2023 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

Chargeride said:
Tried for Baggy point during a storm with 70mph gusts and horizontal rain with hailstones thrown in.
Makes you feel alive and all, but what was really amazing is that they were still laying concrete on a house rebuild right next to where I took this photograph
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Things started getting silly here, I was getting blown three feet sideways by the gusts, then a runner came around the bend and shouting in my ear told me he had been nearly bowled over the edge.
I turned back, fat tyres act like little sails in the wind.
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I've become a big fan of the "feeling alive" part of riding in storms. But all it takes for me is gray sky, 30+ mph gusts, big storm waves crashing in view, and maybe some light rain. Horizontal rain, 70 mph gusts, and hailstones of any kind move the needle to "ok, WAY too alive, thank you".

Wonderful report!
 
Chargeride said:
Tried for Baggy point during a storm with 70mph gusts and horizontal rain with hailstones thrown in.
Makes you feel alive and all, but what was really amazing is that they were still laying concrete on a house rebuild right next to where I took this photograph
Screenshot_20230418-213033~2.png


Things started getting silly here, I was getting blown three feet sideways by the gusts, then a runner came around the bend and shouting in my ear told me he had been nearly bowled over the edge.
I turned back, fat tyres act like little sails in the wind.
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So then I went to Woolacombe bay, which is a very popular upmarket beach resort, the algae foam from spray hit me right in the eye as I took this shot.
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We never lose a chance to say sorry in England and these dog walkers apologised to me because their dog was blown in front of my bike which I was equally idiotically riding on a beach in a storm.
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Then on to Westward Ho, this is a haunted house theme attraction that would just be superb in the storm at night I can imagine.


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Then back to Combe Martin and this rather offroady baja Beetle with full roll cage and a mannequin in the passenger seat.
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Got this lovely shot at Saunton beach of a kitesurfer by matching his speed on the bike
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Broke my chain trying to climb a stupidly steep hill, luckily I could coast all the way back to the airbnb.
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This rather snazzy house is quite the talk of the town , it was featured on CH4s Grand Designs and it all went wrong for the couple who divorced under the pressure and left it unfinished and millions in debt.
Its still empty to this day
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Ive only shown the bottom half of this controversial statue in Ilfracombe by the very edgy British artist Damian Hirst, the cows in embalming fluid guy..
Its very graphic with autopsy cadaver top end.
Its called Verity if you want a look, but its rather grotesque and not my cup of tea.
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Great holiday, loads of wind and sun, plenty of biking and meeting weirdos in the pubs.
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Reading your narrative closely its clear the haunted houses are mixed up
Nice report…covering land—sea—air
 
Funnily enough if we say theoretically that I didnt have a throttle and only a cadence sensor, I could still ghost pedal and get home with a hub drive, but if it was also a torque sensor, then you'd never get full power, unless you could alter it in the settings
 
Chargeride said:
Only two minutes, very noisy
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Made me feel alive just watching you!

This reminded me to ask you, what do you do to protect your bike from all the sand and salt air? My rear hub-drive drivetrain is shot at only 900 miles, and I think frequent rides past and sometimes on local beaches had a role in that.
 
The Hydraulic Brakes...

Not really "our ride" but I wanted to share something with you. My Special Purpose E-Bike a.k.a. Roadrunner has got a custom made rear wheel recently. As the follow up I replaced the brake rotors, and eventually tried to install new brake pads for the new rear wheel. What a surprise! The new thick rotor and new thick brake pads were together so tight that the rear wheel became braked from the first moment!

I'm lucky to have my Wise Brother. I gave him a phone call and he told me: 'The last time we replaced the brake oil, the rotor was already thin. Moreover, the oil has thermally expanded as there is higher temperature now. Remove some brake oil and the brake pistons will back off!"

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I sent Jacek this picture. 'Is this the hydraulic fluid screw?' -- 'Yes" -- he answered laconically.

I growled to see the screw with a Torx T10 head. Went back to my flat to bring the correct tool. Upon partly opening the lock, I could see clear mineral oil flowing out. I relieved a bit more of it, tightened the screw and cleaned the assembly with a piece of cloth. Magically, the rear wheel started spinning freely!

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New brake pads visible between the brake radiators.

Then I put the fourth helmet I own onto my head and gave the e-bike a run up to 40 km/h (25 mph) and then braked the thing violently. It stopped safely almost immediately! Did several run ins and braking to make sure. Everything working nice! (The test ride took me 3.3 km).

Now I feel safe and happy!

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The maximum speed was barely less than 40 km/h.
 
Hydraulic brakes are superb, but when they start going wrong it can get a bit fiddly.
The problem is the tiny reservoirs on the levers and using sunflower oil.
😎
 
Finally self motivated and went for a short ride at a place called Hashawha Environmental Center. It is nearby but has always been one of my least favored local rides as it is very hilly and hard to achieve "flow". I went anyways just cuz.
15.3mi/24.6km
3044ft/928m elevation
3hr 15min
Weather was perfect, cloudless and cool. Trails were empty other than a few horse riders. Nice, quiet. Lots of little micro climes beginning to emerge, skunk cabbage, little "wort" flowers of varying species, patches of may apples, tender little leaves of saplings in the forest (well is there any real forests left?)
4 more days till my service renews and then maybe I can post some pics.
Have fun ridin!
 
rbush said:
Finally self motivated and went for a short ride at a place called Hashawha Environmental Center. It is nearby but has always been one of my least favored local rides as it is very hilly and hard to achieve "flow". I went anyways just cuz.
15.3mi/24.6km
3044ft/928m elevation
3hr 15min
Weather was perfect, cloudless and cool. Trails were empty other than a few horse riders. Nice, quiet. Lots of little micro climes beginning to emerge, skunk cabbage, little "wort" flowers of varying species, patches of may apples, tender little leaves of saplings in the forest (well is there any real forests left?)
4 more days till my service renews and then maybe I can post some pics.
Have fun ridin!
Click to expand...
1000 metres of climbing in 24 km you did get a good workout, did a bit of google sleuthing so I think you are in Westminister Maryland close to Baltimore which I believe has had quite the heat wave recently - could use some of that heat here as is snowing again today - grumble -
 
Yup! Good Ole Md, USA. Home of the Star Spangled Banner, yummy critters from our rancid Bay, and the notorious "killer squeegee kids"!
All kidding aside, in grade school they taught us Md was "Americain Miniature". We have mountains and ocean and almost everything in between. Just too crowded and too uptight and pre-ocuppied with keeping up with the Joneses.
 
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Another very windy day but it was really nice, with wall to wall sunshine! The wind was forecast to pick up as the day progressed so I set off just before 8am when it was around 25-30mph from the ENE! I decided to take on the wind at first so headed east to Tarbrax and boy was I glad when I had that chilly wind behind me! I started off on my local back roads down to Allanton and then took the main A71 road from there out to Breich, thankfully its not a really busy road so I didn't encounter any problems!

Lots of lambs in the fields but it din't feel like Spring in that chilly wind!

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The A71 to Breich, a fun road to ride when there's little traffic like today!

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A mile or so further on and I had to stop for this photo!

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I left the A71 and joined the back road to Woolfords, pretty appropriate that I got more gorgeous lamb photos there ;)

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I continued on the back roads towards Tarbrax and the photo opportunities just kept coming!

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I even timed it right to catch the train passing!

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I climbed the hill up to Tarbrax where the views were even more amazing!

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I got a new phone recently and decided to try a panorama shot, I had to lower the quality a little as the file was too large for the forum!

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After Tarbrax it was time to join the main A70 road down to Carnwath, this was the main reason I chose this route today as the road is just sublime and with a 30mph tailwind I knew it was going to be even more fun than usual!:D
It starts with a nice gradual downhill where I almost hit 40mph then starts to climb for a bit before the big descent where I hit 45.6mph and I was grinning from ear to ear! This is a little further along the A70, the road is pretty much like this for miles!😁

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I arrived in Carnwath and stopped for another photo and unknown to me at this time my brother and his partner had stopped in Carnwath for a break to take the dog for a walk before heading down to beautiful Peebles for the weekend, they were in the park behind me while I was taking this photo and I didn't even realise they were there until my brother sent me a photo of his partner on an exercise bike in the park!😂

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I left Carnwath heading for Carluke with the strong wind pushing me on, joining the A721 and starting the big climb which didn't even feel like a climb today with that wind behind me! This is looking back down the A721 from near the top of the climb!

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Then at the top of the climb just before Kilncadzow I stopped for more photos despite the lovely aroma from this dung heap!🤣

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I passed through Carluke and took to the back roads all the way home without any incidents to speak of, arriving home very satisfied despite that brutal wind! My odometer passed the 25000 mark today, the actual mileage is 25147 as it lost some miles when it was replaced a while back!

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Another metric century achieved, hoping to do an imperial century soon when the conditions allow! I was hoping to take the bike to the motorcycle racing on Sunday but like last week the weather is looking very iffy so that's why I went for the metric century today...

@Chargeride It was bad enough today in 35mph winds, 70mph winds are not for me... ;)
 

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