Riding in the city (chicago) is sorta crap - too many idiots in cars for it to be not stressful. Riding the north trail up to the botanical gardens is completely NOT CRAP - great trail, not crowded.

seth wrote:Pinarello Angliru for long road rides/having sex with.

Ha! This made me laugh for quite a while. I just got a new road bike that I'm quite smitten with, a Kuota Kharma. I ride quite a bit and just did a great ride last weekend called the Harpoon Brewery 2 Brewery Ride. It's a ride from their place in South Boston to their other brewery in Windsor, Vermont. 147 miles and a shit load of climbing. During this ride I had my worst accident to date. Riding in a paceline I hit the guy's tire in front of me and went down. I have a couple scratches in places that should not ever have scratches on them. It could have been much worse.

Total not crap. I ride as much as I can now, and it's fun as hell building fixed gears. Yes, I said fixed gears. I own two. This one I finished about three weeks ago.