Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Dallant]

Another gorgeous, foggy morning in N.E. Iowa. No bike, just hike.

 

[reed scott]

Another gorgeous, foggy morning in N.E. Iowa. No bike, just hike.View attachment 96511View attachment 96512View attachment 96513

I deeply envy people who feel human in the early morning and are able to go out and do things. Alas ... this is impossible for me.

 

[kahn]

I deeply envy people who feel human in the early morning and are able to go out and do things. Alas ... this is impossible for me.

I was back from my 23 mile bike ride at 9:50AM. Trying to beat the heat. But, yes, I really like hiking in the early morning, too.

 

[Chargeride]

Went for a little scoot up a track that I only usually go down and got 3 goddam punctures.
I counted this time and it takes 250 pumps to inflate a fat tyre with this pump.

I decided to full loop it and went on to get another 2!!!!

On the third one I'd had enough so used my emergency tyre weld...which just got me back to the van, but now Ive got a tyre full of sticky gunge.

Ah well.

 

[kahn]

Went for a little scoot up a track that I only usually go down and got 3 goddam punctures.
I counted this time and it takes 250 pumps to inflate a fat tyre with this pump.
View attachment 96521

I decided to full loop it and went on to get another 2!!!!

View attachment 96522

On the third one I'd had enough so used my emergency tyre weld...which just got me back to the van, but now Ive got a tyre full of sticky gunge.
View attachment 96523
Ah well.

There are days...

Do you know what caused the flats?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee broke his bones on Thursday?! Oh no! I'm so outdated....

GET ON WELL, LEE!!!

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Darter? Hmmmmm! Looks like a cormorant to me. Gotta be cousins.

Reed, my birding knowledge is limited to assisted identification; therefore, I classify our fishing friends as 'darters' if they have pointed stiletto-style bills (and longer S-shaped necks), and as 'cormorants' if their bills are hooked.

I think the common name for the North American darter is 'anhinga' (scientific binomial: Anhinga anhinga); our darters are the related species, Anhinga novaehollandiae.

On today's ride I came across this flotilla of little black cormorants — someone is sure to correct my choice of collective noun! — waiting none-too-patiently for lunch (with a pelican trio intent on maintaining their sartorial standards beyond).

Little Black Cormorants
Phalacrocorax sulcirostris
Click : Previous post of birds in a feeding frenzy.​

The strange peaks between the bay and the distant range of hills are the Glass House Mountains, so named by James Cook in May 1770:

​

These hills lie but a little way inland, and not far from each other: they are remarkable for the singular form of their elevation, which very much resembles a glass house, and for this reason I called them Glass Houses.​

The 'glass houses' referred to by Cook were the glass foundries in Yorkshire. The peaks are the remnants of volcanoes which were active around twenty-five million years ago. In our photo, the Glass House Mountains are about 35 km distant (as the cormorant flies).

 

[kahn]

Reed, my birding knowledge is limited to assisted identification; therefore, I classify our fishing friends as 'darters' if they have pointed stiletto-style bills (and longer S-shaped necks), and as 'cormorants' if their bills are hooked.

I think the common name for the North American darter is 'anhinga' (scientific binomial: Anhinga anhinga); our darters are the related species, Anhinga novaehollandiae.

On today's ride I came across this flotilla of little black cormorants — someone is sure to correct my choice of collective noun! — waiting none-too-patiently for lunch (with a pelican trio intent on maintaining their sartorial standards beyond).

View attachment 96471

Little Black Cormorants
Phalacrocorax sulcirostris
Click : Previous post of birds in a feeding frenzy.​

The strange peaks between the bay and the distant range of hills are the Glass House Mountains, so named by James Cook in May 1770:

​

These hills lie but a little way inland, and not far from each other: they are remarkable for the singular form of their elevation, which very much resembles a glass house, and for this reason I called them Glass Houses.​

The 'glass houses' referred to by Cook were the glass foundries in Yorkshire. The peaks are the remnants of volcanoes which were active around twenty-five million years ago. In our photo, the Glass House Mountains are about 35 km distant (as the cormorant flies).

Terrific photo. Thanks for the, ahem, background.

 

[Dallant]

I deeply envy people who feel human in the early morning and are able to go out and do things. Alas ... this is impossible for me.

I had to wait for the sun to rise.

 

[Dallant]

@PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee broke his bones on Thursday?! Oh no! I'm so outdated....

GET ON WELL, LEE!!!

Whhhaaattt?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Friends,
I've returned from the first part of my vacation. I'd like to tell you several picture stories. Some of them might repeat. I ask you for understanding Now, in the reverse order...

(Almost on) Sněžka Śnieżka Schneekoppe Snowy White Mt.
(Friday 13th of August 2021).

I forced Jacek to get up very early. I forced him to act so fast we went for breakfast half an hour too early. When we were ready to ride, Giant told my brother to update his Trance E+ firmware We actually set off at 8:32 a.m. (The reason we were in hurry was we promised our Czech friend Vlasta to be at the foot of the Snowy White Mt at 11 a.m.)

The Czech capital city of Krkonoše Mountains, or Trutnov (Trautenau) sports an excellent bike path along the River Úpa. Trutnovers complain and say the Czech Silesia has a far better and enormous network of bike paths. The reason is, there are thousands of now unemployed coal-miners in Silesia that got work by building the said bike infrastructure. Still, we Poles envy Trutnovers their multi-kilometre smooth bike highway!

Of the 30 km distance, 2/3 were easy. The rest meant a really hard climb. I was riding in low gears of my "mountainized" Vado and in the Turbo mode. The point is, good e-bike lets you even breathe and talk on a hard ascent but you need to spin the crank all the time, and even if your backside starts hurting, there's no chance to stand on the pedals for a relief After 5 kilometres, my hands became numb and we had to take a short break among majestic Karkonosze (as we Poles call the mountains; that would be Riesegebirge in German and Giant Mountains in English). Later, we overtook a couple of traditional roadies but soon had to stop to contact Vlasta; the place shown in the bottom photo was one of alternative meeting points. But there was no reply on her phone. We decided to ride to the top then.

So we arrived in Horní Malá Úpa (Upper Little Úpa), or more precisely to the point called by locals Pomezní Boudy, which is the starting point for hiking escapades to Śnieżka. You can see the building of the Mountain Rescue Service here.

I might be a backwards person but I could see the cyklobus for the first time in my life. Three such buses arrive at Pomezní Boudy daily, each carrying (if I'm not wrong) up to 30 bikes. Or, e-bikes with their batteries removed for transport. (A Specialized SL e-bike with the internal battery would pass).

What a surprise! The last cyklobus brought Vlasta! I wanted to buy beer at the posh guesthouse but it was closed. "Want beer? Just enter. Nobody in the Republic would refuse selling you beer, mate!" - a couple of Czech people advised Yes, that was a posh guesthouse. Run by women only. Feminist. And I got excellent, refreshing Pilsner. The best pilsner I have ever had (more on that soon).

Vlasta asked us if we were convinced to conquer Śnieżka. "Seven kilometres of walking and six hundred metres of elevation gain? On my bad legs? No way!" -- I said and we gave up the whole idea of hiking

Poland is very much backwards related to e-bikes. On contrary, Czech people embraced e-bikes totally. They looked at their German neighbours first. Then, there were Czech women to start the e-bike revolution. Naturally weaker than men, Czech females wanted to match their male partners and demanded mid-drive e-bikes, as only such e-bikes are appropriate for a mountainous country (and please, don't talk Stromer or I laugh out loud) Then, Czech men discovered they were no match to their ladies, and bought e-bikes, too. Now, only sportspeople and senior poor people ride traditional bikes in the Republic.

Brands? Good, less expensive mid-drive e-bikes there are: Polish Kross, German Haibike, Austrian KTM. No Specialized, no Trek, no Giant, no Cannondale: too expensive. Czech people don't drink Coke or Pepsi, either. Domestic Kofola does

I was wondering who brewed that excellent Pilsner. The answer came soon: Pivovar (brewery) Trautenberg, "established 1045 metres above the sea level", opposite the posh guesthouse. Czech people need no IPA, either. They would drink Pilsner or Lager, pale or dark. Still, Trautenberg is a craft beer brewery.

Back to Poland. The descent was steep. The pavement quality was tragic. Strong wind made my eyes water. Yet, 10 km of effortless descent was a great reward for our earlier climbing effort.

Top: The village of Bóbr (Poland)
Centre: The village of Bobr (Czech Republic)
The springs of River Bóbr (known well in Poland) originate there.
There was an excellent MUP across the border with no single sign of the frontier!
Bottom: A small town of Žacléř. The name of "zh'atslerzh" is almost impossible to pronounce by a Pole! The mix of soft and hard "zh" in the Czech language makes us Poles suffocate!

What a blunder. I ordered two "utopenec" for each of us for the starter, and main meal afterwards. The marinated sausage turned out to be as good as the main meal! I asked the waitress to pack my remaining utopenec for later...

Traditionally, the waiter (číšník) is male in Czechia, while the server (servirka) is female. Here, both waitress and server were female.

The Fort Stachelberg, a Czechoslovak pre-War II artillery post. Fancy there is Czechoslovakia in the foreground, and Germany in background. You are a Czechoslovak, and you are fully prepared to fight Nazis in 1938. Now, foreign powers (UK and France) come to Munich and sell your country to Hitler. That fort was overtaken by the Nazi with a single shot; a single Czechoslovak soldier unnecessarily died.

What was Germany is Poland now.

The Queen pictured here is one of the most interesting females in the history. Let us call her Rixa (Richeza) Elisabeth, the Queen of Poland and of Bohemia. "The Beautiful Pole" as she is named in the Czech literature. Called "Queen Elishka" by the Czech and loved until this day:

• Born in 1288 in Poznań Poland. Daughter of Przemysł II, a King of Poland, and of a Swedish princess (also Rixa). As her father dies with no sons, young Rixa becomes an excellent royal marrying party;
• She should become wife to the son of the ruler of Brandenburg but the man prematurely dies;
• The powerful Czech King Venceslas II takes the 12-yo girl to his court in Prague;
• When she becomes 15-yo, Venceslas II marries her; she changes her name to Elisabeth; she becomes the Queen of Bohemia and of Poland;
• When she becomes 17-yo, Venceslas II dies, leaving Rixa Elisabeth a lot of money;
• Elishka is 18-yo when she marries Rudolph III Habsburg, the son of the King of Rome.
• When she is 19-yo, Rudolph suddenly dies, leaving Elishka even more money;
• Elishka becomes the most rich person in Bohemia; she starts buying cities. For instance, the biggest city she bought was Hradec, now Hradec Kralove (City of the Queen). By the way, she bought Trutnov, too
• She falls in love with Henry of Lipa. They remain in love for some 20 years;
• Henry of Lipa dies. Elishka (41) becomes interested in religion but she also sponsors arts and culture;
• She dies in Brno at age of 47.

The cannon shown there is post-WWII. Still, it is pointing at the Polish town of Lubawka. (It was German Liebau pre-WWII).

3D ride map.

Ride Map and Metrics.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Whhhaaattt?

Lee is at the hospital. Broken shoulder, elbow and hip. It doesn't look well. (I know that from his Strava post of Thursday).

 

[Dallant]

Lee is at the hospital. Broken shoulder, elbow and hip. It doesn't look well. (I know that from his Strava post of Thursday).

How sad! I wondered why I didn’t see it here!
We‘re thinking about you Lee!

 

[Dallant]

Spent a couple of hours on my Rail 5 at a MTB trail system in N.E. Iowa. I’m a total noob on trails like these but very willing. Weather was beautiful and there are a lot of trails, so many that I did get lost and ended up on a trail that was clearly above my pay grade! That said, I really enjoyed the day and the Rail 5 is a great ride that is very forgiving. Fell a few times (fortunately more into dirt, leaves and sticks) but more from going too slow than going to fast. Looking forward to much more EMTB!

 

[reed scott]

Spent a couple of hours on my Rail 5 at a MTB trail system in N.E. Iowa. I’m a total noob on trails like these but very willing. Weather was beautiful and there are a lot of trails, so many that I did get lost and ended up on a trail that was clearly above my pay grade! That said, I really enjoyed the day and the Rail 5 is a great ride that is very forgiving. Fell a few times (fortunately more into dirt, leaves and sticks) but more from going too slow than going to fast. Looking forward to much more EMTB!View attachment 96573View attachment 96574View attachment 96575View attachment 96576View attachment 96577View attachment 96579

A man has got to know his limitations.

 

[TOOSLOW]

That's a weird place for the sag indicator ring. I guess you like zero sag.

 

[Prairie Dog]

View attachment 96581
That's a weird place for the sag indicator ring. I guess you like zero sag.

Isn't my bike. Belongs to my brother-in-law. I believe the shop set the suspension to his specs.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Creating space for one hundred new homes…

OR should that be ten thousand homes destroyed?​

Fernvale, Brisbane Hinterland
Beside the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail​

Last week it was forest; this week it is, well, what you see here. The bulldozed trees are headed for the mulching machines. You might just be able to glimpse the machines of destruction – red, blue-green and yellow shapes obscured by the piles of felled trees.

Ten or twenty thousand dollars worth of garden mulch? Who knows (or cares).

The clearing took our TOP Cycling group by surprise, but it must have been a more severe shock to the marsupials (wallabies, kangaroos, possums), reptiles (a lot of lizards) and birds (yes, thinking of you, magpies!) who once called this home.

• Red Line : Brisbane Valley Rail Trail (my ride shown on Ride with GPS).
• Grey Line — top right (NE) to bottom left (SW) : B-Road (important local distributor road).

In the mid-seventies, when Jen and I moved to this part of SE Queensland, the land to the north of the road was farmland. To the south of the road was forest. Now? Much of the farmland has been subdivided into hobby farms or horse properties. There was no alarming environmental issue in that, but few of us foresaw 'the bush' being cleared for outlying dormitory suburbs of Brisbane and Ipswich.

Ever more people; ever more destruction of land for wildlife. It's the way it goes.

 

[Chargeride]

There are days...

Do you know what caused the flats?

Everyone one a pinchflat/snakebite.
That rim is too wide for rock riding

 

[Chargeride]

Creating space for one hundred new homes…

OR should that be ten thousand homes destroyed?​

View attachment 96626

Fernvale, Brisbane Hinterland
Beside the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail​

Last week it was forest; this week it is, well, what you can see here. The bulldozed trees are headed for the mulching machines. You might just be able to glimpse the machines of destruction – blue-green and yellow shapes obscured by the piles of felled trees.

Ten or twenty thousand dollars worth of garden mulch? Who knows (or cares).

The clearing took our TOP Cycling group by surprise, but it must have been a more severe shock to the marsupials, birds (yes, thinking of you magpies!) and reptiles who once called this home.

View attachment 96642

• Red Line : Brisbane Valley Rail Trail.
• Grey Line — top right (NE) to bottom left (SW) : B-Road (important local distributor road).

In the mid-seventies, when Jen and I moved to this part of SE Queensland, the land to the north of the road was farmland. To the south of the road was forest. Now? Much of the farmland has been subdivided into hobby farms or horse properties. There was no alarming environmental issue in that, but few of us foresaw 'the bush' being cleared for outlying dormitory suburbs of Brisbane and Ipswich.

Ever more people; ever more destruction of wilderness: it's the way it goes.

Youre taking the p... now.
That pic is award winning.