Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[RabH]

After a truly awful day yesterday I was very glad to get out on the bike today, still very windy but I had a lovely 25mph tailwind to enjoy for the first 24 miles! I was so glad I did as I had to outrun the rain, I did catch the edge of it but I didn't even get wet! Thankfully it stayed dry all the way home so it was a very enjoyable ride indeed! I started on my local cycle path and was greeted with this lovely sight! They were enjoying the sun on their backs and didn't bother getting up to say hello!

I had to pick a route to avoid the nasty rain clouds, I did a pretty good job avoiding them!

A few miles on and the clouds weren't looking as threatening!

I arrived in Falkirk and stopped for a snack at the canal, it was nice in the sun!

I then headed to Bonnybridge and got a nice treat, the road over the canal has a bridge which raises up to allow the canal boats through, for the first time ever I timed it perfect to see the bridge up in the air and 2 canal boasts pass through!

The bridge almost back in position!

Then I headed to Allandale and climbed the hills I descended recently, I had to use level 3 assist to climb these hills today with the 25mph wind right in my face!

What a fantastic day on the bike, it sure is a good feeling having the wind in your hair and all that lovely fresh air coupled with amazing roads that are just made to be ridden! I want this high to stay with me forever, nice dream huh? Back to reality tomorrow...

 

[Stefan Mikes]

with the 25mph wind right in my face!

Very windy in Mazovia. too. I was on a 15 km ride today, and a wind gust almost blew me together with my SL! It was at least very warm!

 

[kahn]

I didn’t think there was a belt either but then I’m the last person to ask about what makes these things tick. Looking at this diagram, it appears that there isn’t one present unlike other models in Specialized’s fleet. I'm thinking it might also be the drive side bearing which unfortunately would fall under the category of wear and tear.
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I'm not sure that I like the sounds of "wear and tear!" Being on an already heavier Aluminum model too loaded with crap and then carrying overweight me - wear and tear is just a normal day of riding hilly Seattle. There's one hill I have avoided since I know that one taxed my other e-bike. But there are still lots of HILLS that I force the Creo up and over. Do these bikes come with weight-limits?

 

[Prairie Dog]

I'm not sure that I like the sounds of "wear and tear!" Being on an already heavier Aluminum model too loaded with crap and then carrying overweight me - wear and tear is just a normal day of riding hilly Seattle. There's one hill I have avoided since I know that one taxed my other e-bike.

Well, I just heard back from the shop and there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that my motor is toast, the good news is that it’s going to be replaced on warranty. Should take roughly a week to arrive and an afternoon in the shop if all goes well. Mine is a MY2020 if anyone is curious.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Yah, for a Polish speaker, it's a piece o'cake!

 

[dodgeman]

Me and the wife did 13 miles today. It’s been very hot and humid for May with heat index’s getting to a hundred. We try and beat some of the heat by riding in the morning. The picture is of a church we take a break at called Bethel Church.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Yah, for a Polish speaker, it's a piece o'cake!

The Welsh spelling looks like a smart camouflage I could not fail noticing the double L was just "th", the "w" was "oo" and so on Well, once I learned how to sing a Norwegian song by listening to the Google Translate and to the original song to imitate the language pretty well

The Polish transcription for Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is:
Sanwair-puSgłingiS-goger-echłerndrobuS-Santisilio-gogogoch
there the big "S" is English "th" (the one pronounced with your tongue between teeth)

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Today was a ride out to Buttermilk Falls across the river in Rennselaer County. There’s actually two of them, upper and lower. Quiet farm roads, zero traffic, and the road also goes across the top of the Tomhannock Reservoir a few miles earlier. There’s a choice on the way back of a flat four mile loop along the river on a little peninsula, or a pretty serious climb followed by a nice descent that is two miles shorter. Still learning the Creo, so of course it was the ridge. It don’t climb like my Giant Toughroad, but it’ll do! Finally hit 90 degrees and amazingly, almost no humidity. Terrific day.

 

[Mulezen]

90 degrees? I believe I live 300-400 miles south of you and it barely hit 60 degrees

 

[Chargeride]

Eh, no linking to the videos permitted?


I wonder if you will get the same webpage on your PC. If you will, please click the loudspeaker icon to listen to the Polish phrase:
dostałem bombę

Besides, I think I learned pronouncing the name of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch Actually, that's simple if you listen to the pronunciation carefully...

From 20th of May, I and @Brix will be in:

1. London
2. Brixton (a gig of the band Anymal Function, in which her older brother plays bass)
3. Liverpool
4. Holyhead
5. Dublin
6. Chester (very short stay!)

No cycling whatsoever! No meeting of any EBR members! Something more like a honeymoon

Have a great time!

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Saratoga County, NY, Mulezen. We’ve finally had a hell of a good week, 86 yesterday, touched 90 this afternoon, 86 predicted tomorrow. Can’t last, but I’m getting as much seat time as I can out of it before the humidity arrives next month.

 

[Mulezen]

The dreaded humidity and David Berry’s example will get me out earlier.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Me and the wife did 13 miles today. It’s been very hot and humid for May with heat index’s getting to a hundred. We try and beat some of the heat by riding in the morning. The picture is of a church we take a break at called Bethel Church.
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I have no idea where you are, but good lord, "East 900th St"?? Is there no imagination for naming streets??

 

[BlackHand]

I have no idea where you are, but good lord, "East 900th St"?? Is there no imagination for naming streets??

I remember being amazed when I first moved to Seattle at how dedicated they were at naming roads just with a number and a quadrant and streets always go east-west while avenues run north-south.

My (now)wife took me to Mt Rainier about a month after I got here and I was flabbergasted to see roads numbered the whole way to the park in the middle of nowhere.

Even now, I see one could walk to the corner of 387th Avenue Court East and 570th Street Court East just outside the Nisqually entrance!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I've got a friend suggestion for my full weekend ride to make it exciting. He lives in Puławy, which is a city on the River Vistula known for a gorgeous palace & park that once belonged to the Czartoryski aristocrat family, and now the city sports a huge chemical plant outside the city limits. I'm familiar with Puławy for professional reasons but it had never occurred to me I could e-bike to there! The plan goes like this:

Mazovian Railways operate their bike-friendly commuter trains as deep into the Land of Lublin as Dęblin. I could be at the Pilawa train station with my big Vado as early as 9:55 a.m. on Saturday. The distance to Puławy is reasonable then. I would stay at a hotel, meet the friend, have a couple of good craft ales brewed by the river, stay overnight, and then pedal via another route back to Pilawa. (One of the POIs would be Stoczek Łukowski, a scene for a 1831 Battle of Stoczek where the Polish forces successfully defeated Russian regiments).

It won't be that easy. A spare battery, the e-bike battery charger, two different USB chargers for phone and Wahoo, warmer clothes for the evening... But what an adventure! The Puławy hotel promised they would let me store my e-bike down in their basement, and they even have a cargo lift!

The majority of the area as seen on the map is in Mazovia. However, it was a surprise to myself to discover how closely the Land of Lublin extended towards Warsaw! I hope everything goes well. It is 200+ km spread over two days!

 

[dodgeman]

I have no idea where you are, but good lord, "East 900th St"?? Is there no imagination for naming streets??

It’s a rural area and it’s a system. It has a lot to do with 911 addresses. East 900th street would be 9 miles east of the county line. North 900th road would be 9 miles north of the county line. As far as I know all or most of the counties in Illinois use a similar system.

 

[kahn]

I have no idea where you are, but good lord, "East 900th St"?? Is there no imagination for naming streets??

I live in a neighborhood where there are Keystone, Kenwood, Kensington and Kirkwood as well as (Mc)Kinley! Years ago, I got someone else's front/back porch roof because the roofer came to the wrong K street and started the project. He was stopped before hitting the main roof.

On the north side of Chicago, they went even further, a slew of A names, then B names, etc.

But, what, you want us to have streets like that town in Wales?

 

[kahn]

I remember being amazed when I first moved to Seattle at how dedicated they were at naming roads just with a number and a quadrant and streets always go east-west while avenues run north-south.

My (now)wife took me to Mt Rainier about a month after I got here and I was flabbergasted to see roads numbered the whole way to the park in the middle of nowhere.

Even now, I see one could walk to the corner of 387th Avenue Court East and 570th Street Court East just outside the Nisqually entrance!
View attachment 123156

Seattle is interesting as its grid is like a tic-tac-toe board. Nine grid arrangement with the middle having no e/w/n/w designation.

 

[Chargeride]

Took the bike up to my favourite, not to difficult mtb trail centre, Llandegla in Wales.
I love this place, its such a cosy atmosphere, great food and filled with horrendously expensive gear and bikes.
Someones fitted a chinese petrol engine kit to a Nukeproof and its now on show.

The bike performed perfectly, it was a gorgeous warm but windy day.
On the way up the main ascent, thought I was the only one there, stumbled on a couple on bikes in full snog mode.
They were such a gloriously unlikely couple, she was , I'd say Somalian, with hair down to her waist, stunning looks and he was a pasty white, fat bald guy with a massive ginger beard.
I just said 'mornin'.
Then mumbled to myself..how did he pull her and shes into mtbing.
Envy wont get you anywhere
Anyway, the wind blew the bike over, cos the fat tyres are like sails.

Then the battery came loose and it seems the bolt had backed out so far, that it was preventing it from sliding off.
A bit of grunt got it off, though I had visions of the entire thing snapping and doing the ride with it all ziptied together...wouldnt be the first time.

Discovered a guy repairing the trails.
'You can use the them' he called out.
Oh peer pressure, I joked, I was going to miss it out.
He jumped out of his cab
No, you just do what your happy with , Im not suggesting anything..
Lawyers eh, theyve got us all edgy, theyre a scourge on humanity.

The entire are has been felled, it is a working forest, bit sad as the trail went through the dark woods and now its just a sea of stumps.

The battery then conked out, it usually lasts the entire trail, so that's something I need to investigate..adds to list.., luckily it was right by a cute bench and a path back to the van.

Ive never followed this path before and it goes right past a hidden house in the

woods with a little lake and tree houses, what a gorgeous place to live.

Great day out, got some exercise, didn't crash, bike didnt fail me.
Had some time to myself.

 

[dodgeman]

Another 13 mile ride today. We have two one room school houses near us. The pic I included is stuffed full of old farm equipment.