2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

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Another ride on the 17-mile drive... with empty roads through Del Monte forest and the iconic Lone Cypress. ;)

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Welcome anytime!
Flat , we used to travel and now we are stuck in PS. I thought it was just my GF, but the more I ride my Ebike around town, I don't feel like travelling. Our kids and their friends apparently turned into scientists and epidemiologists over the past half a year...
 
I spotted this herd as I was heading inland on a country road. All eyes, and most ears, were trained on me! Admittedly, I had taken my time, steadying my phone on a fence post whilst I figured out how to 'zoom in'.

Cows are so inquisitive and, to me, beautiful. No wonder they are revered in parts of the world.

They are 'cows', I trust. A couple, riding past on their bicycles, looked at me almost in astonishment (but politely without commenting). "It's not like this in the city!" I explained. Knowing smiles.

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The weather these past few days has been schizophrenicly (is that a real word?) unreliable. Cold and windy, then warm and sunny, then back to cold and windy, then another about face to warm and sunny yet again. I'm still down one ebike as the LaFree is still in pieces at the bike shop awaiting a new wiring harness, so the Class 3 Vado is doing the yeoman's job for every ride now, gravel or not, schizophrenic weather or not, long miles or short rides. On the cold days I tend to ride alone, pushing my speed. On the warm days G usually texts and asks about a ride together. We commiserate as we pedal side by side, decrying the current virus pandemic's abysmal dehuminizarion of socializing in our lives while discussing plans for upcoming holidays and house renovations. Our conversations are all over the map, just like the weather and our miles through our rural countryside.

My rides don't produce photos of fancy city landmarks, of stunning coastal highways overlooking vast blue oceans on the rise. No lofty buildings compete in crowding the frame, no civilized pathways and elegant restaurants and tourist attractions fill the scenery. My photos are of endless gravel roads, hibernating trees, and cold skies. A calming sameness fills my camera lens, and sometimes a bit of artistic whimsy such as yours truly trying to capture a warm masked face in a chilly bike mirror on a cold stretch of undulating road. I'm afraid I got more of the cell phone than my face, but I did like the background so the shot got the nod from me.
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The sun has been uninspired lately, a bit morose, dragging itself through the sky more as a sullen duty than actually wanting to be up there as a positive influence. At times it has simply wrapped itself in clouds, like a winter blanket, throughout the day, anxious to hurry to bed long before any of us are ready. Several times I have gone for a late afternoon ride only to be astonished, still miles from home, by a sudden dusk overruling a sunset that barely had time to register a bit of color before it was hustled out the door in a quick departure. I am finding myself hurrying more and more on my ride, yet still arriving home in the gathering darkness, still facing the evening barn chores and feeding that are now having to be done under the pale light of a rising moon and twinking stars.

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I don't mind too much. The changing tempo of life as the year, one already destined for the record books in so many ways other than one, is slipping into one of waiting. Waiting for winter, if it choses to come at all. Waiting for the long shadows to start to subside. Waiting for the suble shades of the aged gray landscape to turn into white as the world contemplates another turn around the sun, another tilt in the spin, another year come and gone. I'm happy to wait. I will miss the colorful dancing leaves as they turn brown and wet, too heavy to be blown by the winds anymore, but I will enjoy them when they decorate themselves for the coming winter as a static display in sparkling frost or soft snow.

I wonder if we will have snow for the December holidays. I hope so. The last time I rode a bike in the snow was as a kid. Time to relive those memories again...and this time get a picture.
 
@Readytoride Another wonderful story, I missed your presence here so its good to see another one of your very welcome posts!

@David Berry I hope you are ok David, not seen you around recently!

Speaking of snow, 10 years ago to the day I left for work in my car, (sorry its not bike related) and the snow was falling rapidly, it was coming straight down as there was no wind whatsoever! I made it to work and had to dig my way into my parking spot, I was thinking "how bad is this going to get". At 12.15pm my boss said a customer had just taken almost 2 hours to travel 5 miles to get here and said I should head for home before it gets even worse!

I got to my car and it had a foot of snow covering it and about 2 feet surrounding it, after finally digging it out I headed for the main road which thankfully had been ploughed but was rapidly getting covered again! I had a 4x4 in front of me so I followed in his tracks for a few miles until we hit "THE" traffic jam!

We were going nowhere fast and because the side roads were covered in over 3 feet of snow there was no opportunity to park the car and walk! To cut a long story short I eventually reached home 6 hours later (it was only a 10 mile journey) and was I relieved to get into the nice warm house! Later I got my brother to help me clear the driveway which had over 4 feet of snow covering it, I think it took about 2 hours to get my car in the garage! The snow wasn't even forecast so everybody was caught out big time, apart from the following week when we had a repeat of this we haven't had a major snowfall since then!

Back to today, no snow in sight thankfully and another enjoyable ride round the back roads! Quite a bit of climbing today so my legs are a little tired after riding 3 days in a row! It was a bit murky so I didn't even bother taking any photos! Tomorrow I will rest my old legs and hopefully a longer ride coming up on Sunday if the weather plays ball...

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I spotted this herd as I was heading inland on a country road. All eyes, and most ears, were trained on me! Admittedly, I had taken my time, steadying my phone on a fence post whilst I figured out how to 'zoom in'.

Cows are so inquisitive and, to me, beautiful. No wonder they are revered in parts of the world.

They are 'cows', I trust. A couple, riding past on their bicycles, looked at me almost in astonishment (but politely without commenting). "It's not like this in the city!" I explained. Knowing smiles.

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Brahma cows I believe...heat tolerant
 
I was also out enjoying the lovely weather. When I first moved to Leesburg, the very first ride I did was a gravel ride with my close friend Pete on Thanksgiving morning. The thanksgiving morning ride was a tradition we kept up. Unfortunately Pete was killed while riding his bike a few months ago, so I went out by myself to ride a route that he loved. Only one wrong turn (I rode it backwards to his usual direction) which he would have laughed about. The weather was spectacular! Pete would actually have preferred it be miserable; he love riding in s*it weather, and several times I told him that if I created a "10 most miserable bike rides I've ever done" list, he would have been the leader on every one of them. He took that as a huge compliment.

Route:
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Took very few pics, but here are a few:
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This past saturday, my wife and I met up with readytoride at her farm and went for a lovely loop around southwest Loudoun. I don't think anyone took pics because we were all too busy chatting. The ladies were kind enough to wait on me as necessary (I was the only one not on an ebike, which made our paces... somewhat disparate, especially uphill). Lovely day to be out!

As a relative newcomer to Loudoun, it was pretty fascinating to listen to readytoride give us an abbreviated-yet-expansive history of some of the properties out there! For anyone wondering, shes even more entertaining in person than she is on the forum. :)

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Riding with readytoride
... "she's even more entertaining in person than she is on the forum."

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Amen to that assessment. Dynamic Flora really puts on a show as ride leader. She graciously guided a group of us on a wonderful introduction to the heartland of Loudoun County this fall. Unforgettable.
 
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