2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Deleted member 18083]

I'll ask my mechanic about using a sealant in the tubes.

Just be aware that sealant has a nasty habit of treating valves as 'holes'; that is, the sealant fixes the assumed puncture by gumming it up.

The little knurled knob on the valve spike can become difficult to undo. Replacement valve cores are cheap (and necessary).

 

[Chargeride]

Bovines stopped by a brand new fence.
View attachment 69440
These cows saw the Demon Dog and I coming up the road and took off in a mini stampede. They arrived here where a fence blocked their progress. There is a reason that the fence is brand new. This area fried on Labor Day and is in the Cold Springs Fire area. That fire took off on Labor day and was pushed by 50 mph winds and ran for 60 ( I may be a bit conservative on this) miles, jumping the Columbia River. Anyway, there is a lot of fence to replace and power poles not to mention a houses and outbuildings. Perhaps these cows were fire survivors? Or were they safe up in the woods somewhere during the fire? They don't have much to graze on.

This was another ride with the purpose of running energy out of the Demon Dog. It takes ten miles to do so. Much more distance and paws get sore. Less, too much energy is not used. Ten miles is what we did. The road which usually will have one to three cars go by had about a dozen vehicles going on it. Most were powerline repair folks. There was also a trailer full of fire debris heading for the dump.

The ride was a little bit depressing. So much was burned up. This is where a bit of fall foliage would be normally, now I'd call it Halloween foliage. In areas with trees, the survivors were few. Note the not quite burned up fence post.
View attachment 69441

At least my favorite rock did not burn up!
View attachment 69443

Glad I got out today. Tomorrow, the weather people say we will be smitten with a snow storm and then it is supposed to be quite chilly in these parts. The Demon Dog is resting/recharging. Life is good.

Im so glad its cold somewhere else

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Of course, the shipping containers on trucks and trains have been to or will go to just about everywhere in the world, Poland included!

It might be some interesting information for you, David: Poland, once a coal-mining empire, imports a lot of hard-coal nowadays. Australia is the second biggest source of hard-coal to Poland, second to Russia only...

When my Dad lived in Australia between 1951-1957 (he used to mention Hobart, Adelaide and Brisbane as the cities he had lived in), he made his driving license there (and bought a second-hand car). When he came back home during the "Communist Thaw" period, he had to make the driving license in Warsaw again... but that was easy for him.

 

[jabberwocky]

Thanks for this info on tubeless ready rims. I ended up talking to my bike mechanic about the Tannus Armor, and he told me that I would be "making" my tires "run flats" (can ride on them if they go flat) and it would be an excellent option for me. He gave me the go ahead to order them, and he'd install them on both bikes. I now have a set for the Giant and a set for the Specialized coming in about 4 days.

Still don't know what caused the tear but it was a fairly big slash. Way too catastrophic to fix, even with the $20 bill I carry with me for a flat tire repair. This was also my first flat on the gravel. The other two times I've had flats over the years have been on the paved roads, both times caused by tiny thorns.

Not sure I buy that the Tannus is totally run flat (I think you'd likely damage the tire/rim if you tried that for very far), but I have no personal experience with it. I do run cushcore on my e-mtb, but its more to allow lower pressure for higher traction and protect from pinch flats than outright flat protection. I've had many, many flats over the years (mostly commuting on my road bike back when I actually commuted to work) but very few once tubeless became a thing. I think my only tubeless flats have been when I let the sealant go dry and found out on the trail.

I've had a handful of tire slashes that looked like yours, and every time I went back down the road to find the cause it was a chunk of sheet metal (probably fell off an HVAC work truck) or a utility knife blade (snap off or those trapazoid replacement blades). Nothing in the world protects against something like that. I have field repaired some bad slashes before, but its a lot of effort to be able to limp home and pull the tire right off again, since a tire with that kind of cut in it is pretty much toast.

 

[Sierratim]

Thanks for this info on tubeless ready rims. I ended up talking to my bike mechanic about the Tannus Armor, and he told me that I would be "making" my tires "run flats" (can ride on them if they go flat) and it would be an excellent option for me. He gave me the go ahead to order them, and he'd install them on both bikes. I now have a set for the Giant and a set for the Specialized coming in about 4 days.

Still don't know what caused the tear but it was a fairly big slash. Way too catastrophic to fix, even with the $20 bill I carry with me for a flat tire repair. This was also my first flat on the gravel. The other two times I've had flats over the years have been on the paved roads, both times caused by tiny thorns.

My son, the mech engineer for the bike components company, is all in with tubeless tires. What he tells me is that in the 'early days' conversions to tubeless were simply changing out the rim strips and valves and squirting some sealant in the tires. This worked, but had relaibility issues with tires popping off the rim and air seeping out. These days tubeless setups have rims with a different cross section to better grip the tire bead with the tires have modified beads to match, in addition to the upgraded rim strips and valves. This has pretty much eliminated reliability problems with tubeless setups to the point that they are becoming standard OEM on some upscale MTBs.

 

[Sierratim]

Our little town of Nevada City, California was settled by gold miners in the mid-1800's. They all brought bits of home with them, including deciduous trees. Now that there's finally a hint of Autum in the air these trees offer a sharp contrast to the evergreen forests that are native in our area. Part of my ride yesterday was to take in some of our local colors:

This beautiful tree is just over a mile from our home towards town. Our kids all called it the 'lifesaver tree' after the multi-colored candy of the same name.

I know many of you live in areas where this type of Fall color is common, but it's rarer here on the West coast, so much so that Fall Color Tours are popular here this time of year. I expect the town to be crowded this weekend with 'leaf peepers', as locals call visitors coming for the fall colors.

 

[RandallS]

Im so glad its cold somewhere else

Happy to oblige (well not really). -11C and snowing here in Calgary. Brutal for October and even though we have very strange weather here, it's really not normal. We'd usually golf until November, but it's really not nice out.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Our little town of Nevada City, California

Is this town the one that gave the name to Sierra Nevada mts?
I checked the facts. Your town is about the size of my neighbouring Podkowa Leśna!

-11C

Too cold for any e-bike ride...

 

[Prairie Dog]

Happy to oblige (well not really). -11C and snowing here in Calgary. Brutal for October and even though we have very strange weather here, it's really not normal. We'd usually golf until November, but it's really not nice out.

I was just there yesterday (Signal Hill) and was surprised at the amount of snow on the city roads. Closer to home we were welcomed back to bare roads but it was just as cold. At this point I can still bike without studs but have to agree with RandallS that this is not a normal October for us.

 

[Cowlitz]

The snow came about ten minutes ahead of the predicted time. The ground is white but now the snow is rain. Luckily not much fell so we won't have to deal with heavy gloppy stuff. It is supposed to snow more later though. Perhaps I should wax my Yooper Scooper. I brought the Yooper Scooper here from Wisconsin.

Oh, here is in the Okanogan Valley just south of the Okanagan Valley.

 

[RandallS]

I was just there yesterday (Signal Hill) and was surprised at the amount of snow on the city roads. Closer to home we were welcomed back to bare roads but it was just as cold. At this point I can still bike without studs but have to agree with RandallS that this is not a normal October for us.

Where's home? I just got a picture from a friend in Vernon. Looks similar to here! YUCK! They just moved there from here (Silver Springs).

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Must've taken a wrong turn somewhere …

Walloon, Southeast Queensland​

Well, this one almost got away with foreign plates.

My understanding is that 'Magnet' school programs make education more interesting, challenging and 'relevant'. Mission accomplished? Did the kids find their way home to Tallahassee? The bus isn't on Google Street View (dated November 2015) so it is, perhaps, a recent arrival. An impulse buy whilst trawling through 'bargains' listed on Amazon?

The windows and curtains hint at a motorhome conversion. It couldn't possibly be used as a bus: forget the problem of the steering wheel's being on the wrong side instead of the right side; passengers would be stepping off into traffic! (I think there was a problem of this sort in Okinawa when it was returned to Japanese control after a long period of US control.)

Note to US viewers: What might appear everyday to you is quite likely extraordinary to the rest of the planet's inhabitants; yellow school buses, for instance.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Where's home? I just got a picture from a friend in Vernon. Looks similar to here! YUCK! They just moved there from here (Silver Springs).

Red Deer. Plenty of snow around but just not visible on the roads.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Note to US viewers: What might appear everyday to you is quite likely extraordinary to the rest of the planet's inhabitants; yellow school buses, for instance.

Them Buses, Cars, Tanks...

There is the Museum Of Motor Technology in my close neighbourhood.

Polish Jelcz 043 (1959-1986) or "Cucumber".

British double-decker.

The most precious of the exhibits...

BMW Isetta (1957). It might make a nice EV!

A Soviet T-34.

A German infantry fighting vehicle. They have a rare German tank there, too!

 

[RandallS]

Red Deer. Plenty of snow around but just not visible on the roads.

DOH! I knew that, as I've asked before...memory of a gnat...

 

[Chargeride]

That tank turret picture belongs on a magazine cover.
Battlefield Ladies or something

 

[Sierratim]

Is this town the one that gave the name to Sierra Nevada mts?
I checked the facts. Your town is about the size of my neighbouring Podkowa Leśna!

The local Chamber of Commerce explains,

"Civic leaders named the town Nevada, Spanish for “snow-covered,” in 1850 and the next year the newly-incorporated city became the Nevada County seat. The town's name was later changed to Nevada City after its title was borrowed by the state to the east."

Nevada City remains the County seat of Nevada County to this day.

1849 is the year the California gold rush started with the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill about 60 miles to the west of us. By 1850 mining towns like Nevada (City) were sprouting up along the creeks and rivers running down the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

So, Nevada City is in Nevada County, both in the State of California (CA). The State of Nevada on our Eastern border was actually named after Nevada City, CA in the hopes that their new silver strikes would be as rich as the gold strikes had been for their name sake. Their hopes were realized with silver and gold mining continuing as major industries in the State of Nevada to this day. My wife's early career as an engineering geologist was focused on research that helped open several of the larger gold mines that are now operating in northern Nevada making their towns as rich as Nevada City once was.

What about the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains at our doorstep? The "Nevada" is of course for "snow-covered" with mountains within a short drive rising to nearly 10,000 feet. Sierra is Spanish for "jagged mountain range". The earliest known map using the name Sierra Nevada is dated 1776, the same year the United States declared its independence.

Is Podkowa Leśna considered small? Nevada City is!

 

[Sierratim]

Too cold for any e-bike ride...

My Polish wife agrees!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thank you for your interesting explanation, Tim! It put the matters of the City, Country, State, and Sierra in right perspective. So, it is "Snowy City"...

Yes, the population of 3,800 is considered small for a city in Poland, although there are several cities far smaller than that, especially when these are located in sparsely populated area. The current record is held by Wiślica in the Holy Cross voivodship (population of 503). (It is quite funny when only one person casts their vote in elections in such a small city...) By comparison, the largest village of Poland, Kozy, has the population of almost 13,000.

 

[Sierratim]

Thank you for your interesting explanation, Tim! It put the matters of the City, Country, State, and Sierra in right perspective. So, it is "Snowy City"...

Yes, the population of 3,800 is considered small for a city in Poland, although there are several cities far smaller than that, especially when these are located in sparsely populated area. The current record is held by Wiślica in the Holy Cross voivodship (population of 503). (It is quite funny when only one person casts their vote in elections in such a small city...) By comparison, the largest village of Poland, Kozy, has the population of almost 13,000.

We locals prefer 'snow covered' city for Nevada City, but I'm splitting hairs here. I do admit that I own a gas powered snow thrower that I'm about to service for its annual duty on the drive and walk ways...

I bought the snowblower when our youngest went off to college. They all questioned why I needed one now! Well, when they were home I didn't need a snowblower as I could just line them all up with snow shovels and get the driveway cleared before the schoobus arrived!

There are still 4 snow shovels in the shed, but just one snowblower. My wife refuses to learn how to use it (smart woman) so it looks like my job