2025 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

After a recent visit, you forget as lovely as pictures are, being there is a whole different ballgame, riding that landscape every week is the luck of the gods
I'm very blessed to have these wonderful landscapes virtually on my doorstep and yes, the pictures don't do it full justice! You can see why Peebles is one of my regular destinations and its only 45 miles from my front door, it really is a great place to visit even without a bike and as you say, a short hop away you have spectacular countryside with very little traffic! 👍
 
I'm very blessed to have these wonderful landscapes virtually on my doorstep and yes, the pictures don't do it full justice! You can see why Peebles is one of my regular destinations and its only 45 miles from my front door, it really is a great place to visit even without a bike and as you say, a short hop away you have spectacular countryside with very little traffic! 👍
A lot of recent research shows that finding awe or wonder in the world around you is good for both mental and physical health. For one thing, the feeling shuts down self-preoccupation and all the stress and misguided self-importance that come with it.

Cycling through big, beautiful landscapes like yours and mine can sustain the effect. But you don't need inspiring landscapes to benefit. Wonder's all around if you're curious enough.
 
A few pics from today's 32km ride:

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Here’s one I haven’t seen before!

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I started looking around for a bear, an abominable snowman, a duck… but no, just a quiet neighborhood I happened to be riding through.
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But points to me for surviving an apparently deadly and ominous morning ride!
Maybe Garmin just figured what an animal you are in the saddle.
 
A lot of recent research shows that finding awe or wonder in the world around you is good for both mental and physical health. For one thing, the feeling shuts down self-preoccupation and all the stress and misguided self-importance that come with it.

Cycling through big, beautiful landscapes like yours and mine can sustain the effect. But you don't need inspiring landscapes to benefit. Wonder's all around if you're curious enough.
From today's therapy session — a quick Coast Highway ride from North Ponto to South Ponto Beach.

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Looking south and down toward North Ponto, Coast Highway on the left. A lot of people don't know that Japan's actually uphill from California.
;^}

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North Ponto's sparsely visited most of the year. But with July fast approaching, and the tourists arriving in earnest now, business was up. (Got the horizon level this time.)

Plan A was a serene Zone 2ish ride from here to South Ponto in OFF. But serene went out the window when a group of roadies in bright racing lycra turned onto the highway a quarter mile behind me. Could I stay ahead of them the whole 2 mi to South Ponto without assist?

Normally, the answer would be NO. The more serious-looking roadies almost always drop me eventually — even in ECO. But I somehow got to South Ponto first, probably deep into Zone 4 by then. All I can figure is that their Plan A had been Zone 1.
 
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