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

[Stefan Mikes]

OK ive started my diet and wont be reading any of Stefans posts.
I would also like everyone to respect my hunger during this difficult time.

Sorry for my reaction!
Perhaps I could refrain from posting food photos!

 

[Taylor57]

Is the idea that Palm Springs is also unsafe at any speed?

Now it's pretty safe since the tourists have fled!

 

[Mulezen]

Does it taste good?

Not particularly though SO thinks its wonderful

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Now it's pretty safe since the tourists have fled!

Lucky you! They're all headed here now.

 

[Taylor57]

Lucky you! They're all headed here now.

Yeah, most bail for the North. WA and Canada. But the good news is you can now get a tee time and traffic is a non issue!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Yeah, most bail for the North. WA and Canada. But the good news is you can now get a tee time and traffic is a non issue!

How do you ride in the summer heat there?

Last visit to Palm Springs was on a motorcycle in June. By 10 am, the air was pushing 120°F, and riding through it made me even hotter — much hotter! Putting on my motorcycle jacket and slowing way down helped. But I still had to stop every few miles to cool off!

Hard to imagine pedaling in that kind of heat.

 

[kahn]

Today's epic (epic for me) 45 mile ride in Eastern Washington. Cle Elum to Thorp and back in an elongated loop. It warmed to mid 80's (27C) to low 90's.

Thorp Fruit and Antique Mall

Grabbed the following from Google (g)

I presume the car had some damage, too.

Thorp Cemetery and Mt Stuart in the background.

My friend on her acoustic bike

Scenery along the way

 

[BlackHand]

@BlackHand: I could see in your ride metrics you had a very good leg power. Could you tell me please what assistance you used and what was the battery consumption on your long and steep ride?

I spend most time in mode 2(80-95% boost) but will bump to mode 3 (125% rising to 170% at 26mph) on climbs or if I'm in a hurry.

I don't have the discipline to stay in my lowest assist mode much these days. Usually end up somewhere around 45% me/55%motor. Funny thing is my power is almost always higher when I use the higher assist, because I'm moving faster. The bike is not rolling as well these days - I find I'm putting out as many or more watts than I used to but going slower.

I have 2 482wh powertubes. Used roughly around 12wh/mi. Was probably around 10.5 wh/mi on the first battery before I turned up the assist with the 2nd to give a bigger time cushion for the return ferry.

 

[BlackHand]

You were about a mile and a half from my house!

Figured I was more or less in your neighborhood

So I guess you don't live in the castle just outside Poulsbo then..

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I spend most time in mode 2(80-95% boost) but will bump to mode 3 (125% rising to 170% at 26mph) on climbs or if I'm in a hurry.

I don't have the discipline to stay in my lowest assist mode much these days. Usually end up somewhere around 45% me/55%motor.

I have 2 482wh powertubes. Used roughly around 12wh/mi. Was probably around 10.5 wh/mi on the first battery before I turned up the assist with the 2nd to give a bigger time cushion for the return ferry.

Very interesting @BlackHand, thank you! Your metrics and the additional information have helped me get a better insight how the things work for different riders, terrain, etc.

I have checked a comparable ride of mine but in the flat area. My battery consumption was 10.2 Wh/mi, the average boost was 125%, and I only contributed with less than 30% of the pedalling energy into the ride. Despite lack of hills, my average speed was only 14.1 mph. Your good leg power seems to have contributed to overcoming significant hills at a higher average speed!

Funny thing is my power is almost always higher when I use the higher assist, because I'm moving faster.

I have noticed the same. I input far higher leg power in Turbo when I want to ride really fast!

The bike is not rolling as well these days - I find I'm putting out as many or more watts than I used to but going slower.

Your batteries must be partly degraded now, same as my batteries are.

Figured I was more or less in your neighborhood

So I guess you don't live in the castle just outside Poulsbo then..

When you wrote "Kitsap" earlier, it started ringing a bell: "Kitsap... Kitsap... Where I could see that name before?" Oh, yes, @ChezCheese:)

 

[RabH]

Beautiful, I had a look on the map and was amazed to see Arran is further south than Glasgow.

Yes it comes under North Ayrshire, wish it was on my doostep but I can't complain as its only a 100 mile round trip to get to the ferry!

 

[ChezCheese:)]

I'll have to hunt down the Estrella here in SoCal. My favorite NA beer by far is Clausthaler, an excellent German pilsner with under 0.5% ABV. Have yet to find a drinkable 0.0% — must be a different process.

Clausterhaler, especially the brown, dry-hopped (whatever that means), is the best of the generally available ones. The Estrella Galicia that you can find here is in cans, not bottles, and is a lager kind of thing, not the tostada, or brown type that you can get in Spain, either on tap or in bottles. Amstel Oro is also super.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Figured I was more or less in your neighborhood

So I guess you don't live in the castle just outside Poulsbo then..
View attachment 155027

Nope

 

[PatriciaK]

Last week's ride on the High Point Greenway:



Been meaning to try that one for a couple of years now, but it involved bikes in the trunk of the car (don't ask!), So we kept putting it off. Sure wish they'd finish the missing link on the Bicentennial Greenway - then we'll be able to ride the whole way right out the back door!

Very nice about 9.5 miles out and back, through beautiful woodlands and right through the campus of High Point University (a self-proclaimed "God, Family and Country institute... Make of that what you will).





That last is the brand new "Panther Commons", with undergrad and graduate student dorms, and common space. Fund raising must be gangbusters !

Today's ride, back on one of the regular circuits:





About another week here in the Piedmont Triad with the Flow, then home to the Great PNW and the La Free for the summer... I'm going to miss my throttle .

Still having some mysterious mild pulmonary issues, but the knees feel GREAT since the steroid injection!

 

[fooferdoggie]

for the third year we joined the Portland Pedalpalooza ride. its a crazy bike and dress ride through the city starts at a park and ends in a party. no clue how many people but the line of bikes was way over a mile long. cars had to wait for them to pass. it was in a park 13 miles away this time but ended up close to my work when done. we peeled off as they were coming to a end to get home since it was late for us. https://www.facebook.com/groups/525834841385450/user/100064752094036/

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

for the third year we joined the Portland Pedalpalooza ride. its a crazy bike and dress ride through the city starts at a park and ends in a party. no clue how many people but the line of bikes was way over a mile long. cars had to wait for them to pass. it was in a park 13 miles away this time but ended up close to my work when done. we peeled off as they were coming to a end to get home since it was late for us. https://www.facebook.com/groups/525834841385450/user/100064752094036/
View attachment 155049View attachment 155050View attachment 155051

On the photos alone, looks like great fun!

And someone else's nightmare coming true. Imagine a world overrun by hordes of cyclists in whacky clothes — no room left for cars.

Gotta keep some trucks or starve, of course. Otherwise, I'm on board.

 

[fooferdoggie]

On the photos alone, looks like great fun!

And someone else's nightmare coming true. Imagine a world overrun by hordes of cyclists in whacky clothes — no room left for cars.

Gotta keep some trucks or starve, of course. Otherwise, I'm on board.

they have a nude ride this week I think. all kinds of themed rides going on too.

 

[Taylor57]

How do you ride in the summer heat there?

Last visit to Palm Springs was on a motorcycle in June. By 10 am, the air was pushing 120°F, and riding through it made me even hotter — much hotter! Putting on my motorcycle jacket and slowing way down helped. But I still had to stop every few miles to cool off!

Hard to imagine pedaling in that kind of heat.

Yeah, once it hits 100 + and stays there, my rides here in the desert come to a halt. We have had a very mild Spring however and today it's only about 88 at 230pm. We try and spend a couple of weeks up the hill in Idyllwild where its usually much cooler with great places to ride...

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

they have a nude ride this week I think. all kinds of themed rides going on too.

So to make everybody feel better about a future with swarms of bicycles everywhere, the'ye going to ditch the whacky clothes and ride nude?

Trust me, this can backfire. Several years ago, I biked out to a popular beach park in Valencia, Spain. Turned out, clothing was optional, and many of all ages, shapes, and sizes opted out — lots of them on bikes.

Whether I saw biking in the nude as a good or bad idea depended a lot on who was going by at the moment. For a while, it was kind of a wash.

Then I got stuck in a long one-way line of bikes with a naked guy pedaling knees-out right in front of me. Can't unsee something like that.

 

[Taylor57]

So to make everybody feel better about a future with swarms of bicycles everywhere, the'ye going to ditch the whacky clothes and ride nude?

Trust me, this can backfire. Several years ago, I biked out to a popular beach park in Valencia, Spain. Turned out, clothing was optional, and many of all ages, shapes, and sizes opted out — lots of them on bikes.

Whether I saw biking in the nude as a good or bad idea depended a lot on who was going by at the moment. For a while, it was kind of a wash.

Then I got stuck in a long one-way line of bikes with a naked guy pedaling knees-out right in front of me. Can't unsee something like that.

I almost spit out my ice tea! That's priceless.