back to REI.
Ride goes no matter what the weather.
Helmets are mandatory.
[follow link above for more info]
I plan to be there....
I plan in being there, even if they are calling for rain
last year I showed up soaking wet from the rain, and I looked ridiculous. I plan on repeating that this year.
Very tempting... I'll need to buy a new helmet since I left mine in Chicago. Anyone have a spare 54ish cm bicycle and going to this?
I'm in. Not sure if I'm biking there or busing the bike most-ways there, but I plan to if I can get there at all.
@headloss, I might have a spare bike, my Raleigh that I rode in Dubois and which you see in various Wheelset & Tag-o-Rama tags. I often use the Icycle Bicycle ride to give one of the others in the fleet an off-season shakedown. PM me if interested.
I could probably bring a spare bike. Would you object to riding a fenderless mtn bike in the possible rain? I could probably throw on a fender-ish seatpost rack. I think it's like 15 mi and pretty flat.
I'm probably going, unless it's severe rain.
I want to do this, but I can't figure out from the ride description if this is mostly a road ride or an MTB trail ride. In other words, which bike should I bring?
I haven't done the ride, but all signs point towards being a road ride.
The Southside "Trail" is a paved trail, with a tiny section of crushed limestone.
It's all either road or asphalt paved trail. You can pretty much ride whatever you like, in the given weather conditions.
oh yeah. last year i got a flat that turned out to be a rip in my tire and also a broken spoke. that sucked.
I'll likely be there. May plan on a brisk ride a bit earlier and/or after, as Icycle Bicycle tends to be more conversationally-paced.
Another event on a day I work...... sigh
Last year several people got flats, including me. There was some dark broken glass on the jail trail that I found in my tire.
if im not at my other house in indiana county that day ill be there unless theres ice or snow
I suggest bringing an extra layer with you because the pace never gets up to where you will generate any heat & there are frequent stops. (think flock ride slow)
Thanks Edmunds and Stu, I found a bike (totally forgot that my brother had one in Forest Hills), but I'll message you both if that falls through for any reason.
With the weather prediction being fairly warm, this would be a great day to do the Polar Bear leap into the river in the morning, take a quick hot shower and breakfast, then go for the ride.
Unfortunately I will miss all of the fun as I will also be working.
Looks like a good day for a ride. As of right now, I'm planning to be there. If there's any chance for a gang Tag-O-Rama, that would be a cool add-on!
Temp doesn't look bad, but I guess there are supposed to be 40-50mph wind gusts.
The wind will start late morning, as will the ride. I like to use this hour-by-hour chart from the National Weather Service when planning my outdoor activities.
won't make it. dropped the bike off at the shop earlier, won't get it back til Tuesdayish
Hello Stu, that's an impressive chart. On the wind, how do you interpret the symbols?
Does the length of the bar show the speed, and the direction show the direction/from?
the line points in the direction the wind is coming *from* and the flags on the end show the speed - a long one is 10kt and a small one is 5kt.
excellent thank you very much. V.
Dan, I am down for a group tag today.
stefb - Are you planning to do the Icycle Ride first - or are you talking about the tag in place of the ride? There's a fairly long ride to the current tag from the end of the Icycle ride.
I've decided that it would be a mistake for me to ride today. I've been sick for 3-4 days and while I've been hopeful that I could make it, reality has set in, I just can't do it. I'm bummed. I'm not looking forward to a day doing absolutely nothing besides hanging around trying to rest and recover.
Best to all riders.
Hope you feel better, Dan. We ended up not going for it and doing another loop along the trails after the ride. None of us could figure out offhand how to get to the tag on a bike without looking at a map. But it wouldn't be too far away for one of us to get it at some point.
It was a fun ride. Glad to get out. Chowing down on some food now
Beautiful day for a ride! ...um, pretty much. After 30 miles of riding to the ride, riding the ride itself, and part of the post-ride ride, all without getting wet, I got caught in a deluge and windstorm only 2 miles from my house. By the time I rode those two miles, the sun was back out.
Any Flickr/Picasa etc photo links?
I ended up riding about 33 miles for the day. I pulled in at home about a minute before that rain hit, spent another couple of hours cleaning and tuning the bike. I got my 1st flat of 2012 about 10:30, so I got that out of the way. Fabulous day.
Although I didn't have the opportunity to ride (due to a combination of broken car-to-bike rack, non-QR skewer, no tools, small car, airless tires, and general last-minuteness), it was a wonderful start to a new year to watch everyone come around the bend. If I didn't say it already, Happy New Year to all!
It's too bad the sun didn't stay out just a tad longer, then maybe I could have taken an REI bike for a test-ride. Oh well, I tried.
@Vann, I took a few pictures but due to my camera being new to me, most (if all) didn't turn out. If any are worth posting, I'll share them once I have a means of transferring them to a computer.
Photos taken by me (while riding)
The Tribune Review put one image in their photos of the day section:
I posted a small flickr set here.
Unfortunately most of my photos didn't turn out due to a weird delay issue that I was having.
Sweet face I was making. I didn't mean to look so uninterested in what Lyle was saying.
@headloss, that stonefly in the first pic looks hugh! was it a perla? how many did you see?
ha! Honestly, I didn't even know that it was a stonefly until you said something! I only saw that one, and it was just a little bit over an inch in length, I'd guess.
Uh-oh. From Indianapolis.
"Cars weren't the only vehicles out and about Monday. Hundreds of cyclists braved the snow and wind for the city's inaugural Polar Bear Pedal.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard was among hundreds of cyclists who participated in the 12.2-mile ride that started at the new bicycle hub at City Market and finished at the Major Taylor Velodrome. The route was intended to showcase the city's new bicycle lanes and paths, but heavy snow often blocked the view for participants."
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=BG&Dato=20120102&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=201020805&Ref=PH
Better step it up people. It's like 1895 all over again (Obscure reference to the fact that in the first bicycle boom Indy was a huge center of cycling culture).
Was a awesome ride. Positive vibes were in the air. There are a few youtube videos posted.