Frozen Snot and Tour Da Chicago

Let me make a disclaimer to everyone who did the entire Frozen Snot Double Century, I did not, in fact do the entire thing. In fact, I think Clare and I decided that we had done only 30% of it. Hats off to the brave souls that rode from Chicago to Milwaukee and then back again this weekend.

Anyway, the part my Girlfriend and I did was the last leg from Kenosha, WI back to Chicago. As I've previously mentioned in this Blog, Clare and I have done this ride before. In January, we took the train to Kenosha and rode the Robert McClory trail back to Chicago. I wrote a little about it in this post.

Anyway, this time around, the trip was a lot more pleasant. We met up in Kenosha with our friends Paul and Sherry who had done the whole double century. That had actually taken Sheridan Rode the entire way from Chicago and avoided the problems that we had with the muddy limestone path. They were also anxious to get back to the city, so they really were in the mood to hustle.

We rode Sheridan until about North Chicago where the Robert McClory trail goes from being crushed limestone to being paved. We stopped briefly in Highland Park for Lunch and then got back on Sheridan. North of Evanston we got onto Green Bay Road (Or was it Old Green Bay Road?) and then eventually to Ashbury which turns into Western Avenue.

The whole trip with the half-hour stop for lunch only took about four and a half hours. This fact was a little embarrassing for us because it took us a lot longer to do this trip when we had done it in January. There is something to be said about the group dynamic when bicycle touring.

Sunday was the 5th stage of the Tour Da Chicago. I place pretty close to the bottom, but it was one of the most fun I've had in a race in a while. When I raced two weeks ago, I had lost my pack, and did most of the ride by myself. This time I got in a big pack and stuck with it. Luckily as well, that Clare was in my same pack, and riding with her is always a pleasant experience.

The route was pretty crazy. You can take a look at it here. If you have a myspace account, also look here.

I plan to write a lot more about winter bike touring and the Tour Da Chicago, so stay tuned.