2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Deleted member 18083]

I needed to go out and so I decided to roll the "to do's" into a tour of some of the sculptures peppered around. I've seen some of it but wanted to see more. I loosely planned a trip and headed out.

One of the things I realized when I started riding bikes again is that you notice a lot of things in your surroundings that you otherwise wouldn't driving a car.

Let's share some of the public art that we see along our rides. Here's a photo from today's ride beside above the Brisbane River.

In areas like this, you will definitely be under constant video surveillance. Nowhere is perfect, but the chances of encountering graffiti or 'petty' crime are virtually nil.

The wings of a butterfly …

Lores Bonney Riverwalk, Brisbane​

Brisbane has two heroes from the golden inter-World War era of aviation. Charles Kingsford Smith was the first to fly the Pacific (Oakland, California to Brisbane, 1928); Lores Bonney was the first to fly across the southern Indian Ocean (Brisbane to Cape Town, 1937).

The road, just visible on the left, is Kingsford Smith Drive; the cycle and pedestrian path is the Lores Bonney Riverwalk.

Klemm L-32E which Lores Bonney flew from Brisbane to Cape Town.
QANTAS = Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services.
On the hangar doors : Brisbane Flying School.​

The public artwork by Brisbane artist Kenji Uranishi pays tribute to the exploits of Kingsford Smith and Bonney. The folded wings of Uranshi's eight way-marking beacons are also reminiscent of the Brisbane's largest butterfly, the orchard swallowtail.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I admire the composition of your pictures, David! They are taken the way to attract the viewer's eye!

 

[Deleted member 18083]

More public art …

Bicentennial Bikeway
Gardens Point, Brisbane​

Sometimes: We have this sculpture. Where shall we put it?
Other times: We have an excess of concrete. What can we do to make the place attractive?

This resting spot along the Brisbane River is in the latter category. Kenji Uranishi's butterfly beacons (previous post) are somewhere in-between.

Reality Check: Behind the barrier on our left is a twenty-metre wide strip of mangroves (in the city centre!), beyond that a fast bikeway and then an elevated motorway (cyclists prohibited!) for both access and escape from Brisbane Central.

BTW: You did notice the video surveillance? This is Brisbane; enjoy but behave responsibly.

Please, share what is beautiful but not necessarily of practical value on your rides.

 

[byunbee]

More public art …
(Link Removed - Attachment No Longer Exists)

Bicentennial Bikeway
Gardens Point, Brisbane​

Sometimes: We have this sculpture. Where shall we put it?
Other times: We have an excess of concrete. What can we do to make the place attractive?

This resting spot along the Brisbane River is in the latter category. Kenji Uranishi's butterfly beacons (previous post) are somewhere in-between.

Reality Check: Behind the barrier on our left is a twenty-metre wide strip of mangroves (in the city centre!), beyond that a fast bikeway and then an elevated motorway (cyclists prohibited!) providing both access and escape from Brisbane Central.

Please, share what is beautiful but not necessarily of practical value on your rides.

Pretty cool...Love it!

 

[jabberwocky]

Weather was perfect so I took the day off work and went for a nice long ride.

Map! Stravas wildly overestimated elevation has me at over 100ft per mile. RideWithGPS says this ride has ~4k feet of climbing which is likely more accurate.

Rolling along the ridge of Mt Gilead. This road is a lot more fun the other direction, but its good to switch it up sometimes. This direction is mostly up. Up sucks.

Thats why I'm here, sign!

Rolling south of Philomont. So green.

Moooooo

First time riding this road. Very pretty. I'll be back. I stopped for a minute around here and its was almost totally silent.

Out of the woods, into the farmland. I get to multi task and work on my tan.

I followed this horse trailer for a few miles. Its dry enough that it was pretty dusty work. I was hoping they would pull over and let me by, but out here horse people don't get out of your way. You get out of their way. Eventually they pulled into their driveway and I could speed it back up.

Wanted to try this climb that readytoride posted about last week, so I made a detour. Pic doesn't do it justice, that building looks way up there!

Definitely a steep climb! Computer showed 20% in places, average for the whole thing was north of 10%. A few motorcyclists from Leesburg passed me on one of the ramps, and when I finished huffing my way to the top they commented that I should get a medal. View was worth the detour and climb. Just spectacular! The wife and I will come out and get some food when things reopen.

Road closed! Its not a proper Loudoun ride unless my feet get wet.

Meandering home. Long day in the saddle, at least for me at this point. Younger me did longer rides than this all the time. I hate younger me.

 

[Twin Valley]

More public art …
View attachment 52332

Bicentennial Bikeway
Gardens Point, Brisbane​

Sometimes: We have this sculpture. Where shall we put it?
Other times: We have an excess of concrete. What can we do to make the place attractive?

This resting spot along the Brisbane River is in the latter category. Kenji Uranishi's butterfly beacons (previous post) are somewhere in-between.

Reality Check: Behind the barrier on our left is a twenty-metre wide strip of mangroves (in the city centre!), beyond that a fast bikeway and then an elevated motorway (cyclists prohibited!) for both access and escape from Brisbane Central.

BTW: You did notice the video surveillance? This is Brisbane; enjoy but behave responsibly.

Please, share what is beautiful but not necessarily of practical value on your rides.

David - the practical can be found in the beautiful, as a retired school principal I can see the makings of several math challenges here and the opportunity for social distancing - Bill

 

[FlatSix911]

My view on social distancing...

 

[byunbee]

My view on social distancing...

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Did you run into any people on your ride?

 

[FlatSix911]

Did you run into any people on your ride?

Very few... the area is somewhat remote and not easily accessible.

 

[Readytoride]

While @jabberwocky meandered the upper roads of southern West Loudoun County yesterday (and was brave enough to challenge the steep incline up to Dirt Farm Brewery to take in the stunning views), my neighbor and I meandered the lower roads together, talking nonstop as we rode along the quiet gravel roads.

Seems like VDOT had decided to top dress almost all the gravel roads in our area the day before, and thus we rode a lot more conservatively since the former slick, fast compacted surface now had a thin slippery layer of loose gravel. Wish they had waited for next week, but we can take the annoying along with the pleasures of riding our county roads.

At 10 miles I made a quick side trip at Trappe Hill to visit a an old friend and for the three of us to enjoy chatting for a while, and got permission to take my neighbor up the old road (which would be a mountain biker's dream except that it is private) leading to the Old Mount Weather road as it heads up the mountain, showing her the landscape and trails she could ride with her horse. Then we bumped and slid our way back down the uncivilized road to do did a quick trip on the paved driveway up to the main house of this 500+ acre estate (a bit of a steep incline because it is on the mountainside slope which got the legs and lungs working) to catch the views. She simply had to snap a few photos because the scenery was breathtaking.

I shared these photos before, but happy to so do again:

Overlooking the county to the east of the Blue Ridge (which we were standing on at Trappe Hill)

The view to the south.

It was the perfect day to be out riding a bike. Too bad we missed you @jabberwocky !!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

TODAY,
I've ridden to Podkowa Leśna with my fully serviced Lovelec for small shopping; I rode around the little town by this occasion. Lovelec rides silently and extra smooth. Only 13 C but sunshine and no wind. I have been riding in casual clothes, a face shield, helmet, and gloves. What a pleasure! I haven't ridden for several days...

Giant Trance E+
is waiting for me in Warsaw to be bought. Driving soon.

Vado
might be returned from the display upgrade today. Rather not.

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Jabberwocky, I’m really liking the looks of that Revolt of yours. I assume that’s an extra battery on the rear rack... how does the bike deal with a good 50 miles and 4K elevation?

 

[RabH]

Another 33 mile ride today in cold blustery conditions, when the sun came out it was quite pleasant but it felt like winter when it disappeared! Still dry though so I'm not complaining, just a local route today with the usual ups and downs! This is one of my favourite local descents, you can almost freewheel down it at 35mph if the wind is from the south but today it was a northwesterly so I had to pedal hard to get just over 40!

Ridewithgps always seems to show different metrics from my Wahoo Elemnt GPS, according to my Wahoo my max speed was 40.7mph and maximum gradient was 15%! I just like to keep a record of my rides so it doesn't really bother me that much at the end of the day!

 

[FlatSix911]

Another 33 mile ride today in cold blustery conditions, when the sun came out it was quite pleasant but it felt like winter when it disappeared! Still dry though so I'm not complaining, just a local route today with the usual ups and downs! This is one of my favourite local descents, you can almost freewheel down it at 35mph if the wind is from the south but today it was a northwesterly so I had to pedal hard to get just over 40!
View attachment 52376
Ridewithgps always seems to show different metrics from my Wahoo Elemnt GPS, according to my Wahoo my max speed was 40.7mph and maximum gradient was 15%! I just like to keep a record of my rides so it doesn't really bother me that much at the end of the day!

View attachment 52395

Impressive maximum speed... 40.7 mph!

 

[PDXzap]

Some more sculptures that didn't make the first post.

WORDS
S. W. Agnor 2019

Amyas & Soleil
A. Maestas 2016

Costume
K. Turner 2018

Guermo en Inverno
J. Burnes 2007 2019 People's Choice Award

Cougar on the Run
S. Tyree 2018

Waddle
D. Musgrave 2018

Full Curl
R. Squirll 2015
Notice in the middle of bottom curl, completely by accident, is Angle of Response, L. Hunt 2018 and to the right of the sculpture and across A Ave. is Sunbathers, K. Patecky 2002

Top of the World
H. R. Linke 2014
This was moved here recently and replaced "The Healing Hand", T. Jackson. That sculpture caught my eye the first time I saw it and led to my first foray into photogrammetry.

This photo and a couple of dozen more from other angles, and a lot of time... allowed me to do this on the 3d printer:

 

[jabberwocky]

Jabberwocky, I’m really liking the looks of that Revolt of yours. I assume that’s an extra battery on the rear rack... how does the bike deal with a good 50 miles and 4K elevation?

It deals with it great! I enjoy the Revolt a lot. I got it for exactly these sorts of rides. The only real changes I've made (aside from stuff like racks and lights) is swapping the bars to something less narrow/more flared and converting the tires to tubeless. The GRX group is pretty nice. For an aluminum frame it is a decently comfy ride. I also really like the local shop I bought it from, Revolutions by Maverick.

Yeah, I have a rack with a spare battery strapped to it. Each battery is good for ~32ish miles for me in (mostly) eco. I actually just got one of Giants range extenders, which has less power than a main battery, but is easier to install and carry around. The main batteries are an awkward shape. I wish I could find a minimal trunk rack I could actually fit one inside, but for now I just sit it on some scrap foam and velcro it down. I don't really like stopping to swap it. I mostly stay moving on rides (either I'm feeling good and want to keep it moving or I'm suffering and afraid that if I stop I won't be able to start again).

The Revolt feels a lot like my non-electric gravel bike, which I built myself on a motobecane century ti frame I picked up used locally:

 

[FlatSix911]

It deals with it great! I enjoy the Revolt a lot. I got it for exactly these sorts of rides. The only real changes I've made (aside from stuff like racks and lights) is swapping the bars to something less narrow/more flared and converting the tires to tubeless. The GRX group is pretty nice. For an aluminum frame it is a decently comfy ride. I also really like the local shop I bought it from, Revolutions by Maverick.

Yeah, I have a rack with a spare battery strapped to it. Each battery is good for ~32ish miles for me in (mostly) eco. I actually just got one of Giants range extenders, which has less power than a main battery, but is easier to install and carry around. The main batteries are an awkward shape. I wish I could find a minimal trunk rack I could actually fit one inside, but for now I just sit it on some scrap foam and velcro it down. I don't really like stopping to swap it. I mostly stay moving on rides (either I'm feeling good and want to keep it moving or I'm suffering and afraid that if I stop I won't be able to start again).

The Revolt feels a lot like my non-electric gravel bike, which I built myself on a motobecane century ti frame I picked up used locally:

Love the Titanium Motobecane... I always wanted a Ti bike and now have my eye on getting a WattWagon in the future.

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[Deleted member 18083]

Waste of money?

Brassall Bikeway, Muirlea.​

For the first four months of 2020 a two-kilometre section of the rail trail near our home was closed. Bulldozers, graders and front-end loaders reigned supreme. Concrete was poured and trees and grass were planted.

Tellingly, the council renamed it the Brassall Bikeway – their project and, therefore, their credit – no longer the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail, not this section anyway.

Opening day was a public holiday, Labour Day. This year, of course, no one was permitted to march down the streets in trade union solidarity with banners, slogans and chants. What to do instead? Head for the 'new' bikeway!

But I know it is really the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail…

Muirlea on the Brisbane Valley Line, mid-1880s.​

Whilst I was taking this photo at Muirlea, two friends from Ipswich (town) pulled up.

Me: This is good!​

Friends: Wonderful!​

And then Andy arrived from the other direction (country).

Andy: Like it! Now they have to fix the bit around Fairney View.​

Me: Definitely next!​

Oh dearie me, that was a bone of contention. The gravel riders and mountain bikers, including my Ipswich friends, like it rough. Andy and I don't.

The four of us had a nice ride together and, by tacit agreement, said nothing uncomplimentary about local government decision-making.

The Brisbane Valley Rail Trail is 161 km long of which the concreted sections (the parts renamed by local politicians!) total 8 km – just five percent. Nothing to fret over.

I now have the option of riding down to the rail trail (two minutes) and choosing to turn north (rough into the country) or south (smooth into town). Surely, a win-win situation.

Newly-laid concrete! Horror of horrors in the minds of gravel devotees.​

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I Have Found My Holy Grail

Read the full story in the Browneye's MTB thread <- Click

The son (2020) and the father (1999). Both are Giant e-bikes.

 

[pmcdonald]

Oh, shiny! Congrats on the purchase. How do you find it to ride, now you've got your hands on it?