Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Twin Valley]

Finally, made it back to our family cabin near Fairmont Hot Springs in the Kootenay area of British Columbia. The "family" had other ideas for me today instead of biking but I pleaded my case (health, humour etc. etc.) and away I went promising to be back in an hour. After climbing close to 400 metres in a half hour and reaching a small ski hill in the area I made a quick turn around and coasted down probably faster than I was comfortable with and sure enough as I hit a switch back I discovered 2 small grizzly cubs wrestling over some tasty flowers in the ditch. But my worry was momma and I quickly executed a u-turn and headed back to the ski lodge. The place is closed up for the summer so no hope for traffic on the way up and I had that hour time line . . . luckily, I can't sing a tune for the life of me but my off level singing must of done the trick as I headed back down in about a half an hour as my unexpected company had parted and with much relief I made my way back home slightly late for the next event.

 

[Mulezen]

I shoved off this morning with the intention of beating the rain. A simple ten mile familiar circle I thought but at the five mile stop sign I went left up the hill rather than gliding down the right. Surprised myself, but who hasn't been there. Another turn is three or four miles away, and in the meantime there was this flowery driveway others here would capture to better effect. At Vontay crossing I shocked myself by turning right this time and quickly was gliding at 30mph on the deceptive descent like a magic carpet ride. Always the far way today...why was that? I rode easily for a couple of miles and then a peloton of five overtook me. I patted myself on the back for not pursuing. A little later another three crept by me and this time the dog came out. After passing them on a hill and gliding down the other side I missed another turn home. Okay, I'd stop at the post office, sit in the shade a bit and eat a power bar. Here I fretted about the missed turns. My mileage was creeping up.
"When a man lets things go so far that he is half or more than half bicycle you will not see so much because he spends a lot of his time leaning with one elbow on walls or standing propped by one foot on the kerbstones...the man-charged bicycle is a phenomenon of great charm and intensity and a very dangerous article."

 

[kahn]

I forgot the end of my ride today. I propped the bike against a tree in the backyard and sat in a chair for about 15 minutes before dragging me and the bike up 5 or 6 steps. Yes, those are all dandelions.

 

[BlackHand]

I did the Edmonds Loop from near Greenlake in Seattle. Up to Edmonds partially (only a few miles) on the Interurban Trail. Hit the coffee shop in Edmonds but only picked up a few nuggets for my PICNIC (he and his can't be the only ones who picnic). I don't generally do coffee and when I do it is decaf to avoid losing a night's sleep. Can't do caffeine anymore at all. Waterfront where the ferry was just leaving. A long climb out of Edmonds to an intersection called Perrinville. Around an south and then east down an exquisite Perkins Way - along a babbling brook to Lake Washington and the world renown Burke Gilman Trail (BGT) which has more roots than a mangrove swamp! South toward the Univ of Washington and then back home. Only a few photos. About 38 miles and 1,700 feet of climbing.

View attachment 128262

Nice ride - you hit a lot of my favorite spots in the north end. I really like Perkins Way, it's a nice ride both directions.

BTW - you were a couple minutes ride from my house if you had turned right back towards Edmonds instead of left to cross 99.

PS: our lawn looks much the same as yours. Our organic vegan neighbor came over to consult on our raised beds and looked approvingly at the grass coming in a distant 3rd to the moss and dandelions in our lawn. "Well, I can tell you're not poisoning your soil with chemical fertilizers." she said.

 

[Catalyzt]

Finally got back to the Verdugos-- probably my only chance before the fall, too hot for the long ride!

My plan for this ride was more modest: Still doing PT for the shoulder, not quite in shape for the big 32-mile, 4,300 ft run all the way to Mt. Verdugo, so I went for a more modest 26.5 mile, 2,700 ft. climb to check and see what the bottom of Los Flores was like in preparation for a much longer ride this fall or winter: I want to take this route to enter the park, instead of entering from Brand Park, and ride most of the spine of the Verdugos north-- to Verdugo Peak and way past it, to the edge of Sun Valley. That part of the ridge should be mostly flat, maybe a very gentle 800 feet that I can easily do in ECO (I've done some of it already) or even with the motor off to conserve battery. I will descend on Brand Park Motorway, the route I took last year.

The results of this run were encouraging -- I liked what I was seeing in terms of how much battery it took me to get there (two bars and change out of five), and most of the run back is easy-- tooling along in eco or off, rolling 13-18 MPH without working too hard, Seeker is just sipping electrons. If I'm successful, I should get to some really nice views, and have a hell of a workout, with a total of about 5,000 feet of elevation in about 40 miles or so. Not bad for a $2,500 bike with a 418 Wh battery!

This run also took me further east than I'd gone previously, and covered more acreage. Took SEVERAL wrong turns getting to the gate, but I do NOT have to lift the bike over, which is outstanding! (MTB project said I would have to.) So I got to the gate well after sunset, but flipped on the lights and rode in a mile or so just to get a couple of landscape night city shots. The sunset photo is looking towards the backside of the Hollywood hills, the other is of downtown, terrible quality, of course, as always!

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Time to head home…

4:20 pm (sunset 5:08 pm)
Brisbane Valley Rail Trail
Wanora, Queensland​

Pink X : Only genuinely dangerous place on the rail trail (161 km) where one has to Look right! Look left! & Look right, again! (Just as I was told to do when riding to primary school on my bicycle in 1952.)

 

[RabH]

Time to head home…

View attachment 128312

4:20 pm (sunset 5:08 pm)
Brisbane Valley Rail Trail
Wanora, Queensland​

View attachment 128315

Pink X : Only genuinely dangerous place on the rail trail (161 km) where one has to Look right! Look left! & Look right, again! (Just as I was told to do when riding to primary school on my bicycle in 1952.)

I think you need a bigger bike for those long legs, David!

 

[PatriciaK]

I forgot the end of my ride today. I propped the bike against a tree in the backyard and sat in a chair for about 15 minutes before dragging me and the bike up 5 or 6 steps. Yes, those are all dandelions.

View attachment 128305

Dandelions make a pretty fine wine, and, assuming your yard is not a chemical wasteland, the greens are wonderful in salad !

 

[tomjasz]

Dandelions make a pretty fine wine, and, assuming your yard is not a chemical wasteland, the greens are wonderful in salad !

Blech! On both...
But I know a lot of fans...

 

[kahn]

Nice ride - you hit a lot of my favorite spots in the north end. I really like Perkins Way, it's a nice ride both directions.

BTW - you were a couple minutes ride from my house if you had turned right back towards Edmonds instead of left to cross 99.

PS: our lawn looks much the same as yours. Our organic vegan neighbor came over to consult on our raised beds and looked approvingly at the grass coming in a distant 3rd to the moss and dandelions in our lawn. "Well, I can tell you're not poisoning your soil with chemical fertilizers." she said.

Yes, my lawn is a squirrel's dreamscape! And with ten pin oak trees, I've lots of squirrels. Although I have displaced them from nesting under my solar panels. There are somethings I will not do for wildlife. You live in a nice place. We've done Perkins Way UP and it is just not as much fun as DOWN. But I guess you tend to enjoy it for a longer period UP.

My raised beds are what wrecked my back this Spring. The old wood was rotting and I decided to use stock tanks. But prying, saws-all-ing and digging out the soil was more than I should have tried on my own. Also, who knew rhubarb could be so hard to divide! I could barely walk across my living room. Actually, the last PT appt was this morning.

Old system that I started dismantling on my own and then hired out.

New system. There are now four oval and three round tanks.

 

[kahn]

Dandelions make a pretty fine wine, and, assuming your yard is not a chemical wasteland, the greens are wonderful in salad !

Have you actually made Dandelion Wine? I did years ago. I will go along with the BLECH reaction. We slaved picking those flowers in some untouched field in Wisc. Carefully, separated flowers from greens. Made wine - blech. I have enough lettuce and chard for my greens and have supplemented with radish greens and beet greens.

 

[PatriciaK]

Have you actually made Dandelion Wine? I did years ago. I will go along with the BLECH reaction. We slaved picking those flowers in some untouched field in Wisc. Carefully, separated flowers from greens. Made wine - blech. I have enough lettuce and chard for my greens and have supplemented with radish greens and beet greens.

Yes, years and years and years ago a group of us made dandelion wine - I remember it tasted pretty good... Though those were the days of jungle drinking Ham's and Saint Paulie Girl... . We also distilled some of it! Crazy days for a nice Catholic girl .

My Italian uncle frequently used the greens in salad, or sauteed with olive oil and garlic. Haven't had those in decades, either - maybe the taste improved with years of memory?

 

[Prairie Dog]

My wife and I just returned home from riding up to the Highwood Pass in K-Country including a decent section without PAS. Here's a sample of what I have to show for my efforts so far. Pretty beat after a tiring metric century.

Drone view of the mountain range from above during a ride along the Bill Milne Trail

I captured this image shortly after we left the Ribbon Creek day use area where we started the ride.

The mad dash home. I'll be sure to follow up with more photos/video over the next day or so.

 

[DiggyGun]

We had some very nice dry and sunny weather yesterday and Mrs DG had a day off.

We decided to have a ride around the Chilterns and did the Phoenix Trail, part of the Ridgeway and part of the Chilterns Cycleway.

A pleasant day out and of course, a couple of picnic stops.

 

[dodgeman]

The definition of irony. I rode into town to buy a rain gauge and you guessed it, I got rained on. First time on this bike but I survived. A pic in my shop after I got back with the rain gauge strapped on the back. I guess I should have opened it up and held it high like an Olympic torch to see how much rain we got.

 

[Chargeride]

I wouldnt trust it, making its own rain.

 

[Twin Valley]

Yes, years and years and years ago a group of us made dandelion wine - I remember it tasted pretty good... Though those were the days of jungle drinking Ham's and Saint Paulie Girl... . We also distilled some of it! Crazy days for a nice Catholic girl .

My Italian uncle frequently used the greens in salad, or sauteed with olive oil and garlic. Haven't had those in decades, either - maybe the taste improved with years of memory?

in defense of the lowly dandelion they are the first bloom of the year and keep those valuable bees busy until food crops are ready for pollinating (at least that's my story for anybody who might glare at my sea of yellow in the yard come spring)

 

[Djangodog]

This is a cautionary tail. That was my “acoustic “ bike yesterday. If you are going to go out to a trestle to get a picture, check the train schedule first. The train travels at 80 mph through here and there is only a few seconds of warning. The picture is of the train on the trestle at 80 mph. I was standing there a few seconds earlier. I still had my phone in my hand, so I got a shot. It is too bad that it wasn’t set to video, (maybe next time ).

It’s not easy for an old guy to throw the bike on his shoulder and get out of the way, especially when wearing road bike shoes with Speedplay cleats.

 

[DiggyGun]

I did the Edmonds Loop from near Greenlake in Seattle. Up to Edmonds partially (only a few miles) on the Interurban Trail. Hit the coffee shop in Edmonds but only picked up a few nuggets for my PICNIC (he and his can't be the only ones who picnic). I don't generally do coffee and when I do it is decaf to avoid losing a night's sleep.

My rather elaborate picnic And darn, no convenient graveyard!!!

Good man…

 

[kahn]

This is a cautionary tail. That was my “acoustic “ bike yesterday. If you are going to go out to a trestle to get a picture, check the train schedule first. The train travels at 80 mph through here and there is only a few seconds of warning. The picture is of the train on the trestle at 80 mph. I was standing there a few seconds earlier. I still had my phone in my hand, so I got a shot. It is too bad that it wasn’t set to video, (maybe next time ).

It’s not easy for an old guy to throw the bike on his shoulder and get out of the way, especially when wearing road bike shoes with Speedplay cleats.

View attachment 128423View attachment 128425

Another years ago story. We were kayaking/canoeing down the Yakima River in Eastern Washington. We stopped for lunch and climbed the bank to get a better view. We set up our lunch, foam pads, food bags, drinks on sat on the rail tracks. I even kidded around and put my ear to the tracks (now I could not bend down and do that) and said, "I don't hear the iron horse!" He was blaring his horn. Sure enough there it was, you never saw three people move so fast. Very stupid move on our part. Folks on the river were shaking their heads.