The Freehub Mag "44 Days and Rolling" Crew has entered its sixth and final week of the journey. We're beat down, dirty, stinky, dirtbags that ride bikes way too much by this point, but that's how we were when we left. We followed that two wheeled, pedal driven passion all around the country for the past six weeks. All along the way we've gotten to know the people that make biking happen no matter what the terrain. For footage of our journey around the states check out the "44 Days and Rolling" upcoming webisode series premiering here on Pinkbike in early June.
Check out the GoPro Friday Week-Six Video
Ryan's Bangers:ChicagoFrom New Hampshire the tree covered mountains faded and towering buildings began to dominate the skyline, welcome to Chicago. The heart of the city beats as the traffic flows. Gritty old buildings, an abundance of street art, amazing restaurants, the constant bustle and the city's personality comes alive. So what brings us to Chicago?
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| We decided to stop in and see what our friends at SRAM had going on |
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| The RockShox wall |
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| I think that's a Grip Shift jersey I see in there |
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| Original SRAM Sign |
At SRAM we caught up with Cully, one of the Warranty and Dealer Services guys. We talked with Cully a bit about the lifestyle that surrounds working for one of the biggest companies in the industry and what really sets SRAM apart from the rest.
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| Cully getting his bike ready as he talks with us |
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| From SRAM we followed Cully out to The Garden. |
The Garden is something you would never expect to find in the middle of Chicago...a huge dirt jump park. A few days of rain had the jumps out of commission so we decided to do a little work on the pump track with one of the builders, Jeremy. After getting a new roller section dialed out came the bikes.
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| Cully gettin' it |
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| Wattsy...brraap |
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| Every town needs a pumptack |
A short drive from Chicago we headed towards Ray's Milwaukee to checkout what goes into their post season operations. Every summer Ray's shuts down to rework their park to keep it fresh and interesting.
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| Pumpin' it |
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| Joe Prisel taking a break from work |
After a few good wrecks we decided it was time to separate ourselves from the bikes for a bit. We headed to downtown Milwaukee to cruise around and check out the city.
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| Monster Truck and Art Museum |
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| Do a poppa' wheelie |
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| Grizzly Adams DID have a beard |
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| Finishing up our Milwaukee tour with some oil for that ole engine |
We left Milwaukee and made the push for Montana. Oh man it was good to see some mountains again. We rolled into Bozeman just in time to sit down at a good ole Montana bar and drink a PBR, life was good. The next morning we grubbed down on some tasty Mexican style breakfast and headed out to the trails. On the way out we picked up local Bozeman shredder Lydia Tanner and camera man/rider Ryan Wilson. With the snow still making its presence known in the hills we decided to head over to the Lewis and Clark trails. Dusty and loose single track hanging onto to the side of steep scree fields and wide open meadows keep things interesting out here.
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| Stay away from the edges |
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| Lydia killing it on her full carbon hardtail road bike..I mean 29er |
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| Round one goes to the dust..wear gloves in Montana kids, the rocks have teeth |
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| Tires holdin' for round two |
Thanks for tuning in and don't forget to check out the upcoming "44 Days and Rolling" Webisode # 1: Washington and Oregon.
Love you dearly,
Freehub Mag
By Jon Angermeier
Photo:Ryan Kirk
Video Editing: Chris Grundberg
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