Show us pictures of where you ride your ebikes!

[Jeremy McCreary]

Today's coast ride took me south to the Swami's Beach overlook and back.

First stop was the Moonlight Beach concession stand for a chipotle aoli dog and kombucha. My internist knows nothing about this, and I'd like to keep it that way.

Next stop and turnaround was the little Encinitas city park on the bluff above Swami's Beach. You could follow the smooth, stately southwest swell nearly to the horizon.

The waves weren't all that high, but the surfers waiting at Swami's famous reef break caught many long leisurely rides.

The highlight of the ride was a long conversation with the 30-something owner of this gorgeous Bianchi road bike. Love the color scheme!

From there, it was a straight shot home — mostly with the motor off.

 

[DaveMatthews]

After almost 6 weeks of no riding I finally got out for my first ride of 2025.
The ride was a short one, but I just couldn't miss out on a beautiful sunny day. Pretty cool in the wind though at 6C but that gave me a great opportunity to try out the new heated vest I got from my son for Xmas.
Tires were almost flat from disuse!





The heated vest was a complete success. Had it on the lowest setting which was perfect. Battery is almost 5000mah so I think it should last for quite a few hours on low.
Hoping the weather allows for more from here on...

 

[Chargeride]

Im glad someone else had a long break, Im feeling a bit fair weather biker here.

Heated vest eh, tbh I soon warm up once Im out there, all that xmas flab.

 

[Latitude]

After almost 6 weeks of no riding I finally got out for my first ride of 2025.
The ride was a short one, but I just couldn't miss out on a beautiful sunny day. Pretty cool in the wind though at 6C but that gave me a great opportunity to try out the new heated vest I got from my son for Xmas.
Tires were almost flat from disuse!





The heated vest was a complete success. Had it on the lowest setting which was perfect. Battery is almost 5000mah so I think it should last for quite a few hours on low.
Hoping the weather allows for more from here on...

I have made good use of a heated vest, gloves and socks on winter rides.

 

[BlackHand]

Stopped to smell the roses. You would think they would know better than to bloom in January.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Another ride on Sunday. Longer but still a quick run.
Cold but mitigated by the vest again.
Gorgeous day again so couldn't resist. Odd thing was that on Friday I saw that my front tire was flat. Not just low, but dead/slanted on the floor flat.
Saturday I threw the bike on the workstand, filled the tire to 25psi and spun the tire closely looking for signs of a leak... maybe some sealant or something.
Went over the tire 3 or 4 times and nothing.
Went for the ride and all good. Got me, maybe a funky valve.



At Watershed Park I saw this vehicle...



Sunny day...





Tire pressure holding...

 

[steve mercier]

Today's coast ride took me south to the Swami's Beach overlook and back.
View attachment 186766

View attachment 186761
First stop was the Moonlight Beach concession stand for a chipotle aoli dog and kombucha. My internist knows nothing about this, and I'd like to keep it that way.

View attachment 186765View attachment 186763
Next stop and turnaround was the little Encinitas city park on the bluff above Swami's Beach. You could follow the smooth, stately southwest swell nearly to the horizon.

View attachment 186762
The waves weren't all that high, but the surfers waiting at Swami's famous reef break caught many long leisurely rides.

View attachment 186764
The highlight of the ride was a long conversation with the 30-something owner of this gorgeous Bianchi road bike. Love the color scheme!

From there, it was a straight shot home — mostly with the motor off.

I spent the month of November in Encinitas a while ago. Nice spot. We Went to the Del Mar racetrack for Thanksgiving dinner on the patio. Torrey Pines park was cool.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

From a recent late-afternoon ride, here on the bluff above the south end of Tamarack Beach in Carlsbad, CA.

The lower wide-angle shot was stopped down a bit to suppress the sun and glare.

Just a break from the many doom-and-gloom posts we've been getting lately — especially in the Just for Fun thread. Really?? Trying times, I know, but it's a mistake to let that seep into every single thing we do.

 

[DaveMatthews]

From a recent late-afternoon ride, here on the bluff above the south end of Tamarack Beach in Carlsbad, CA.

View attachment 189880View attachment 189881
The lower wide-angle shot was stopped down a bit to suppress the sun and glare.

Just a break from the many doom-and-gloom posts we've been getting lately — especially in the Just for Fun thread. Really?? Trying times, I know, but it's a mistake to let that seep into every single thing we do.

Gorgeous! I haven't been contributing here lately. I need to fix that!

 

[DaveMatthews]

Finally got a break after over a month, and went out to get some rotations in. Weather a balmy 13C. Still bundled up with both heated vest and gloves but happily they did not need to be turned on.
Headed to the entrance to Delta Greenway...





Well dayum... 3kms in or so I see it's closed for flooding. No surprise I suppose after the weather we've been experiencing. Did not want to see how bad it was/is so turned around...





Glad I got out but holy carp I'm out of shape!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Finally got a break after over a month, and went out to get some rotations in. Weather a balmy 13C. Still bundled up with both heated vest and gloves but happily they did not need to be turned on.
Headed to the entrance to Delta Greenway...





Well dayum... 3kms in or so I see it's closed for flooding. No surprise I suppose after the weather we've been experiencing. Did not want to see how bad it was/is so turned around...





Glad I got out but holy carp I'm out of shape!

Did you visit your favorite puddle?
;^}

 

[DaveMatthews]

Did you visit your favorite puddle?
;^}

Nah... it's way further down. Hopefully I can try the other entrance I use to get to Mud bay and see, but that was not in the cards today.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Scenes from 2 rides last week...

Hill ride

The first half of this 15-mile inland ride crossed the high ridges on the south side of Agua Hedionda Lagoon and Creek.

The ride started with an Armada Drive pass to check up on the Carlsbad Flower Fields, a large flower farm producing mainly ranunculas and potted poinsettias.

The orange and yellow ranunculas in full bloom in April, 2023. Equally large red, pink, and white patches lie outside the frame.

Prior to 1985 or so, flower and berry farms took up most of the arable coastal land in and around Carlsbad. This is the only big flower farm left. One large strawberry farm also survives.

You might recall from news coverage that a very late start to SoCal's wet season played a huge role in the historic LA-area wildfires earlier this year. Our lush, mostly brushy vegetation got disastrously dry, but the farm's owner said the germinating ranunculas loved it. He's expecting a bumper crop.

Next stop was Evans Point (340 ft ASL), the 2nd highest spot on the ride. Great views west and north from there, with Agua Hedionda Lagoon at top right center and the fun descent down Cannon Road to its left.

After dropping 200 ft to nearly lagoon level on Cannon in the distance here, it was a very steep 320 ft back up to Evans Point.

The neighborhood around Evans Point has some of the steepest public streets in the area — several too steep to pave with the usual asphalt, which tends to creep downhill on grades above ~15%.

My handlebar inclinometer showed 18-19% on the steepest pitch. With a lot of huffing and a reduced 22 gear-inch low gear to keep up cadence, I got the SL to climb it in SPORT, but TURBO was calling to me the whole way up.

RideWithGPS put the maximum grade here at 11.5%. It almost always underestimates grades by a few percentage points, but seldom by this much. By all indications, the inclinometer's the one to believe.

This hill ride included a 12-mile stretch with 92 gpm (here short for vertical feet of elevation gain per mile). For serious roadies, "hilly" starts at ~100 gpm.

Doesn't sound like much when you realize that a steady 1.9% grade climbs at 100 gpm. But even 75 gpm feels pretty darned hilly to my old bird legs on my light but low-powered Vado SL. And around here, it's very easy to put together a 75 gpm ride from home.

Coast ride
In contrast, the lazy rolling coast ride with neighbor DB a few days later averaged only 27 gpm over 22 mi.

This beach overlook on the Coast Highway at the south end of Carlsbad Village is a great stop for wave-, pelican-, and people-watching in the off-season. In tourist season with the schools out, it's a great place to avoid.

At first, this bright patch on the water looked like it was coming our way. Couldn't tell if was a portal to the 11th dimension or just a hole in the marine layer, but we wanted to have a plan if it came overhead. DB said he'd watch my bike if I wanted to take the dimensional leap but wasn't prepared to defend it with lethal force, so I chickened out.

Turned out to be moot: The portal was really heading south. Caught up with it again at the South Carlsbad State Beach Camp Store, where I treated myself to a mango kombucha and a healthy snack.

Got some interesting light as the marine layer temporarily thinned, but we never got full sun. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the marine layer's been onshore a lot this winter. It clearly doesn't read the script.

 

[Chargeride]

You just casually posted a handlebar mounted inclinometer, like you were expecting no one to notice or reference it without referring to steam nerd punk.

In honour of your device I have ordered a handlebar mounted sundial and auto tipping tophat combo.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

You just casually posted a handlebar mounted inclinometer, like you were expecting no one to notice or reference it without referring to steam nerd punk.

In honour of your device I have ordered a handlebar mounted sundial and auto tipping tophat combo.

I've been called nearly every kind of nerd imaginable, and with good reason, but that's a new one!

The inclinometer's time on my handlebar is almost at an end. Got it to learn how to eyeball grades in real time and to see just how much climbing glory I've been robbed of by RideWithGPS.

Maybe I'll try that sundial next.
;^}

 

[PCeBiker]

,.. referring to steam nerd punk.

I had to Google that,..

Maybe I'll try that sundial next.
;^}

In honour of your device I have ordered a handlebar mounted sundial and auto tipping tophat combo.

I have ordered a Alidade to measure inclination and direction, a Sundial to measure time and season, and a Daffy Bobblehead to measure the direction and intensity of Grabity, ..

 

[Chargeride]

I fear my humour may have boiled over into sarcasm, Ive been in the van with my two strava, torque at crank, 60 yr old squabbling beta males and I was a little worn with it.
For the entire journey they were arguing that one got more 'achievements' because they both hit start at the same time, but one went first on the singletrack, which gave him a two second advantage from set off.

Then they admitted to not talking once to each other on the two hour loop, they use backpack hydration so they dont have to stop, and both were bursting at the finish.

I guess its healthy to be driven and they are certainly fit, but its become obsessive to a point slightly past amusing and my mate Brain announced he might give up emtb soon because hes getting too old to keep improving his lap times.

 

[PCeBiker]

,.. they use backpack hydration so they dont have to stop, and both were bursting at the finish.

Here's a couple possible solutions Depend ing on their needs,..

 

[Chargeride]

Dont give them any ideas.

 

[6zfshdb]

I've been called nearly every kind of nerd imaginable, and with good reason, but that's a new one!

The inclinometer's time on my handlebar is almost at an end. Got it to learn how to eyeball grades in real time and to see just how much climbing glory I've been robbed of by RideWithGPS.

Maybe I'll try that sundial next.
;^}

I have that same inclinometer. It works, but isn't good for reading small changes in slope. I switched to this one for more accurate readings:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L5GL3A8?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1

In order to minimize error when turning the handlebars, I mounted it on the stem cap with a GoPro camera mount instead:

These "real time" inclinometers are the only method of determining slope on the spot where you are at that particular point in time. Slope is calculated in electronic devices, like Ride With GPS, by measuring altitude change over distance traveled and are subject to errors in both measurements.