2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[RabH]

@Stefan Mikes Amazing effort in that heat, loved reading your story once again! Before I got my ebike I always started my ride into the headwind, which meant a tailwind on the way home when I was more tired, with the e bike I do the opposite! Of course when the wind changes on you without an ebike it can get interesting, it happened to me on more than one occasion back in the day!

One I can clearly remember was a ride to Edinburgh Airport which is around 28 miles, when I set off the wind was an easterly around 15mph and it was quite a workout to get there! I stayed for a couple of hours to watch the planes and suddenly I was aware of the planes landing from the other direction, the wind had changed to a westerly and it was around 20mph!!! I could have taken the easy option and jumped on a train but I was pretty fit in those days and although it was hard work I managed to make it home without collapsing! I actually made it a metric century, I did a detour to the south a little for some respite!

 

[PNWRich]

Still on islands:

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Two minutes of pants-wetting terror: Deception Pass Bridge, Highway 20, WA:

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Been on the Guemes ferry with my car a few times. That’s one small ferry compared to my commuter ferry from Bainbridge. Did you ride the road over Deception. Not sure my wife would like that, though she doesn’t like looking down on the right there. Beautiful though. Nice pictures.

 

[Cowlitz]

Stefan Mikes, do not read this because we were riding our under $1500 bikes. A frazzled woman forgot to put her memory card in the camera, so there are no photos of the meadow in bloom. Imagine a meadow at 4500 feet with grass, Lupine, Daisies, and...lots of Indian paint flowers in bloom. Such was the case today. Achoo!

I called up my friend who cannot drive for a while due to a medical condition. She has to go 6 months episode free before her license is restored. She said yup, that she would like to go, so I threw together stuff and loaded up the Radmini because the roads are not the best where we were going.

We arrived. I got scoffed at when I said I saw a road on Google Maps in an area where I know we hiked before. Seemed like it was a road that was now a trail at that time. I took off in that direction only to exclaim, "Those Bastards!" when I came upon a locked gate across the road. I got a "told you so" and we went up another terrible road. It was steep and quite rocky. I dismounted in a few places and used the throttle to get the bike up the road with me hanging on and trying to keep up. At one spot, the bike reared up and went down on its side almost taking me with it.

Meanwhile, the Demon Dog is having a blast. There are lots of smells and little critters that must be stalked and chased. There was still a bit of water in places, in fact in one spot water made the road hard to ride on. She could keep going without me having to pour her water. We made it up to the end of the road where there is a cabin, corral and big water tank. I got the Demon to jump into the tank where she ended up making a couple of swimming strokes to climb out and get back onto the trail of little critters. We humans took a break here and discussed having to go back down what we had come up. It was not a pleasant thought.

We went back down braking hard. We walked our bikes through a couple of problem spots, again and took the long way around to avoid the rough ATV trail that we had come up part way on. We rode down to a creek so hot dogs could cool off for a final time but had to convince some cows to leave the area first, which they did under protest. They were not violent cows so we were not attacked.

Then it was back to the pretty meadow to load bikes into the pickup and head back down to the hot valley.

That was our cheap bike adventure today.

 

[Sierratim]

Today's ride 'burned' through my battery in just 26 miles, started at 100% charge, ended at 18%. Did a steep climb I'd never ridden before. For the 1st time I was in the largest cog on my Vado 5, 42t. Max assist up this grade. The app was posting real time power as I finally had to stand and pump up this hill; I was over 280W, the motor over 700W. Not bad for a 250W 'nominal' mid-drive! Glad I had a new chain on.

Got to the top and stopped for a break, for me and the motor. Looked back and saw this sign for downhill traffic;

3000' elevation gain, 26 miles, 488Whr used, 41mph max speed

I'm having an ice tea while I cool down at home. I think I'm getting too old for this...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Got to the top and stopped for a break, for me and the motor. Looked back and saw this sign for downhill traffic;

3000' elevation gain, 26 miles, 488Whr used, 41mph max speed

I'm having an ice tea while I cool down at home. I think I'm getting too old for this...

Scary!!!

Stefan Mikes, do not read this because we were riding our under $1500 bikes.

My Lovelec was under $2000 It's not the price; it's the word "throttle" that is against my religion

Needed something to buy at a specific gas station in our county capital; rode out at 3:57 a.m. It was at least not raining; thermoactive cycling clothing was appropriate. Vado 5.0 is the "e-bike Ferrari"! (I also love the Supernova M99 Pro automatic headlight; it changed from low-beam to daytime light at 4:38 a.m. itself, and back to the low-beam when I re-entered our woody neighbourhood).

 

[Cowlitz]

Scary!!!


My Lovelec was under $2000 It's not the price; it's the word "throttle" that is against my religion

Then I won't mention having to use that thing that starts with the letter T to get going up the hills and to run it up the hills. That's what was going when the bike reared up and went down on its side. Nope, I won't mention that.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Are you coming back up toward Bellingham? Looks like you are heading south. It would be fun to finally connect on a ride sometime.

I would like that too.

I am on the Olympic Peninsula right now trying to figure out when my car will be fixed and when I can pick it up.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Been on the Guemes ferry with my car a few times. That’s one small ferry compared to my commuter ferry from Bainbridge. Did you ride the road over Deception. Not sure my wife would like that, though she doesn’t like looking down on the right there. Beautiful though. Nice pictures.

Every time I've crossed the Deception Pass bridge on a bike I swore I'd never do it again (the first time was during the Carter Administration). Yet here I am doing it again!

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Disaster strikes: vexing flat in my rear tire yesterday.

In happier moments near Fort Casey:

Noticed a totally flat rear tire on the ferry, so I walked my bike from the ferry dock to a shady spot in a park to figure out what was wrong. After I pulled out a couple of pieces of tire belt from my tire and patched the holes (holes!) in my tube I limped up the hill to my hotel...

 

[PatriciaK]

Disaster strikes: vexing flat in my rear tire yesterday.

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In happier moments near Fort Casey:

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Noticed a totally flat rear tire on the ferry, so I walked my bike from the ferry dock to a shady spot in a park to figure out what was wrong. After I pulled out a couple of pieces of tire belt from my tire and patched the holes (holes!) in my tube I limped up the hill to my hotel...

Should have found some wood to knock on when we were discussing tires !

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Today, the good news is that I'm getting really good at fixing a flat Dutch Style.

I love doing this on my bike:

The pretty village of Port Gamble:

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Hood Canal bridge: less scary than the Deception Pass bridge, but longer and slightly windier:

Olympic Discovery Trail near Blyn, WA:

 

[steve mercier]

Stephan, new ride is a 2020 Liv Intrigue. It is a fun beast!
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I have seen that awesome Mars Chameleon colour Anna and it looks even better in person....sweet bike!

 

[steve mercier]

Today, the good news is that I'm getting really good at fixing a flat Dutch Style.

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I love doing this on my bike:

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The pretty village of Port Gamble:

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Hood Canal bridge: less scary than the Deception Pass bridge, but longer and slightly windier:

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Olympic Discovery Trail near Blyn, WA:

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GO MR COFFEE GO !

 

[steve mercier]

Today was a gorgeous day for cycling. Rain is forecast for the next two days so I dropped my new bike off at the LBS to get a larger front ring installed . I calculated a two tooth upgrade from 14 to 16 will give me about a 10 percent higher top speed...oh boy!

 

[steve mercier]

Everywhere everyone is cycling...it is an explosion. At the local Trek store said they are sold out of almost everything until December!

 

[steve mercier]

Near the mouth of the Brunette river where it meets the mighty Fraser.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Today, the good news is that I'm getting really good at fixing a flat Dutch Style.

Ever considered tubeless?

Then I won't mention having to use that thing that starts with the letter T to get going up the hills and to run it up the hills.

Perhaps you should get an e-MTB?

That is the place for the proper use of the T-thing (Funny thing: It is not only street-legal in Europe but also falls into the same L1e-B Class as my Vado 5.0...)

 

[Anna]

I have seen that awesome Mars Chameleon colour Anna and it looks even better in person....sweet bike!

Ahhh...thank you! I disliked the color when I first saw It. It looked like a dead red rose color in the shop. (I even commented to the shop owner, “Why would anyone paint a bike that color? What were they thinking!”) It was a two hour drive to get there and I left. Desperate to get a full suspension Liv ebike, I slept on it. I woke up the next day realizing I’d Just have to get over the color. Slim picken’s! (The fellow I bought the bike from was pleasant but he didn’t know anything about the Ride Control software....) Anyway, I am truly enjoying the bike. I now like the color. Outside the paint color is rusty, dusty purple or bronze depending on the light. Definitely different.

 

[Anna]

Near the mouth of the Brunette river where it meets the mighty Fraser.View attachment 57225

Now that is an awesome color! Visible bright BLUE!

 

[Chancelucky2]

I decided to try my Trek Crossrip + as a gravel bike on the trails at Umstead State Park near the Raleigh Durham Airport. I'm actually riding on 32mm smooth tires meant for street use, but thought I'd see how they fared before switching to wider knobbier tires. The trails there are considered "moderate" as mountain biking trails go and I'd say the majority of the bikes on the trail were drop bar gravel bikes, confirming my sense that e-bikes and gravel bikes are the 2 growing segments of the bike world. I did see maybe a handful of other e-bikes, but they were of the flat bar wide tire variety. The bike held up well over 24 miles except when I lost traction on roller coaster hill. I took the bike on a 35 mile ride the next day though and the front fender came undone on an off-road section of that tamer bike trail likely due to the vibration from the day before. I'm enjoying the versatility of the Crossrip+. It's been great for shopping trips, long rides, keeping pace with younger road riders, and it appears to be fine for moderate to maybe semi-difficult MTB trails. I suspect it could do single track, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be all that fun even with more appropriate tires. Amazingly, I had only charged the battery to roughly 90% and did both rides on the same charge. The first day included some reasonably long unpaved hills and the second included long stretches at 20+ mph.