Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

Another fine Whidbey ride yesterday!

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Taking the day off to get some chores done (will make a short grocery/wine run with the bike trailer), then back on the saddle tomorrow ...

Here's a shot of some sculptures at the trail head where I waited for my tour buddy - I think they're referencing the basketry skills of the Coast Salish people who were here long before we were:

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That's it, time to get busy!
 
Went to a new place today. Irchester Country Park in Northamptonshire.

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It turns out that this place was formerly an Iron Ore quarry that closed in 1941. This went for a long seam of 60 miles all the way through Northamptonshire and into part of Leicestershire.

The park is built on the Limestone spoil that was on top of the Iron Ore.
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As requested, our first picnic stop was, Tiger Rolls with Cajun Chicken, Tomato and Radish, Potato fries, and, Bovril to drink.
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The second picnic stop was un-scheduled as Mrs DG wanted an ice-cream.
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Third picnic stop was a bit more healthier with Apples, Bananas, Apricots and Yoghurt and Fruit Biscuits, with Black Coffee.
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The routes were a bit short, so we planned to go round a few times, but couldn’t really as the place was packed with kids. However, we had to cut the ride short as Mrs DG hurt her wrist and we are now in A&E waiting for it to be looked at.
 

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Went to a new place today. Irchester Country Park in Northamptonshire.

View attachment 130252It turns out that this place was formerly an Iron Ore quarry that closed in 1941. This went for a long seam of 60 miles all the way through Northamptonshire and into part of Leicestershire.

The park is built on the Limestone spoil that was on top of the Iron Ore.
View attachment 130255View attachment 130256
View attachment 130257

As requested, our first picnic stop was, Tiger Rolls with Cajun Chicken, Tomato and Radish, Potato fries, and, Bovril to drink.
View attachment 130260

The second picnic stop was un-scheduled as Mrs DG wanted an ice-cream.
View attachment 130261

Third picnic stop was a bit more healthier with Apples, Bananas, Apricots and Yoghurt and Fruit Biscuits, with Black Coffee.
View attachment 130262

The routes were a bit short, so we planned to go round a few times, but couldn’t really as the place was packed with kids. However, we had to cut the ride short as Mrs DG hurt her wrist and we are now in A&E waiting for it to be looked at.
Hope the injury is minor.

Had to look up Bovril. I might like it. I like salty. On long backpacking trips I would take a variety of miso soups. Breakfast and dinner.
 
It coulda been worse. There were no watermelons to buy today at Wally World, or much of anything else so I wasn't too loaded down with groceries.

My bike broke down. I climbed on to get going after pushing it across the intersection of doom and there was a clunk and the pedals stopped. The chain had jumped off the front sprocket. I messed with it, got hands all greasy but it was wedged solid between a knobby bit and a rivet. Pushed to the mini mart to get some water--we're having a heat wave and it was already 87 degrees. Pushed it next door to Harbor Freight to see if a big screwdriver would push it off. Nope. Pushed it on home about a mile.

I am now cooled off after sitting in front of a fan in my cool house. Time to phone a bike shop, I guess. I think the crank will have to come off unless they have a special hooky doodle thing to pull on a chain without bending other bike parts up.
 
It coulda been worse. There were no watermelons to buy today at Wally World, or much of anything else so I wasn't too loaded down with groceries.

My bike broke down. I climbed on to get going after pushing it across the intersection of doom and there was a clunk and the pedals stopped. The chain had jumped off the front sprocket. I messed with it, got hands all greasy but it was wedged solid between a knobby bit and a rivet. Pushed to the mini mart to get some water--we're having a heat wave and it was already 87 degrees. Pushed it next door to Harbor Freight to see if a big screwdriver would push it off. Nope. Pushed it on home about a mile.

I am now cooled off after sitting in front of a fan in my cool house. Time to phone a bike shop, I guess. I think the crank will have to come off unless they have a special hooky doodle thing to pull on a chain without bending other bike parts up.
Thats happened to me a few times, but I could loosen the chainring from the crank.
 
Perimeter ride today up on my normal place - Nose Hill.

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Some flowy bits from the south end.
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Some bike posing pics:

Looking east

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Looking south:

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And looking ... heck, I can't remember.

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Nice day, not too hot. Still enjoying my audiobook "The Glass Key".

Yesterday was a longer ride: Put my bike on my rack when the wife and I went to Chiropractor appointments, and she took the car home.
I hopped on my bike and went over to visit with Louis (a former EBR member) who is recuperating after knee replacement surgery.

To his place in an area called Lakeview - very nice. My Garmin malfunctioned (well, user error) and I lost a bunch of the ride.

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And from his place, back to mine:

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All told, about 50 kms with ~450m of ascending.
A LOT more roads than I am used to, but quite a few designated with bike lanes.

The route along the river is on a pathway that is usually packed with bikers, and Bow River itself gets a fair amount of recreational use too.
These two photos are from last Friday, when it was a beautiful day too! I was heading NW and it was very quiet for a Friday.

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Thats happened to me a few times, but I could loosen the chainring from the crank.
It happened to me on the above pictured Creo a number of times. A lot more number of times. Each time the chain would get nicely wedged in between the chainring and the motor housing. Besides being a greasy mess, I was able to extricate it without ruining the chain. But it took a lot of tugging and moving the chainring and more tugging. Most of it may have been user error. I probably did not align the chain with the proper teeth or forgot to engage the clutch after fixing a flat. But the worst day, when I bailed and got rescued, it must have happened about ten times, on uphills and flats. Apparently, a little spill I took on a previous ride bent the derailleur hanger. Live (fortunately) and learn! I now have a chain guard on there to hopefully prevent such jumping and I try to avoid FALLING!
 
Thats happened to me a few times, but I could loosen the chainring from the crank.
There is a bump and a rivet that it is truly stuck in. I wrestled with it, and said magical words, but nothing worked. It is stuck.

I do think the chain was too loose, although a so called bike expert said it was OK, since I probably wasn't riding off bumps and jumps. I'll ask questions tomorrow. I do know how to adjust chainsaws so can bikes be much different? :)
 
There is a bump and a rivet that it is truly stuck in. I wrestled with it, and said magical words, but nothing worked. It is stuck.

I do think the chain was too loose, although a so called bike expert said it was OK, since I probably wasn't riding off bumps and jumps. I'll ask questions tomorrow. I do know how to adjust chainsaws so can bikes be much different? :)
Just don't confuse them and put that chainsaw between your legs! o_O
 
Perimeter ride today up on my normal place - Nose Hill.

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Some flowy bits from the south end.
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Some bike posing pics:

Looking east

View attachment 130293

Looking south:

View attachment 130294

And looking ... heck, I can't remember.

View attachment 130295

Nice day, not too hot. Still enjoying my audiobook "The Glass Key".

Yesterday was a longer ride: Put my bike on my rack when the wife and I went to Chiropractor appointments, and she took the car home.
I hopped on my bike and went over to visit with Louis (a former EBR member) who is recuperating after knee replacement surgery.

To his place in an area called Lakeview - very nice. My Garmin malfunctioned (well, user error) and I lost a bunch of the ride.

View attachment 130304

And from his place, back to mine:

View attachment 130311

All told, about 50 kms with ~450m of ascending.
A LOT more roads than I am used to, but quite a few designated with bike lanes.

The route along the river is on a pathway that is usually packed with bikers, and Bow River itself gets a fair amount of recreational use too.
These two photos are from last Friday, when it was a beautiful day too! I was heading NW and it was very quiet for a Friday.

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Nice! Nose Hill sure has greened up since I was there last but those epic views of the skyline remain etched in my hard drive. 👍
 
Hope the injury is minor.

Had to look up Bovril. I might like it. I like salty. On long backpacking trips I would take a variety of miso soups. Breakfast and dinner.
Update:

We were at A&E for about three hours in the end. Mrs DG had hurt her wrist at work a couple of months ago and somehow yesterday, managed to jar it, making it very painful and swollen.

After a check over, no serious damage was found and they put it down as soft tissue damage and gave her a support brace to wear. And the normal care advice of don’t use it for two weeks to let it settle down.
 
That’s the nice thing about the Gates Carbon Rubber drive belt on our Riese and Muller bikes. No chain jump, no dirt, no grease. Just always clean and well recommended.
An unfortunate event [18 months ago—early 2020]…
[Reposted from the 2020 Our Rides thread.]

Riese & Müller describe the Gates Carbon Drive in one word, indestructible. On yesterday's ride [2020–01–31] that proved to be not quite the case.​
I set off on an old favourite from Wacol in Brisbane's west to the sea and then, after refreshment at Pam's Café at Nudgee Beach, back to Wacol via a slightly shorter route. It would be around 110 km on bike paths or quiet roads all the way.​
As I passed through the city centre on the return trip, I took a break in the leafy shade of Roma Street Parkland for a final raid on the contents of my pannier. A local company's employees were enjoying an afternoon off work playing cricket – the final Friday afternoon of each month is always given over to team-building exercises, I was assured. Why not?​
Twenty minutes later I was pedalling along the riverside bikeway just where the photo of the paddlewheeler was taken; a right turn took me through a cyclists-only tunnel beneath a busy road and past the unloved CityCyles photographed on Monday (the public holiday) and then on to a minor road where I was stopped, as usual, by a red traffic light. I swear it sees me coming!​
Green. I pulled away gently in Tour mode. Halfway across the intersection the pedals spun uselessly out of control. I coasted over to the left. The Gates Carbon Drive belt was off both the front and rear sprockets and, in each of two places, a dozen or more of its 'teeth' were missing.​
From apparently faultless to utterly useless in one revolution; and so ended the first month of 2020.​
Click here for thread titled Gates Carbon Drive : User Experiences.​
—————

My ebikes rated on a five-star system:
  • 2021 R&M Homage (derailleur)—13,000 km
    3 stars (acceptable)
  • 2019 R&M Homage (Rohloff E-14)—30,000 km
    2 stars (seriously flawed design)
  • 2018 Trek Powerfly (derailleur)—12,000 km
    4 stars (well above average)
  • 2017 Kalkhoff Integrale (Di2 electronic IGH)—4,000 km
    1 star (junk)
 
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The chain dropped only once on my Vado SL. Reason? The derailleur clutch disengaged.
The chain has never dropped on my big Vado.

I'm somewhat paranoiac regarding the proper chain length and using the derailleur clutch as prescribed. Note: There is even no chainring guard on my big Vado!
 
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