Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Deleted member 18083]

Protection from above…

Brisbane Valley Rail Trail​

At this time of the year magpies (pictured on the blue cycle jersey) are our friends, preferring to cadge morsels at our frequent refreshment stops in preference to bloodying our ears. In six months' time the Da Brims that most of us wear will protect us from these dreaded dive-bombers as well as the sun.

 

[RabH]

A distance from point A to B over a known route is a fixed and known value. My experience tells me GPS is doing measurement OK (otherwise car GPS navigation would make little sense). Most of speedometers/odometers for e-bikes produce values that are different from reality. Typically, the e-bike display reports longer distance ridden and higher cruising speed than is correct. Specifically, EVO displays for Giant e-bikes are notorious for overestimating the distance ridden and speed.

As Rab knows me, I'm really experienced in these matters. Interestingly, my Czech hub-drive motor e-bike on 42-622 tyres gives almost exact distance and speed as reported by GPS. My EU "speed" Vado is in agreement with GPS when ridden on stock Electrak 2.0 tyres. (The latter is the result of very accurate design by Specialized that had to prove the speedometer accuracy for EU Certificate of Conformity).

Rab, make an experiment. I'm sure there are radars with display in your area. Ride by such radar at constant speed and compare your speedometer readout with the radar readout. I'm gonna make a bet with you your EVO overestimates your speed

There aren't many radars in my area actually but I know of one which is on a big downhill which I regularly ride when no restrictions are in place! I always go faster than the 30mph speed limit unless there is a strong headwind... The next time I'm there I will check it against my Evo display and gps!

 

[RandallS]

Group ride yesterday with friends - mainly urban paths and roads.

Nice day for a ride - a little brisk to start, but it finished well. 3 Ebikes and one Analog.

@LouLouLePew (Center) was on his Explore, me on my Fathom, my friend Brad (right) on my old (2011) BionX powered Electra Townie and our analog tour guide, Pete, on his Kona.
Other than a couple of hills, he has no problems keeping up - a long time strong cyclist.

In regards to my Fathom - which is currently running Johnny Watts rubber - I am extremely happy with their versatility.
On days like this, when it's all pavement, they perform admirably, and on days like yesterday, with lots of pavement, but still some hilly singletrack, I was never concerned about my tires.

Not a lot to say other than we intended to finish our ride at a favorite Pub X for a late lunch with beverages - but they were closed , so it was on to Y which wasn't.
Alberta is back to level 1 lockdown, so it's patios only with reduced capacity, but thankfully "Joey's Crowfoot" had space for us - including a place to lock up our bikes in view of our table.
A nice Ahi Tuna Club sandwich and a couple of "small" local IPA's and I was good to finish the ride.

Back to Pete's place (Z) for an appropriate "Cyclist Inspired" final hydration and then loaded up my two bikes and headed for home.

If you are unfamiliar with Radlers - read this.

Cheers!

 

[K PierreR]

My long ride of 128 miles to Columbus Ohio has been delayed at least a week and maybe two. Bummer but it would have been very cold to do it tomorrow anyway.
Seems the work I was going to do for my friend involves moving furniture and stuff out of the way to gain access. His wife will not be there this weekend and was not comfortable with him just shoving her sht all over so the work will have to wait. Wait a minute, they can do that stuff before I get there. I want no part of that sht show.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Scant interest in ebikes amongst this mob…

Clarendon, Queensland​

 

[Stefan Mikes]

If you are unfamiliar with Radlers - read this.

My Dad used to call it Shandy (as he learned to like this in his post-war Australia years). Yes, I have read the article Funny thing... Polish Radler is 0%. I had it twice: for the first and the last time

 

[RabH]

With the travel restrictions now lifted I decided to do one of my favourite trips and I got a nice surprise to find the roughest part of the road with lovely new tarmac! This part used to be full of potholes which were easy to avoid but its now such a joy to ride this part now! They have now completed the whole 3 mile section of this road which is mostly downhill in this direction so it was a real blast on such a beautiful day!

Once I reached the lovely town of Linlithgow the climbing was about to begin and with views like this it is certainly not a chore!

The view at the top of the climb is pretty spectacular also!

Just before the summit is the wonderful corkscrew (shades of Laguna Seca here) I actually met a car on the way up (enough room for us both though, only just) but I had already enjoyed the fun part!

On days like this I'm so glad I'm not working now, I had such a blast on amazing dry roads and didn't even have to clean my bike at the end! Cycling really is the best when you get days like this, long may it continue! I now have to try to talk my dad into letting me enjoy a long ride this Sunday!Wish me luck, I will probably need it! All going well I should manage at least 50 miles but I would love to do at least 100km if time allows! My gps showed a top speed of 43.5mph this time, Evo display showed 44.4mph...

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

Another day in Shangri La

Picked up a new rooster

 

[Chargeride]

This thread moves so fast thesedays, if I dont browse for 24 hours I'm 4 pages back.
Went up to the Lake District on thursday and England has re emerged.
Ebikes everywhere..mostly oldies like me, women in their 50s on trails I would usually class as experience only, turning around, soldiering on..just an amazing atmosphere..kids , dads, girlfriends talking ebikes ,batteries, suspension travel.
Pubs open outside, a cornerstone of British culture.
Sorry, my sentence construction is crashing with every drink .
20 degrees, sun beating down, beautiful mountains in the distance, trails into the skies, met an American family with precocious kids on the trail, exchanged some banter..asked them how they managed to travel , responded that they had lived here for years.
The whole ride refilled my soul, so much bad news..so much humanity on offer, still stifled by the british stiff upperclip , but the cracks were showing.
As usual I videod my day.
Skip the middle offroad bit to the lovely village of Hawkeshead, part 1 , the next vid is me getting lost in the mountains with one bar of battery.

 

[Art Deco]

This thread moves so fast thesedays, if I dont browse for 24 hours I'm 4 pages back.
Went up to the Lake District on thursday and England has re emerged.
Ebikes everywhere..mostly oldies like me, women in their 50s on trails I would usually class as experience only, turning around, soldiering on..just an amazing atmosphere..kids , dads, girlfriends talking ebikes ,batteries, suspension travel.
Pubs open outside, a cornerstone of British culture.
Sorry, my sentence construction is crashing with every drink .
20 degrees, sun beating down, beautiful mountains in the distance, trails into the skies, met an American family with precocious kids on the trail, exchanged some banter..asked them how they managed to travel , responded that they had lived here for years.
The whole ride refilled my soul, so much bad news..so much humanity on offer, still stifled by the british stiff upperclip , but the cracks were showing.
As usual I videod my day.
Skip the middle offroad bit to the lovely village of Hawkeshead, part 1 , the next vid is me getting lost in the mountains with one bar of battery.

Just a great ride video. I used to hate videos. I still do in general, but @Chargeride , your videos have changed my mind a bit.
And as far as the thread moving fast, yeah, well over a thousand posts so far. And it's only April. Grin.

 

[Chargeride]

Thanks Art, my goal is not to bore people with 'heres my story'.
I just like to show where ebikes can take you when you dont have the ultimate fitness to manual it.

 

[PedalUma]

Here is my boring story. I had a nice eBike gravel ride yesterday on the SF Bay area levies and wetlands flat bird sanctuaries with a woman I had met during breakfast. A perfect day. She surprised me after at her place by showing my two recent accusations that she wants to make electric with mid-drives. Regrettably they are single-speeds. So I swung by the LBS to see if I could get an IGH wheel to install on one of them. I did. And I saw a lost love. It is candy apple red.
This is a bike I rode once two years ago. Beautiful. It was the last of its kind and vanished before I could buy it. It has a European handmade frame and IGH with coaster brake. This is same bike with the same serial number that was lost in inventory storage for two years. I bought it on the spot.
I started upgrades and the conversion to electric last night. Only 1/2 completed, I sold it today. The new owner is picking it up next week. 20-hour turn around from purchase to resale.

 

[Art Deco]

Cool story. Happy ending.

 

[steve mercier]

This thread moves so fast thesedays, if I dont browse for 24 hours I'm 4 pages back.
Went up to the Lake District on thursday and England has re emerged.
Ebikes everywhere..mostly oldies like me, women in their 50s on trails I would usually class as experience only, turning around, soldiering on..just an amazing atmosphere..kids , dads, girlfriends talking ebikes ,batteries, suspension travel.
Pubs open outside, a cornerstone of British culture.
Sorry, my sentence construction is crashing with every drink .
20 degrees, sun beating down, beautiful mountains in the distance, trails into the skies, met an American family with precocious kids on the trail, exchanged some banter..asked them how they managed to travel , responded that they had lived here for years.
The whole ride refilled my soul, so much bad news..so much humanity on offer, still stifled by the british stiff upperclip , but the cracks were showing.
As usual I videod my day.
Skip the middle offroad bit to the lovely village of Hawkeshead, part 1 , the next vid is me getting lost in the mountains with one bar of battery.

Good stuff !

 

[PedalUma]

Cool story. Happy ending.

Thanks! @SteveE mercer. Among other projects I am working on a gravel bike. Just put WTB Riddlers in black on it. It is all Black and Matte Silver. Super light. I am feeding all the wires internally using a cable to pull them. I just heat shrink, then pull. I took an unfocused photo just now so I will post it at a later stage.
Here is the current state of the Candy Red Glider. Polished crank arms to match. It is going to a Nurse with hand issues. Hence the coaster brake and upright riding position to help keep weight off her hands. Her Reise and Muller has been dangerously heavy to handle and super expensive to maintain at the dealer. It has died twice on the road and no Uber will take it. Too heavy. She's had to call a towing service and show up late to her shifts.

 

[Cowlitz]

I hoped that I had found a way to ride up the valley and totally avoid the highway. Google Maps showed a road. But alas, it became a private NO TRESPASSING road. Sigh. They don't show up, but geese were busy at social interactions doing what they do this time of year. It was not peaceful down there.

Stopped in the big city of Riverside on the way back and saw this big guy standing across the road.

 

[steve mercier]

Thanks! @SteveE mercer. Among other projects I am working on a gravel bike. Just put WTB Riddlers in black on it. It is all Black and Matte Silver. Super light. I am feeding all the wires internally using a cable to pull them. I just heat shrink, then pull. I took an unfocused photo just now so I will post it at a later stage.
Here is the current state of the Candy Red Glider. Polished crank arms to match. It is going to a Nurse with hand issues. Hence the coaster brake and upright riding position to help keep weight off her hands. Her Reise and Muller has been dangerously heavy to handle and super expensive to maintain at the dealer. It has died twice on the road and no Uber will take it. Too heavy. She's had to call a towing service and show up late to her shifts.

WOW !

 

[Twin Valley]

for some the first sign of spring in our parts is the hearty crocus poking through the brown grass but for me it is when my fair weather better half says she wants to go for a bike ride, of course, I'm more interested in that famous lunch kit latched on the back of her bike but unfortunately today it only had "healthy" morsels, as we reached the grove of poplar trees at the bottom of that picture we were greeted with an amazing site - at least 15 blue heron nests were full of mommas that looked liked pteradactyls retreating from my picture attempt - I really do need to start carrying a camera with a zoom lense of some sort - great day with our first plus 20 degree celcius

 

[Chargeride]

My friend with the fatbike decided to split his battery to fit in the frame.
Its not going in my van.

 

[RabH]

This thread moves so fast thesedays, if I dont browse for 24 hours I'm 4 pages back.
Went up to the Lake District on thursday and England has re emerged.
Ebikes everywhere..mostly oldies like me, women in their 50s on trails I would usually class as experience only, turning around, soldiering on..just an amazing atmosphere..kids , dads, girlfriends talking ebikes ,batteries, suspension travel.
Pubs open outside, a cornerstone of British culture.
Sorry, my sentence construction is crashing with every drink .
20 degrees, sun beating down, beautiful mountains in the distance, trails into the skies, met an American family with precocious kids on the trail, exchanged some banter..asked them how they managed to travel , responded that they had lived here for years.
The whole ride refilled my soul, so much bad news..so much humanity on offer, still stifled by the british stiff upperclip , but the cracks were showing.
As usual I videod my day.
Skip the middle offroad bit to the lovely village of Hawkeshead, part 1 , the next vid is me getting lost in the mountains with one bar of battery.

Great video, your rides are like the exact opposite of mine but we can both have great fun riding our e bikes! I search out the smoothest roads and you go for the roughest the country has to offer! I couldn't even contemplate riding in that terrain but I can see you thrive in it! That's what its all about, getting out there and enjoying our bikes is the best medicine ever invented, especially in these hard times!