2024 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Prairie Dog]

I took the Epic Evo out for its inaugural spin at Heritage Ranch considered to be one of the easier trails that I ride but does possess a couple of leg burning climbs. SRAM T-Type tranny together with wireless shifting is such a sweet upgrade.

Shifting under full load while climbing is a joy but I admit that it requires a bit more effort than what I am accustomed to but I will say that the 1 x 12 gearing is superb. That being said, the EE is so fun to ride, is seriously fast and is an extremely capable down country bike. Since the rear derailleur no longer requires a hanger interface, the presence of limit/B tension adjustment screws are a thing of the past. Just set it and forget it. Micro tuning can be accomplished either from an app or directly through the wireless pod controller. The GX groupset is slightly heavier than the higher spec’d versions but I doubt that I could sense any difference. Performance wise, it’s likely on par.

The Levo is still the perfect bike on days when I don’t feel that my legs are up to the task. It just powers up techy assents with little effort and gets me to the trail heads in no time flat. The Epic Evo is different in that case. It is happy to be pedaled, but happy to be pushed around on a descent as well. I like that the 130/120mm travel is enough to play on trail features, but not so much that you feel detached from what you are riding. Sure, if I took this bike to shuttle at some places it might be a bit under done, but not necessarily the wrong bike. The Epic Evo is ideal for those who want a bit more play in their ride, for greater capability than most will find with a pure XC bike.

I decided to head home since I felt that I still had enough juice in the old legs to head out on the tarmac for a 40 km ride. Not that I’m complaining, but I really think that it's time to head out further afield for a change in scenery.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I took the Epic Evo out for its inaugural spin at Heritage Ranch considered to be one of the easier trails that I ride but does possess a couple of leg burning climbs. SRAM T-Type tranny together with wireless shifting is such a sweet upgrade.

I do agree the new transmission with the electronic shifting is just excellent! What is the dropper seat-post in your EE? Is it still cable operated?

 

[Prairie Dog]

I do agree the new transmission with the electronic shifting is just excellent! What is the dropper seat-post in your EE? Is it still cable operated?

Yes, I don’t hate it but would love to explore other options. RockShox's Reverb AXS is nice and infinitely adjustable in height but so is its price. I was lucky enough to acquire the lightly used drivetrain at an insanely low price that I just had to get my hands on it before someone else did. The seller discovered that his bike was not UDH compatible and was looking for a quick sale.

 

[BlackHand]

Some picks from Saturday's bonus ride. Had an unexpected 2 hours to kill on the eastside so spent it exploring a few roads and trails. Had to take it slow since I didn't have any batteries charged above 25% -but still got about 50k in.

A little easy single track along the Tolt River

Then up Tolt River Road

And then some gravel in the Tolt Highlands

I almost thought this doe was a lawn ornament

 

[Chargeride]

What a gorgeous ride.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

What a gorgeous ride.

Have you shared your Skiathos video here? It's amazing!

 

[Chargeride]

You only like it because Im pedalling with no throttle on a legal EU ebike.

I will admit it wasnt as bad as I thought, I certainly fully support the speed limit and pedal assist only for mass use, its more than enough if you want to be considered not riding a motor vehicle.

What is strange is coming down fast hill and then coasting up another, you have to wait for the speed to drop before you get any assistance.
My brain is going...nooooo...let me keep the momentum.

This thread is interesting, they are claiming you can have a throttle in the UK if the motor cuts out if you stop pedalling, just use it to overide any controller or torque settings.

Why were Full Throttles banned in 2016?

Just wondering, and what other changes were made?

www.pedelecs.co.uk

I dont see the point myself, I found it very easy to change power while pedalling, especially as my own bike has the throttle on the same side as the display, so my left thumb is used to controlling power.

 

[JGcycle]

A few pics from today's 23km ride:

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You only like it because Im pedalling with no throttle on a legal EU ebike.

Not at all! Even if I am not attracted to visit Greece myself, your video has shown it as a beautiful country!

 

[Chargeride]

Not at all! Even if I am not attracted to visit Greece myself, your video has shown it as a beautiful country!

Well yes, it is lovely, the Islands feel very safe, plenty of patrolling police and you do not mess with them.
Greek drivers are atrocious though

 

[Chargeride]

I know long vids are annoying, but here it is.
Probably skip to the airport bit

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Probably skip to the airport bit

The airport part is epic!

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Hot and shadeless climb this morning.

Relive 'Baking on Boulder Creek'

View my ride: Baking on Boulder Creek

www.relive.cc

 

[Chargeride]

Thats a cool app.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Thats a cool app.

I used Relive.cc probably only one time. It was my early hub-drive motor e-bike ride, and it was the only helmetless one. At some point I crashed as badly as I needed a medical help. Fortunately, I avoided hitting my head against a concrete post by a mere inch. Yes, that position is marked on that Relive recording. I'm not even willing to go back to that very day!

 

[dodgeman]

I did 13 miles today. I’ve gone by this rock several time memorializing an old farmstead . The house and any barns are long gone.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Euro Elections Turbo!

I'm flying to Frankfurt/Main today. There are Euro Parliament elections today. As early as 6:40 a.m., I started riding my Vado 6.0 in full Turbo mode As you know, my Roadrunner is capable to ride assisted up to 45 km/h. I gave up any bike paths as there was no traffic whatsoever on the Sunday morning, pedalled hard and arrive to the electoral commission site 8 minutes before the election actually started!

Usually, the election sites are being set up in public buildings. The Electoral Commission for my constituency was located in a public kindergarten of my Old Neighbourhood. I was the first, and a lady arrived also before 7 a.m. so we exchanged pleasantries and she let me enter first but she finished the voting before me

I guess that must have been the fastest e-bike ride in my life!

I will let you know from Frankfurt!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, Germany


Sunday is the Ruhetag (Silent Day) for the Germans but that certainly doesn't apply to the busy downtown of Frankfurt! (Hauptbanhof, main train station).

Wurstklopse at Wursthelden (Sausage Heroes)


Pretzel was invented by Jews in Cracow, we call it precel but it is Brezel in Germany!


Kaiserstraße, the Parkway of Frankfurt.


It is so good to find the Scottish Brewdog craft beer pub in Frankfurt!

Stay tuned!

 

[BlackHand]

Point No Point (and points beyond)

Well since I could count on 1 hand the number of rides that didn't start or end at work so far this year. I decided to wear cycling clothes under my church clothes so I wouldn't need to go home after church and guilt myself into yardwork and all the other chores that are piling up(literally). After church ended I did my Clark Kent thing and then pedaled down to hop the ferry to the Kitsap peninsula.
Sunday is always an interesting day for marine traffic. On the way to church I saw the morning cruise ship and 1 container ship headed up towards the Strait. While on the ferry we watched this tug towing 2 barges. What looks to be a fish processor and a regular supply barge headed up to Alaska.

If you look closely you can spot a SUV and a U-haul on top of the containers!

Trying to avoid the main roads, I headed up Parcells Rd which eventually ended with a trailhead that appeared to be bike friendly. Nice trail, I met 2 horse riders who thankfully had just come around a bend and called out to me. One horse had never seen a bike before!, so the rider had me move off the trail while they came by. She told me that he couldn't give two sh*ts about motorcycles but she had no idea how he would react to a pedal bike

Once through the public lands and back on a road I made my way through the town of Eglon and its 1 room church, and small but very tidy old school building. I headed up Pilot Point Rd despite the dead end sign, since RWGPS seemed to think it would wind down to the water and connect me to the next road further north.

Well, the road ended at a short driveway, though there was a gated track that might have been a right of way but clearly is never used. In the driveway I met Bill, a spry 93 year old out doing yardwork with his tractor. Bill explained that there was a cabin down there but he didn't think I could get down to the road below without going through private property. So after chatting for a few minutes (I confirmed that I don't know his friend Chuck who also bikes in Seattle), I took my leave and after a bit of backtracking ended up on a nice dirt double track road that eventually go me out to the main road headed to Hansville and Point No Point.

At the lighthouse I checked out the plaque commemorating(?) the treaty more or less forced on the local people in 1855 ceding their land the the US gov.


This horse showed no reaction to my bike

After a quick snack at the convenience store I headed on around the peninsula and down through the Port Gamble S'Klallam reservation and adjacent lands.


From there I headed south along Port Gamble Rd all the way down to Suquamish. Pretty country, and made me think of @ChezCheese:) who we haven't heard from in quite some time.

Down in Suquamish I ate my protein bar and the last of my water while watching the afternoon cruise ships leaving Elliott Bay to head up the Sound. The air wasn't very clear, but you can make out Mt Rainier looming in the clouds.

After that, a quick ride up to Indianola then a few miles on the surprisingly nice White Horse trail to get back to Kingston in time to catch my ferry.

I was surprised at how much elevation gain I had at 5382ft, considering the whole ride was between sea level and my house at 440ft elevation. 58.6 miles, longest ride in nearly 8 months!

 

[dodgeman]

You guys kill me with these pictures. My wife and I rode 16 miles yesterday but I couldn’t find anything to take a picture of unless you like to see corn or soybean fields.