Mother Nature has been quite temperamental this time of the year as to be expected for Chicago. The trails are hit and miss, so be flexible with your scheduling to get ride times in at the forest. In order to get some riding in – some of us are playing ‘Hooky Wednesdays’ and hitting the trails in the afternoon through the early evening to get some quality ride time in with little to deal with traffic on the road and of course less busy trails. If you’re interested, the rides are endurance paced, self sufficient, and steady going for at least 2 hours. It’s a great way to get your dirt legs on and practice some of the trail systems whether you’re in top shape or not – the challenge is for everyone, getting out there is the half the battle. For more information visit our Facebook page and Fan Us and we’ll post up meet times.

Speaking of Dirt Riding
This Saturday is the Women’s Trail Ride brought to you by Julia Daher and Half Acre Cycling. CAMBr will be providing energy bars and drinks for those who attend as well! The meet up will be at 10:00AM at the Wolf Roads Parking Lot at Palos Forest Preserve.

Gravel Metric Century
The gravel road ride/race is on this Sunday, May 30th in DeKalb at 9:00AM. Are you ready for some gravely fun? You should be – riders of all backgrounds and bikes are encouraged to participate – everyone is A WINNER at this event. You have a cross bike, bring it (duh!), got an MTB, bring it, got a road bike, bring it, got a cruiser, bring it. It’s self supported, the route will be marked, but if you have a GPS unit, you’ll be even more set for the day.

Follow Me Premiere
A huge thanks for CAMBr for showing the ‘Follow Me’ movie at the Cobra Lounge this past Sunday. A great time was had by all watching some of Ted Blanco’s slick pre-movie features from ‘The Garden’, ‘Plainfield Bike Park’, and ‘Marquette Park’ – and then of course the feature film showing what MTB has progressed into the past few years. It used to be that 30 foot gap jumps and 15 foot ramps were considered monstrous for mountain bikers. It seems with the new technology, lighterweight materials, and bigger gumption have made the sport accept 120 foot gap jumps, and 80 foot ramps as the new norm for serious dirt baggers. Watching the film quickly reminded everyone how awesome it is to truly be free on the dirt and push your limits in a gravity assisted way.

Special thank you for the following Bike Shops that contributed to this event with free merchandise and services for the raffle after the movie:

Rapid Transit Cycleshop
Johnny Sprockets
Get A Grip Cycles

Please continue the support for CAMBr and become a member! With your membership, the organization can continue to bring you great things on the trail and in Chicago. A great example is the ‘The Garden’ who will have a ‘Kona Demo Day’ coming on June 5th from 12-6PM. You can come test ride fly test bikes on a real pump and dirt track. Also you get a chance to see the local talent show you how its done.

Doping in Cycling
Who knew?