Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

MTB is out for this old guy. I don't like healing from injuries! Well, I do like healing from injuries as the alternative is NOT healing. But you get the idea. I've had my day in the sun years ago when I pushed my hardtail and hard front (no shocks whatsoever) and hard head (me) across half of the Slickrock Trail in Moab and did some other really fun rides. But I've never really been a mt biker - just the occasional forest service roads but mostly urban adventures where I did not want flat tires.

I do remember a mt bike ride in Saguaro East in Tucson. The guy I was following said that if I did not bleed, I was not having fun. Well, only one bleed, I managed to jamb my little toe into a 3 inch cactus thorn, through my running shoe. Pulling it out, I bled - so it was fun!

Now I stick to the mean urban streets of Seattle and vicinity.
Yikes, a cactus thorn in your baby toe doesn’t sound pleasant at all. :( I guess it beats doing a face plant into one or several cacti. There have been many times when I’ve worried more about cycling in an urban environment or along a busy roadway than hurtling down a mountain trail. Perhaps that comes from growing up in a relatively small center.

I don’t consider myself an extreme MTBer but do like a challenge now and again. I agree, injuries at our age are not an option so I wear body protection in the form of elbow, knee/shin pads at all times while I’m on the trail. I meet my objectives by not extending beyond what I’m capable of riding.

West Bragg Creek is only one of a few areas where the trails have become e-MTB friendly. This recent precedent provides the perfect incentive to ride the tracks there. 👍

https://www.trailforks.com/route/loamzilla-loop/

 
I'm so sorry but...I didn't. I was too busy explaining what each turnout was (type carriage, type horses, harness, attire, etc) to the other cyclists as everyone else took pictures. I'll to ask my friend for some of the photos she took. (Disclaimer: long time member of the Carriage Association of America, and have been driving carriages for over 45 years. Also wrote quite a few carriaging articles for various driving magazines for many years many decades ago.)

But you are welcome to have a few of me and my carriages if you'd like. These photos ended up as magazine covers - two front, the other back - while one is in a nationally published book under the author's carriage driving section. All antique carriages. The photo taken of the back of my carriage going down a driveway is at the farm that hosted the 21st annual 4-in-hand club this weekend, the same driveway the carriages drove out of while we watched.
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Charlie, Tim, and Flora at the CAA  conference at Montpelier VA 1993.jpg

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Wonder what the odds are of ever making the cover of a cycling magazine one day. I think it's about time a photo of someone on an electric bike was featured, don't you?
No pictures of the carriages?
 
I'm so sorry but...I didn't. I was too busy explaining what each turnout was (type carriage, type horses, harness, attire, etc) to the other cyclists as everyone else took pictures. I'll to ask my friend for some of the photos she took. (Disclaimer: long time member of the Carriage Association of America, and have been driving carriages for over 45 years. Also wrote quite a few carriaging articles for various driving magazines for many years many decades ago.)

But you are welcome to have a few of me and my carriages if you'd like. These photos ended up as magazine covers - two front, the other back - while one is in a nationally published book under the author's carriage driving section. All antique carriages. The photo taken of the back of my carriage going down a driveway is at the farm that hosted the 21st annual 4-in-hand club this weekend, the same driveway the carriages drove out of while we watched. View attachment 99070
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Wonder what the odds are of ever making the cover of a cycling magazine one day. I think it's about time a photo of someone on an electric bike was featured, don't you?
Thanks, Flora, for posting the carriage cover-shots. I too wondered why you didn't blaze away with i-camera when you encountered the mass carriage ride.
 
I'm so sorry but...I didn't. I was too busy explaining what each turnout was (type carriage, type horses, harness, attire, etc) to the other cyclists as everyone else took pictures. I'll to ask my friend for some of the photos she took. (Disclaimer: long time member of the Carriage Association of America, and have been driving carriages for over 45 years. Also wrote quite a few carriaging articles for various driving magazines for many years many decades ago.)

But you are welcome to have a few of me and my carriages if you'd like. These photos ended up as magazine covers - two front, the other back - while one is in a nationally published book under the author's carriage driving section. All antique carriages. The photo taken of the back of my carriage going down a driveway is at the farm that hosted the 21st annual 4-in-hand club this weekend, the same driveway the carriages drove out of while we watched. View attachment 99070
View attachment 99072
View attachment 99071
View attachment 99073

Wonder what the odds are of ever making the cover of a cycling magazine one day. I think it's about time a photo of someone on an electric bike was featured, don't you?
Ah dog paddling...never tire of that.
 
@Adventum 😄 I was too busy chatting, as usual!

Photos of the turnouts from their website: https://fourinhandclub.com/photos
I can't even imagine what it takes to drive a team of 4 horses. And more than that ... to train 4 animals to take the harness AND work together. I've watched one horse being trained to pull a cart and it is no easy task. Tremendous amount of progressive repetition and the patience of Job on the part of the handler.
 
Mucking around in the swamps…

Dusky Moorhen

Dusky Moorhen, Gallinula tenebrosa
Nudgee Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD
Swamps and bogs are now known as 'wetland habitats'. Fair enough: they're our fellow creatures' homes and it is much better that they remain messy in our eyes (and sometimes mosquito-ridden!) rather than being turned into $$$ through canal 'developments'.

Loss of wilderness habitat is probably the most significant threat resulting from enormous increases in human population.

Here are some photos of my wetland companions, all taken from the Moreton Bay Cycleway: there's no need to go looking for them… and none seems bothered by our (that is, cyclists') presence! Exact location is recorded in the metadata — if you're interested.

Royal Spoonbill, Intermediate Egret, Magpie-lark

left: Royal Spoonbill, Platalea regia
right: Intermediate Egret, Ardea intermedia
beyond focus: Magpie-lark, Grallina cyanoleuca


Black-winged Stilt

Pied Stilt, Himantopus leucocephalus
 
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Mucking around in the swamps…

View attachment 99139
Dusky Moorhen, Gallinula tenebrosa
Nudgee Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD
Swamps and bogs are now known as 'wetland habitats'. Fair enough: they're our fellow creatures' homes and it is much better that they remain messy in our eyes (and sometimes mosquito-ridden!) rather than being turned into $$$ through canal 'developments'.

Loss of wilderness habitat is probably the most significant threat resulting from enormous increases in human population.

Here are some photos of my wetland companions, all taken from the Moreton Bay Cycleway: there's no need to go looking for them… and none seems bothered by our (that is, cyclists') presence! Exact location is recorded in the metadata — if you're interested.

View attachment 99140
left: Royal Spoonbill, Platalea regia
right: Intermediate Egret, Ardea intermedia
beyond focus: Magpie-lark, Grallina cyanoleuca


View attachment 99142
Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus
I bought the missus a nice zoom camera so she could photo all the birds in the marshes by us.
All her pictures are awful.
It might because she insists on going at dusk and using 60× zoom.
Black and white noisy blur
 
Mucking around in the swamps…

View attachment 99139
Dusky Moorhen, Gallinula tenebrosa
Nudgee Wetlands, Brisbane, QLD
Swamps and bogs are now known as 'wetland habitats'. Fair enough: they're our fellow creatures' homes and it is much better that they remain messy in our eyes (and sometimes mosquito-ridden!) rather than being turned into $$$ through canal 'developments'.

Loss of wilderness habitat is probably the most significant threat resulting from enormous increases in human population.

Here are some photos of my wetland companions, all taken from the Moreton Bay Cycleway: there's no need to go looking for them… and none seems bothered by our (that is, cyclists') presence! Exact location is recorded in the metadata — if you're interested.

View attachment 99140
left: Royal Spoonbill, Platalea regia
right: Intermediate Egret, Ardea intermedia
beyond focus: Magpie-lark, Grallina cyanoleuca


View attachment 99142
Black-winged Stilt, Himantopus himantopus
Today's camera image stabilization is a magical thing! 👍 👍 👍
 
I've been riding, just nothing out of the ordinary to report... Until yesterday - my first flat!
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Effing staple 😠😠😠!

Fortunately, my "mechanic" was along on his acoustic bike, and spared me having to do the roadside repair myself 😁. Our planned snack stop, a military golf course, was nearby, and they happened to have compressed air for their golf carts, so we after the initial manual pumping, we completed the reinflation there. I knew my tire luck wouldn't last forever, but, what the heck was a staple doing out on a country road in the middle of nowhere???! Laying in wait for some unsuspecting cyclist, I suppose 😜.
 
I've been riding, just nothing out of the ordinary to report... Until yesterday - my first flat!
View attachment 99200
Effing staple 😠😠😠!

Fortunately, my "mechanic" was along on his acoustic bike, and spared me having to do the roadside repair myself 😁. Our planned snack stop, a military golf course, was nearby, and they happened to have compressed air for their golf carts, so we after the initial manual pumping, we completed the reinflation there. I knew my tire luck wouldn't last forever, but, what the heck was a staple doing out on a country road in the middle of nowhere???! Laying in wait for some unsuspecting cyclist, I suppose 😜.
My flat about six weeks ago was also a staple - easy to spot the reason for the flat. You have to figure the odds of a probably FLAT/prone oriented staple flipping its two legs up and embedding in a tire. Mine, too, was, of course, the rear. Had a heck of a time getting the tire off the rim and even more of a heck of a time getting it back on. Glad you had your concierge service along for the ride!
 
I went for a short ride this morning. Went to the wild life refuge hoping to spot native birds, there are two species of owl in Hawaii and some ducks and King fishers also some wild peacocks and peahens. Did not see any.
There were wild chicken and roosters.

So I pedaled my way to the mall, where my son works as a part time "Mall Security "
You will see him in one of the photos skateboarding. By the way he is a prison guard, trying to get in the sherrif department.
He barrowed my Ford pick up 3weeks ago and has not returned it.
We had breakfast and returned home, in time for the game.
I stop to watch some guys flying RC jets.

I also checked my timeline on my device.
I don't have one of those fancy mapping gadgets like some guys on this thread (David Berry).
@PatriciaK have your tires tubeless setup but lucky you, your bike mechanic was riding along.
Excuse the food pics. I was asking my ol'lady which she wanted.
Now I'm hungry
 
Club Hubba Hubba. Jarheads and grunts would have some spectacular fist fights in the back over a stripper and by the time MPs arrived all would be calm as if nothing happened

I think it's an upscale pub now that serves pizza.
Pizza?!!! Oh man. I held my enlisted seps party there on the way to AOCS in the 80’s. What a pity it’s been gentrified - but then again so have I 🙄.
 
My flat about six weeks ago was also a staple - easy to spot the reason for the flat. You have to figure the odds of a probably FLAT/prone oriented staple flipping its two legs up and embedding in a tire. Mine, too, was, of course, the rear. Had a heck of a time getting the tire off the rim and even more of a heck of a time getting it back on. Glad you had your concierge service along for the ride!
I got stapled also and I managed to break both of my tyre levers, luckily I was only a few miles from home and managed the walk of shame! I then purchased Schwalbe Marathon capable levers and one of these awesome tools which make tyre fitting very easy indeed!

 
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