Posted on

Kohler-Andre Harvest Beech Ride

7 fat-bike riders from Wisconsin and Illinois met at Kohler-Andre park a bit south of Sheboygan, WI for the Harvest Beech Ride. A nice mix of fat-bikes were in attendance with 2 Schlick Northpaws, 4 Pugsleys and a Mukluk. Fat-bikes are certainly becoming more popular!

We headed north out of Kohler-Andre State Park to discover how far we could go in that direction knowing we had 22 miles going south if we were feeling spunky. Turns out it is about 3.5 miles to the mouth of Weeden Creek and then the Sheboygan power plan looms up with rip-rap barricading the shoreline so we turned about and headed south past the park for a couple hour ride on a beautiful fall day in Wisconsin. Sweet day of fat-biking!

Posted on

FTTM XXVII – Route Info

From the eventmaster himself com these updates on the rout and the day’s festivities:

People ask if they need a fat tire bike for FTTM.  Lots of people do the ride on skinny-tire bikes. The real off-road riding is on optional route loops. The main route is on streets or bike trails. You do have to be careful with skinny tires though because of pavement cracks, potholes and cobblestones, like just after the start at Best Place on Juneau (those cobble layers need a lesson). Don’t just follow someone on a fat-tire bike because they just roll over them. Keep a look out for yourself.

The on-road route will be 20 miles total and we’ll stop at Sobelman’s (2 miles, Pee Wee Tequila Dance Contest), Benno’s (7 1/2 miles, Beer Barrel Bump), Leff’s Lucky Town (11 miles, special ladies showing of giant urinal), Valley Inn (14 miles, gateway to Art Trail), Lakefront Brewery (18 miles, beer barrels flow at 2:30), and Wolski’s Tavern (19 miles).

Off-road options include following the Hank Aaron Trail west of 76th Street where after 94th it is just the old RR grade with the ties taken up (except the last couple hundred yards), down onto the Oak Leaf Trail and into Tosa. This adds six miles to the distance. The Hart Park Metro Mountain Bike trails are fun single-track. The Art Trail is awesome and real close to the Valley Inn. You’ll need someone to show you how to find it. It adds another mile to the ride.

Plenty of food options!

Your lunch options include Sobelman’s (Milwaukee’s best burgers), Benno’s (fun menu + there’s a Mexican place I can’t remember the name of real close), Leff’s Lucky Town (great sandwich menu and Hartfest with food vendors is across the street) and Valley Inn (great pizza). And of course there’s the grilling that will be happening at the finish at Best Place.

Music

The Squeezettes and the Beanstalks will be musicing up the various joints along the way and I assume Eric will have the rolling radio station on the ride so bring your ancient FM radio to tune in.

Plus, Gambrinus, the King of Beer, has returned to the garden of the old Pabst Brewery, now Best Place, where we will start & finish this year’s FTTM. Have you picture taken with him!

Will there be bike bowling?

Will “Spokesmodel” Dave lap up beer like a dog?

Find out on Saturday, June 18th 2011 beginning at Best Place. Day-of registration begins at 8:30AM and Roll out is at 10AM. Plan on being out ALL DAY you pansies!

Posted on

Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee XXVII

fat tire tour of milwaukeeOne of the Schlick Cycles crew’s favorite social cycling events is coming up on Saturday, June 18, the Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee! This is the 27th edition and just keeps getting better!

The original crawl through Milwaukee’s underbelly celebrates its 27th year with a ride on the Hank Aaron State Trail, starting from Best Place, the old Pabst Brewery hospitality room. Costumes are encouraged. For details, contact Phil Van Valkenberg at ticycling@yahoo.com. It’s a benefit for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.

This year’s theme is Pee Wee’s Big Adventure or, if you prefer, Pee Oui’s Misadventure!

This year FTTM will start and finish at:
Best Place At The Historic Pabst Brewery
901 W Juneau
Milwaukee, WI

Download the FTTM XXVII Entry Form (PDF)

If you are a Facebooky type, check this out:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=192618740776557

Posted on

Tour of ‘Tosa

Rode my Smitty at the Tour of ‘Tosa as part of Team Joyride.

The first task was to locate several playing cards attached to various features in and around Hansen Park and Underwood Parkway. That went pretty well and we were on to task two which was a scavenger hunt/landmark hunt around Wauwatosa.

We did just well enough, finishing 6th, to miss out on the Tri-oval of Doom race that finished off the day and settled the top spots. Here is a video of that 50-lap race of carnage on salvaged bikes!

Posted on

Metro Mountainbikers Fall Social Ride 2010

The Metro MTB Fall Social Ride took place on Saturday, October 23rd on the South Side of Milwaukee.

A dozen riders met at the South Shore Parking lot and were initially greeted by a dreary, rainy morning, however, Marty had some cans of alcohol infused whipped cream to get things started and keep our minds on the task at hand. Interesting. I had no idea that this stuff even existed! Vanilla and Chocolate were the flavors of the day

We headed south along the shore of Lake Michigan and while we were at our first stop at Sheridan’s on South Lake Dr. the rain subsided and by the time we left that establishment about 11:30 the rain was done! Sampled a Racer 5 beer there!

Next stop was Slick Willies in South Milwaukee. This was our lunch stop and the Slick Willie was the burger of choice for many. Burger, 2 kinds of cheese, grilled onions and grilled mushrooms. It was delicious! for some reason I chose Buch beer here. Probably because it is more like water and the ride had a bunch more to go!

Gravel trails, railroad beds and powerline trails were much of what led us to our next stop at City Lounge in Cudahy. There was a pretty cool bunch of small jumps in the area that the old Ice Center was built on. Just southwest of the City Lounge.

Some kind of Dachshund convention was going on at the City Lounge so  it only seemed proper to sample Dachshund’s Ankle Biter Ale. A good brew! BTW, there were about 20 of the squat, little dogs at the Lounge. Apparently a club of owners gets together a few times a year there as the owner is a Dachshund fan himself and makes the place available to the club.

We popped through the St. Francis Brewery after a bit of railroad track and track bed riding where several beers made on site were available. I gave the Nut Brown a try and liked it enough for a second.

An impromptu stop at Gordie’s had us drinking the obligatory PBR.

My final stop was at Sara’s house where a passable pre-mixed Long Island Ice Tea. Sara was the lone lady on the ride so buck up next year women and join us!

While I had a 50th birthday party for a couple of friends to attend the rest of the crew hit a couple more stops.

The trails along the Lake Michigan Bluff are pretty decent with some great views and lots of nice twisties.

As for equipment, I rode my Simplified 29’er. The 9’er is currently set up as a 1×9 and that worked well for this ride. Plus, I am still loving the Manitou Minute 29’er!

Here are a few shots on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gasmith/sets/72157625105603055/

Posted on

Steel is Real 2010 in Milwaukee

We will be at the Steel is Real Ride in Milwaukee again this year. Got more peeps sporting Schlick steel rides this year and even though this is only the 2nd Annual Steel is Real ya got all the power and bike riding shennagianery organizing skill from Pee Oui’s close to 30 years of doing the Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee to bank on. It will be a good one!

Indirectly from the Cat his own self!

Vote in the Best Steel Bike Contest. Riders will vote at Cafe Hollander before the start for the best Road Bike, One-On-One, Balloon-Tired Bomber, Mountain Bike, Bagel Wheels (24″ or less), Extemporaneous (high degree of creativity), and the coveted “Should’ve Taken ‘er to Ziebart” award for the best rust bucket (must be ridden) that looks a few pedal turns from the junk yard. We might do a best tandem award too if more than one shows up.

At registration everyone will get stickers for each Best Steel Bike category. You’ll vote for your favorite by putting the sticker on the bike of choice. We’ll call up entrants for each category and if you’ve got one entered you can do the show dog routine and tell about it. You can also buy votes. Beer bribes and flirting seem to work best.

And, we’ll have the Tattoo Contest again for real and fake tattoos on men and women. It will be “people’s choice” judging at a yet to be disclosed location. We’ll have washable ink colored pens available at earlier stops.

As before, we’ll be visiting fun Milwaukee taverns along the 25-mile route that starts and finishes at Cafe Hollander at 2608 North Downer Avenue. If your bike won “Best Bike” in one of the categories, people are sure to buy you beer to suck up. If you entered and didn’t win, you can just bitch about it. No one will buy you beer, but bitching is a Wisconsin tavern art form and you’re going to have company to join in the pissing and moaning.  What could be better?

The long-sleeve T-shirt you get when you register will have the latest Steel Is Real Milwaukee logo on it. (See that pretty photo up over there a ways?) No, Pee didn’t pose for it. Would have had better hair and a bigger package if he did.

Hope to see ya there!

Posted on

Fat Tire Tour of Milwaukee is Saturday!

Get ready because it is coming whether you are ready or not!

We will pay homage to the brew city’s bowling heritage and the movie The Big Lebowski on Saturday, June 12. We’ll be visiting legendary bowling alleys like the Holler House, the oldest lanes in the US. We’ll hit Long Wong’s too and they’ll play The Big Lebowski on the big screen.

Pix from the event may be posted as it happens! For sure after.

Posted on

Steel is Real Ride, Milwaukee

Steel is Real Bike Ride in Milwaukee - 2009

The inaugural Steel is Real ride was great! 100 riders, 32 miles and 9 bars!

Steel is Real Bike Ride in Milwaukee - 2009

The all urban route took in the Milwaukee Lakefront, near South Side, ‘Tosa, Miller Valley, Downtown and Eastside with stops at Cafe Hollander, Cafe Centraal, Holler House, Cocktails and Dreams, Long Wong’s, Kelly’s, Tosa Hollander, Valley Inn, Fitzgibbions and Cafe Hollander again.

Steel is Real Bike Ride in Milwaukee - 2009

Beer was good Riverwest Stein being my favorite of the day. Food was good too. Egg Rolls at Long Wong’s and a Mrs. Hollander at the end of the day.

I spent a lot of the ride with John, Ken and Ryan shooting the breeze and such.

In the rider-voted best bike categories there was some stiff competition. In the end my Smitty with Schwalbe Big Apples won Best Balloon-Tired Bomber! Could have been the gratuitous vote trading but I’d like to think the bike really deserved the win. It was a super companion on the ride.

Steel is Real Bike Ride in Milwaukee - 2009

Steel is Real Bike Ride in Milwaukee - 2009

John’s Shark was second in Extemporaneous Bikes but was most likely a victim of poor placement as not many people saw it while voting. Shoulda, coulda, mighta have won! To be fair the winning bike was pretty sweet. I never got the full story on it but it looked interesting to ride.

Steel is Real Bike Ride in Milwaukee - 2009

I totally look forward to this  ride next year. Wish it was next week!

Steel is Real Bike Ride in Milwaukee - 2009