Went up to Chillicothe, IL for a ride out to Tanner’s Orchard for an apple cider doughnut. \u00a0You may reasonably question the sanity of driving 6 hours and then riding 20 miles for a doughnut, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.<\/p>\n
We got to Chillicothe around 9pm Friday night, checked into the hotel and went in search of food. \u00a0Had a pizza at Monical’s just before they closed, which tasted pretty good. \u00a0Fuel, you know, for tomorrow’s ride.<\/p>\n
Met some nice guys riding classic steel bikes along the banks of the Illinois River in Chillicothe on a brisk Saturday morning, temperatures were in the low 50s. \u00a0I brought my Lemond Alpe d’Huez, with a tubular wheelset installed and it rode very nicely. \u00a0There’s not many miles on this bike after the restoration was finished, but it was like reconnecting with an old friend. \u00a0No introduction needed, no getting-to-know-you questions, just “what are we waiting for?\u00a0 Let’s go.”<\/p>\n
I enjoy the classic bikes more than the carbon wonder-bikes, because they have a air of elegance and quality about them that easily belies the number of miles or years they’ve been around.\u00a0 They have experience<\/em>.\u00a0 Riding with C&V folks is fun too – I don’t think I’ve ever met a cyclist on a classic bike that didn’t end with “great bike, enjoy the ride.”<\/p>\n The doughnuts lived up to their billing, but it seemed colder when we left the orchard than when we got there. \u00a0Oh, well – we’ll warm up again soon enough. \u00a0We took a different route back to Chillicothe, and the descent down to the valley from the bluff was great fun – I got up to 37 mph on the descent. \u00a0Not a lot for some riders, but still fun. \u00a0Drivers were considerate, and we were only honked at once, which might be a record.<\/p>\n Many thanks to Steve (steelbikeguy on BF) for organizing this ride. \u00a0We’ll be back next year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Went up to Chillicothe, IL for a ride out to Tanner’s Orchard for an apple cider doughnut. \u00a0You may reasonably question the sanity of driving 6 hours and then riding 20 miles for a doughnut, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. We got to Chillicothe around 9pm Friday night, checked … <\/p>\n