Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

VERANDA!

I must tell you a very old joke (it sounds the best in Russian).

Three Russian people come back home from their vacation in the United States. Curious neighbours ask questions about their stay in the S-Sh-A (Soyedinnoye Shtaty Amyereekee):
-- What did you do in America Ivan?
-- I'm not Ivan anymore. It's Johnny now. And what I did there? Spending whole days on veranda!
-- And what did you experience in the S-Sh-A, Anton?
-- I'm not Anton anymore, it's Tony now. And I was spending my time the same way as Johnny: laying for whole days on veranda.
-- And you, Vanda?
-- Not Vanda. It's Veranda...

 

[reed scott]

I've been locked in the garage the last two days. With an hour before the sun went down, I finished my rebuild and headed off to the dunes, and the beach. Sun was already under the horizon when I got there, but I have lots of lights and the tide wasn't all the way in yet, although it was working its way back. This stretch of beach goes for miles and once you get in, there's no way out unless you either go back or finish out the ride when the hills finally open up to a state beach.

The main upgrade was a complete drivetrain change to up my rear cluster to 46T. I only needed the 40T this evening and it will probably stay that way. With deep, dry, very coarse sand, you need the 2wd this bike has to keep the front wheel moving, otherwise it submerges and then you faceplant. Plus controlling on descents is one hell of a lot easier when you can apply some power. Never throttle just synch'd pedal assist and a whole lot of attention to steering. Its absolutely exhausting. But worth the effort. This is a coastal tourist community packed with meandering knuckleheads, but this place is remote enough to be largely deserted.

For some reason my phone wanted to make the 'ahead' picture look as if it was broad daylight. By the time I turned around it was pitch dark and I was glad I have 4 front-facing lights. Then it was several miles along still-crowded mixed-use trails, lastly roads that were finally cleared, before I was back home and started up the barbecue.
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You are just on another level! Another level.

Edit: I am reminded of the guys that took 'automotive science' in Highschool and built '56 Chevys to die for with tricked out V-8s that could lay double tracks of rubber in 3 of their 4 speed trannies. Got ALL the girls.

 

[m@Robertson]

You are just on another level! Another level.

Edit: I am reminded of the guys that took 'automotive science' in Highschool and built '56 Chevys to die for with tricked out V-8s that could lay double tracks of rubber in 3 of their 4 speed trannies. Got ALL the girls.

Sadly, no hot chick ever said "My my thats a lot of amp hours you got there, tiger" in the history of the universe (but I do have a street legal (ish) track car which is a bit of a different story)

 

[DiggyGun]

I've been locked in the garage the last two days. With an hour before the sun went down, I finished my rebuild and headed off to the dunes, and the beach. Sun was already under the horizon when I got there, but I have lots of lights and the tide wasn't all the way in yet, although it was working its way back. This stretch of beach goes for miles and once you get in, there's no way out unless you either go back or finish out the ride when the hills finally open up to a state beach.

The main upgrade was a complete drivetrain change to up my rear cluster to 46T. I only needed the 40T this evening and it will probably stay that way. With deep, dry, very coarse sand, you need the 2wd this bike has to keep the front wheel moving, otherwise it submerges and then you faceplant. Plus controlling on descents is one hell of a lot easier when you can apply some power. Never throttle just synch'd pedal assist and a whole lot of attention to steering. Its absolutely exhausting. But worth the effort. This is a coastal tourist community packed with meandering knuckleheads, but this place is remote enough to be largely deserted.

For some reason my phone wanted to make the 'ahead' picture look as if it was broad daylight. By the time I turned around it was pitch dark and I was glad I have 4 front-facing lights. Then it was several miles along still-crowded mixed-use trails, lastly roads that were finally cleared, before I was back home and started up the barbecue.
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What’s the Red thing sticking out the back of the bike in the last photo.

 

[m@Robertson]

What’s the Red thing sticking out the back of the bike in the last photo.

Thats a 'kicktail' fender. Its a blank street sign. Thin aluminum alloy. Set it down on a couple of bricks. Set another brick on top at the right spot, stand on the brick, bend over and pull up on the edge just right. You now have a bent length of flat aluminum plate that keeps water off your back side. Line that with red prismatic tape (3M brand, same stuff as they use on street signs) and you have the world's biggest reflector to shine @ overtaking autos. It also serves as a rack deck. See the front fender? I reverse one just like it and put it on the chainstay bridge and that covers water coming forward and up. That reminds me I took the thing off and have to get it back on again.

Here maybe this gives a better angle on it. I am on a hill, right at the edge of a nearly sheer drop down 40 or so feet. Below that and in the background you see a rock wall... believe it or not thats artificial and just made to look like its a part of the landscape. To get down onto the beach proper, you go around behind where I am parked, down a sand trail and make a right turn at that trash can at top left. Follow the fake rock wall - sand is deep there - and then coast down off to the right, avoiding the (real) rock outcroppings and hunks o' driftwood on the slope.

The real trick is getting back up on the way back.

 

[Chargeride]

New bars have arrived, but a bit lazy and havent fitted them.
Had to work last week, christmas can be expensive, actually its more a case of endless promises finally catching me up, its not that Im some expert tradesman, its just that my gas safety qualifications are required for signing off a lot if work.
I do hope no one sees my botch bike videos to then judge my workmanship.

we got hit pretty hard with storm Arwen, the Wendy house lost its roof, which turned out to be structural.

Lots of trees down.....

I did consider going to the beach to film the carnage, but it truly was dangerous.
gusts up to 90mph and as soon as I opened the car door was sandblasted into submission, so even if I'd fixed the bike it was out of the question.

Every house down the road lost tiles, including ours.
Flying slate and cycling not a good mix.

Im going on a ride with a schoolfriend, who has just bought an emtb, without getting morose, he got in touch after getting a terminal prognosis and amazingly has become full of life for his last years, very nice bike.
Focus, shimano motor, first gear the size of a dinner plate.

I'll make a vid comparing them.

Cancer of the heart valve....so many ways to meet your maker.
Hope it snows.....

 

[Kayakguy]

Neither cool nor warm; but definitely wet…

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After too many days kept indoors, I had decided that today was definitely the day to go ride an ebike!

The Bureau of Meteorology had different ideas:

• Temperature : neither too hot nor too cold; in a word, perfect!
• Wind : negligible; perfect again!
• Precipitation : torrential, copious, horrid!

Maybe, a quick ride before the rains set in?

As I took my coffee, homemade muesli and homegrown pawpaw onto the veranda for breakfast, Queenie flew in from the bush.

Is that for me?​

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Australian King-Parrot (female)
Alisterus scapularis​

I decided to be brave: ride but keep close to home in case the predictions on the BOM site were correct (they were).

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Leaving home under a leaden sky.​

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Brassall Rail Trail
Ipswich, Queensland​

Afterwards, Ride with GPS presented me with a crazy map in which my route crossed and recrossed itself, never straying more than thirty minutes from home.

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And the rains came: a veritable deluge of Sumerian proportions.

Eventually, when I arrived home, two drenched loverbirds were snuggled up, taking refuge on the veranda (how sensible). I joined them: for a second coffee.

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Rainbow Lorikeets (drenched)
Trichoglossus moluccanus​

My wife and I spent about a month in Australia in 2006, from Brisbane to as for north as the Daintree. The most astonishing thing to me was the tameness and beauty of the birds. Second in amazing category was the vegetation, culminating in the "Cathedral Fig." And, of course, the marsupial fauna were also outstanding. You have a beautiful country, Sir, and I hope to get back some day.

Puzzle of the day: If the study of weather is meteorology, what do you call someone who studies meteors?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

what do you call someone who studies meteors?

An astronomer?

 

[DiggyGun]

Puzzle of the day: If the study of weather is meteorology, what do you call someone who studies meteors?

A Meteoriticist

 

[Chargeride]

I visited the meteor crater near Flagstaff Arizona, when I look at the pictures now, my first thought is, I could ride around that.

 

[Twin Valley]

I guess I should take a turn at posting something, I enjoy following everybody else's adventures which seem so much more interesting than my local rides - actually after finally getting out on the bike after a two month flare up with my wonky back laid me low I have a much better appreciation of getting out for a ride anywhere - the following pictures show this energetic dog of mine who even after running along side me for 20 km is still ready to bounce out on the fields searching for partridge and pheasants - the ice has settled in on Twin Valleys as you will notice the long crack in another picture but I sure wouldn't walk out on it with the wildly fluctuating temperatures that have got into the middle teens (celcius) and bike rides fit in between the howling Chinooks winds are pleasant - finally a post ride picture with three of the grandkids who came over to help me eat my chocolate birthday cake

 

[kahn]

I guess I should take a turn at posting something, I enjoy following everybody else's adventures which seem so much more interesting than my local rides - actually after finally getting out on the bike after a two month flare up with my wonky back laid me low I have a much better appreciation of getting out for a ride anywhere - the following pictures show this energetic dog of mine who even after running along side me for 20 km is still ready to bounce out on the fields searching for partridge and pheasants - the ice has settled in on Twin Valleys as you will notice the long crack in another picture but I sure wouldn't walk out on it with the wildly fluctuating temperatures that have got into the middle teens (celcius) and bike rides fit in between the howling Chinooks winds are pleasant - finally a post ride picture with three of the grandkids who came over to help me eat my chocolate birthday cake View attachment 108156View attachment 108155View attachment 108154

Happy Birthday. Enjoy the day and the kids.

And you might find that scenery boring - I appreciate the open spaces - it feels vast - especially compared with my urban terrain.

 

[Prairie Dog]

@Twin Valley - Happy B-Day and glad to see you get back out on the Levo! The view of those buttes in the background is quite striking.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I was easily coaxed out of the house for an abbreviated ride today as a result of a fresh dusting of snow we received overnight. It was just enough to freshen up an otherwise dull landscape. The temperature was an invigorating -7C when I left the house and the cold created great trail conditions as the studded tires made for superb cornering along the hard packed sections. That being said, waking up to more snow would have been a nice gesture from the weather gods. The icing on the proverbial cake was the fact that I didn’t lose a single stud!

My usual stop at the Heritage stables. Such gentle creatures.

 

[Chargeride]

that gorgeous noise, love the vid

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Heading for the hills…

It was meant to be a flattish ride – that's what is expected when one rides a rail trail – but one of our TOP Cycling group had other ideas, and headed for the hills before anyone had the chance to cry "That's the wrong way!"

He was off and gone with his Trek Rail in Turbo mode. Up and up, then down, a left sweep (far too fast) and then a right, up again and over a hill!

So much for the rail trail excursion: no chugging steam train ever came this way.

Two of our group – one the proper (now ex-) leader, the other a friend with health issues – were on muscle-only hybrids sporting modestly-sized cassettes. They were reduced to pushing uphill.

"Next up is 27.8%!" whooped the new, self-appointed, leader with terrifying exactitude. "Only 25% on the other side."

"Are we returning the same way?" gasped the non-electrified duo. Yes: this was a one-way track to a mountain retreat. (I know that Queensland doesn't have real mountains, but we do have some rather steep roads.)

The vanquished turned back, the ebikers in Turbo with chains looped over the largest 'dinner plate' cogs of our cassettes.

Exhausted, we sought refuge in Fernvale's Tree Change Café and restored ourselves with copious overdoses of caffeine and kilojoules.

 

[kahn]

@David Berry

I could hear myself on that ride shouting "but, but, but...." Been there done that. But you apparently lived to tell about it.

 

[BarnBoy]

Yesterday I think I had the best ride so far! I programmed the BleedingEdge Hydra to realistic power levels. This saved the battery and helped melt my butt…



The Pleasanton Ride has really opened since I was last up on top. I was able to see the City (San Francisco) in the fog….



Along the way, I spotted another local kitty (Bobcat). This one didn’t seem to care I was there, but I wasn’t about to try to get closer for a better photo


One battery; 100-20%. I am smiling ear to ear and look forward to explore more!!!!
-BB

 

[Merle Nelson]

Very inspiring post with regard to your Hydra.

I wonder if that Bobcat is a Lynx. Can't say I recall the Bobcats around here having spiked hair at the top edge of their ears.

Seperately, I spoke to someone with a house on the golf course overlooking the ocean. He had the pleasure of watching a feline hunting gophers etc for 20 minutes. His wife said, "Honey come look at this Bobcat, it's big." He said that's no Bobcat, look at that long tail.

This guy just bought the house and is new to the area. Didn't realize you're lucky to see a Mountain Lion for a fleeting moment let alone 20 minutes.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Metric Century Winter Ride [Vado 5.0]

10,000 km ridden is my 2021 goal. With a lot of work to do Mon-Fri (and even some training to be done on the coming Sat), with short days, I see little opportunity to ride for remaining couple of hundred kilometres by the end of the year. Give me a good reason though...

And my friend Anita invited me for breakfast with she & her husband for Sunday's morning. I know the best route to the southernmost Warsaw quarter by heart (I also ride to Specialized Warsaw by that route). Getting up at 5:30 a.m. (because I am very slow in mornings), wearing a snowboarding suit, and I could start a "big" Vado ride at 8:01 a.m. The snowboarding suit turned out to be exquisite: breathing, not letting the wind, cold or water in, and even protecting the shoes! All you needed was to wear a basic layer underneath. Even if it was -3 C in the early morning, I was warm and comfortable!

Anita served delicious breakfast: nourishing and tasty sour rye soup (with sausage & bacon), marinated herring, pate with mayonnaise, tea, and a droplet of dogwood liqueur (which is a rarity and it was excellent!) Close to 11 a.m. I started worrying if I could make it to my daughter's Social Care Home on time, as the distance looked to be more than 50 km! So I was pedalling hard.

I barely made it. Say, I had to stop for a while at a petrol station to use the toilet. I mistakenly took a big cup of mocha afterwards; trust me, drinking a big cup of coffee when you really wanted a small one takes time! I swapped batteries in Brwinów, then Magda gave me a phone call, and precious minutes were flying... I pedalled as a madman to make the Social Care Home at 13:55

Magda got a parcel of sweets and we spent good time together. Again, we were separated by transparent film because of the recent rise of covid...

And I had to ride back to Pruszków fast to make it before sunset.

Very short "golden hour" at 15:17. 15:30 marked the beginning of the "blue hour", and 16:10 meant the civil sunset. See the low beam headlight of my Vado activated by the darkness.

I knew I would not make the metric century if I just returned to my car in Pruszków. Being terribly hungry, I just rode to a BP petrol station in Pruszków for a Mountaineer's Casserole And the daily trip meter was already showing 99 km ridden! When I came back to my car, my important "e-bike related" smartphone was just at 3% of battery! (Besides, 1000 kcal burnt, not bad!)