Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[DiggyGun]

I cannot compete with Stefan on the number of rides undertaken or the mileage covered, but I’ve written a brief summary of the cycling trips that Mrs DG and myself have done last year. We’ve also done a number of local rides around the villages of North Buckinghamshire, but these are ones that we’ve done as planned routes for a holiday or day out.

We had a weeks holiday in the New Forest which we went out on the bikes each day.

Day One; 15/06/21; 12 miles
Around Beaulieu.
The first ride was from to Beaulieu to Buckler’s Hard, an old sailing village (6 miles).

The second ride in the evening was around Hatchet Pond, Beaulieu Heath (6 miles).

Day Two; 16/06/21; 12 miles
The Butterfly Ride.
This was a ride through Forestry Commission land between Lyndhurst and Balmerlawn.

Day Three; 17/06/21; 12 miles
Into the Forest from Burley.
Again, through Forestry Commission land between Burley Street and Lyndhurst and we came upon a Memorial to the Canadian service personnel that were based in the area during the Second World War.

Day Four; 18/06/21
Didn’t do any cycling this day as it was raining all day. However, we did visit the Royal Victoria Country Park in Southampton and had a walk round the grounds of the Newley Hospital Chapel in the park. It originally was a mid 19th Century Military Hospital.

Day Five; 19/06/21; 14 miles
Tall Trees
Again through Forestry Commission land from Brockenhurst via Bank to Lyndhurst.

We found that the Forestry Commission trails were very good with mainly gravel tracks and with very good markers so you knew exactly where you were.

Our next cycling holiday was a number of day trips out.

Day One; 28/08/21; 14 miles
Millennium Country Park, Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire. This is old clay pit workings for the brick making industry that’s been converted into Lakes.

Day Two; 29/08/21; 11 miles
Ashridge Estate, Hertfordshire.
This is National Trust property and has some nice cycle tracks through the woods

Day Three; 30/08/21; 28 miles
The Brampton Valley Way, Northamptonshire.
This is a disused railway line running from Chapel Brampton to Market Harborough. There are a couple of interesting tunnels that you can ride through, but you do need very good, bright lights to do so. It also has a climb of nearly 900 feet, but the gradient is quite gentle so you don’t notice it.

Day Four; 31/08/21; 14 miles
Pitsford Water, Brixworth, Northamptonshire.
An Anglian Water reservoir with good cycle paths around it.

Day Five; 01/09/21; 23 miles
Rutland Water, Empingham, Rutland.
Another Anglian Water Reservoir. Some steepish climbs.

Day Six; 02/09/21; 19 miles
The Phoenix Way, Thame, Oxon to Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire.
This is another disused railway line with some nice scenery on the way, but some strange sculptures also.

Day Seven; 03/09/21; 15 miles
Swanbourne to Buckingham, Buckinghamshire.
A local cycle track near to us.

Other days out that we’ve done include;

18/07/21; 11 miles
Oxford Canal, Oxon.
This followed the canal path from Wolvercote to St. John’s College in the centre of Oxford.

07/09/21; 22 miles
Stanwick Lakes, Northamptonshire.
These are some former gravel pits that are now a country park and nature reserve. There is also an old railway line that’s goes from Stanwick to Thrapston.

23/09/21; 19 miles
Grafham Water, Grafham, Cambridgeshire.
Another Anglian Water Reservoir

All in all, we had a very good cycling. We both changed our bikes, but are now very happy with our Wisper 705 and Riese and Muller Nevo3 GT Vario GX. Had a number of punctures on the way, but fortunately none during the actual rides which stopped us.

We don’t mind cycling in all weathers, which you have to get used to living in England. Looking at some of the other posts, I sometimes wish it would be nice to have some sunny weather for a period rather than usually just for a day or so.

 

[redzed]

You must be in the lower mainland of B.C?

Mid Vancouver Island. Nanoose Bay.

 

[DiggyGun]

Bad news on the tyre front. Checked to see if it was OK before today’s ride, but it had gone soft, not totally flat though. Looks like one or more of the patches is leaking.

I’ll contact the LBS (R&M dealer) tomorrow to get them to change the tube over. Plus, to show me how to take the rear wheel off, so I can do it myself next time.

I’ve also ordered some Schwalbe Air Plus inner tubes, which are thicker than their standard inner tubes.

These are ones that I’ll get the LBS to fit along with the Kevlar tyre liners.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Mid Vancouver Island. Nanoose Bay.

Great area! Been up around there a whole bunch!

 

[Chargeride]

Hey, CR I am a process engineer and although I cannot convert the temperature values in my mind, here is what I actually bear in my mind:

C	F	Comment
-40​	-40​	Norilsk, Russia
-18​	0​	It was the temperature outside a Danzig church where/when* Mr Fahrenheit took his measurement
-7​	20​	Riding e-bike below is not recommended
0​	32​	Water freezes
10​	50​	It feels cold below
15​	60​	You can stop wearing goggles above
20​	68​	About the best temperature
21​	70​	Ditto
30​	86​	You start appreciating wind here
32​	90​	Ditto
36.6​	98​	Normal human body temperature
37.8​	100​	*) Mrs Fahrenheit felt unwell on that day
100​	212​	Water boiling point

Mrs Farenheit isnt the only one after that

 

[Chargeride]

I cannot compete with Stefan on the number of rides undertaken or the mileage covered, but I’ve written a brief summary of the cycling trips that Mrs DG and myself have done last year. We’ve also done a number of local rides around the villages of North Buckinghamshire, but these are ones that we’ve done as planned routes for a holiday or day out.

We had a weeks holiday in the New Forest which we went out on the bikes each day.
View attachment 110933

Day One; 15/06/21; 12 miles
Around Beaulieu.
The first ride was from to Beaulieu to Buckler’s Hard, an old sailing village (6 miles).
View attachment 110934

The second ride in the evening was around Hatchet Pond, Beaulieu Heath (6 miles).
View attachment 110935

Day Two; 16/06/21; 12 miles
The Butterfly Ride.
This was a ride through Forestry Commission land between Lyndhurst and Balmerlawn.
View attachment 110936

Day Three; 17/06/21; 12 miles
Into the Forest from Burley.
Again, through Forestry Commission land between Burley Street and Lyndhurst and we came upon a Memorial to the Canadian service personnel that were based in the area during the Second World War.
View attachment 110937

Day Four; 18/06/21
Didn’t do any cycling this day as it was raining all day. However, we did visit the Royal Victoria Country Park in Southampton and had a walk round the grounds of the Newley Hospital Chapel in the park. It originally was a mid 19th Century Military Hospital.
View attachment 110938

Day Five; 19/06/21; 14 miles
Tall Trees
Again through Forestry Commission land from Brockenhurst via Bank to Lyndhurst.
View attachment 110939

We found that the Forestry Commission trails were very good with mainly gravel tracks and with very good markers so you knew exactly where you were.

Our next cycling holiday was a number of day trips out.

Day One; 28/08/21; 14 miles
Millennium Country Park, Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire. This is old clay pit workings for the brick making industry that’s been converted into Lakes.

Day Two; 29/08/21; 11 miles
Ashridge Estate, Hertfordshire.
This is National Trust property and has some nice cycle tracks through the woods
View attachment 110941

Day Three; 30/08/21; 28 miles
The Brampton Valley Way, Northamptonshire.
This is a disused railway line running from Chapel Brampton to Market Harborough. There are a couple of interesting tunnels that you can ride through, but you do need very good, bright lights to do so. It also has a climb of nearly 900 feet, but the gradient is quite gentle so you don’t notice it.
View attachment 110942

Day Four; 31/08/21; 14 miles
Pitsford Water, Brixworth, Northamptonshire.
An Anglian Water reservoir with good cycle paths around it.
View attachment 110943

Day Five; 01/09/21; 23 miles
Rutland Water, Empingham, Rutland.
Another Anglian Water Reservoir. Some steepish climbs.
View attachment 110945

Day Six; 02/09/21; 19 miles
The Phoenix Way, Thame, Oxon to Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire.
This is another disused railway line with some nice scenery on the way, but some strange sculptures also.
View attachment 110946

Day Seven; 03/09/21; 15 miles
Swanbourne to Buckingham, Buckinghamshire.
A local cycle track near to us.

Other days out that we’ve done include;

18/07/21; 11 miles
Oxford Canal, Oxon.
This followed the canal path from Wolvercote to St. John’s College in the centre of Oxford.
View attachment 110948

07/09/21; 22 miles
Stanwick Lakes, Northamptonshire.
These are some former gravel pits that are now a country park and nature reserve. There is also an old railway line that’s goes from Stanwick to Thrapston.

23/09/21; 19 miles
Grafham Water, Grafham, Cambridgeshire.
Another Anglian Water Reservoir
View attachment 110950

All in all, we had a very good cycling. We both changed our bikes, but are now very happy with our Wisper 705 and Riese and Muller Nevo3 GT Vario GX. Had a number of punctures on the way, but fortunately none during the actual rides which stopped us.

We don’t mind cycling in all weathers, which you have to get used to living in England. Looking at some of the other posts, I sometimes wish it would be nice to have some sunny weather for a period rather than usually just for a day or so.

Very nice, I think Ive been to Rutland, the sister in law lives near Melton Mowbry.
She took us there one day I think.

 

[Chargeride]

Another local ride with the other half.
Got the bike out of the van to this, I think its an autumn thing, like the leaves, they turn brown before shedding

Stockpiles of the fallen trees, very sad, hopefully we wont see another storm like that for a hundred years...I was that close to attempting to ride over the top, but an entire troop of kids came around the corner and the audience made me think twice.
That and all the signs saying dont do it

This is the cute cycle cafe in the next town up the coast, its all set up for social distancing at the moment, usually full of those kind of huge leather couches you disappear into, no food today as its a bank holiday, so two choccie bars filled the gap.
Its a great establishment, all the profits go to the local autism residential home and they quite often have them working there, which I admit can be a bit unusual, especially for the uninitiated.
They have a habit of completely lacking any social skills we are used to and ordering and recieving your drinks can be done in complete silence with no eye contact.
They hold the card reader out while looking at the floor and you get the price from the screen.
I really have no idea how to respond and wether it's best to stay silent myself, I guess just acting normal is the best bet, certainly they seem to be happy working there, but its just not my place to be some interfering amateur psychologist.
Also the police donate all the unclaimed stolen bikes, which they do up and sell for the home.

Riding into the setting sun along the sandy ranger tracks was very atmospheric, all I needed was an Italian western tune to finish off the effect , though they do have cows roaming in the area and it seems their favourite place to knock out a soggy pat is this very track.

I love just riding into the forest and randomly picking the route at every fork until Im deep into it some undiscovered cranny, I simply keep doing it until I recognise something or end up in the beach

It was like this for miles along the track at the north end, very sad indeed, it has turned quite imposing, dense wood tracks into open areas, but I guess I'll get used to it.

Rode back past the chippie to find it had just closed, this area is very new ,almost entirely built in the 70s onwards, so lacks any character, now full of million pound homes, footballers, drug dealers etc.
In fact the Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp lives a few hundred yards from here.

I know Im posting full size again, but these are small low res pics.
Does that help?

 

[dodgeman]

Good pics on my end.

 

[Art Deco]

Another local ride with the other half.
Got the bike out of the van to this, I think its an autumn thing, like the leaves, they turn brown before shedding
View attachment 110991

Stockpiles of the fallen trees, very sad, hopefully we wont see another storm like that for a hundred years...I was that close to attempting to ride over the top, but an entire troop of kids came around the corner and the audience made me think twice.
That and all the signs saying dont do it
View attachment 110992

This is the cute cycle cafe in the next town up the coast, its all set up for social distancing at the moment, usually full of those kind of huge leather couches you disappear into, no food today as its a bank holiday, so two choccie bars filled the gap.
Its a great establishment, all the profits go to the local autism residential home and they quite often have them working there, which I admit can be a bit unusual, especially for the uninitiated.
They have a habit of completely lacking any social skills we are used to and ordering and recieving your drinks can be done in complete silence with no eye contact.
They hold the card reader out while looking at the floor and you get the price from the screen.
I really have no idea how to respond and wether it's best to stay silent myself, I guess just acting normal is the best bet, certainly they seem to be happy working there, but its just not my place to be some interfering amateur psychologist.
Also the police donate all the unclaimed stolen bikes, which they do up and sell for the home.
View attachment 110993


Riding into the setting sun along the sandy ranger tracks was very atmospheric, all I needed was an Italian western tune to finish off the effect , though they do have cows roaming in the area and it seems their favourite place to knock out a soggy pat is this very track.
View attachment 110995

I love just riding into the forest and randomly picking the route at every fork until Im deep into it some undiscovered cranny, I simply keep doing it until I recognise something or end up in the beach
View attachment 110996

It was like this for miles along the track at the north end, very sad indeed, it has turned quite imposing, dense wood tracks into open areas, but I guess I'll get used to it.
View attachment 110997

Rode back past the chippie to find it had just closed, this area is very new ,almost entirely built in the 70s onwards, so lacks any character, now full of million pound homes, footballers, drug dealers etc.
In fact the Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp lives a few hundred yards from here.

View attachment 110999

I know Im posting full size again, but these are small low res pics.
Does that help?

Loaded quickly on my old tablet, so it must help out .

 

[fooferdoggie]

Jonson creek ready to flood we got 1.6" of rain today so far. it changed a fair amount since yesterday. down to 36 and rain right now.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

People, please put the general (or specific) location of your pics in the post! Even if you have your locale listed in your signature, when accessing the forum on small screens, signatures do not show up. I have no idea where Johnson Creek is, but given that it is about to flood, I might find that information very timely/useful!

 

[Catalyzt]

Haven't been on this thread in a while, just checked the last three pages, great to see what everyone was up to! Charge, always enjoy your ride reports, you unrepentant madman! That can't be the same bike, I thought you'd destroyed it months ago! Stefan, love visiting Warsaw via your reports and photos. Great to see everyone's year-end photos and stats.

I don't have any of that... just a long-delayed report here of another wacky out-the-back-door ride (or "chimney ride") as Stefan put it. This was a really weird trail just outside Griffith Park, I'm calling this ride my "Solstice Ride" or "Max Dirt Max Speed" because it's a route that gets me to the most dirt (5 short trails) and the highest speed (on pavement) over the course of about 14 miles. Real elevation gain for the whole run from my house totaled more like 2,000 feet. (I got Strava turned on late, so the only valid thing from its screenshot is the map.) It starts with six miles of mostly pavement in the Hollywood Hills that includes three short stretches of dirt, all of it fun, but none of it challenging. Then you wind your way up a very steep hill, probably a bit over 15%, to Wonder View drive and go past the gate and bear left onto a gravel road up to a forbidding-looking "No Trespassing" sign which-- if you read carefully-- only applies to cars. (The trail is listed on hiking websites.)

Then, you arrive at probably the most primitive trail in Griffith Park that it's still possible for me to ride, at least at this late stage of play. Though I was right in the middle of the city, I saw not a soul on this ride, and not a single bike track. People do not ride bikes here, and I quickly discovered why-- almost turned back several times, but had no problems. It looks worse than it is... but not much, I just had to walk the bike through the rough spots! It is called the Power Line Road, and is an access road for the high tension lines, supposedly-- but for the last few towers, travel by any four-wheeled vehicle would be impossible.

I'm glad I went, it was a good challenge, but I do not recommend this trail. The pictures are in roughly chronological order, and you can see, even at the start, there's enough loose rock that a rookie like me has to watch downhill speed carefully.

The second shot is a wide of the most difficult part of the trail-- this is about 15% according to hiking project. You can see in the middle-lower-left where the road has washed out several times and been shored up with... random junk.

The third shot is rock garden(ish) number one, which I did not ride down because the rocks were so slick, but did ride up on the way back-- quite easily, to my surprise. Nice job, Moto and Maxxis Ikons!

The fourth shot is rock garden(ish) number two, which was too loose for me. At my skill level? Yeah, I walked the bike both up and down that one. Didn't want to try this someplace that was quite so hard to reach if I got in trouble. (And would have reduced dose of blood thinners slightly, as I did when I skied steeper stuff.)

The fifth shot is the washout, which I had to carry the bike over. Really glad Seeker is only 46 pounds-- tricky balancing on the rocks even so, serious injury would be certain if I had if I lost my footing. (That was where I almost turned around.) Sixth is a shot of the return right before I got back to the gate

On the way back, you go down that steep incline, and I hit my fastest speed yet on any bike-- I know some of y'all go much faster, but for me, holy crap, that was WAY faster than acoustic bike speed. The moto was rock solid. I trust the speedometer more than Strava, because the really fast bit was too brief for GPS to capture, I think. I had to brake to avoid having to pass a car at the bottom of the hill, so I think 45+ speeds are definitely possible here.

Then one more nice, very easy dirt trail descending by the reservoir, and back home. Major workout w/ such a small motor, and pushing and carrying the bike!

 

[Readytoride]

Winter Has Come

As I sat down to write about my ride the other day, the scenery outside my window was this..

Not my type of cycling weather, although I'm sure it will probably stir the heart strings of those who have an affinity for chosing wheels over skiis when it comes to traversing snowy roads.

No, the prior day, which I chose to herald my first ride in 2022, was much, MUCH warmer, certainly nowhere near as white, and almost perfect in every aspect...except for the rain. Rain which arrived in the early morning and, like an uninvited guest who preferred to overstay their welcome by lounging around drinking coffee all day, completely ignoring the increasing ire of the host to get on with delayed activities while there was some daylight left in the sky. Thanks to the dense gray cloud cover and spotty rain, I was kept off my bike until about 4pm which, at that point, the rain decided it would go annoy some other section of the county, and decamped without a word leaving behind wet, muddy gravel roads and soggy fields. It's departure also left an open window for an abbreviated bike ride

I had been out raking my long gravel driveway earlier, between intermittent showers, smoothing out the increasing number of washboarding that had developed through the last few months of our local drought, and had texted my neighbor asking if he'd like me to rake his driveway as well. My neighbors are up in their 80s and not quite as mobile, so I like to do little favors for them since they graciously allow me to use their barn for my excess hay storage. My neighbor immediately texted me back three words, all YES, all in caps. By the time I'd finished grooming his driveway and filling in the scattering of potholes that had gown into cute little ponds up and down the 1/4 mile length of his lane, the rain had ceased, leaving behind only a gloomy sky full of obese, disapproving clouds. The temperatures were still t-shirt warm and fairly calm, although the forecast promised a dramatic flip flop to bitter cold and snow in less than 10 hours. If I wanted to get in my bike ride before nightfall and before the onslaught of Arctic cold, I had only an hour to do so.

I chose a quiet route on the gravel roads that would first take me past a local centuries old cemetery. I wanted to do a quick check for a particular gravestone for the ancestor of a gentleman who lives on the west coast. That little diversion cost me a little under a half hour, but sadly netted nothing in the way of discovering any stone or marker for the gentlemen's elusive many time great grandfather who had died in 1818. (The gentleman was very appreciative of my efforts, nonetheless, which I thought was quite kind of him).

The loss of that half hour, unfortunately, had set me back in the distance I'd selected to ride, but I didn't know that at the time as the day was still relatively decent, and the roads beautifully serene with grand views of the mountains so close by and lots of open fields sporting a clean look from the recent rains. It was a pleasant ride, unencumbered by any need to share the road as I was about the only one out traveling at the time. Only one or two cars passed me the entire 13 miles, both polite and pleasant with waves hello to match mine.

Perhaps I only noticed the first change in the weather because my bike is such a silent creature, gliding along with naught but the near silent whisper of the tires gently caressing the roads. I had been admiring the passing of a multi-field horse farm when I felt the first hint of a breeze. A breeze that seemed to build with every turn of my pedal until the breeze became a series of abrupt gusts, one so vindictive as to shove my bike sideways, causing me no small amount of alarm as I fought to keep upright under the unexpected assault. It was about then that I noticed the declining light was becoming even more declining, further increasing my building sense of alarm. I was over 6 miles from home, but time was definitely not on my side. Overhead the bare limbs and branches of the winter-shorn trees morphed from friendly to sinister as the winds urged them into a bit of a diabolical dance over my head. It was the archtype of darkening nighttime that one finds in spooky tales of goblins, monsters and haunts of centuries long ago. And I was now in the midst of it.

I ducked my head and began to pedal, the pleasure aspect of the ride having dissolved into one far less eager to be outside anymore. As I raced on in the growing darkness, buffeted by the increasingly hostile winds and dropping temperatures, I began to notice lights shining from the windows of houses along the way. People home in the warmth, out of the oncoming cold front, unaware of the lone cyclist passing by in a hurry to put the final miles under her tires and far behind her. I had been smart to dress warm, but my biggest concern was I could no longer clearly see the road. I could only guess at times what lay in front of me in the dim light and had to trust my bike to handle whatever came it's way. We were all alone on the road.

I guess I was fortunate that the prior rains had helped soften the gravel roads to the point where the tires of passing traffic had smoothed out the surface ruts and bumps. At 20mph, cycling alone in the dim twilight under a black cloud covered sky, I was graced with a smooth passage, meeting not one pothole or washboard. Even as the ghosts of every spooky story ever told swirled around me in the wind and dark rustling trees, I kept up my pace, pedaling hard and fast until I reached the paved road a mile from home.

It was completely dark by then, my front light heroically doing its level best to illuminate the road in front of me. Thankfully, the road is an old familiar friend who threw no surprises at me in my final dash towards home. I pulled into my driveway, the warming lights shining through my house's windows welcoming me home. A short hop to the garage to park the bike for the night, open the door to announce I was home, and then a mad dash to the barn to give the impatiently waiting horses their dinner. I was smiling as I tossed an extra heavyweight blanket on each horse for additional warmth in the face of the coming storm, happy that I'd logged my first bike ride of the new year.

In less than 6 hours the snow would begin to fall in the darkness.

Winter had come.

 

[Chargeride]

So much gorgeous literary description here.
I need a ghost writer.
Catalyzt, thats my dream track, a fantastic first of the year ride

 

[Deleted member 18083]

In less than 6 hours the snow would begin to fall in the darkness.

Winter had come!

Haven't been on this thread in a while, just checked the last three pages, great to see what everyone was up to!

Flora and Catalyst…
Thank you so much for your ride reports. Wonderful tales that are enjoyed by so many!
… David

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Sunnier skies?

Inland from Brisbane, Queensland
7:20 am; 8 km from home​

For the first few days of 2022, the remnants of a tropical cyclone has been wandering around the Coral Sea (South Pacific) off the east coast of Australia. With gales lashing the coast, it seemed wiser to head inland rather than risk a long ride along the coast.

This morning I woke earlier but left late, heading east towards the Great Divide – didn't make it that far, of course! Quiet roads: mostly sealed but some, thankfully, still gravel. After 20 km travelling through flat farmland, my route turned sharply upward. The Homage's gentle assistance was appreciated up Evans Hill to the old hilltop cemetery, a pleasant, but temporary, resting place for me.

Clouds were gathering. Forget them: if it rained – it most certainly would! – the cooling refreshment would be welcomed.

View to the south from Evans Hill
8:15 am; 25 km​

My route to Evans Hill was through the flat farmland in the above photo. The distant mountains on the right are part of the continental divide: our side drains to the Pacific Ocean; beyond the Great Dividing Range streams form part of the Murray-Darling Basin that empties – assuming water makes its way to the sea – into the Southern Ocean.

Tallegalla Cemetery
Looking west from Evans Hill, Queensland​

 

[dodgeman]

Air temp 12 f here, wind chill -7 and falling temps today, no riding for me.

 

[Frank/Delaware]

Winter Has Come

As I sat down to write about my ride the other day, the scenery outside my window was this..
View attachment 111086
Not my type of cycling weather, although I'm sure it will probably stir the heart strings of those who have an affinity for chosing wheels over skiis when it comes to traversing snowy roads.

No, the prior day, which I chose to herald my first ride in 2022, was much, MUCH warmer, certainly nowhere near as white, and almost perfect in every aspect...except for the rain. Rain which arrived in the early morning and, like an uninvited guest who preferred to overstay their welcome by lounging around drinking coffee all day, completely ignoring the increasing ire of the host to get on with delayed activities while there was some daylight left in the sky. Thanks to the dense gray cloud cover and spotty rain, I was kept off my bike until about 4pm which, at that point, the rain decided it would go annoy some other section of the county, and decamped without a word leaving behind wet, muddy gravel roads and soggy fields. It's departure also left an open window for an abbreviated bike ride

I had been out raking my long gravel driveway earlier, between intermittent showers, smoothing out the increasing number of washboarding that had developed through the last few months of our local drought, and had texted my neighbor asking if he'd like me to rake his driveway as well. My neighbors are up in their 80s and not quite as mobile, so I like to do little favors for them since they graciously allow me to use their barn for my excess hay storage. My neighbor immediately texted me back three words, all YES, all in caps. By the time I'd finished grooming his driveway and filling in the scattering of potholes that had gown into cute little ponds up and down the 1/4 mile length of his lane, the rain had ceased, leaving behind only a gloomy sky full of obese, disapproving clouds. The temperatures were still t-shirt warm and fairly calm, although the forecast promised a dramatic flip flop to bitter cold and snow in less than 10 hours. If I wanted to get in my bike ride before nightfall and before the onslaught of Arctic cold, I had only an hour to do so.
View attachment 111087
I chose a quiet route on the gravel roads that would first take me past a local centuries old cemetery. I wanted to do a quick check for a particular gravestone for the ancestor of a gentleman who lives on the west coast. That little diversion cost me a little under a half hour, but sadly netted nothing in the way of discovering any stone or marker for the gentlemen's elusive many time great grandfather who had died in 1818. (The gentleman was very appreciative of my efforts, nonetheless, which I thought was quite kind of him).

The loss of that half hour, unfortunately, had set me back in the distance I'd selected to ride, but I didn't know that at the time as the day was still relatively decent, and the roads beautifully serene with grand views of the mountains so close by and lots of open fields sporting a clean look from the recent rains. It was a pleasant ride, unencumbered by any need to share the road as I was about the only one out traveling at the time. Only one or two cars passed me the entire 13 miles, both polite and pleasant with waves hello to match mine.

Perhaps I only noticed the first change in the weather because my bike is such a silent creature, gliding along with naught but the near silent whisper of the tires gently caressing the roads. I had been admiring the passing of a multi-field horse farm when I felt the first hint of a breeze. A breeze that seemed to build with every turn of my pedal until the breeze became a series of abrupt gusts, one so vindictive as to shove my bike sideways, causing me no small amount of alarm as I fought to keep upright under the unexpected assault. It was about then that I noticed the declining light was becoming even more declining, further increasing my building sense of alarm. I was over 6 miles from home, but time was definitely not on my side. Overhead the bare limbs and branches of the winter-shorn trees morphed from friendly to sinister as the winds urged them into a bit of a diabolical dance over my head. It was the archtype of darkening nighttime that one finds in spooky tales of goblins, monsters and haunts of centuries long ago. And I was now in the midst of it.

I ducked my head and began to pedal, the pleasure aspect of the ride having dissolved into one far less eager to be outside anymore. As I raced on in the growing darkness, buffeted by the increasingly hostile winds and dropping temperatures, I began to notice lights shining from the windows of houses along the way. People home in the warmth, out of the oncoming cold front, unaware of the lone cyclist passing by in a hurry to put the final miles under her tires and far behind her. I had been smart to dress warm, but my biggest concern was I could no longer clearly see the road. I could only guess at times what lay in front of me in the dim light and had to trust my bike to handle whatever came it's way. We were all alone on the road.

I guess I was fortunate that the prior rains had helped soften the gravel roads to the point where the tires of passing traffic had smoothed out the surface ruts and bumps. At 20mph, cycling alone in the dim twilight under a black cloud covered sky, I was graced with a smooth passage, meeting not one pothole or washboard. Even as the ghosts of every spooky story ever told swirled around me in the wind and dark rustling trees, I kept up my pace, pedaling hard and fast until I reached the paved road a mile from home.

It was completely dark by then, my front light heroically doing its level best to illuminate the road in front of me. Thankfully, the road is an old familiar friend who threw no surprises at me in my final dash towards home. I pulled into my driveway, the warming lights shining through my house's windows welcoming me home. A short hop to the garage to park the bike for the night, open the door to announce I was home, and then a mad dash to the barn to give the impatiently waiting horses their dinner. I was smiling as I tossed an extra heavyweight blanket on each horse for additional warmth in the face of the coming storm, happy that I'd logged my first bike ride of the new year.

In less than 6 hours the snow would begin to fall in the darkness.

Winter had come.

OMG - I love your writing. You have been away way too long.

 

[kahn]

Haven't been on this thread in a while, just checked the last three pages, great to see what everyone was up to! Charge, always enjoy your ride reports, you unrepentant madman! That can't be the same bike, I thought you'd destroyed it months ago! Stefan, love visiting Warsaw via your reports and photos. Great to see everyone's year-end photos and stats.

I don't have any of that... just a long-delayed report here of another wacky out-the-back-door ride (or "chimney ride") as Stefan put it. This was a really weird trail just outside Griffith Park, I'm calling this ride my "Solstice Ride" or "Max Dirt Max Speed" because it's a route that gets me to the most dirt (5 short trails) and the highest speed (on pavement) over the course of about 14 miles. Real elevation gain for the whole run from my house totaled more like 2,000 feet. (I got Strava turned on late, so the only valid thing from its screenshot is the map.) It starts with six miles of mostly pavement in the Hollywood Hills that includes three short stretches of dirt, all of it fun, but none of it challenging. Then you wind your way up a very steep hill, probably a bit over 15%, to Wonder View drive and go past the gate and bear left onto a gravel road up to a forbidding-looking "No Trespassing" sign which-- if you read carefully-- only applies to cars. (The trail is listed on hiking websites.)

Then, you arrive at probably the most primitive trail in Griffith Park that it's still possible for me to ride, at least at this late stage of play. Though I was right in the middle of the city, I saw not a soul on this ride, and not a single bike track. People do not ride bikes here, and I quickly discovered why-- almost turned back several times, but had no problems. It looks worse than it is... but not much, I just had to walk the bike through the rough spots! It is called the Power Line Road, and is an access road for the high tension lines, supposedly-- but for the last few towers, travel by any four-wheeled vehicle would be impossible.

I'm glad I went, it was a good challenge, but I do not recommend this trail. The pictures are in roughly chronological order, and you can see, even at the start, there's enough loose rock that a rookie like me has to watch downhill speed carefully.

The second shot is a wide of the most difficult part of the trail-- this is about 15% according to hiking project. You can see in the middle-lower-left where the road has washed out several times and been shored up with... random junk.

The third shot is rock garden(ish) number one, which I did not ride down because the rocks were so slick, but did ride up on the way back-- quite easily, to my surprise. Nice job, Moto and Maxxis Ikons!

The fourth shot is rock garden(ish) number two, which was too loose for me. At my skill level? Yeah, I walked the bike both up and down that one. Didn't want to try this someplace that was quite so hard to reach if I got in trouble. (And would have reduced dose of blood thinners slightly, as I did when I skied steeper stuff.)

The fifth shot is the washout, which I had to carry the bike over. Really glad Seeker is only 46 pounds-- tricky balancing on the rocks even so, serious injury would be certain if I had if I lost my footing. (That was where I almost turned around.) Sixth is a shot of the return right before I got back to the gate

On the way back, you go down that steep incline, and I hit my fastest speed yet on any bike-- I know some of y'all go much faster, but for me, holy crap, that was WAY faster than acoustic bike speed. The moto was rock solid. I trust the speedometer more than Strava, because the really fast bit was too brief for GPS to capture, I think. I had to brake to avoid having to pass a car at the bottom of the hill, so I think 45+ speeds are definitely possible here.

Then one more nice, very easy dirt trail descending by the reservoir, and back home. Major workout w/ such a small motor, and pushing and carrying the bike!



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The visuals show it would have been a challenge. Well done.

 

[kahn]

@Readytoride Please post more mesmerizing reports. PLEASE.