Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[RabH]

Another murky but mild morning, mist and fog this time due to a lack of wind! Still very enjoyable though, I had a real blast round my local back roads! I tried a road I haven't used for quite a while, this part was pretty awesome but it was very rough in other parts! It was very rutted and extremely flithy due to large trucks moving rubble from a local site, thankfully I didn't meet any of them today!

You can see how rough it was from a little further back down the same road, not much tarmac left!

Very few photos today due to the conditions but I loved every minute of it, lots of ups and downs to enjoy! I passed the 18,000 mile mark on my awesome Giant today, hopefully it will be good for another 18,000 and much more!

 

[DaveMatthews]

He's going to love the Talon. My brother really likes his.

Yeah, he's already commuted to work on it twice now. Yesterday after work he went from work to a friends house and then home. He said he was very impressed with the battery. He did get a little spoiled with the Stance rear shock, but a gel seat cover will help. I see a suspension post in his future. So far so good mate!

 

[Cowlitz]

My first ride of the year happened. I didn't take a camera and it was only to the post office. The main roads are thawed but the neighborhood streets are ice and slush. I finally saw a bike using the poorly designed but artistic bike (not quite) racks. It was mine. Rode the Radmini. The Gazelle is waiting for the street to become bare of ice and snow for a brake check.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Anyone wants to join me and Jacek for tomorrow's 90 km ride over roads of the KPN?
I posted announcements on FB and Strava but am afraid no one would dare to join e-bikers

Small KPN Loop

87.2 km, +292 m. Bike ride in Łomianki, mazowieckie

ridewithgps.com

 

[Cowlitz]

Anyone wants to join me and Jacek for tomorrow's 90 km ride over roads of the KPN?
I posted announcements on FB and Strava but am afraid no one would dare to join e-bikers

Small KPN Loop

87.2 km, +292 m. Bike ride in Łomianki, mazowieckie

ridewithgps.com

It's a bit far to travel, Sorry.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

It's a bit far to travel, Sorry.

I thought you were already on the flight We could do some gravel cycling on Sunday, too!
You want to ride a Vado or Vado SL? Choose one!

 

[Cowlitz]

The second ride of the day. I had to shovel the snow out of the back of my pickup so I could put the bike in. The rodeo grounds are a good place to ride with dog attached. We had one mishap. The safety feature broke like it was supposed to, but afterwards, I had to hardwire the cord back on. I have not ridden on snow. The bike doesn't slip. My shoes, when getting on and off the bike, do. Here's the Demon and bike posing in front of the arena.

Next time, I'll try to empty the dog before riding.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The bike doesn't slip. My shoes, when getting on and off the bike, do.

Good use of a fat tyre bike!

 

[PatriciaK]

Just under 5 little miles around town today running errands with my trailer . I'm getting the hang of it - it's been much easier than I anticipated! My only issue was Google maps - I was experimenting with it, and it routed me to the UPS store (for evil Amazon returns) via a fairly busy 4 lane street that I would need to cross traffic to make a left turn. It knew I was on the bike! Fortunately, the city is pretty small and I've lived here since 1976, so I knew how to take quieter parallel streets. After leaving the store, stopped by one of our local parks for a picture on this beautiful day! Holland Gardens is a tulip display arranged around a pretty, nonfunctioning windmill. Though the first Euro settlers were Irish, the Dutch came soon after and took over the town . We have quite a little Dutch festival every spring to honor that heritage (the Irish get St Patrick's Day, complete with parade and Mayor kissing the local "blarney stone).

From the park, I headed over to the base to visit the exchange (department store) and commissary (grocery store). They are definitely lacking bike racks, but there was plenty of steel fence pipe to lock to .

Again, didn't do a huge shop, but everything fit in the trailer - especially my very important half case of vino rosso . Once my cargo net arrives, I'll be able to stack stuff up higher and not sorry about it falling out or off!

The morning was mild and sunny, perfect to be out on the La Free!

 

[kahn]

Well, finally things added up to a 20+ mile bike ride with about 1,100 feet of gain and a really superb day in the pacific northWET.

Urban/Suburban adventure rolled down past the University of Washington, across the 520 floating bridge and then through the exclusive towns along the east side of Lake Washington where they inform you that you are being video monitored.

Back across the bridge (one of the longest floating bridges)** and then up through the UW campus and home. I did stop to grab a few photos. From the eastside, across the lake to the Olympic Mts and a shot of Mt Baker, a volcano up near the Canadian Border about 90 miles north - a really clear day.

**edited to add: It is the longest floating bridge in the world:

The 10 Longest Floating Bridges in the World

Permanent floating bridges are essentially boutique structures that only make sense for certain rare kinds of sites: unusually deep bodies of water and/or bodies of water with very soft bottoms, where piers are impractical.

www.enr.com

 

[PatriciaK]

Well, finally things added up to a 20+ mile bike ride with about 1,100 feet of gain and a really superb day in the pacific northWET.

Urban/Suburban adventure rolled down past the University of Washington, across the 520 floating bridge and then through the exclusive towns along the east side of Lake Washington where they inform you that you are being video monitored.

Back across the bridge (one of the longest floating bridges) and then up through the UW campus and home. I did stop to grab a few photos. From the eastside, across the lake to the Olympic Mts and a shot of Mt Baker, a volcano up near the Canadian Border about 90 miles north - a really clear day.

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It was a FABulous day !

 

[ChezCheese:)]

What was it like riding across the bridge? Noisy?

 

[ChezCheese:)]

A gorgeous afternoon at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park, Washington State, USA.

 

[kahn]

What was it like riding across the bridge? Noisy?

It was AWFUL. I hate it each time I do it. I even commented to my companion it is terrible and if anyone ever asks if I want to walk across - tell them to .... themselves. There are more than a couple of joints where cars/trucks pass across "rumble" strips where the floating sections are bridged that are truly hearing loss inducing! My other comment was about riding the 520 trail more or less back from Marymoor. There's a terrible section with horrendous noise that we did in the Fall. I keep reminding her that just because someone built a bike trail does not mean it makes any sense to use it.

I guess I don't learn. But one positive note - there use to be these upsidedown V's over the joints betwee floating sections. When the trail first opened they were a substantial BUMP. It was bad. Lots of complaints. DOT addressed them and made them less prominent. Today, most of them were completely gone. Not sure how they are now dealing with the joints but that aspect I liked. As you probably know, we waited years for a bike path across 520 and the new bridge finally provided it. But THAT NOISE!!!! It can be reasonable when they are doing maintenance and the bridge is closed to vehicular traffic. We've taken advantage of that on occasion.

re: bumps: https://www.seattlebikeblog.com/201...-truly-wsdot-will-fix-520-bridge-trail-bumps/

 

[DiggyGun]

Had a good time at the Riese & Muller dealers today.

Went there to learn how to get the rear wheel off the Nevo3 as it is a belt drive with the Enviolo hub.

In the process of doing this we changed both inner tubes to the Schwalbe AirPlus tubes which ate 70% thicker than their standard tubes. We also added the Panaracer Flat Away (Kevlar) Puncture Protection Strips to the inside tread of the tyres. Didn’t add inner tube sealant this time. See how things go.

Mind you, they did have a hell of a job getting the Johnny Watts tyres off. With the wire rims they were extremely tight And one tyre took about an hour to sort out.

One thing that they did advise was that the wheel rims are suitable for tubeless. Something to think about in the future when needing new tyres. I know mountain bikers like tubeless. Has anyone gone tubeless with this set up and have any thoughts re; pros and cons?

Glad I learnt how to do this. Turns out not too complex but there is a set way of doing this. Hopefully, I won’t need to do it too often…

Was contemplating going on a bike ride when we got home, but the weather hadn’t improved and the temperature was still around 2oC with thick fog in places, making it feel even colder. Weather is looking better tomorrow, so should be able to get out then.

 

[kahn]

Had a good time at the Riese & Muller dealers today.

Went there to learn how to get the rear wheel off the Nevo3 as it is a belt drive with the Enviolo hub.

In the process of doing this we changed both inner tubes to the Schwalbe AirPlus tubes which ate 70% thicker than their standard tubes. We also added the Panaracer Flat Away (Kevlar) Puncture Protection Strips to the inside tread of the tyres. Didn’t add inner tube sealant this time. See how things go.

Mind you, they did have a hell of a job getting the Johnny Watts tyres off. With the wire rims they were extremely tight And one tyre took about an hour to sort out.

One thing that they did advise was that the wheel rims and tyres were suitable to be tubeless. Something to think about in the future, I know mountain bikers like tubeless. Has anyone gone tubeless with this set up and have any thoughts re; pros and cons?

Glad I learnt how to do this. Turns out not too complex but there is a set way of doing this. Hopefully, I won’t need to do it too often…

Was contemplating going on a bike ride when we got home, but the weather hadn’t improved and the temperature was still around 2oC with thick fog in places, making it feel even colder. Weather is looking better tomorrow, so should be able to get out then.

Obviously with belt drive you have issues in any event but the fact that it can take that long to get tires off and then back on makes field flat repair that much more problematic. I finally added a tire wrench or what ever you call the tool to drag the last bit of tire back on the rim kicking and screaming the entire time. (both the tire and I were kicking and screaming).

I guess they do want us to move to tubeless. I've asked the bike shop about the pro's and con's of tubeless. Most employees seem to be more old fashioned and mentioned they still prefer non-tubeless.

I guess tubeless might make sense on a belt system and on my front hub converted motor bike since removing those wheels is more of an issue than mid-drive beltless. On my front hub, there is no quick release and it has a few bolts and need specific wrench and torquing.

While I have not yet tried these, I did purchase two. What I call "sausage" tubes. The wheel can stay on.

Amazon.com

 

[Anna]

Had a good time at the Riese & Muller dealers today.

Went there to learn how to get the rear wheel off the Nevo3 as it is a belt drive with the Enviolo hub.

In the process of doing this we changed both inner tubes to the Schwalbe AirPlus tubes which ate 70% thicker than their standard tubes. We also added the Panaracer Flat Away (Kevlar) Puncture Protection Strips to the inside tread of the tyres. Didn’t add inner tube sealant this time. See how things go.

Mind you, they did have a hell of a job getting the Johnny Watts tyres off. With the wire rims they were extremely tight And one tyre took about an hour to sort out.

One thing that they did advise was that the wheel rims are suitable for tubeless. Something to think about in the future when needing new tyres. I know mountain bikers like tubeless. Has anyone gone tubeless with this set up and have any thoughts re; pros and cons?

Glad I learnt how to do this. Turns out not too complex but there is a set way of doing this. Hopefully, I won’t need to do it too often…

Was contemplating going on a bike ride when we got home, but the weather hadn’t improved and the temperature was still around 2oC with thick fog in places, making it feel even colder. Weather is looking better tomorrow, so should be able to get out then.

I just purchased the Schawlbe Air Plus inner tubes and noticed the sizing covers width 2.1”-3”… I’m hoping the stretch to fit my 2.6” width tire doesn’t cause the tube to stretch so much it fails easily. (I purchased directly from the company.) After multiple flats (rear tire only) I am frustrated. My Maxxis 3C Terra DHR II tires are difficult to remove.
Let us know how it goes!

 

[kahn]

View attachment 111855
A gorgeous afternoon at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park, Washington State, USA.

Did you bike up the road? That's some serious climbing.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@DiggyGun:
Taken into account you live in a temperate climate and basically do not need to replace tyres between summer and winter; and because of your IGH, it is strongly advisable that you go tubeless. (It wouldn't work for me).

 

[DiggyGun]

I just purchased the Schawlbe Air Plus inner tubes and noticed the sizing covers width 2.1”-3”… I’m hoping the stretch to fit my 2.6” width tire doesn’t cause the tube to stretch so much it fails easily. (I purchased directly from the company.) After multiple flats (rear tire only) I am frustrated. My Maxxis 3C Terra DHR II tires are difficult to remove.
Let us know how it goes!

Will do. I’ve used the Kevlar liners before and they worked well. The only punctures I was getting was on the rim side of the inner tube, couldn’t work it out then.