Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Weekend trip, 47 miles each way...

Just got back from the Labor Day weekend beach camping trip. Got cut a day short because of the rain, but we still had fun. Rode from Chicago to Chesterton, Indiana, which is about 47 miles around the coast. We had a group of 11, with seven track bikes (strangely enough no road fixie conversions). The other four were just on road bikes. The first half of the trip was great. We were freaking all the bystanders out with our long string of bikes and our huge bags on our backs. When we stopped to rest I got really tired and I realized that 2 hours of sleep and hardly any food or drink was catching up with me. I stopped at McDonalds (nutritious) to relax and told everyone else to go on but I found them a few miles down the road waiting up for me (good friends). That set us back but we still made it in under four hours. Anyways, here are a couple pictures I took:

Bikes parked out front...

Beach fun... (It was so nice not to hear car alarms going off for one day.)

Chicago Skyline... (We rode from there to where I am taking the picture. :beer: )

wow that's freaking AWESOME

Man, i love chicago. I want to go back. Yeah, long trips on singlespeeds sound fun. I gotta get me a track bike.

Jason..... Glad you all had fun. That's something I would have loved to do this weekend here in SoCal with a bunch of people, but unfortunately I had to work. Nice photos too!

George

Sounds like a great trip. Nice pictures-and 94 miles in 4 hours with backpacks. You guys must have been motoring!

I'll bet that red one is a 53/13-am I close?

Hey Jason-
I envy the trip, photos, and bikes. Looks like a good time was had.

Love the pics, Jason!

looks like an awesome trip.

the ring on that red bike is HUGE. looks much bigger than 52T. have any idea what it is, Jason?

I did the same trip in my car going to visit the family in Chicago for the weekend. I am sure I did not have as much fun as you did.

Riding around Lake Michigan is always fun this time of the year!

It is very flat but sometimes the wind kicks your butt.

The perspective makes the chainring on the red bike look a little bigger than it is.. I believe it is a 52. I am also pretty sure he has a 16 tooth rear cog. Pretty fast top end but not good for our driveway races (about 20 yards worth of 30 degree slope..) :D

Also, Barnaby, the four hours was one-way. as it rained Sunday and Monday most of us opted to take the train back. Five people did ride back in the rain though.

jason: i'm always interested in bike routes out of chicago - what streets did you take?

Jason........so did you all backpack it? I noticed none of the bikes had racks.....I'm sure for obvious reasons. I've never riden a fixed for short tours like this.

al5: We took the lake path as far as it went, after that we just stuck to the streets, I'm really not sure exactly which ones.

The Fixer: We had planned on having a car leave at the same time, but the person flaked out, so yes we all had giant bags on our backs. I have a nice bruise in the shape of my strap across my shoulder. (Timbuk2 strap is hard as cement..) I had a fairly light load, some others had tents and sleeping bags and whatnot. We all made it though, so whatever..

cool pictures, i just got done riding to shiner texas on sunday, on my singlespeed. its about 93 miles away. there was 5 singlespeed bikes. i was there in 6 hours and 10 minutes. one speed is all you need. keep cruzing.

Hey, if y'all ever plan something like this again would you be alright with me tagging along? I'm definitely interested in long rides especially if they involve camping and sand and (relatively) smog-free air (and I'll keep up, I promise). Looks like hella fun!

What's gotta happen instead is getting all the Chicago cats together for outings and general hanging out. Since this section has quite a few Chicago riders, we should actually arrange a meet-up sometime.