Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Same applies to people-watching at the beach.
2023 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos
- Thread starter Saratoga Dave
- Start date
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
What a beautiful country!
The hill with the castle indeed look magical, CR!
@Chargeride do you need to walk a lot for that view of the castle? Or, was it a drone?
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
It was far too windy to fly, so I pinched someones clip 
RabH
Well-Known Member
I was intending to get out first thing this morning as the forecast was looking pretty good, I woke and looked out the window to see the rain pouring down
I had another look at the forecast and lo and behold it was showing rain for most of the morning...with possible showers in the afternoon! At midday I looked out to see almost clear skies, decision made! It was around 5C but felt much colder due to a brisk NW wind, in my last ride I didn't make use of the wind so I made sure that was rectified today! I headed east towards Whitburn and then turned due south towards Forth, at Longridge I stopped to grab a photo of the stunning cloud formation and captured the Ochil Hills in the distance bathed in sunshine!I usually descend the amazing road from Forth to Breich but today I decided to climb it for a change with a nice tailwind helping, when I'm descending its almost always over 40mph but climbing is a whole different story
The wind and sun helped dry the roads after this mornings deluge!I was closing in on Forth but decided to take the back road to Braehead which is so much quieter and offers some lovely twisty roads with some lovely descents before the climb up to Braehead, I stopped to take a photo and opened my rack bag to take my phone out and when I was closing it the zip snapped in my hand! So I moved a bungee cord over the centre of the bag to secure it, the bag actually has 2 zips but the other one broke a while back...I decided to order the same one as it suits my needs perfectly!
I passed through Braehead and then had the awesome descent down towards Carnwath coming up, this one is usually a climb for me so it was nice to go down it with the wind behind me! The Tinto hills can be seen in the background!
At the bottom of the descent now, looking east!
It was time to climb again as I was nearing Carnwath, this is looking back down the climb which almost looks flat...
Looking towards the Tinto Hills once again, thankfully I remembered about this electrified fence this time...got a nice jolt once before
It was time to turn west into the wind for a bit to join the road to the south again down through the railway crossing at Cleghorn to Lanark, another road I normally climb so I was looking forward to descending down into the valley this time! Another climb to take on up into Lanark after reaching the valley, there are some nice views to the north just as you arrive in Lanark!
I passed through Lanark which was surprisingly quiet and enjoyed the descent down into the valley before taking on the climb at Cartland Bridge up towards Braidwood and now into the wind! I passed through Braidwood to find a line of traffic at some roadworks on the main road to Carluke, time to take the paths and have a little smirk at the cars going nowhere! When I reached Carluke I turned off the main road again and took the back road to Morningside where I continued on to Newmains to join the main road again for the last 6 miles, I knew the back roads here would be in a right mess after all the recent rain due to all the farms! I had a trouble free ride home from here, the drivers all behaved and gave me lots of room!
The only incident was a couple of miles from home when I was approaching some traffic lights (which were thankfully green) as a drunk on the pavement (sidewalk) decided to hurl abuse at me for having the temerity to ride my bike on public roads...shame on me!
Another fantastic trip, it was so good to get out again and the sun was a real blessing
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Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Dramatic skies! Always a bonus on any ride, but you had lush green to frame them as well. Nice living on a water planet.
Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
An exceptional 9-day forecast for SoCal: Three unusually cold Pacific storms in 5 days, a 2-day rest, then storm number four. Today's opening act for the 1st storm: A strong NW wind and high surf under partly cloudy skies.
By tomorrow (Thursday), San Diego County could get snow down to 1,000 ft in elevation — only 5-10 miles inland in places. Then torrential rain from an atmospheric river (aka Pineapple Express) swept in from the central Pacific on Friday.
And that prospect made today the perfect day to start my new career as a 2-wheeled Pacific storm-chaser. To appreciate the combined power of wind and sea in these systems, you really have to be near the water -- hence the 8-mile 2-beach loop reported here.
First vantage was a bluff 60 ft (18 m) above North Ponto Beach. The short periods of the storm waves on parade here meant that their source region wasn't far offshore. (I've shown this view before, but not under these conditions.)
This wide-angle shot from nearly the same vantage last fall shows longer-period fair-weather swell from storms hundreds if not thousands of miles out to sea.
Next came a pleasant 1.6 mile bluff-top ride south through the largely deserted Carlsbad State Beach campground. This brought me to a very steep paved ramp down to South Ponto Beach. Decided to walk the bike down through the loose sand drifts already accumulating on the asphalt.
From the bottom of the ramp, I rode the beach south to the South Ponto Jetty at the mouth of Bataquitos Lagoon. My route here followed the "gutter" between 2 parallel beach berms — a pure loose gravel berm seaward, and the packed sand and gravel berm on the left. In between were pockets of loose sand of varying depth. More about riding the gutter later.
Always interesting to watch the lagoon outflow and the incoming waves duke it out between the jetties. The outflow was strong today, but the storm waves were definitely winning.
To improve my rusty offroad skills, I took a 2nd crack at the gutter in the opposite direction. The inner slope of the wave-stacked loose gravel berm (on the left now) is close to the angle of repose (about 30°) – meaning that it's ready to slide at the slightest provocation.
Riding the gutter without stopping meant staying on the Goldilocks mix of sand and gravel directly in front of my 2.3" hybrid tire here. Too far into the pure gravel at far left, and I might as well have been riding on ball bearings. In the pure sand on the right, I was lucky to get 20 ft before bogging down.
Next it was back up the ramp and onto the Coast Highway to continue south past the beach I was just on. Temporary warning signs like these are impossible to capture in either video or stills. The message here was, "DRIVE SLOW, SAND ON ROAD".
Road-level beaches like South Ponto lose some of their charm in strong onshore winds like today's. Wind-blown sand drifts like these make me especially glad that I swapped the bike's original city slicks for hybrids.
The haze in front of the black van parked at top center was actually a delightful mix of blowing sand and salt spray. By the time I got there, my eyes and nose were full of both.
First order of business at home was to wash the sand and salt out of my eyes. Next was lunch with an Aperol Pellegrino and fresh guac from the farmers' market. Then a good read.
By tomorrow (Thursday), San Diego County could get snow down to 1,000 ft in elevation — only 5-10 miles inland in places. Then torrential rain from an atmospheric river (aka Pineapple Express) swept in from the central Pacific on Friday.
And that prospect made today the perfect day to start my new career as a 2-wheeled Pacific storm-chaser. To appreciate the combined power of wind and sea in these systems, you really have to be near the water -- hence the 8-mile 2-beach loop reported here.
First vantage was a bluff 60 ft (18 m) above North Ponto Beach. The short periods of the storm waves on parade here meant that their source region wasn't far offshore. (I've shown this view before, but not under these conditions.)
This wide-angle shot from nearly the same vantage last fall shows longer-period fair-weather swell from storms hundreds if not thousands of miles out to sea.
Next came a pleasant 1.6 mile bluff-top ride south through the largely deserted Carlsbad State Beach campground. This brought me to a very steep paved ramp down to South Ponto Beach. Decided to walk the bike down through the loose sand drifts already accumulating on the asphalt.
From the bottom of the ramp, I rode the beach south to the South Ponto Jetty at the mouth of Bataquitos Lagoon. My route here followed the "gutter" between 2 parallel beach berms — a pure loose gravel berm seaward, and the packed sand and gravel berm on the left. In between were pockets of loose sand of varying depth. More about riding the gutter later.
Always interesting to watch the lagoon outflow and the incoming waves duke it out between the jetties. The outflow was strong today, but the storm waves were definitely winning.
To improve my rusty offroad skills, I took a 2nd crack at the gutter in the opposite direction. The inner slope of the wave-stacked loose gravel berm (on the left now) is close to the angle of repose (about 30°) – meaning that it's ready to slide at the slightest provocation.
Riding the gutter without stopping meant staying on the Goldilocks mix of sand and gravel directly in front of my 2.3" hybrid tire here. Too far into the pure gravel at far left, and I might as well have been riding on ball bearings. In the pure sand on the right, I was lucky to get 20 ft before bogging down.
Next it was back up the ramp and onto the Coast Highway to continue south past the beach I was just on. Temporary warning signs like these are impossible to capture in either video or stills. The message here was, "DRIVE SLOW, SAND ON ROAD".
Road-level beaches like South Ponto lose some of their charm in strong onshore winds like today's. Wind-blown sand drifts like these make me especially glad that I swapped the bike's original city slicks for hybrids.
The haze in front of the black van parked at top center was actually a delightful mix of blowing sand and salt spray. By the time I got there, my eyes and nose were full of both.
First order of business at home was to wash the sand and salt out of my eyes. Next was lunch with an Aperol Pellegrino and fresh guac from the farmers' market. Then a good read.
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Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
This is South California that is never shown in Hollywood movies!
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
I love the way so much of that coast looks, well ...a bit unkempt and almost entirely free of tall buildings.
Its a real nostalgia trigger to my mind.
I presume its protected in some way against development.
Its a real nostalgia trigger to my mind.
I presume its protected in some way against development.
Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Yes, people who know Southern California only from the media are usually unaware of its attributes as a physical place.
Most of the landscape is ruggedly mountainous, with more than a few peaks above 10,000 ft and many precipitous mountain fronts (mostly fault scarps) with local relief in excess of 3,000 ft. The weather isn't just sunny and warm, and the coast is as physically dynamic a place as you can imagine.
The geology dates back 160 million years to mid-Jurassic time, and it's been a hotbed of volcanism and plate tectonic mayhem for much of that. Since about 20 million years ago, it's been one of the most tectonically active places on the planet.
Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
The California Coastal Commission takes its protective role very seriously. Developers and industrialists see it as a bunch of Nazis, but the rest of us are thankful.
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Chargeride
Well-Known Member
Went for a spin in the woods on my larger controller...it was very quiet so I had built up quite a bit of speed and nearly head on crashed with two scallywags on a Surron, they looked very dodgy, but then smiled and waved and ..you shouldnt judge a character by his balaclava.
Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Had a brilliant idea on yesterday's ride: Instead of turning flattish 1.0 mile laps in the neighborhood when not in the mood for traffic, I can do flattish 3.2 mile laps right on the edge of the bluff above Carlsbad State Beach!
Today's ride map includes 2 such laps plus a detour to practice riding the South Ponto Beach gutter again. But you get the idea.
The loop does add 12 minutes from the house round trip. And the laps are only protected from traffic when the 1.6 mile-long campground's largely empty, as it was today and usually is on winter weekdays. But small price to pay for laps in this beautiful stress-free setting.
Yesterday's view from the bluff. Today's sky was full of menacing storm clouds headed my way.
Laps can get dull, even in a place like this. But today's steady 20-knot south wind added some interest, as I switched from stiff headwind to stiff tailwind on every lap. The former made the latter all the more appreciated.
Radar showed rain within the hour when I headed out but figured I'd see it coming from my bluff-top lookout. Only one small flaw in this plan: Sharp horizon = little or no rain over the water ≠ no rain up on the bluff. Luckily, the lesson cost me only a few sprinkles this time.
Today's ride map includes 2 such laps plus a detour to practice riding the South Ponto Beach gutter again. But you get the idea.
The loop does add 12 minutes from the house round trip. And the laps are only protected from traffic when the 1.6 mile-long campground's largely empty, as it was today and usually is on winter weekdays. But small price to pay for laps in this beautiful stress-free setting.
Yesterday's view from the bluff. Today's sky was full of menacing storm clouds headed my way.
Laps can get dull, even in a place like this. But today's steady 20-knot south wind added some interest, as I switched from stiff headwind to stiff tailwind on every lap. The former made the latter all the more appreciated.
Radar showed rain within the hour when I headed out but figured I'd see it coming from my bluff-top lookout. Only one small flaw in this plan: Sharp horizon = little or no rain over the water ≠ no rain up on the bluff. Luckily, the lesson cost me only a few sprinkles this time.
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Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
The reason I only "liked" your post CR was I am not excited about people riding electric motorcycles
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
No, Im not pleased with it at all, but we have to face the fact that theres a sort of cognitive dissonance that an electric motorcycle is somehow 'legal' by virtue of its green association and thats its just an accepted bending of the rules from an ebike.
I follow quite a few youtubers who are old enough to know better, but tear around the roads on pushbikes with huge motors strapped into them.
Certainly my bike is illegal, but I rarely go on the road, and when I do, I make a strict effort to keep around 15mph and always pedal, just politeness and respect for others safety that you get from years under the belt, with a good smattering of being well past showing off like a teenager.
I follow quite a few youtubers who are old enough to know better, but tear around the roads on pushbikes with huge motors strapped into them.
Certainly my bike is illegal, but I rarely go on the road, and when I do, I make a strict effort to keep around 15mph and always pedal, just politeness and respect for others safety that you get from years under the belt, with a good smattering of being well past showing off like a teenager.
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
I met one of them (Wrong Way!), a Warsaw based guy back in 2019 at the other Specialized dealer while collecting my Vado there. His vehicle looked ugly. Equipped with a huge hub-drive motor, that bike had all the space inside the frame occupied by a home made battery wrapped in black tape. He looked at my Vado being still prepared for the first ride and upon learning that my e-bike could get legally at 45 km/h, he got green from envy! It seemed he could see a nice looking speed e-bike for the first time in his life!
He and other guys like Taba na rowerze boast with multi-kilowatt bikes and them reaching 100 km/h. They are potential killers and still can get away with it
Once, I was with another gravel cycling club on a hard metric century. We stopped for a short break; after a minute a guy riding an illegal bike passed us at a very high speed.
A merry mate of mine started a banter: "Stefan, your friend there!" to which I replied with an angry face: "He's certainly no friend of mine! My friends are all pedalling..."
You are a fine person Chargeride and you've made yourself known to us as a responsible person. No bad feelings towards you; bad feelings about the Surron crowd!
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Readytoride
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Virginia
My new Gazelle arrived home yesterday looking very stylish with its "Rivian blue" paint job all sparkling and fresh, just like a new car. All told it took not quite 2 months from start to finish for the bike shop to disassemble the bike, send the frame to an automotive paint shop to be painted (which was about a 3 week wait), get the bike back, and reassemble it from ground up. My only job was to procure permission from Rivian to use the "Rivian Blue" color for the bike and to get a touch-up paint pen to ensure the color was accurate.
My bike shop (Element Sports) did a phenomenal job!
Here is the final result, the new Gazelle next to her twin (gray) sister in the background:
The contrast is amazing. And stunning. The color and paint job is off the charts gorgeous. Can't wait until I finally get my Rivian truck (maybe this summer, fingers crossed) to take my new bike to the charity group rides.
I am toying with painting the battery cover Rivian Blue so that the battery/frame division isn't so noticable. I did have the bike shop retrieve the left over paint from the automotive shop, just in case I ever needed it. I also need to buy a Kinekt seatpost for the gray Gazelle. Currently it is the only bike with a simple spring load seat post. My other ebikes all have the Kinekt which makes a huge difference in ride comfort on our gravel roads.
Hopefully the crazy weather pattern we are currently in, and my overbooked schedule, will calm down enough for me to try the new Gazelle later next week. The bike shop wants me to take a photo of the bike "in the wild" for their Facebook page since this is the Gazelle I won in their Christmas raffle.
My bike shop (Element Sports) did a phenomenal job!
Here is the final result, the new Gazelle next to her twin (gray) sister in the background:
The contrast is amazing. And stunning. The color and paint job is off the charts gorgeous. Can't wait until I finally get my Rivian truck (maybe this summer, fingers crossed) to take my new bike to the charity group rides.
I am toying with painting the battery cover Rivian Blue so that the battery/frame division isn't so noticable. I did have the bike shop retrieve the left over paint from the automotive shop, just in case I ever needed it. I also need to buy a Kinekt seatpost for the gray Gazelle. Currently it is the only bike with a simple spring load seat post. My other ebikes all have the Kinekt which makes a huge difference in ride comfort on our gravel roads.
Hopefully the crazy weather pattern we are currently in, and my overbooked schedule, will calm down enough for me to try the new Gazelle later next week. The bike shop wants me to take a photo of the bike "in the wild" for their Facebook page since this is the Gazelle I won in their Christmas raffle.
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Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Congratulations, Flora! What a paint job!
The battery cover? Leave it as it is! Gorgeous tonal contrast and character!
The battery cover? Leave it as it is! Gorgeous tonal contrast and character!
i can see on my Facebook that Element Sports already showed the frame of your Gazelle after the paint job!The bike shop wants me to take a photo of the bike "in the wild" for their Facebook page since this is the Gazelle I won in their Christmas raffle.
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Jeremy McCreary
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Such a beautiful blue! I'd be tempted to paint the battery, too. But I'm with @Mulezen . The black there ties the frame nicely to the black everywhere else.
Which Gazelle is that?
RabH
Well-Known Member
I agree, I think the black battery provides a nice contrast but its up to @Readytoride of course as its her baby and its a beauty
