Axletree wants to get more people on their bikes, and one way we do that is by offering group rides to encourage people to ride together.  See the descriptions and schedule below to see which rides are best for you, based on your riding level and schedule.

We do ask that you be adequately prepared for the rides, and we are more than happy to make sure you have what you need.  Just ask and we’ll get you ready:

• Required: Helmet, signed Axletree waiver form (sign once for the calendar year), lights (for rides occurring after sunset).
• Recommended: Sufficient hydration/calories, cell phone, flat kit (spare tube, CO2 cartridge, tire levers)

Intro Rides are intended for those testing the water of group riding.  If you’re looking for an opportunity to ride with other people but find spandex-clad skinny boys a little intimidating or just plain weird, then these are the rides for you.

• Saturdays, 10am @ Chesapeake Bagel

This ride is in conjunction with Kishwaukee Bike and Rec Club.  More details to come, but this ride will be in speeds ranging from 10-14mph.

• Sundays, 7am @ Airport Rd entrance of Sycamore Park (rolling speeds 13-17mph)

This ride is a partnership between Axletree and NITRO.  Axletree strongly recommends this group ride because of the consistent group and friendly people.  The routes include a rest stop halfway for a little food (bring your own snacks) and conversation.  Multiple groups will develop based on pace, and regroups occur at turns.

Moderate Rides are geared for cyclists who enjoy group riding without competitive bravado.  This ride is perfect for those who just love to ride and excellent for cyclists developing their group road skills. These rides are no-drop, and rolling speeds are listed below.  We use a set route so people are familiar with the terrain.

• Tuesdays, 6pm @ North Central Cyclery  - 23mi – (Maintained speeds of 16-19mph). Click here for set route. 

Avid Rides are intended for more developed riders with computer averages in the 20-22mph range.  (Note: average speed at 20-22mph means sustained speeds in the mid 20s between stops).  Organized pacelines form, and sprints will occur.  Riders must be comfortable riding in groups and working together. We have a neutral start and then “open” the ride at Keslinger Rd. We regroup at main turns to regroup and make sure everyone is ok.  If you’re looking for high intensity, this is the ride for you.

• Wednesdays, 6pm @ North Central Cyclery – 34mi - (Maintained speeds of 20-22mph). Click here for set route. 
  
• Saturdays, 8am @ North Central Cyclery – 20-40mi

We are open to hosting more rides as necessary. If you are interested in another ride or if you would like to lead a ride on another night, please let us know!

A few of us have been working with Live Healthy DeKalb County’s new Active Transportation Committee to build awareness and plan for future pathways in the area. It’s been a great group of decision makers working together to promote the present infrastructure, communicate the needs, and establish realistic goals for pathway development, signage, and community involvement.

To celebrate Bike Month locally, we established May 17th as DeKalb’s official Bike to Work Day.  We encourage people to ride to work every day, but on May 17th, we want to encourage EVERYONE to ride to work. We hope employers will encourage their employees to ride. Any employer is welcome to send a picture of all the staff who rode to work on May 17th. The employer with the largest group will get highlighted in our Bike to Work wrap-up.

We (Live Healthy DeKalb County, AXLETREE, and North Central Cyclery) are raffling off some great prizes to encourage riders to participate.

To Enter the DB2WD Raffle:

1. Ride your Bike to Work on May 17th.
2. Get a photo of yourself in front of your workplace with your bike
3. Email the photo along with contact information to contact@rideaxletree and/or lynnea.erickson@cityofdekalb.com by May 24th.
4. Cross your fingers. The winners will be drawn on Friday, May 31st at the Live Healthy DeKalb County Breakfast and Trail Walk.

We’ll post a gallery of the riders on our Facebook page, so if you don’t follow us yet, click here to do so. If you don’t wish your photo to be shared, just let us know!

Bike to Work image by Eric Sucharski @ Transit Interface. 

As we’ve looked around the country for inspiration, we’ve also looked closer to home, to find the obstacles and impediments to cycling that riders face.  Once such impediment can be harassment from motorists.  Accordingly, we looked to find ways of addressing this problem, and promoting positive interaction between cyclists and drivers (and for that matter, property owner, pedestrians, and everyone else we interact with).  We view this as a “carrot and stick” issue.  We’re working on the carrots: rider pledges, good behavior, positive community interaction.  But there are also instances where someone engages in behavior that is truly beyond the pale, threatening or taking harmful action towards cyclists on the road.  In such instances, we believe that a corrective approach needs to be taken.  Hopefully, the circumstances where such corrective action need be taken are few and far between…but they do exist.  We’ve lived through them, as have most cyclists who take to the road.  Here’s our initial draft of an anti-harassment ordinance.

 

42.03 HARASSMENT OF BICYCLISTS.

a)              It shall be unlawful to engage in any harassment of a bicyclist operating a bicycle on or adjacent to a public roadway, path, sidewalk or other public or private area.

b)             “Harassment” shall be any act upon a roadway or other area intended for the operation of bicycles or vehicles which shall unreasonably disturb a bicyclist or cause a bicyclist to have a reasonable fear of imminent danger, including but not limited to: 1) making threats or engaging in hate speech towards bicyclists; 2) throwing any object at or towards a bicyclist; 3) increasing speed, decreasing following distance, or decreasing lateral (lane) separation when approaching, driving alongside or overtaking bicyclists; 4) excessive, unwarranted or unlawful use of a horn in proximity to bicyclists; 5) taking any action to aggressively swerve towards bicyclists; 6) attempting to stop or block the path of a bicyclist; 7) attempting to force a bicyclist into a fixed obstacle, ditch, curb, parked car or other impediment; or, 8) engaging in sharp acceleration for the purpose of creating a greater than normal accumulation of vehicle exhaust.

c)              Violation of this Section 42.03 shall be punishable by a fine of not less than Three Hundred Dollars ($300) nor more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000).  A second or subsequent violation of this Section 42.03 shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not to exceed One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) and/or thirty days in jail.

Because it is an ordinance, even if passed, it would only be effective in the communities that pass the ordinance.  In other words, when you’re riding out in the country, in ‘unincorporated’ areas, the ordinance would not be applicable.

There could be pushback.  Drivers are often irritated with cyclists–and adverse encounters are sometimes based upon cyclists engaging in irresponsible behavior.  Accordingly, one response would be to question why we would make it unlawful to harass a cyclist, when the cyclist has engaged in unlawful behavior that triggers an incident.  The answers to this question are several:

• If a cyclist engages in unlawful behavior that triggers an incident, the cyclist too can be cited.  That’s part of the reason for a bike ordinance regulating cyclist conduct.
  
• Often, cyclists are engaged in totally legal behavior that is viewed adversely by a driver.  A cyclist riding on the road, instead of the sidewalk, may trigger some drivers to respond in an aggressive fashion.  The mere sight of a cyclist clad in lycra is enough to set off some drivers.  When cyclists are engaged in legal behavior, they need protection from inappropriate acts of drivers.
• Fundamentally, regardless of what triggers an incident, there is a huge disparity of power between a cyclist and a driver.  If two people shout at each other on the street, there is the potential for a disturbance.  But when drivers turn their 5,000 pound SUV into a weapon, or point their 4 ton pickup truck at a cyclist on a 20 pound bike, the risk of incredibly severe injury and terrible outcomes escalates far too rapidly.

Change of narrative mode here: I (Deaner) am writing this post.  I write it from the “we” perspective above, because I’m representing Axletree in this post.  But I myself have personally experienced acts of rage and violence, committed against cyclists for no apparent reason.  Cyclists riding single file, on a deserted country road, without oncoming traffic–where drivers feel a need to buzz the cyclists, throw objects, or in one memorable instance, threaten to kill all of the cyclists and then make a u-turn to come back for a second pass.  An ordinance won’t stop everything.  An ordinance won’t serve as a shield when a car comes barreling down the road at you.  But an ordinance can do a few important things–it can start a dialogue, and give people an opportunity to talk about cyclists and why they ride/where they ride/how they ride.  It can give a low-intensity, early intervention on conflicts at a local level, before they rise to the level of vehicular homicide.  Hopefully, it can provide an incentive for drivers to de-escalate.  By no means should this be considered an exclusive list of benefits–there are other benefits as well, and this could be a much, much longer blog post.

There are important policy decisions for elected officials to consider with this ordinance.  It will clearly impact me, as a cyclist on local roads.  I am hopeful that, if passed, it will have a positive influence on the community, and help limit the nature and scope of adverse car/bike interaction.  Axletree has that hope too.  And that is why we’re working on building the bike ordinance.

Suggestions are always welcome.

The City of DeKalb was the successful recipient of a state grant under the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program.  Out of a nearly $998,000 project, the state will be kindly picking up the tab for $778,180, including much of the early funding for engineering and environmental studies.  The bike path in question will connect existing trails in “Prairie Park” with the Northern Illinois University Campus, providing safe, grade-separated crossings under the railroad tracks and Lincoln Highway that present huge barriers to pedestrian and cycle traffic at present.  Here’s the rough layout:

Existing routes require a several block re-routing through a narrow, shared car/pedestrian/bike underpass, and then crossing a 5 lane state highway at a traffic signal, at grade.  This will be a substantial improvement in safety, efficiency, and convenience for DeKalb area bikers, and will link important existing bike trails and infrastructure together.  Studies start now, and expect a finished, rideable trail by 2015.

Way to Go!

We’re helping you prepare.

Gravel Metric Training Ride #1 will be March 30, 2013.  We depart from North Central Cyclery in DeKalb, IL.  Rollout is 8:00am promptly; plan on meeting up at 7:50am, and being prepared to roll out at 8:00am.  There is ample parking behind NCC.

Bring a Helmet.  Bring lights if the weather’s inclement.  Bring your sense of adventure.  Bring a signed waiver.

Axletree NCC waiver 03.24.13

If you click on that link, you’ll get a PDF of the waiver.  Please bring a signed copy.  Do it once, and you’re good for the year.

What else do you need?  Appropriate clothing for the weather.  A sense of adventure.

What kind of bike do you need?  Well, if I were you, I’d go buy a new Titanium Salsa or perhaps a nice, shiny new Moots.

Ok, ok…what do you really need?

Really, many bikes will do.  A road bike on skinny tires (if they say something like 700×23 or 700×25, that’s skinny) will not be happy.  Your mountain bike?  It will be as happy as a clam.  Hybrid or dual-sport (like a Trek FX or the like)?  Sure.  Fatbike?  Abso-fatty-lutely.  Cyclocross bike?  Whoa there, pardner…you’ve done this before, haven’t you?  If you’re not sure if what you have can do it, stop by the shop and chat up the good folks there.  You might be just a tire swap away from a gravel hero.

These will truly be open to all abilities.  It’s a non-drop ride; everyone will have a group to ride with.  It is a gravel ride, however.  Expect that a majority of the ride will be on gravel.  Gravel conditions vary with weather–if it’s wet, gravel might be soft.  Roads may be packed or loose, smooth or rough.  It’s a training ride, remember?

The rides are self-supported.  There will be no sag wagon–though we will have moral support.  Bring your own water, and if you need food for 25 miles, bring food.  Did I mention helmets?  You do need a helmet.

We’ll have routes planned out depending on the wind direction, but plan on a headwind.  There’s always a headwind.  That’s our unofficial motto…

We don’t have hills or scenery, but at least the wind blows.

Gotta start somewhere.  March 30, 2013 at 8am is the time, North Central Cyclery is the place, you are the rider.

Join us.

We are working on a simple “Sprout Pledge” that will encourage kids to commit to safe cycling. We’re working with a couple other organizations in the area to have a number of Sprouts events throughout the year. The first of these is coming up on April 27th at the YMCA in DeKalb in conjunction with the DeKalb Leadership Academy and LiveHealthy DeKalb County.

Our Custard Cruise on August 5th and the Corn Fest Bike Rally are two other Sprouts events on the schedule for 2013. These are events that will encourage kids to come and ride in a large group format. The Corn Fest Rally has become the “big ride” that locals families work up to with their kids.

Kids coming into North Central Cyclery will have the opportunity to sign the pledge and get a free Sprouts T-shirt.

We want kids to be excited about riding. If the kids are excited, the parents will be excited. If more families are riding bikes together, then we will be very excited.

The Custard Cruise to Ollies from Hopkins Park is a family favorite.

We’re excited to announce the first of those affiliates today.

Skratch Labs

Skratch calls themselves the “The World’s First Active Nourishment Company”. That’s a fancy way to say it is that they make delicious and healthy drink mix for active people using all natural ingredients. You can read their full history here or you could just check out this video for the abbreviated and comical version:

You can expect to see Skratch Labs products at Axletree events for all of this year!

It’s also available at North Central Cyclery.

Northern Rehab

Our friends at Northern Rehab has come on as an Axletree Affiliate to support our local advocacy efforts. While we often hope you’ll use and support our affiliates, we do not hope you need physical rehabilitation. But if you do… Northern Rehab is the place to go! You’ll find extremely knowledgeable and friendly staff that can help you get back up to ship shape. Check them out!

We’ll be sharing more and more affiliates as they come on, so stay tuned!

The risks outweighed the rewards this year. We desire to have an impeccable relationship with our local parks and rather than attempt the event on (hardly) frozen ground, we decided to nix it. We are sorry. We never anticipated feeling foolish for expecting snow in winter. We hope that if we do get some snow, there will be an opportunity for us all to ride together.

It was an opportunity for us to represent cyclists early in the decision making process. I had a chance to express that Shabbona State Park has incredible potential as a riding destination. DeKalb County has zero mountain biking trails and Shabbona has space, terrain, and some pre-existing infrastructure that makes it the best foundation.

There is already a 7mi perimeter of “snowmobile” trail around the park that is open to cyclists, as well as a number of mowed paths. There are some hiking trails that are prohibited to cyclists. Shabbona is a great destination for trail runners. A 5mi Walk/7mi Run is in the works for July 4th. There is a good amount of hunting land that has trails through it but is off limits most of the year to hikers and bikers.

We hope to be involved in future meetings and we will keep you informed with updates as things move along. If you’re interested in more information, please let us know!

Here, two Titanium Salsas (a Vaya and a La Cruz) contemplate philosophy:

And if you look carefully here, you’ll see the Ti-Team, plus a Steel Vaya, an Aluminum Chili con Crosso, and two men of steel.

Wednesday nights.  6pm.  Fun ensues.  Bring an appropriate bike, a helmet, and lights.