2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[RandallS]

This morning started out with freezing fog so I was not expecting to get a ride in today, even though the forecast was for +7C. But after doing some errands (car) and finishing some stuff in the basement, I observed the weather had cleared so I headed out. It was -2C but nice out and I headed for a test ride as id never ridden this bike on snow before.

My route, as is usual was up onto Nose Hill and up there I found mixed conditions. Some paved paths were clear, some were hard packed snow.







I didn't go out onto too many single track areas today, but maybe tomorrow if the weather holds.





A lot of my rides have me stopping at this lookout area for a shot down the Bow Valley towards the Rockies.
Today is no exception.

Looking forward to more winter rides. Today was really my first of any length in many, many years, and I was very pleased with the handling of the bike with stock tires.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Great shot of the valley Randall! Less snow than what I imagined there would be though. Not certain of my bearings but is that Edgemont at the right of the photo and traffic on the John Laurier? Bet that it beats riding the stationary any day of the week, eh?

I rode in similar conditions this morning (-4C) and found it to be a bit sloppy for my liking both on the roads and sections of the trails. The fresh snow combined with the warmer temp made riding a bit sketchy. Not ideal for studs. However, I am grateful that the city crews do a pretty decent job here in managing to clear the paths for both cyclists and walkers alike. Conditions should improve slightly by Thursday with the forecast high being -9C albeit with more snow. I speculate it will be a few degrees warmer where you are. I’m now pondering if a fat tire bike would be more appropriate for my needs.

 

[RandallS]

Great shot of the valley Randall! Less snow than what I imagined there would be though. Not certain of my bearings but is that Edgemont at the right of the photo and traffic on the John Laurier? Bet that it beats riding the stationary any day of the week, eh?

You are correct on location, There were some areas with more snow, but that slope is exposed to the sun most of the day and any winds tend to melt the snow. There are all kinds of fun trails around that spot and when I'm on that side of the park I tend to take a break there. One of my favorite rides is to go to the 4 corners of the park, all via single track - no wide paths. There's tons of options on how to do that including a nearly vertical descent that I will do one day. I presume it's a left over from the Shaganappi Trail build, I used to live just about a kilometer to the north of that spot in Macewan - and my brother and one of my best friends live up there and back onto the park. They'd come to visit me and fell in love with the area. I had built about two terraces down the slope to Hidden Valley but moved away in 2006 into something smaller to the east of thh park.

Tomorrow looks good to do it again, and this time I'll likely ride the trails above the Winter Club on 14th Street. Thursday is forecasted to be much colder and then it will warm up for the weekend again. When I say warm up I mean +1C to +4C, so you folks further south can gloat all you want - this is how we live here...

 

[Prairie Dog]

You are correct on location, There were some areas with more snow, but that slope is exposed to the sun most of the day and any winds tend to melt the snow. There are all kinds of fun trails around that spot and when I'm on that side of the park I tend to take a break there. One of my favorite rides is to go to the 4 corners of the park, all via single track - no wide paths. There's tons of options on how to do that including a nearly vertical descent that I will do one day. I presume it's a left over from the Shaganappi Trail build, I used to live just about a kilometer to the north of that spot in Macewan - and my brother and one of my best friends live up there and back onto the park. They'd come to visit me and fell in love with the area. I had built about two terraces down the slope to Hidden Valley but moved away in 2006 into something smaller to the east of thh park.

Tomorrow looks good to do it again, and this time I'll likely ride the trails above the Winter Club on 14th Street. Thursday is forecasted to be much colder and then it will warm up for the weekend again. When I say warm up I mean +1C to +4C, so you folks further south can gloat all you want - this is how we live here...

The landscape looked quite different when I was there almost a month ago, Oct 22 to be exact and it was all about the snowfall that you folks had received during the week. My sister used to live in Edgemont but moved to Signal Hill over 20 years ago. We loved how it provided us such convenient access to the QE2 which naturally made for a shorter drive back home. They embraced the move as it affords them fabulous views of the mountains. Our visits are not so bad now considering we can get to their home a bit quicker via Stoney. Hopefully the ring road construction at Stoney and the TC junction will be completed soon. The traffic heading west this past summer was atrocious. But I digress....stoked that you can still venture out on the stock tires and look forward to your next ride report. Should be a good week for riding weather wise.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Your GF is right to be suspicious. I think you deliberately forgot your keys at 11PM so that you could speak to the nice lady who remotely unlocked all the lockers. By the time she opened all those doors, you probably knew everything about each other...

Who forgets their keys in a box that doesn't belong to them? It would make sense to leave your keys in your pocket. You didn't need them to unlock anything... All you needed was a smartphone. How come you didn't leave that in the box? Answer: you would never have been able to make a phone call to the nice remote unboxing lady.

You've been caught, Stephan...

Hmm....clandestine rendezvous with who or what?

From Midnight Turbo Ride:

'I would not make it faster with the car. And riding the Vado in Turbo mode at night felt like having an orgasm.'

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Twice per day, every day (tidal inundation, that is) …

Hays Inlet, Brisbane​

Although I have a tide app on my iPhone, I have to admit to seldom using it. Typically I reach the tidal inlets about an hour into my coastal rides. It's lucky dip: Tide's high! or Mud flats everywhere! They're equally interesting.

This is Hays Inlet separating Brisbane from the Redcliffe Peninsula, and the tide was in. Just how this mangrove came to be living a separate existence I do not know. The beginnings of a new dynasty? There is certainly no shortage of mangroves across the inlet!

My Ride with GPS map (photo at 29 km) is more truthful than the photo: we're not quite so enveloped by nature and behind me is a small park which was once coastal wetland. Sigh! Five billion more people on the planet than when I ventured out on trainer wheels. No wonder there are problems.

Crikey! I've just noticed that there was an almost identical post six months ago. Maybe – just maybe, perhaps – we'll all be able to venture further afield in 2021. Until then, enjoy all over again.

And here's another forgotten photo taken in the tidal inlet on the same side of Hays Inlet but to the west of the above photo. The 'satellite' photo shows a secondary creek running into the north-south inlet. Obviously, on a different ride as can be seen from the Ride with GPS track and the sky!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

tidal inundation

Cannot wait for @Chargeride to visit Lindisfarne (the Holy Island) with his camera...

Excellent photo and story David, as always!

 

[RabH]

Took the new bike out, I ve always looked at those stem mounted displays and thought, thats a bit vulnerable.
Get what you wished for, flipped the bike and snapped the mount within 10 mins, glue and tape will be the fix, because its going to happen again.
View attachment 71662

Very impressed with the climbing ability, takes a bit of getting used to after the hub drive and the entire time I'm thinking the chain is going to snap, the cranks are pretty far apart as well, which led to a lot of pedal strikes in tight areas, also the low hanging motor connected with tree roots a lot, tested it waterproofing in 2 ft deep puddles, no problems.

Heres a vid of a steep climb that it managed with ease, disclaimer its always much steeper than it looks.

GH017551

Watch "GH017551" on Streamable.

streamable.com

Sorry about your display, not a good start! That was quite a hill and the bike zoomed up it no problem, it actually looks steep on camera so I know it was very steep!

 

[RabH]

A chilly start to the day which meant avoiding the back roads this time, after days of rain it was too risky with the temp hovering around 0C to chance non gritted roads! So I headed for the busy main roads and for the most part the drivers were great, except for an idiot who took exception to me riding on 'his' road! He was shouting "you don't pay road tax so get off the road and use the cycle lane" I replied "zero emissions mate, electric cars don't pay either"

There's always one, didn't spoil my day though as it was just too much fun! For the first time for days the wind had calmed down also which made it so much more enjoyable, wind and rain will return tomorrow of course so I made sure I got a nice long ride in while the weather was playing ball..next ride should be Sunday which is looking dry but going to be windy again!

 

[Art Deco]

A chilly start to the day which meant avoiding the back roads this time, after days of rain it was too risky with the temp hovering around 0C to chance non gritted roads! So I headed for the busy main roads and for the most part the drivers were great, except for an idiot who took exception to me riding on 'his' road! He was shouting "you don't pay road tax so get off the road and use the cycle lane" I replied "zero emissions mate, electric cars don't pay either"

There's always one, didn't spoil my day though as it was just too much fun! For the first time for days the wind had calmed down also which made it so much more enjoyable, wind and rain will return tomorrow of course so I made sure I got a nice long ride in while the weather was playing ball..next ride should be Sunday which is looking dry but going to be windy again!

View attachment 71817

Hello @RabH . Interesting ( to me anyway ) that you seemed to actually ride slower on the improved "busy" roads than on your normal empty roads. A one off, perhaps.

 

[RabH]

Hello @RabH . Interesting ( to me anyway ) that you seemed to actually ride slower on the improved "busy" roads than on your normal empty roads. A one off, perhaps.

One word "Roadworks"

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Where's @David Berry?

 

[Mulezen]

^ Ona 150km walk about

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Strava Never Lies?

I was bored in the evening. How many movies can you watch on Netflix? I got an idea I should restock me with wine & vodka even if I didn't intend to drink last night So I rode with my Monster at night. While I could hit 40+ km/h on my Trance E+, it was completely impossible to record over 20 mph average speed on that e-bike... I know I was not riding that fast Not with such strong headwind on the return ride! Strava must be wrong!

BP gas station in Pruszków had a breakdown, so I rode to Shell

It turned out Strava lied. The e-bike's display reports Average Speed to be 25.4 km/h

 

[FlatSix911]

Strava Never Lies?

View attachment 71915
I was bored in the evening. How many movies can you watch on Netflix? I got an idea I should restock me with wine & vodka even if I didn't intend to drink last night
So I rode with my Monster at night. While I could hit 40+ km/h on my Trance E+, it was completely impossible to record over 20 mph average speed on that e-bike... I know I was not riding that fast
Not with such strong headwind on the return ride! Strava must be wrong!
View attachment 71916 BP gas station in Pruszków had a breakdown, so I rode to Shell
It turned out Strava lied. The e-bike's display reports Average Speed to be 25.4 km/h

A solar flare must have impacted the GPS for Strava!

 

[Art Deco]

A solar flare must have impacted the GPS for Strava!

Never trust a Bluetooth app, perhaps?

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Bramble Bay
Moreton Bay Cycleway​

 

[Chargeride]

Your GF is right to be suspicious. I think you deliberately forgot your keys at 11PM so that you could speak to the nice lady who remotely unlocked all the lockers. By the time she opened all those doors, you probably knew everything about each other...

Who forgets their keys in a box that doesn't belong to them? It would make sense to leave your keys in your pocket. You didn't need them to unlock anything... All you needed was a smartphone. How come you didn't leave that in the box? Answer: you would never have been able to make a phone call to the nice remote unboxing lady.

You've been caught, Stephan...

He also missed the S off girlfriend.

 

[JeffC57]

Out on the Flint Hills Trail in eastern Kansas today. It is 110 mile rail trail. Decent temps and not too windy today. I ride a Specialized Vado SL which isn't the prefect ride for this trail, but I have tires that work OK for pea gravel & leaves while I try to avoid the sticks and horse poop. I probably won't get many more rides like this before winter sets in.

 

[reed scott]

Out on the Flint Hills Trail in eastern Kansas today. It is 110 mile rail trail. Decent temps and not too windy today. I ride a Specialized Vado SL which isn't the prefect ride for this trail, but I have tires that work OK for pea gravel & leaves while I try to avoid the sticks and horse poop. I probably won't get many more rides like this before winter sets in.

Hey I was born in NE Kansas. Didn't know they had rail trails in Kansas. You wouldn't happen to know if somebody has published maybe US wide availability of rail trails would you?

Anybody else? Thanks