Thorn Cycles Forum

Community => Non-Thorn Related => Topic started by: Andre Jute on January 04, 2017, 12:28:49 am

Title: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on January 04, 2017, 12:28:49 am: Even the youngest and most energetic of us can't go everywhere. But a moment's reflection shows that it isn't a hardship. Through the photographs on this forum we can tour vicariously wherever another member has toured. Share your rides and photographs here. I'll start us off:

In Ireland the beginning of 2017 was mild enough, down in the single digits Celcius, true, but with no ice on the roads. If you've ever been to Bantry Bay in the far South of Ireland, and looked up at the cellar mast on the hill high, high above the town around the bay, and said, "No, that's too much like hard work," you will know from where I took this photo.

(http://www.coolmainpress.com//miscimage/andre_jute_bantry_bay_2017_vertical_600pxw.jpg)
Andre Jute: Bantry Bay from the cell tower hill, 2017, with favorite hill walks in the distance

It's about five miles out of town and you can see the elevation. Might be dangerous getting there if the road is icy but when it is dry it is steep but passable standard Irish farm lanes, meaning narrow blacktop with considerate drivers. You get there from the main square in the town by taking the narrow lane up past the hotel and turning right; then you just take the uphill turn at every fork until you come to the phone company's big gates, and I'll be standing in the picnic-spot parking on your left, waiting for you to bring the beer.

As you can see from the quality of the light at about 3.30pm, the day is short, with sunset due in about an hour. You want to keep this is mind on rides in Ireland in the winter, as even with good dynolamps the rough little roads can slow down nighttime return journeys to near enough double the outgoing time; you don't want those left behind to send out search parties for no reason at all.

This time of the year it is too dangerous underfoot for serious hillwalking, but here's another one, which should be called "Dreams for deeper into the year." The two snowy peaks in the far distance are The Paps, relatively easy climbing, and surrounded by mountains I've been up either on foot or, if there is any kind of a road, by bicycle.

(http://www.coolmainpress.com//miscimage/andre_jute_the_paps_across_bantry_bay_2017_800pxw.jpg)
Andre Jute: The Paps across Bantry Bay 2017

Behind me, on my left, there's also the Durrus Peninsula, which features an agreeable circular short day-ride over not too high hills, good, especially in winter, when the party is large and includes many intermittent riders bravely venturing out with the hard men, lured by my promise that on my rides nobody is left behind.

Looking forward keenly to your rides and photos.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on January 04, 2017, 03:38:30 pm: Thanks, Andre, for continuing/renewing your thread. Great photos, and I'm hugely envious that you can ride. Yesterday we had the second ice storm in 10 days--freezing rain is usually part of an Eastern Ontario winter, but I don't recall seeing it so frequently. Lots of power outages on both sides of the river.

I saw two cyclists during a morning walk today -- the cyclepaths had been ploughed and salted, so were manageable, if barely.

On New Year's Eve morning, I was X-country skiing for a couple of hours up in the hills -- it was -13, with wind-driven snow, so I made it only a short-ish outing, 10 kms or so. I did see a clutch of fatbike riders on one of the snowshoeing trails. I confess I had no urge to say, "Dang! Wisht I had one of those right now."

So far, watching others is the closest I've come to a "Ride of 2017". I plan to make amends in Feb & March, though, as we're visiting our son & his family in SE Queensland, and I'll take a bike along on this trip.

Happy New Year, and safe and enjoyable riding around The Holy Ground.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on January 04, 2017, 03:53:14 pm: Great wee country we live in Andre .
i haven't been out on the bike in a month and with this new build going on i borrowing stuff from my roadbike to get the audax built ,it looks like i wont be cycling for a while yet.
i've never been to your part of the country sure look's lovely .

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Pavel on January 04, 2017, 06:29:32 pm: Weather here is only 63 Fahrenheit ( 17 C), so a bit too cold to go out riding still. Soon though! ;)

I need to set up my server, something I've been putting off for over a year, so that I can upload photos. Photos sure do inspire.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: David Simpson on January 04, 2017, 07:09:39 pm: Quote from: pavel on January 04, 2017, 06:29:32 pm
Weather here is only 63 Fahrenheit ( 17 C), so a bit too cold to go out riding still.

Yeah, you don't want to risk frostbite. :) Try to avoid riding when the temperature is below 20C (risk of a slight chill) or above 22C (risk of sweat).

Joking aside, here in Vancouver, we're stuck in an unusually long cold snap. It's been at freezing or below for the past 4 weeks. Normally, the snow lasts a week or two, then is washed away in a matter of days by the rain. I haven't been on my bike since early December due to ice on the roads and bike lanes. Hopefully in a week or two we'll be back to normal.

- DaveS
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: martinf on January 04, 2017, 09:37:31 pm: Cold here in South Brittany too, but nowhere near as low as Canada, temperatures have generally been just below freezing in the morning, low positive later in the day.

High humidity means slippery patches some mornings.

I fitted studded tyres on my Raven Tour utility bike at the beginning of the cold spell in December, so have been using that this week. Only for short local rides - shopping runs, etc.

It was a bit drier last week (2016), so no road ice. I managed a couple of longer rides (56 km to work and back) on the Raven Sport Tour.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on January 05, 2017, 03:17:34 am: Great to see you all back at the start of a new cycling year.

A cyclist's temperature scale for the South of Ireland in general and West Cork in particular.

19ºC Heatstroke territory. Open the freezer door and sit in front of it.
17ºC Which idiot joked, "Bring back global warming. We'll sweat right through our clothes if we ride in this heat!"
16ºC If only we could have a little sunshine with the warmth. Those clouds are so gloomy.
14ºC If only there were some clouds to keep the heat in, it would be warmer.
13ºC Normal summer temperature. We'll soon find something else to complain about.
12ºC The year's turned already, and it is only August. Did you blink and miss the summer?
11ºC Maybe it ain't the South of France, but the lorry drivers aren't crazy Frenchmen either.
10ºC SNAFU.
8ºC Most of the year. No comment, unless it is a "soft day", which is tourist bureau-speak for "pissing down".
7ºC Soon it will be too dangerous to go hillwalking. It'll be cycling or nothing.
6ºC Deceptively inviting, especially from November through February. Hedgerows and trees cast shadows on narrow country lanes. Black ice forms. And stays. Results: predictable. But the knowledgeable and experienced can ride intermittently throughout the winter.
5ºC Breakpoint. You can still ride if you choose your roads and times very carefully. All rides are heroic.
4ºC Usually accompanied by bad winds. If you fall you could break a hip. Better stay in bed.
3ºC Nothing, as predicted. Grim wind chill factor. Too cold to cycle.
2ºC Main roads may be salted, but in these high winds do you really want to mix it with traffic at 120kph?
1ºC Don't even think of it. Turn over in bed, pull up the duvet, and dream of cycling next spring.
0ºC and under Are you crazy? I'm not taking a custom steel bike out into the salt and slush.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on January 22, 2017, 08:27:50 pm: A few pics from the first few rides of 2017.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on January 22, 2017, 09:08:15 pm: Outstanding as usual, Rual, and such a treat to see. Thanks so much for sharing these.

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on January 22, 2017, 11:40:44 pm: Quote from: rualexander on January 22, 2017, 08:27:50 pm
A few pics from the first few rides of 2017.
great eye for taking photos.

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on January 23, 2017, 01:15:59 am: Brilliant as always, Rual, and the last of the three is outstanding - that arc of cloud is a magnet for the eye.

So here we are on Jan 22, and today I took my Raven for a short canter through the neighbourhood and around the Experimental Farm. We have had, I dunno, what seems like a weeklong chinook -- soft wet winds from the SW, our blanket of snow receding under a steady drizzle, à la Vancouver or Foggie Olde, and the sun is nowhere to be seen. 4 degrees today, and in the Arctic, the temps are 20 - 30 warmer than "normal".

I had stopped riding in late November, and in November and the first part of December, we had a lot of snow and cold, and that was followed by a stretch of freezing rain. I figured I'd not be riding again in Ottawa until April or so, but today was decent cycling weather, so I took advantage of it.

There was a lot of water on the roads from the melting snowbanks, and a brisk wind from -- of all directions -- the SE. I did an hour-long loop, fairly light traffic, at least a dozen cyclists out and about, and I even managed 14th on a long gentle downhill :-)

No photographs--it's just a bunch of shades of dirty grey snow and wet brown tree trunks--but I did test a tweak I've just made on the Raven: I lowered my alloy fenders so that they now have the recommended 20mm of clearance above the tires. They're 650B in size, mated to 26 x 1.6 Marathon Supremes, so the clearance had been close 30 mm, something of the "motocross" effect. Some spacers solved the problem, along with an adjustment of the stays. I also replaced my front leather mudflap with this item from Dutch Bike Bits: http://www.dutchbikebits.com/mudguards-chainguards-fenders-coatprotectors/mud-flaps/bibia-touring-mudflap (http://www.dutchbikebits.com/mudguards-chainguards-fenders-coatprotectors/mud-flaps/bibia-touring-mudflap)

Everything worked well--very little spray of grit and water onto the drive train. (I had deliberately left the Hebie Chainglider at home, to see how the fender-and-mudflap tweak worked.)

Next post I make on this thread will come (I hope!) from Australia's Gold Coast, complete with some photos (Insh'allah). We set sail for there (so to speak) two weeks from today.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on January 23, 2017, 02:37:12 pm: This weekend's ride took me to the Neolithic, Castlerigg stone circle Cumbria:
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on January 23, 2017, 02:37:55 pm: Great pictures Rual, love the clouds and mists!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on January 23, 2017, 07:34:57 pm: Fantastic picture.
So many of those stones up here in Scotland.
Always makes me wonder what life was like all those years ago.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on January 23, 2017, 07:58:44 pm: Superb photos, Rual. That mist progresses like a steamroller!

Now that's a mudflap, John.

Looking over the photographs of the first rides this year, I wonder which of these two really is the steepest hill in West Cork:

(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_steepest_hill_in_west_cork%3F_2_800pxw_2017.jpg)

My pedalpal, Dr Philip Michael (he's the fellow in orange in the third photo), thinks this is the steepest hill in West Cork. It certainly has several short but crucial sections that are suddenly steeper, where if you're caught in the wrong gear, you're pushing for the rest of the couple of kilometers up the hill, because you will never get started again.

(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_steepest_hill_in_west_cork%3F_1_800pxw_2017p9170044.jpg)

Personally, I'd rather go down this one than up.

Both of these, incidentally are only a handful of miles from my house. Bandon is known, not always fondly to cyclists, as the "Rome of West Cork" because it is built on seven hills, and the surrounding countryside consists of, you guessed it, more hills. There's an upside, though: you can get plenty of exercise slogging up the hills and still only be an hour from home if persistent heavy rain starts to fall. We rate loops from my door to my door not as so many kilometers but as so many hills...

(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_the_tall_fellow_on_the_way_to_farranavar_1917_800pxh.jpg)

When Nelson Mandela unveiled my statue in front of the town hall on my fiftieth birthday, I declined to attend because they promised me a life-size statue and the one they made was barely nine feet tall.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on January 23, 2017, 08:08:20 pm: I always enjoy your postings but is there any one true fact in that last paragraph?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on January 23, 2017, 08:52:06 pm: great shots Andre west cork just beautiful .
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on January 23, 2017, 09:29:44 pm: Quote from: Matt2matt2002 on January 23, 2017, 08:08:20 pm
I always enjoy your postings but is there any one true fact in that last paragraph?

The Shadow knows.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on January 23, 2017, 09:53:40 pm: Quote
they promised me a life-size statue and the one they made was barely nine feet tall

That's surely a tall one, Andre?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: David Simpson on January 23, 2017, 10:22:51 pm: Quote from: Matt2matt2002 on January 23, 2017, 08:08:20 pm
I always enjoy your postings but is there any one true fact in that last paragraph?

Everything is obviously false, since Andre is not yet 50.

- DaveS
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on January 23, 2017, 11:40:13 pm: Quote
I wonder which of these two really is the steepest hill in West Cork
There's two ways to answer your question, Andre.

One is with a SkyMounti inclinometer. One resides on each of my bikes (two on the tandem):
http://www.skymounti.com/html/gb.html

...or you could plot your ride on ridewithgps.com where the steepness/slope of the grades is easily seen and recorded and displayed numerically. You don't need a GPS, you can go back and plot your course manually, and there is no fee for the service.

I see Fairhill Road, coming up from Pope's Quay is 10.8% at its steepest so...yes, steep.

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on January 24, 2017, 12:36:33 am: Quote from: John Saxby on January 23, 2017, 09:53:40 pm
Quote
they promised me a life-size statue and the one they made was barely nine feet tall

That's surely a tall one, Andre?

About five foot nine too tall, would you say, John?

I think you're right, DaveS. A man is as old as he feels. Or as his cardiologist permits him to feel. (Fortunately mine is also a cyclist.)

Thanks for those tips, Dan. I wouldn't mind having a Sky Mounti for an instant readout, but I'm not growing any more handlebar space. Your GPS tip though reminds me that I could just sit down with the Ordinance Survey Map, which is what we actually use to find out where we are (1), and calculate the average steepness of those hills, but it'll have to wait until I reinstall my entire computer, hefty OS and about thirty professional programs, many days of work, but I'd better do it before the whole thing crashes terminally on me. If you don't hear from me for a few days except for the odd grunt suitable to sending by iPad or iPhone, I haven't deserted you, I've been kidnapped by Apple.

(1) After a quarter-century riding the lanes hereabout, and hardly ever going more than 25m from home, you'd think I'd know every lane. Not so. New lanes keep popping up. It's like a huge lacework.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on January 24, 2017, 02:00:37 am: Mmmmm. Lanes and hills. There are several dimensions to be considered here, and distance and vertical climb are only two of 'em. Sky Mounti's are very tidy and helpful devices, but time is at play as well, even if my Sky Mounti ignores it: I've learned in recent years that the hills of the Canadian Shield are uncompromising, and are eroding a little less slowly than my reserves of strength and endurance. Probably there's much of the same under way in the wester reaches of the Holy Ground, Andre.

Still -- press on regardless, and keep those photos, sketches, and bons mots coming, eh?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on January 24, 2017, 09:45:37 am: BusnBike.
Out yesterday for another BusnBike mini adventure.
At 8 am i popped the Raven into the bus hold and took the 1 hour ride North to Huntley.
Across to Dufftown was 20 miles of almost traffic free riding.
Beautiful day with the sun breaking through around 10 am.
No wind so the clear crisp air carried the smells of wood or coal burning fires.
I was looking for a way up to a small mountain nearby. Ben Rinnes. But time ran out before I could locate the trail start.
I'm sure it will be there when I return.

Back home via Dufftown and Keith.

Benveni Castle looked stunning in the morning sunlight.

Just 35 miles cycling but being an hour or so away from home for the start made it different.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on January 24, 2017, 03:12:20 pm: Super photos and ride, Matt! Glad as I am for you, I'm envious and confused: sunshine in Scotland in late January, and an Ottawa winter full of wet 'n' grey???
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on January 24, 2017, 07:12:40 pm: The Tourist Board's cheque is in the post, Matt. Super photos.

Here in Ireland you can by common usage take your bike free on the bus -- if the driver permits, and there is space in the luggage compartment. The driver can charge you if he wishes, or even refuse to carry the bike, but it appears a discretionary decision; the charges aren't outrageous and most bus drivers, in the country at least, are friendly. You ever try it, Anto?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on January 24, 2017, 07:37:44 pm: never did Andre but i know a lad that has cycled every greenway in ireland north and south mind u he has free travel, he used public transport to get to the nearest town cycles all the cycle routes get's the bus or train home doesn't cost him a penny. ;)
im 3 years away from free travel ;D.

i have some crackin cycle route i do but theres a lot of hills to cover,
talking to Dan the other night he sent me a link to a motor that attaches to BB connect a roller to wheel very near job if i could afford it i'd buy it because im having big problems with my back especially when the going gets tough ,any help getting up these hills would be greatly appreciated ;)

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on January 24, 2017, 10:15:52 pm: Quote
any help getting up these hills would be greatly appreciated

A couple of thoughts on hills and our ageing bods, Anto. Two things that have helped me are:

> Lower overall gearing, either via smaller chainrings or larger cogs, or a combination of the two: say, a 24T small ring at the front, mated to a 34T low cog at the rear. (I've forgotten -- do you have a triple on your Audax?); and

> Mounting the bars so that the stem clamp is higher than the nose of the saddle. (How high? Depends ... on my Raven, it's a couple of inches.) That way, you're slightly more upright when you're on the hoods, and if you're on the drops, they are easier to reach.

Cheers,

John
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on January 24, 2017, 10:45:16 pm: Good thoughts on saddle height John.

In later years I have come to think of hills as my friends.
I stroke them softly with every pedal rotation.
Never pushing too hard. Just enough to keep the momentum going. Descending through the gears slowly.

I use to think of down hills as laughing at me since they knew that despite my free ride downwards, I would be caught out on the up hill section.
This was a battle.

I decline that challenge now.
I embrace the hills. They are my friends.
We don't work together, rather coexist in a fluid forward state.

Anyone for Zen?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on January 24, 2017, 10:51:31 pm: Quote from: jags on January 24, 2017, 07:37:44 pm
i have some crackin cycle route i do but theres a lot of hills to cover,
talking to Dan the other night he sent me a link to a motor that attaches to BB connect a roller to wheel very near job if i could afford it i'd buy it because im having big problems with my back especially when the going gets tough ,any help getting up these hills would be greatly appreciated ;)

The thing about a motor is that a battery suitable for any decent day's cycle is so heavy that it essentially takes you out of the roadie category and puts you in the recreational cycling category. If you skimp on the battery, you might find yourself merely adding dead weight on the way home, when you're already wiped, and the hills are always steeper. I didn't have to give up anything when I added a motor, because the motor and available batteries suited the sort of circular or figure of eight rides around my house I already did, and the distances too -- in fact, with the battery I'm going a bit further than I could in recent years, because I know I can get back up the hill, so to speak.

But in your case, as a fast roadie daytripper going well afield, I'd advise putting off the motor as long as possible because I suspect that, instead of opening new possibilities to you, you might find it tiresome (my batteries last so long -- longer than the motors -- because I charge them after every ride, regardless of length) and limiting (the smart way to use a motor is never to let the battery fall below one half charge before you're well on your way back home) in both radius and time on the road. Also, as Iain pointed out, year before last I think, a motor isn't a permanent installation like a bike, but a consumable part, and the battery definitely ditto, so a bicycle, which ideally should be costless once you've paid for the components, gets to be a constant capital replacement drain on resources. (I'm not complaining, just pointing out that an electric bike is well removed from the workingman's ideal pushbike.)

PS Yo, Matt, you can be the board poet!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on January 25, 2017, 12:08:06 am: cheers John ,i was always a good climber hills didn't bother me at al but that was many moons ago ,
the problem i have is swollen discs so when the pressure is on the pain kicks in,
i do pace myself when i'm on my own but in the group its a different story.guessi should stop riding in the group but i do enjoy the craic ith the lads and lassies.
john i have loads low gears 30 up front triple and 34 on the rear ;) thank god for low gears ;D ;D.

i'm not ready for a motor yet hopefully by the time i am they will have improved greatly lighter much lighter longer battery life i will certainly be in the market for one when the time comes but until then i'll suffer.

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on January 25, 2017, 07:19:34 pm: Wow -- 30 x 34 as your lowest, Anto! I'm nowhere near that -- my Eclipse, which I'm taking to Oz, has a low of 24 x 34. Will let you know in a few weeks if, with that, I can climb the remaining bits of the wall of the ancient volcano on the Queensland/New South Wales border.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on January 25, 2017, 09:23:01 pm: ;D ;D ;D my son laughed as well John ,i got up some steep hills with it so far ;)
i'm well pleased with the bike and the build rides like a dream the 4703 tiagra is really nice every bit as good as ultegra ;)
at the moment i'm working on my tent cheap naturehike got my niece to sewn on extra guy points to keep the fly in place ,going to pitch it tomorrow weather permitting ,if it's ok it will be the perfect tent for lightweight touring lighter and bigger than the akto ok obviously not as good but £50 do me fine i reckon.
im getting there slowly pity my back ain't so good but i'll keep at it until i drop.

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on January 25, 2017, 11:06:52 pm: Quote
...going to pitch it tomorrow weather permitting...
This will require photographs, of course!

Preferably some taken showing you inside as well.

;)

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on January 25, 2017, 11:32:42 pm: Will do DAn.j
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on January 27, 2017, 12:37:36 am: not much of a ride, not quite ten miles: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18708470

but I got the studded tires mounted & found my cold weather cycling clothes, so I am feeling more properly set up!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Mike Ayling on January 27, 2017, 03:35:21 am: Quote from: JimK on January 27, 2017, 12:37:36 am
not much of a ride, not quite ten miles: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18708470

I have an arthritic knee that became too painful to ride on at the beginning of November.
The orthopaedic surgeon said that it was not bad enough for a knee replacement and suggested physiotherapy.
I am doing lots of leg raises and other exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee and I can now ride 15 km every second day without discomfort.
Next target is 25km.

Mike
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on January 27, 2017, 04:04:08 am: Quote from: Mike Ayling on January 27, 2017, 03:35:21 am
I am doing lots of leg raises and other exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee and I can now ride 15 km every second day without discomfort.
Next target is 25km.

The thing isn't specifically how far you go. That's arbitrary. The thing is to go just the tiniest fraction further than is really comfortable, so that you get full benefit of the exercise but don't do yourself any harm.

Rinse and repeat.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: David Simpson on January 27, 2017, 04:58:57 am: Mike --

Sorry to hear about your knee, but I'm glad it is slowly getting better. It's a good reminder for all of us to be thankful for the health that we have. Too often I take my own health for granted.

- DaveS
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Mike Ayling on January 27, 2017, 09:53:31 pm: Quote from: Andre Jute on January 27, 2017, 04:04:08 am
Quote from: Mike Ayling on January 27, 2017, 03:35:21 am
I am doing lots of leg raises and other exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knee and I can now ride 15 km every second day without discomfort.
Next target is 25km.

The thing isn't specifically how far you go. That's arbitrary. The thing is to go just the tiniest fraction further than is really comfortable, so that you get full benefit of the exercise but don't do yourself any harm.

Rinse and repeat.

Thanks Andre,

I will give that a go.

Mike
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on January 28, 2017, 01:12:35 am: I was definitely pushing my limits today: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18722868

Bought a couple panniers of groceries at the turnaround, the low elevation of the ride, and hauled them home. A good kick-start to training for the new year!

Mostly I was on the Pioneer Rail Trail, the D&RGW line - Denver and Rio Grande West, I suppose. Most of the trail is clear asphalt, with several short icy patches and one section maybe a quarter mile that was packed snow and ice. Very happy to have the studded tires mounted!

About 20F today. My hands were too cold! I had on some well insulated gloves, but really this is mitten weather. I use some big nylon mountaineering gaiters to keep my ankles warm which does keep my feet warm. Anyway the temperature is forecast to go up next week so maybe I can save these lessons for... well, surely we'll get another cold blast or two this season. My first Utah winter!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on February 03, 2017, 12:20:20 am: Today it was the studded tires whose limits were tested, or at least my ability to ride on them. The Weber River Parkway http://www.weberpathways.org/projects-2/weber-river-parkway/ is plowed and mostly quite clear in Riverdale where I live, but head further into Ogden... I crossed Parker Drive and all of a sudden it was soft snow over ice. I turned back and was going to get onto Parker Drive but a guy walking a couple dogs said the trail was plowed again just over that little hill. So with my confidence boosted I got back on the trail. Ha! Yeah a plow had been through at some point, so it was only two inches of soft snow over an inch of ice, but still... I had one full off, a full body dive into the snow alongside the trail. Along a few stretches I could ride pretty well, other stretches I'd be putting a foot down every third or fourth pedal stroke, and then I just walked a good part of it. Even walking was tricky, especially with the bike to push. Very slippery with enough snow to make pushing the bike a struggle.

Ah and where the trail goes under the railroad tracks north of 31st St. wow, it was like a foot of water with big chunks of six inch thick ice floating around! I could keep one foot on a pedal and use the other foot to negotiate the ice, while using my arms to hold on to the top of the wall enclosing the trail. OK, I will be skipping this trail for the next few months!

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18816740
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on February 03, 2017, 09:01:30 am: Quote from: JimK on February 03, 2017, 12:20:20 am
Today it was the studded tires whose limits were tested, or at least my ability to ride on them. The Weber River Parkway http://www.weberpathways.org/projects-2/weber-river-parkway/ is plowed and mostly quite clear in Riverdale where I live, but head further into Ogden... I crossed Parker Drive and all of a sudden it was soft snow over ice. I turned back and was going to get onto Parker Drive but a guy walking a couple dogs said the trail was plowed again just over that little hill. So with my confidence boosted I got back on the trail. Ha! Yeah a plow had been through at some point, so it was only two inches of soft snow over an inch of ice, but still... I had one full off, a full body dive into the snow alongside the trail. Along a few stretches I could ride pretty well, other stretches I'd be putting a foot down every third or fourth pedal stroke, and then I just walked a good part of it. Even walking was tricky, especially with the bike to push. Very slippery with enough snow to make pushing the bike a struggle.

Ah and where the trail goes under the railroad tracks north of 31st St. wow, it was like a foot of water with big chunks of six inch thick ice floating around! I could keep one foot on a pedal and use the other foot to negotiate the ice, while using my arms to hold on to the top of the wall enclosing the trail. OK, I will be skipping this trail for the next few months!

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/18816740

Sounds awesome and terrifying in equal amounts! We get little ice around here so I'm able to avoid riding on really bad days or I stick to main roads when commuting/utility riding. Never had to clear pack ice with my foot though!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on February 03, 2017, 04:26:18 pm: Serious business, Jim. Those streams rushing down the canyons do spectacular things all year round! Carry on, and I hope it won't be too long before spring arrives.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: macspud on February 06, 2017, 06:29:06 am: Quote from: rualexander on January 22, 2017, 08:27:50 pm
A few pics from the first few rides of 2017.

I like your photos rualexander, especially the second one http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12169.0;attach=13386 I really like that, where was it taken?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on February 07, 2017, 07:20:40 pm: Quote from: macspud on February 06, 2017, 06:29:06 am
Quote from: rualexander on January 22, 2017, 08:27:50 pm
A few pics from the first few rides of 2017.

I like your photos rualexander, especially the second one http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12169.0;attach=13386 I really like that, where was it taken?

Second pic of those three was taken at eastern end of Loch Ard, should also be able to see Ben Lomond in distance but the cloud came down too low.

Same view in summertime :
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on February 07, 2017, 07:39:13 pm: class 8)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: RST Scout on February 08, 2017, 09:34:43 pm: That winter photo is really something. I remember the boat house from when I cycled along the loch. Is the Youth Hostel still there? It had a lovely smell of beeswax and loads of antique wood in it.

Janet
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on February 08, 2017, 10:09:07 pm: Quote from: TabbyCat on February 08, 2017, 09:34:43 pm
That winter photo is really something. I remember the boat house from when I cycled along the loch. Is the Youth Hostel still there? It had a lovely smell of beeswax and loads of antique wood in it.

Janet
Loch Ard youth hostel is long gone, must be twenty years since it closed. The building is still there, private house now I think.
Article (http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12096160.Youth_hostels_pack_up_their_troubles/) from 1995 on closure of several good hostels, they closed most of the good cycling hostels back in the 90s/early 2000s.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on February 09, 2017, 11:15:40 pm: There is a Ben Lomond in Utah, too! Today I rode up toward it, north on US-89 maybe ten miles then back. Quite flat! Just trying to get out regularly to build some stamina!

(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/Nomad/IMG_2823_zpstah8k8lt.jpg)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on February 16, 2017, 03:50:25 pm: Just back from a three day Bus/bike/bus trip.
Uo north by bus from Inverurie to Inverness and then cycled along the A835 to Forest Way Bunkhouse at Auchindrean just short of Ullapool.
51 miles.
Wonderful weather - in fact one local told me that this dry spell was better than the whole of their last summer.
Road surface was good and the traffic light. This is part of the North500 route and I guess will be quite busy later in the year.

Raven performed well. Enjoying its new chain and rear tire.

I rode the B9006 from Inverness hostel to Nairn on my last day. A quiet flat road through pine forests with the birds singing and the smell of wood & coal fires burning in the villages.
I passed Culloden Battlefield but it's a very flat piece of land with not much to see. Looked like the exhibition center there was good.
Caught the bus home - but it broke down half an hour into the 2 hour ride. Had to wait 40 mins for a replacement.
It's not the kind of road to bike ride on - A96 and there aren't really any alternative roads South.

A great break - but I was lucky with the weather. Cold but dry and minimal wind.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on February 16, 2017, 05:41:57 pm: Class nice bit of planning I would never have thought of that 8)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on February 16, 2017, 09:17:51 pm: Super photographs, Matt. I used to go up to Nairn (near Inverness) because a publisher I used to consult to moved his operations up there (from Devon, what a nutter!) and I recognized the countryside. Amazing how countrysides have a "style". I suppose a horticulturalist would be able to differentiate them by the plants.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on February 16, 2017, 10:23:23 pm: Thanks folks.
I stopped a few miles outside Nairn on a small back road to catch my breath and take in the views.
I was stood at a T junction when around the corner came a silver Range Rover at quite a nippy speed and it slowed down near me to take the bend.
The driver was a strikingly good looking lady with an unusual hair style.
Our eyes met for a second before she drove off the way I had come.
I thought nothing more of it ( honest) until this evening when the social media are full of speculation about the new Dr. Who.

It was the actress Imelda Swindon. 😀
Her Wikipedia info says that she lives near Nairn with her partner.

Well, a kind of claim to fame. Never know who you'll bump into on a Thorn.

Anyone else met a celebrity while out and about?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on February 16, 2017, 10:43:40 pm: Imelda Swindon?

Think you mean Tilda Swinton.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on February 16, 2017, 11:54:13 pm: Just testing.,..😊
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: David Simpson on February 17, 2017, 04:02:15 am: Quote from: Matt2matt2002 on February 16, 2017, 10:23:23 pm
I stopped a few miles outside Nairn on a small back road to catch my breath and take in the views.
I was stood at a T junction when around the corner came a silver Range Rover at quite a nippy speed and it slowed down near me to take the bend.
The driver was a strikingly good looking lady with an unusual hair style.
Our eyes met for a second before she drove off the way I had come.
I thought nothing more of it ( honest) until this evening when the social media are full of speculation about the new Dr. Who.

It was the actress Imelda Swindon. 😀
Her Wikipedia info says that she lives near Nairn with her partner.

Well, a kind of claim to fame. Never know who you'll bump into on a Thorn.

Meanwhile, in a Range Rover forum in some far corner of the Internet ...

[Posted by NairnTilda on Today at 17:25:56] I was slowing down at a T junction when there at the corner was a black Thorn Raven. The driver was a strikingly good looking gentleman with an unusual hair style. Our eyes met for a second before he rode off the way I had come. I thought nothing more of it (honest) until this evening when I searched the Internet for touring bikes. It was Matt. 😀 Well, a kind of claim to fame. Never know who you'll bump into in a Range Rover.

- DaveS
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on February 17, 2017, 06:54:25 am: Heh-heh!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on February 17, 2017, 10:27:11 am: ;D ;D very good.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on February 17, 2017, 12:30:24 pm: Very droll......
😂😂
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on February 18, 2017, 12:13:52 pm: Super photos, Matt, esp the brilliant Scottish winter sky. Below, there are a few from Oz which don't even come close.

My wife and I visited Culloden Field in 2008, and I thought that the account of the conflict presented by the Visitor Centre was very well done. I was reminded that James Wolfe was 2nd-in-Command to Cumberland; I've often wondered what might have happened had the French shown up as the Jacobite forces thought/hoped/understood they would...Would the Battle of Québec in 1759 have turned out differently?--Wolfe's army was victorious there, in the decisive battle in North America in the Seven Years' War, 1756-63.

Anyway, back to more immediate matters of day rides, in this case, checking in from Down Unda:

We reached the Gold Coast of SE Queensland just over ten days ago, and my bike arrived unaffected by the 21 hours of flying it took to get here. (I brought my derailleur bike, mainly because it's a bit lighter and more compact than my Raven.) For my part, I had a bad dose of jetlag, which morphed into a monster head cold which laid me out for a couple of days. Still, I’ve managed a few day rides along the coast, both north from the Southport area where the kids live, and south towards Burleigh heads and Coolangatta, the latter just on the Queensland/New South Wales border. My rides have been short-ish, 3 – 4 hours including a sampling of the numerous excellent cafés of the GC. These have been exploratory day rides, to acquaint myself with routes, traffic, and the heat, and to renew acquaintances with my cycling muscles since I took my bikes off the road in mid-November in Ottawa.

The rides have been an enjoyable intro to cycling Down Unda. The Coast has an excellent network of cycle paths and cycles lanes on roads, and a handy set of printed and online maps and guides. I’m not unfamiliar with the area, as we’ve visited our son and his family several times, but this is the first time I’ve cycled here. I had been a bit unsure about both the traffic and the heat-and-humidity. As it turned out, both have been quite manageable. (One of the few beneficial side effects of my monster head cold was that its worst period coincided with a heat wave, with daytime highs around 39-40, with 80% humidity. I slept through most of it in an air-conditioned room.) The drivers have generally been accommodating and alert—it helps that there are both dedicated bike paths and fairly spacious cycling lanes on arterial roads. (I’ve avoided the busiest of the latter.) The heat is a challenge, the humidity more so. I start my rides early-ish, so as to finish before noon, and keep myself well hydrated.

Below are a few photos (broken into three separate posts) taken on a ride from Southport to Burleigh Heads on Feb 14. Valentine’s Day was humid, with a high overcast. and a stiff wind from the SE. The beach photos are thus not approved by the Australian Tourist Board, as the scenery lacks the stereotypical brilliant sun, the arc of a high blue sky, a sea with at least half-a-dozen shades of aquamarine, and sand an almost blinding golden-white. There’s a remarkable string of waterside parks in the 60 kms or so I rode from north to south and back again, and these include an array of sculpture, the pieces ranging from the whimsical to the graceful and reflective. I’ve included a few which caught my eye, along with a nice pedestrian/cycling bridge across an inlet, and a charming mural on a public loo.

As I work into a more regular routine of riding 3-4 times a week, I’m going to extend my rides to 90 kms and beyond. There’s an intriguing ride of about 55-60 kms to Murwillumbah, a small country town in northern NSW, which will make for a day ride of 6-7 hours. That will be more demanding than the coastal routes, as the route runs south-west inland from the coast, a gentle climb along a river valley, and then a steep section up, over and down the remains of the caldera of an ancient volcano. Happily, the steepest parts of the route are also forested. And, there’s an A-grade café in Murwillumbah. Hope to do this ride sometime during the last week of Feb., and will send a short account with a map, as well as photos which meet ATB weather requirements.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on February 18, 2017, 12:20:10 pm: Some more photos of roadside/pathside structures in the Gold Coast:
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on February 18, 2017, 12:25:59 pm: ...and finally, the required landscapes, these a bit understated, rather than the standard-issue blazing colours:
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on February 18, 2017, 02:37:50 pm: skyscrapers on the beach thats mad.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: RST Scout on February 18, 2017, 03:42:11 pm: I thought it was supposed to be summer down there? That beach scene looks just like our beach, today at Formby UK - overcast. Nice loo btw.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on February 18, 2017, 09:23:29 pm: Super photographs, John, especially the bridge and the landscapes.

Quote from: jags on February 18, 2017, 02:37:50 pm
skyscrapers on the beach thats mad.

I rather like it as a solution attractive for both egalitarian and environmental reasons: everybody gets a sea view and a bit of beachfront, and there's no unsightly urban sprawl. Tidy, that.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on February 19, 2017, 10:06:50 pm: Strange sight in central Scotland today
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on April 03, 2017, 06:44:41 am: Rual, those are Scottish fridges, surely?

Hay bales with attitude?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on April 03, 2017, 07:00:39 am: More from Down Unda – SE Queensland’s Gold Coast and its hinterland

Signing off now for a week or ten days, as we reload and reorganize the wagons for the long trek back to Ottawa. April 6 will be a long weird day – we reach Vancouver at 7:30 AM, some 3 hours on the clock before leaving Sydney.

Over the past couple of weeks, though, I’ve done several longer day rides, 6-8 hours or so. One took me north of the Gold Coast proper [GC, to the locals], away from the ‘burbs and into cane fields and small fishing villages. I rode with a couple of cyclists I’ve come to know here. They were on trick plastic bikes, so I had to work quite a bit harder than on my solo rides. (No bad thing.)

Beyond the beauty of the quiet countryside, this ride showed me the gritty side of cycling in these parts. Danny, our leader, has a slick 2 x 11 Shimano drive train. Slick, that is, at the beginning of each ride. There’s so much sand thrown up from the roads, he said, that he has to wipe down his chain & sprockets after every ride, and clean and re-lube after every rain. Otherwise, he said, he’d replace his chain and cassette at least every year, at $400 a pop. (On my abacus, that’s a Rohloff every three years or so.) In a similar but less costly vein, I reckon I’ve spent more time cleaning my chain in the last six weeks than I would in a full season’s riding in Eastern Ontario.

Early last week I made my most enjoyable and demanding rides in my time here, south and west from the coast into the Queensland/New South Wales border ranges. Several rivers cut through the 50 or so north-south kilometres of the Gold Coast, running east into the Coral Sea. They tumble down the eastern slopes of the Great Dividing Range, and over the ages have cut deep valleys. The heights are not great, perhaps 700-800 metres at most (next to the Pre-Cambrian shield, these are some of the oldest rocks on earth) but the hills are steep and the valleys and ridges are lush with pastureland and rainforest.

My longest ride was about 115 kms, a round trip from Southport (towards the northern end of the GC) to Murwillumbah, a small agricultural centre in NSW, some 25 kms inland on the Tweed River. Between my starting point and my turnaround at the New Leaf Café (a highly recommended eatery on the attractive old main street), the road climbs and descends the forested caldera of a huge ancient volcano. It’s the back road to Murwillumbah, known as the Tomewin Mountain Road, and a favourite for cyclists because it’s narrow and twisty, with a 60 kmh speed limit and light motor traffic.

Here’s the Google altitude profile: http://tinyurl.com/kuzoq3m (http://tinyurl.com/kuzoq3m)

The North-to-South section is a bit easier than the return leg. There’s a stiff short early climb, about a km in the 14-16% range, followed by about 10 kms of more-up-than-down as the road snakes along the volcanic rim through eucalyptus and then rainforest. The scent is sublime, the birdsong a symphony all its own, and the views are pretty good too – see below, #s 16, 17, & 18.

Shortly after crossing the border, the road descends the inner side of the caldera. The ancient volcano was a big ‘un, not merely an old ‘un: about 100 kms in diameter, and some 23 millions years old. My photos give only a sense of the scale of the north-eastern portion of the basin – see #19 and 20 in this post and the following. Further south and west is the eroded plug of the volcano, Mt Warning. The first part of Australia to be touched by the rising sun, it’s sacred to the country’s indigenous people, and more recently was used and named by James Cook as a key navigational aid.

(continues in the next post) (having problems posting photos -- to be resumed)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on April 03, 2017, 08:01:01 am: Old Canadian wisdom: always leave them wanting more! Super clear piece of work, John. Panting for photos to match.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on April 03, 2017, 10:39:20 am: You're too kind, Andre.

That said, when I saw the old QLD farmhouses, despite their being seriously gentrified, I thought, "Straight outta the platteland, with a wee bit more vegetation around the edges! Andre will love these!"

Now let me see if I can get the photos to migrate to their proper place 'neath the text...

Done! Here's the first batch, linked to the text above: #16, 17, 18 & 19.

Remainder of the text and photos follow immediately in a separate post.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on April 03, 2017, 11:08:45 am: Concluding text and photos from rides in the Gold Coast hinterland/NSW border ranges:

The return journey northwards from Murwillumbah and up the the inside slope of the caldera is more of a slog, a steady 6-km climb of about 15%. Although most of the climb is shaded, I found it very hard work, and stopped a couple of times to catch my breath, drink some water, gather my wits, and admire the view. I also started thinking about lower gears next time, if I want to take the Tomewin Road to Murwillumbah. My lowest gear on my Eclipse gives me 20.6 gear-inches, while 3rd on my Raven is 19.8, and 1st is 15.4. Changing to a 22T small ring on the Eclipse would give me 18.6. Mmmmaybe…or maybe I’ll just bring the Raven and have done with it. (There is a longer and less hilly route closer to the Tweed Valley, and that includes a view of Mt Warning too.)

The Big Scenery aside, this ride offers some smaller roadside pleasures as well—old rural Queensland architecture and splashes of tropical colour: see #s 14, 15, & 21.

Some additional notes:

> I made my ride to and from Murwillumbah on March 28. I had done a training ride on the Tomewin Road a few days earlier, and that included a pretty good downpour. My salmon Koolstops handled the 1 km x 15% descent very well, and that was A Good Thing, as the descent ends about 50 m before a T-junction, and beyond the T-junction is a steep drop into the Currumbin River.

> Two days after my ride, however, northern NSW received 400mm of rain in 24 hours, as the tag end of Cyclone Debbie hit the area, some 1000 kms south of its landfall north of Brisbane. Jaysus, I thought, doing the arithmetic in my addled head, that really is 16 inches of rain in a day. This is biblical. For whatever reason, the Gold Coast caught only another heavy downpour – it appears to occupy a zone of comparative tranquility, between the more fierce weather systems to the North and South.

> The GC region has a very good network of bike paths and bike lanes on roads, better than anywhere I’ve visited outside Europe. To my pleasant surprise, I found most drivers to be considerate, giving me space even on the narrow and twisty roads of the hinterland. Cyclists I spoke with confirmed my impression, and said that there’s been something of a sea change in the last 10 years or so—many more cyclists, more bike shops, a progressive approach by the regional council, and a growing cycling culture as a result. There’s a good online and printed guide to cycling in the Gold Coast, and when I get back home I’ll send the Council a thank-you note for their good work.

> This part of Oz has a good supply of very good cafés, most of them independently owned and operated, and offering good coffee and (frequently) racks for bikes. I used my lock (a TiGr-Lock Mini) several times, mostly because I’ve agreed to do a review of the lock. It worked just fine, but I probably didn’t need it. (Though I wasn’t about to test that.)

All for now. My People tell me that spring has come to Ottawa after the strangest of winters, so I'll look forward to riding around the rivers and the canal, and into the hills. Photos from that side will be pretty pale by comparison...
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on April 03, 2017, 06:12:28 pm: Spring tour
Starting my Spring tour today.
I bike and bussed up to Inverness from Aberdeen.
Tomorrow I cycle to Fort William. Wednesday down to Oban for the 13.30 ferry to Castlebay and begin a ride North through the Outer Hebredes.
I hopped off the bus 18 miles before Inverness and the head winds were aweful. Hopefully the High Pressure area due to arrive in a few days will calm things down.
Those 18 miles felt like 28.
Fort William is 70 miles away so I'll take it easy ready for the 44 mile dash to the Oban ferry on Wednesday.
Anyone been this way?
I did Harris and Lewis 2 years ago but never been to the Southern parts of the Hebredes.
Matt
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on April 03, 2017, 09:58:54 pm: John! Loved the curved corrugated iron roof over the veranda! It's impossible to explain to people who live in mild or cold climes how essential a deep veranda is to civilization in the places once settled by pale Englishmen (these days we would say "Britishers" but back then Englishmen included the Welsh, the Scots and the Irish, especially the Anglo-Irish). Where I grew up, St John Palace, Oudtshoorn, we had Italian tiles instead of corrugated iron (it was the most ostentatiously tasteful house (1) for three hundred miles around when it was built in the Ostrich Feather Craze of Victorian times); the veranda, which ran all the way around the house, was fully fourteen feet deep.

You can just imagine the raw, disturbed earth under the greenery of your photographs. It always comes as a surprise, even to people with African and more southernly and westerly Australian experience, precisely how hilly the inland strip from the East coast and especially the Northeastern corner of Australia can be. Queensland is the new California; let's hope it is isn't ruined by the same stupidities of uncontrolled immigration, incompetent, politically correct administration, and a smug, hypocritical elite protected behind huge income differentials. I'm delighted to hear cycling is taking off in Queensland (thanks in no small measure to Sam, another Thorn forum member who's a real stirrer).

(1) Italian scholars came all the way from Italy to study the mosaics, imported from Italy and assembled in place (they were newly made back then, some new designs, some copies of mosaics in Roman villas, not ripped-out ancient mosaics) by imported Italian craftsmen. The scholars had been tipped off by Italians who were prisoners of war in the area in WW2, engineers who designed and built some of the fabulous roads, married local girls and stayed on after the war.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on April 03, 2017, 11:39:55 pm: Thanks, Andre -- glad you liked the houses. I've attached one more, #13, which for some reason wouldn't 'take' in the earlier post. And, it seems, won't take on this post either, even though I've now tried three times, and it's only 363KB I'll take the liberty of sending this to you in a PM, Andre, as it doesn't change the thread of the cycling story in any way.

Some of those old rural houses in Southern Africa are remarkable in their beauty. In many respects, these show some of the same climatic considerations, especially the need for shade and cross-ventilation. #14 also shows a chimney (!!??) My son says that the Gold Coast has had one day of frost in the past 50 years, so maybe that chimney was installed when the house was built. back in the day...Similarly quaint devices can be seen in Durban.

Old QLD verandas often have nice decorative cast-iron fretwork bracing the vertical poles and the outer horizontal beam of the veranda roof. I was at some distance when I took these photos, and didn't use the telephoto, but #13 below shows some of that detail. (Although as I look at it more closely now, I realize that on this house, the braces are wooden. #15 has the cast-iron items.)

Hard to know how the future of the Coast will play out. On one hand, there are some of the positive signs that I've seen, from a cyclist's viewpoint. On the other, there's a lot of opportunistic money going into what I think are very dubious projects: there seems to be a big push under way for huge casino/all-inclusive luxury resorts, with a couple identified for both Brisbane and Main Beach here in the GC. Some of the money behind these proposals is foreign, some of it local (e.g., Kerry Packer's son). Casinos are presented as injections of capital which galvanize local neighbourhoods through their ripple effects. (Las Vegas is often used as the example; Atlantic City, not so much.) (My response is, "Oh? Suggest you read Hunter S Thompson.") So often, the reality is Big Expensive Bubbles. People visit those places and stay indoors, gambling. Sometimes the ripple effect is simply more addiction among the local population.

A friend in Brizzie said the other day, "I don't want my city to become the Macau of Australia."

'Nuff of the rant for now -- there'll be other opportunities, I'm sure, as The problem isn't going away :-((

Back to my cycling story proper. There's one key note I forgot to add: In this corner of Australia, there's a lot of broken glass on the roads in the "urban" areas. I couldn't be sure of its origin--beer bottles would be my guess, but also broken car windows. In any case, I had more flats in my few hundred kms of riding here (three) than I would in a couple of years in Ontario. That included two in one day, about a km apart :-( [Silver lining: I was fixing my tire in a parking lot near a small park, and was immediately surrounded by about twenty-five curious 4- and 5-year-olds, part of a daycare class on a walk. I felt like Gulliver amidst the Lilliputians.]

I had to replace one of my Schwalbe Marathon Racers, the one I was using on the front wheel. It was the more worn of the two, as I had been using it on the rear wheel. It suffered three cuts through the tread. The only close replacement I could find was a Bontrager 700 x 32 semi-slick. That has worked very well, and is very close to an exact size match for the 700 x 35 Racer, as that is only 32mm when inflated.

Considerations for my next trip to QLD thus include (i) more suitable gearing for the hills; and (ii) attention to tires, maybe including a backup.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on April 03, 2017, 11:42:18 pm: Quote
Starting my Spring tour today.

Hi Matt, looking forward to your story! This is part of a route I'm hoping to do in the next 2-3 years, so I'll read with interest.

Safe journey, and enjoy.

John
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on April 04, 2017, 02:05:30 am: Thanks, John. Photo not here yet. It might have the same problem with the PM as with the forum generally. You could try andrejute at coolmainpress with the standard commercial extension, which is my mailbox at my publisher, hosted on a service I've found compliant to standards I haven't even heard of...

Hey, Matt, don't get lost in those parts. After a night in the bar of the Albert (?) in Nairn, I decided to get some fresh air and became so lost in the middle of the night, the next day people said I walked (walked!) 18 miles, apparently towards Lossiemouth.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on April 04, 2017, 03:14:19 am: Thanks, Andre. I'll try your coolmainpress addr - the PM setup doesn't include a photo-attachment option.

Cheers, J.

PS a few minutes later: OK, that worked :-)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on April 04, 2017, 06:34:02 am: A lot going on at my end, so I've squeezed in some longer day rides as I can. In the last 10 days, I got in a couple 257km/160mi "utility" day rides -- simple, direct high-mileage rides north up the flat Willamette Valley and back to get some miles in my legs as training for my next tour.

Just scenery pics this time as I wasn't on my Nomad, instead taking one of the rando bikes. The photo with the red arrow (below) shows one of my favorite logging-road rides high above the Valley on the Coburg Hills. *That's* a Nomad ride far better taken when it isn't snowy. ;D

Lots of new lambs, unsettled skies and flooded fields, but Spring is definitely upon us, despite some snow lingering in the draws and canyons on high last week.

Best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on April 04, 2017, 06:58:02 am: Thanks, John, that did indeed work; super photos.

Dan, those are amazing skies, turquoise one moment, phtalo blue or purple clouds the next moment.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on April 04, 2017, 07:08:43 am: Quote
Dan, those are amazing skies, turquoise one moment, phtalo blue or purple clouds the next moment.
Thank you, Andre. Typical unsettled springtime storm-skies here in Oregon farm country.

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on April 24, 2017, 05:06:38 pm: I managed 8 days away earlier in the month to the Outer Hebrides.
Hostels and 2 front Ortlieb on the rear rack with a top box and bar bag.
Weather was as good as it gets at this time of year over there.
Raven ran well and generally a pretty flat 400 miles.
I'm slowly writing up the trip on Crazyguy but pleased to offer tips to anyone considering this part of the world.

https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1fs&doc_id=19332&v=3t
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on April 24, 2017, 09:25:05 pm: Loved the panorama shot, Matt -- wild brooding sky & sea.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on April 24, 2017, 09:42:44 pm: Thanks John. Yes, that sums up the weather.
If a high pressure front hadn't been coming in for the week I wouldn't have gone. It can be pretty bleak with poor weather.
Few trees or shelter to break up the gales and showers that sweep in across the low lands from the Atlantic.
I reached the top of the Hebredes just as the weather broke and was able to head east from Stornoway to Ullapool and then Inverness
But I liked the sense of remoteness.
A good trip and almost on my doorstep.

Maybe this link will work?

https://youtu.be/0xujFUTVYfY
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on April 25, 2017, 11:12:02 am: great photos lads what a wonderful planet we live on .

Dan epic miles going on there your idea of going for a spin is a tad different than mine.
biggest spin (ride) i ever done was 110 miles fully loaded and completly knackered when i finally got home .
got 60 miles in last saturday great spin solo on my road bike .haden't time to take photos i was going way to fast ;)

anto.

[Photos added by Dan on Anto's behalf].
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on May 10, 2017, 04:30:17 pm: It's spring, and the north of England is at 'peak bluebell'
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: ridgeback63 on May 10, 2017, 08:51:29 pm: I'm an ex soldier and at least once a year I have a ride down to the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas to put some crosses down for my old friends and comrades who have died in the last year,I usually go the road way and come back along NCN 54,I'm all set to go on the 24th May it's a short one by your standards about 80 mile round trip,but I'll put some pictures up when I get back,apart from a short stretch alongside the A38 that part of NCN is very nice,happy riding everybody.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on May 10, 2017, 09:42:25 pm: enjoy the trip Janet i'm away all going to plan on the 23 may fingers crossed the weather is good :o

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on May 11, 2017, 12:55:09 am: (https://i2.wp.com/coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/andre_jute_tree_of_life_11may2016_800pxh.jpg?w=600)

Today I rode out into the countryside to a Tree of Life to photograph it before the buds grew into too many leaves, too thick to see the branches giving it shape. I’ll put the photographs aside to use as inspiration for a painting I’ll make in the winter.

More at my blog (http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/5525-2/) at http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/5525-2/
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on May 22, 2017, 06:44:55 am: Yesterday evening before dinner I rode out to go check on the tree of life, photo in post above. Overcast, 30+kph winds. But it wasn't actually cold and the wind was kept off me by long underwear. Still, it's awful that on 21 May one still has to wear long underwear and a winter cycling jacket.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: macspud on May 25, 2017, 08:23:33 am: Time for a visit to Scotland Andre, we've probably had good/fine days this year adding up to 75% which for the first five months is exeptional, forecast for scorchio all summer. I would not be supprised if here on the west coast Scottish Highlands (known for miraculous amounts of inclement weather of all sorts) we will end up with at least 70% fair/fine by years end, I think the percentage will be higher still, but any which way you look at it, 70%+ Fair/Fine weather in a year is some kind of miracle for this locale. Winding it's self up for full on scorchio, today. Just watching all the aerial acrobatics that all the birds around here are invovled in for the first five hours of the day, until the humans get going, it's just magical.
On that note, which site do you suggest for hosted pics, free of charge a must at the moment, at least until I sort my finances out a little. I'd like to be able to link to my pics for ease of sharing.
All the best,
Hope you're making the best of it.
Mac,
;)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: ridgeback63 on May 25, 2017, 03:39:08 pm: Here is a couple from my last 2 rides;the top one was at Crich monument and the lower one was at the National Memorial Arboretum.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on May 25, 2017, 06:33:23 pm: Nearly the end of May, and I haven't managed many rides in the past six weeks. We've had a late spring, with a fair dose of Scottish weather, cool/cold, wet and windy, with precious few of the sunny scenes which Rual's camera so reliably generates. The Tobermorys, Renfrews, Dunvegans and New Edinburghs of the neighbourhood have been cowering beneath cold grey skies, lashed with rain. (Comment from forebears' ghosts: "Que pasa? It wasn't s'posed to be like this! We left the Isles of the Blest to get away from this.)

Below are a few photos from rides in late April; the second post includes some from early May. I'd hoped to have have a few from a ride up into the hills on Tuesday, which was sunny and warm, but the early arrival of hordes of black flies in the bush, in their usual numbers and unparalleled savagery, pre-empted trivial things like stopping for photos.

(On the black fly: Pavel and George, just to remind you of what you've been missing from your jaunts to Quetico and the Bruce, you may know Wade Hemsworth's tribute to the black fly, if "tribute" is the word I want - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f389hIxZAOc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f389hIxZAOc) )

In late April, the rivers were already very high, but the colours in the hills were pallid leftovers from late November, no green to be seen. For reasons I don't quite understand, the geese are already very fat. Maybe the one I photographed wintered over somehow, rather than flying north.

(To be cont'd.)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on May 25, 2017, 09:31:00 pm: Resuming the thread: About two weeks later, I headed across the river and into the hills once more. (There had been a ride in between on the first Sunday in May, a charity ride for the local children's hospital, which I do each year. It serves as a marker of spring for cyclists. This year, the temp was 4 degrees, with a stiff north-westerly and 4 hours-plus of light rain. No photos of that, either.)

By the second week of May, the world had turned. All-of-a-sudden, the tulips in Marcia's garden were in bloom, and the birches and maples had opened their buds.

You can see the change in the photos below. Up in the woods in W Québec, the first trillium blooms of the year were splashed along the roadside verges. No red-maroon ones yet, but the big whites are soooo beautiful, and I even found a rare cluster of blooms. The woods are enchanting in mid-May -- the mozzies and black flies have yet to appear, the new leaves are a delicate fresh green, and the foliage is not so full as to block the light of the sun.

No more reports from the woods until mid-June. 'Til then, black flies rule. Back in the day, railway workers went about their work in black-fly season with a smudge pot; hard to carry a smudge pot on a bike, tho'.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on May 25, 2017, 10:07:51 pm: Yesterday as we returned from our ride my companion noted that my shirt had lots of midges on it. They're a curse this time of the year if you converse while riding. He didn't have any on him. I suspect he's a secret gin drinker...
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on May 25, 2017, 10:12:05 pm: Quote from: macspud on May 25, 2017, 08:23:33 am
Time for a visit to Scotland Andre, we've probably had good/fine days this year adding up to 75% which for the first five months is exeptional, forecast for scorchio all summer. I would not be supprised if here on the west coast Scottish Highlands (known for miraculous amounts of inclement weather of all sorts) we will end up with at least 70% fair/fine by years end...

Etc, etc. Actually, I was in Scotland the last time it was this fine, more than a quarter-century ago. Starting at the the Albert Hotel in Nairn after the bar closed, I went off in the middle of the night in the direction of Lossiemouth. Nobody knows where I ended up, not even me. Eventually one of the locals I was consulting to found me via the directions of the police, who insisted someone come vouch to them that this vagrant they thought they captured didn't steal my Savile Row pinstripes or the rented bike. Makes you wonder what the people I was working with thought of the common sense of the most expensive consultant they'd ever met (which they never let me forget for a minute...); it was probably fortunate for me that I'd served years with their new chairman on other boards. He said to me, "It's lucky for the pair of us that the Scots have a sense of humour."

I've answered your question about photo storage, about which I know little, in a separate thread, to which I hope those more knowledgeable will contribute: Storing your photographs on the net for FREE (http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=12426.0) http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=12426.0=12426.0
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: ridgeback63 on May 26, 2017, 05:37:35 pm: Anybody doing the Great Notts bike ride on the 25th June? on their Thorn
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: energyman on May 26, 2017, 10:29:01 pm: Quote from: ridgeback63 on May 26, 2017, 05:37:35 pm
Anybody doing the Great Notts bike ride on the 25th June? on their Thorn

More details required please.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: ridgeback63 on May 27, 2017, 02:51:54 pm: http://cyclelivenottingham.co.uk/ I was going to do the 75 mile one but sadly all the places have sold out so I'm going to do the 50 mile one plus ride there and back making a shade over 75 miles,should be fun mixing with the lycra crowd,I should imagine they will look at my fine steed with envy.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: macspud on May 27, 2017, 06:04:27 pm: Quote from: Andre Jute on May 25, 2017, 10:07:51 pm
Yesterday as we returned from our ride my companion noted that my shirt had lots of midges on it. They're a curse this time of the year if you converse while riding. He didn't have any on him. I suspect he's a secret gin drinker...

I could tell you exactly why, if you'd like to know? ;-)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Pavel on May 27, 2017, 09:29:37 pm: Quote from: jags on April 25, 2017, 11:12:02 am
great photos lads what a wonderful planet we live on

Yes, Indeed.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on May 27, 2017, 10:56:27 pm: Quote from: macspud on May 27, 2017, 06:04:27 pm
Quote from: Andre Jute on May 25, 2017, 10:07:51 pm
Yesterday as we returned from our ride my companion noted that my shirt had lots of midges on it. They're a curse this time of the year if you converse while riding. He didn't have any on him. I suspect he's a secret gin drinker...

I could tell you exactly why, if you'd like to know? ;-)

Go on then.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Pavel on June 01, 2017, 05:59:31 pm: it's an odd thing, and I'm being very serious, but since I've had Chemo - mosquitos, midges (we call them no-see-ums) and every other annoying blood sucker out there will not touch me. I can be in a cloud of them and not one bite. Seriously. They must be health conscious and I'm the equivalent of a Lead-paint, asbestos, high sodium, high fat cocktail to those little beasts.

I'm not complaining mind you - but how smart they are - or how tainted I am, is a bit of a strange thing. :D
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: macspud on June 01, 2017, 06:26:30 pm: Quote from: Andre Jute on May 27, 2017, 10:56:27 pm
Quote from: macspud on May 27, 2017, 06:04:27 pm
Quote from: Andre Jute on May 25, 2017, 10:07:51 pm
Yesterday as we returned from our ride my companion noted that my shirt had lots of midges on it. They're a curse this time of the year if you converse while riding. He didn't have any on him. I suspect he's a secret gin drinker...

I could tell you exactly why, if you'd like to know? ;-)

Go on then.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on June 02, 2017, 05:48:03 am: Hah! Pavel already told us. It's the gin: the midges don't like juniper-juice.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: macspud on June 09, 2017, 12:40:03 am: Quote from: macspud on June 01, 2017, 06:26:30 pm
Quote from: Andre Jute on May 27, 2017, 10:56:27 pm
Quote from: macspud on May 27, 2017, 06:04:27 pm
Quote from: Andre Jute on May 25, 2017, 10:07:51 pm
Yesterday as we returned from our ride my companion noted that my shirt had lots of midges on it. They're a curse this time of the year if you converse while riding. He didn't have any on him. I suspect he's a secret gin drinker...

I could tell you exactly why, if you'd like to know? ;-)

Go on then.

Sorry about the delay,

Not what I'd planned at all. Computer had a stroke, then a cardiac event, then swamped, then berevement, followed by an excellent festive wake, followed by the mother of all hangovers, followed by too many wonderous opertunities, a smattering of love, more lust & life {;-)}, now my keyboard has died.... I wrote and posted the answer four times already but it fails every time.

Andre if you really want to know all the answers, give me a PM, I'll find a totally different route to tell you....

Many things are not for general consumption yet......

Be careful

All the Best .

Love & Peace

;-)

Always..

Aye

Iain.

X

:-)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on June 09, 2017, 12:59:41 am: ^^^ Iain gets my vote for best brief tour summary for the year to date.

Best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: macspud on June 09, 2017, 03:27:37 am: Quote from: Danneaux on June 09, 2017, 12:59:41 am
^^^ Iain gets my vote for best brief tour summary for the year to date.

Best,

Dan.

;-}
;)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on June 09, 2017, 11:02:06 am: Quote from: Danneaux on June 09, 2017, 12:59:41 am
^^^ Iain gets my vote for best brief tour summary for the year to date.

+1
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: lewis noble on June 10, 2017, 03:45:49 pm: We (my wife Dilys and I) recently rode over Bealach an Ba, Scotland, on a 10 day walking / cycling / campervan trip to N W Scotland. I have been wanting to attempt this for a while, so we parked up at the Wee Campsite in Lochcarron, and headed off to explore.

Background - both of us 70 yrs, I am a 'returning' rather than a lifelong cyclist, riding a Sherpa 530S with straight bars. Lightweight components, bike totals about 12.5 kg all included. Dodgy knees which work fine 95% of the time then 'give way' . . . Dilys rides a £300 Ridgeback, v upright, can't understand why anyone would pay more for a bike. I haven't told her that my wheels cost more than her bike . . Higher geared than the Sherpa, but lower gears than most cheap hybrids. Her cadence is around 30 - she is a veteran rower, 30 strokes per min is pretty well full throttle for them.

The first day, we walked and rode a bit, deciding on a 'warm up' day. In the afternoon, we went to the bottom of the pass (Kishorn) and pedalled up to have a look . . . and as the weather was reasonable, just kept going. So we went up the 2053 feet by accident as it were! Only half way up did I remember that I was carrying 2 days food shopping including potatoes -probably around 1.5 kg. Not that much, but could have done without it . . .

The gradient steepens, with hairpins, near the end, gets to 20+%. I got pretty well all the way up riding, hindered as much by the motorhomes (often rented, so probably inexperienced drivers 'having a go') as much as the hairpins and gradients. We both got up, Dilys probably walking a bit more nearer the top than me.

We were really pleased with our achievement. No pictures, I'm afraid, the weather, ok until we got to the top, closed in and the rain poured down on the descent - we returned the way we had come. Despite following the Thorn advice about intermittent braking (hard on a long 20% descent!) the rims got pretty hot, cooled a bit perhaps by the spray and rain. Thinking about the braking post started by Andre, my brakes are XT, Koolstop dual compound pads, DT Swiss rims. Worked fine in the wet, never any concern about braking.

So, not bad for an 'accidental' ascent of a major hill!! Later on, we rode some of the Applecross coast road, round the Stoer peninsula etc - some beautiful weather later.

Best wishes everyone

Lewis - Sheffield
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: silverdorking on June 11, 2017, 04:18:55 pm: Wow Lewis, salutations to you both, King and Queen of the mountain, all-be-it inadvertently! Think what you might have done with 25kg of King Edwards in your pannier. I personally prefer an energy bar but then I'm a studious avoider of hills, currently touring in the English Lake District, seeking out the flattest route possible! Last year I took a sneaky squint at the lower reaches Mont Ventoux from where I was camping at Sault, then remembered I had a plane to catch at Nice!
Love to do some cycling along the West Coast of Scotland, really enjoyed a 'flat as a pancake' route through the Western Isles. How do you think I'd get on in Wester Ross, would my hill avoidance strategy meet a brick wall and how were the wee beasties?
Best wishes Andrew
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on June 18, 2017, 09:47:28 pm: We had a good run round Tinto Hill in south central Scotland today, summer is here!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on June 19, 2017, 12:00:33 pm: Hottest day of year. Very glad of the overhead protection. The green and beloved isle is — well, green and beloved. Love that balcony over the little stream, barely seen in the third shot down.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on June 19, 2017, 12:14:47 pm: More green and beloved isle. The nodding madonna isn't some literary fancy. She's a real statue which, by a trick of light according to a fellow Irish Examiner contributor, nods her head. She stands in a village nearby, but by the time I remembered that the more religious among you might like to venerate at least a photo, I was several miles past. Such wonders are so common here that we forget to photograph them... honest.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on July 07, 2017, 01:32:15 am: Cycling the lacework of lanes in West Cork, discovering Red Spider Mites

After more than a quarter century cycling the lacework of lanes around my house in West Cork, I still don’t know them all, or even the majority. Here’s a lane my pedalpal Philip remembers from the days when GPs still made house calls, on which we cycled for the first time today, looking for a shortcut from the pub at Newcestown to Baxter’s Bridge so we could come home via the Golf Club. Not all of this lane is this civilized; parts of it are decidedly rough and overgrown. You’re not lost if you can follow the telephone poles!

(https://i2.wp.com/coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/andre_jute_you_aren_t_lost_if_you_can_see_the_telegraph_poles_800pxh.jpg?w=600)

You can also get a whole education in the flora and fauna in the lanes, simply by keeping your eyes open. These tiny Red Spider Mites are too small to see from a moving bike, less than a millimeter across. This photo is probably 60x or 70x life-size.

(https://i0.wp.com/coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/andre_jute_red_spider_mites_2_800pxw.jpg?w=800)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on July 21, 2017, 04:09:04 am: My life is rather topsy-turvy these days: moved from Riverdale to North Ogden, only about 15 miles but still everything gets shuffled. Anyway I finally got back on my bike:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1093804538 (https://www.strava.com/activities/1093804538)

at my turn-around snack point, I encountered a half dozen lounging cyclists - taking a break in the middle of a big ride:

http://4kforcancer.org/2017-team-san-francisco/ (http://4kforcancer.org/2017-team-san-francisco/)

Anyway I hope I can post some more spectacular ride reports before too long!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on July 21, 2017, 04:26:57 am: I hope so too, Jim. Moves are always unsettling even in the best of circumstances. I hope things settle down for you soon. There's some real heat in your general area; be sure to stay hydrated.

I hope to make it down that general direction as the playa dries out from last Spring's heavy rains. It is still pudding under a dry surface skim at Nevada's Black Rock Desert.

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on July 21, 2017, 04:49:37 am: We've got a spare room here if you make it all the way to the Wasatch!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on July 21, 2017, 05:58:57 am: Many, many thanks, Jim! I hope I can someday take you up on the nice offer!

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on July 23, 2017, 02:45:52 am: Worked more across the contour lines today: https://www.strava.com/activities/1096774409 (https://www.strava.com/activities/1096774409)

some photos from the high point... (hmmm I need to find a way to manage the display size!)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on July 24, 2017, 03:24:31 am: ha, yeah, I got a smart phone and put the strava app on it... hope you don't mind that I am having some fun with it!

Today's ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/1098659957 (https://www.strava.com/activities/1098659957)

and some photos - I hope I am getting the sizing figured out!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on July 24, 2017, 12:41:10 pm: Love your panoramas, Jim. But contour lines are hints to cyclists to go around, not over...
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on July 24, 2017, 10:12:00 pm: Fine sunny day here today, wild raspberries and a new stove to try out, what could be better?!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on July 24, 2017, 10:45:51 pm: hope you left some raspberries for the wild life Rual.

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on July 25, 2017, 12:41:44 am: That's a well-traveled kettle. And a good, sharp photograph of the smoke.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: bikerwaser on July 25, 2017, 07:07:27 pm: Went on a 3 month bimble around Brittany this Spring. I was working a bit here and there using the Workaway site where you get food and a roof for 4 or 5 hours work a day. Nice way to reduce your overheads while emersing yourself in the culture :

https://1drv.ms/a/s!AiJ8NWjLeHiQl14oxv3I4IQS24ft
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on July 25, 2017, 07:58:41 pm: Quote from: bikerwaser on July 25, 2017, 07:07:27 pm
Went on a 3 month bimble around Brittany this Spring. I was working a bit here and there using the Workaway site where you get food and a roof for 4 or 5 hours work a day. Nice way to reduce your overheads while emersing yourself in the culture :

https://1drv.ms/a/s!AiJ8NWjLeHiQl14oxv3I4IQS24ft

Class.............. some crackin photos in that lot. 8)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on July 25, 2017, 08:09:47 pm: "Bimble" -- leisurely travel. I love it!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on July 25, 2017, 10:25:36 pm: milestone day - I turned in the keys to the apartment we moved out of! There's a great aerospace museum just down the street, so I stopped there too, and the library... https://www.strava.com/activities/1101429130 (https://www.strava.com/activities/1101429130)

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/kz92yafa3w3p0uisyrr4zybpig2ja38t.jpg)

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/7cw829781833zp0555ik43p7uwdqzy2q.jpg)

right down the street from our house there is a public spring - delicious water just pours out:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/5q687owiyw4o9yduv2kepm7ttzylcf9l.jpg)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on July 25, 2017, 11:25:49 pm: Great photos Jim ,we could do with that spring water,our supply of water has been off since last friday wont be fixed until next monday over 100,000 are going crazy ,i think there calling out the army tomorrow things are that bad crazy set up.

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on July 26, 2017, 06:03:27 am: Ouch, Anto -

https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0724/892512-water-meath-louth/ (https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0724/892512-water-meath-louth/)

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/irish-water-head-confident-northeast-water-service-fixed-by-thursday-1.3164077 (https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/irish-water-head-confident-northeast-water-service-fixed-by-thursday-1.3164077)

an interruption in water supply is no laughing matter! Hoping that gets fixed pronto!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on July 26, 2017, 02:48:46 pm: the army is out ;)
got enough to keep us going for a few days .
i said to the wife i should never have sold the washboard :'(

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on July 31, 2017, 04:36:31 am: These days it's mostly digging holes to plant trees in our back yard that is keeping me sweating. But still, got to get out to clear my head... https://www.strava.com/activities/1109875778 (https://www.strava.com/activities/1109875778)

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/aru6cvz2fgpgljaagiuwrlmsuc1odegi.jpg)

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/x3p1jh7jlv5eyvwklspojxzab64jvxb7.jpg)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on July 31, 2017, 01:47:53 pm: great country America scenery is something else. 8)

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on August 01, 2017, 02:37:44 am: There is a nice hill right out my door: https://www.strava.com/activities/1111310272 (https://www.strava.com/activities/1111310272)

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/ihjgc5m8tro6mhhh2nsc4uy7zr6yr38o.jpg)

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/y6p4xsnw2e9u5ogqy9mkc3g5kyfv4wkd.jpg)

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/gkjp43024nbtzojybat79a6ol5jvf9ao.jpg)

It's on tomorrow's stage of the Tour of Utah: https://www.tourofutah.com/stages/2 (https://www.tourofutah.com/stages/2)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 01, 2017, 10:13:50 am: Im watching the tour tough cycling country.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 01, 2017, 04:30:46 pm: While the rest of us deal with such mundane topics as weather, hills, and road conditions on our rides, Anto has to deal with DANGEROUS COWS CROSSING! :o

(The sign says so!)

;D

Best,

Dan. (...who hopes Anto minds those killer cows while riding his Thorn Audax ;) )
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 01, 2017, 04:47:24 pm: Cheers Dan,you lot have it handy what with cuddly bears look what I have to look out for mind u must have been his day off never seen a bit of him ;D ;D...

My bike is class never misses a beat super smooth,saying that my rear fender needs adjustments rubbing a wee bit im in the shed now trying to sort it out.
I got 40 miles in today boyne valley route class.weather windy dull but very warm.thats the latest news lads have a nice day.
Anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on August 01, 2017, 10:13:32 pm: I took a video of the Tour of Utah going by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyVBigMBYpc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyVBigMBYpc)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 01, 2017, 11:06:55 pm: excellent jim well done,the pro's make it look so easy. 8) 8)
got to get to my bed i'm knackered,
thanks for sharing jim,

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on August 02, 2017, 01:25:43 pm: Nice steady hand you have, Jim.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on August 02, 2017, 07:25:01 pm: Great stuff, Jim. Serious bizness indeed, a climb like that in the heat & all. I was reviewing the map of SLC & surrounds--all too easy to forget the essentials, without regular visits to renew acquaintances. Great views in the clear air, so long as the dreaded inversions keep their distance. The rides down the canyons must be worth the prolonged ascent, for sure. Then again, a quick dip in the streams would feel pretty good in August, too!

Safe riding, look forward to more photos, John
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on August 02, 2017, 07:41:38 pm: going down, ha! My max speed was 42 mph and mostly I was going around 35 mph. Fun enough!

For my climb Monday the temperature was in the upper 90sF. I'm putting Nuun tablets in my water. I went through one water bottle on that climb - had a second back-up but didn't dip into it.

The kids on mountain bikes who were watching the race along side me yesterday - a tough bunch! They're on a local race team. The kid I talked to, maybe 14 years old, does intervals up that hill. He's going to the national championship races in Colorado in a few weeks. We were chatting about electrolytes. He like to chew these gel things and just drink straight water. He'll moisten the gel cube and stick it to his bike frame and then just peel it off during the race. Wow! Kids these days!

The guy standing between us was another monster. Talking about 30 mile runs in the mountains etc. The young kid pointed out the wheels on the older guy's Niner mountain bike. Made locally: http://enve.com/ (http://enve.com/). The young kid has the same brand rims on his own bike - but he got them free from a buddy that works at the factory.

Lots of crazy athletes around here! It's a good place for the outdoors!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 03, 2017, 02:57:34 am: Thanks so much for sharing your photos, Jim.

InCycle has posted photos of the Tour of Utah stages to date on their YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/inCycleTV

Boy, it is hot here also -- 102°F/38.8°C...would have been hotter except the smoke from forest fires peeled about 4 degrees F off the expected high by filtering the sunlight. I went out for a quick 75mi/120km road ride on the Nomad and called it good after I ran through nearly 6 liters of water. Tomorrow should see similar temps, breaking a little by the weekend.

Fire restrictions prevent me mowing the grass in the yard, so...bike ride! ;D

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on August 06, 2017, 02:58:03 am: Part 1 of my account of a day ride:

Last Tuesday, we had a rare (for this summer) (but standard issue in "normal" times) hot and clear summer day. I took advantage of the window in the rainy days to make a daylong ride north and west of Ottawa. I rode north across the Ottawa River towards my usual 3-4-hour out-and-back into the Gatineau Hills, but instead of going into the hills, I angled NW onto the gently rolling agricultural plain between the big river and the Gatineau escarpment. I rode close to the river to the small town of Quyon, a centre for agricultural, lumbering and mining activities over the years. From Quyon, I took the ferry across the Ottawa to the hamlet of Fitzroy Harbour, and from there to the agricultural village of Carp (now amalgamated into the Ottawa metropolitan area), and back to our house in the west-central part of Ottawa.

Here's a fairly accurate map of the route: http://tinyurl.com/y75y5t2e (http://tinyurl.com/y75y5t2e) The total distance was about 120 kms, including about 20-25 kms of gravel on the Québec side. I covered the distance in about 6 hours of riding, and spent about 8 hours on the road, with breaks for snack, the ferry, and photos.

I began the day with a very quiet ride into the lower reaches of the Gatineau Hills, and then about 2 1/2 hours through the agricultural land between the Ottawa River and the Gatineau escarpment to the east. (Photos 1, 2 & 3 below.) In the mid-19th century and later, much of Western Québec along the Ottawa Valley (and on the Ontario side as well) was settled by Irish families, so many seeking a haven from the Great Hunger.

In many of the fields, the farmers were still taking off their crop of hay. In some cases, the bales were still in the fields, awaiting their sheath of white plastic; elsewhere, the hay had been cut and tedded into rows, and was still drying before being baled. In other fields, the hay was not yet cut. The crop seemed to be heavy, but the harvest is about a month late -- typically, the hay is off the field and the bales stored before the end of June. This summer's record rainfall meant that farmers could not get their machinery into the fields until late July.

We had had no rain for a few days before my ride, so the gravel roads in Québec were being graded, with fresh gravel added. The maintenance made corrugations less of a problem, along with the risk (for a cyclist) of vehicles throwing up more dust than usual. As I rode away from the hills and towards the river, I found an unwelcome indicator of less-than-welcoming attitudes: From my childhood days on the farm, I've always understood the etiquette on gravel to be that, as a motorist, you slow right down when you're passing people walking or cycling, so as not to cover them with dust. This is not so well understood or followed any more, it seems. The posh cars, SUVs, and hopped-up Subarus driven by young males shot by me, trailing the inevitable cloud of choking dust. ("Townies," I muttered to myself through my hand.) A couple of drivers in battered old pickups did The Courteous Thing, for which I thanked them with a wave.

I stopped at a couple of dépanneurs to inhale some ice cream, chocolate milk, and my own snacks, and to pass the time of day with the owners and customers. (A cyclist some distance from town, especially un gar d'un certain âge, invites questions and comments.) The dépanneur is an exemplary Québec institution: if you are en panne (i.e. with a breakdown, or more generally, stuck with a problem), you need a dépanneur, something or someone to fix your problem. These are in effect updated rural general stores, typically by the highway. As motor vehicles have become more reliable, dépanneurs have become more like (sub)urban convenience stores. But, they still offer a range of comfort foods, coffee, ice cream, wine and beer, some groceries, some hardware, and occasionally poutine (if you're so inclined.)

In Quyon, I stopped for lunch at a dépanneur opposite the fairgrounds near the ferry dock. Gavan's Hotel is a famous old landmark in the village. Gail Zoé Gavan, daughter of the owner, is a locally-famous C & W-cum-Irish-cum-canadienne singer who does a haunting version of "Quand le soleil dit bonjour aux montagnes". Sadly, I didn't see her.

Part 2 of the text follows in a separate post below. The photos are split into two groups: #'s 1-3 for this section, 4 & 5 for Part 2.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on August 06, 2017, 03:01:39 am: Part 2 - the ferry & the ride back to Ottawa

The 10-minute ferry ride offers some fine views of the Ottawa River, which here is a sorta-manageable distance across. (See photos 4 & 5 below. #5 looks back about 35 kms to the hills shown in photo #1.) Fitzroy Harbour is a small hamlet on the southern shore of the Ottawa River. It's a small agricultural centre, situated at the confluence of the Mississippi where it flows into the Ottawa from the southwest. It's the site of a nice provincial park, and is named after (I assume) the skipper of the ship that Darwin made famous, the "Beagle". (When I ask people about that, they look at me blankly. Maybe it was just some bloke whose family name happened to be Fitzroy. Stranger things have happened, after all: my grandfather's name was Robert Burns.) The little town does have a wee store venerated among cyclists in the neighbourhood, "Penny's Fudge Factory". Marcia had been a bit worried about my doing a 6-8-hr ride in 30°-plus weather, so I bought some mint-chocolate fudge for my sweetie, and was duly forgiven for courting risk.

I reached Carp in time for a mid-afternoon break at Alice's Village Café, a highly-recommended spot with a broad veranda thoughtfully sited to ensure shade for hot sweaty cyclists -- it faces east. I've never found Carp to be a particularly attractive name, but the village sits upon a slight ridge overlooking green fields to the west, and it has a Fall Fair that's four years older than Canada. It hosts an annual garlic festival too, so no carping about the name, eh?

The ride into town includes a nicely shaded twisty 20 minutes along the Old Carp Road, too narrow and slow for SUVs, hence favoured by cyclists riding to & from Penny's Fudge Factory. After a ghastly stretch along a suburban arterial road (mitigated practically if not aesthetically by wide shoulders), I took refuge in the bike path running east through the trees along the south shore of the Ottawa River.

Osi the Raven handled everything with quiet aplomb, and drew admiring comments from the owner of one dépanneur. "Un vélo pour les montagnes, m'sieu," she said, and I complimented her on her good taste. And although the accumulated fine dust of and hour-plus on the gravel took a while to tidy up, the Chainglider shielded the chain from the worst of the dust.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 06, 2017, 10:41:36 am: great to be alive John 8) 8)

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on August 06, 2017, 02:43:36 pm: To be sure, Anto - thanks! :)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 06, 2017, 03:53:41 pm: Wonderful ride report, John!

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on August 06, 2017, 07:41:07 pm: "Wonderful" is just so apt. Now I know the French root of the Irish moonshine, locally "poteen", pronounced pocheen.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on August 06, 2017, 08:35:05 pm: Thanks for your kind words, Andre. But a word about poutine: it's the national dish of the Ottawa Valley, and a debate rages among aficionados about which side of the Valley holds the Grail, so to speak. There is consensus that authentic poutine may be purchased only from a chip wagon. Accept no substitutes, such as poutine bought in a restaurant or served on a plate. (See the reference below to NYC, of all places.)

What is it, then? French fries cooked in a chip wagon, packed end-on in a light cardboard box about 3" square, with cheese curds (white preferred for authenticity) stuffed in among the fries, with a healthy (using that word figuratively) helping of pork gravy then ladled over the lot. (Why a light cardboard box? It's important to let onlookers know that you have The Real Thing from the grease stains that immediately appear on the outside of the box.)

I can usually manage a serving every 18 months or so, or whenever my arteries start to slump and wilt, and need a bit of stiffening. It is tasty, no doubt about that -- but whenever I eat it, I worry about what it's doing to my insides.

One winter years ago, friends were visiting from Manhattan, and we went skating on the canal. Afterwards, I said I thought I'd have my occasional poutine, and described it to them. They thought I was just making it up, and were shocked and appalled when they saw it & smelled it. Now, however, an enterprising Montrealer has opened up a poutine shop in Brooklyn, and it's become chic, or at least popular.

On balance, I reckon that poteen is probably safer for you. Poutine, OTOH, lends itself to A-grade bad puns about the Russian president.

If I were to eat it during a break on a ride, I'd be reliving the experience for the rest of the day, and I doubt that I'd be climbing any hills.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on August 06, 2017, 10:52:05 pm: Sounds like the real thing.

Over here French fries are "chips" and authentically served on newspaper (probably illegal under the EU, which tells you how long it is since I had any).

Your Manhattan pals remind me.... Back in the day, when I was a political exile, after I got shot in South America (not for politics, for my team winning too often at polo, a bad loser put a price on my head), I lived in Australia because that's where the first plane out went. Friends from London came to stay and I took them out for a local delicacy, a bowl of pea soup with an Australian-type meat pie floating in it. One of my guest reminded me that as students we shared a corpse called Horace, and that he had to do my dissections and slides and suchlike for me because I'd pass out from the smell any time I entered the abattoire. When I then informed them that locally the dish was known as a "floater" even those who had tasted a (small) mouthful pushed their plates away. Just as well I had a reservation for a decent restaurant...
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 07, 2017, 07:42:29 pm: Quote from: Andre Jute on August 06, 2017, 10:52:05 pm
Sounds like the real thing.

Over here French fries are "chips" and authentically served on newspaper (probably illegal under the EU, which tells you how long it is since I had any).

Your Manhattan pals remind me.... Back in the day, when I was a political exile, after I got shot in South America (not for politics, for my team winning too often at polo, a bad loser put a price on my head), I lived in Australia because that's where the first plane out went. Friends from London came to stay and I took them out for a local delicacy, a bowl of pea soup with an Australian-type meat pie floating in it. One of my guest reminded me that as students we shared a corpse called Horace, and that he had to do my dissections and slides and suchlike for me because I'd pass out from the smell any time I entered the abattoire. When I then informed them that locally the dish was known as a "floater" even those who had tasted a (small) mouthful pushed their plates away. Just as well I had a reservation for a decent restaurant...
;D ;D ;D your an awful man.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: in4 on August 07, 2017, 11:22:52 pm: Said Floater, or something very similar was being served in the Sydney Opera House bar last night. I was passing, as one does... :)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 08, 2017, 12:11:41 am: the name alone would put you off. ;D ;D

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on August 08, 2017, 06:52:44 am: Quote from: in4 on August 07, 2017, 11:22:52 pm
Said Floater, or something very similar was being served in the Sydney Opera House bar last night. I was passing, as one does... :)

And no doubt at a premium price as "a quaint local customary dish".
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 08, 2017, 09:15:59 am: Hi All!

I took my Nomad deep into the Calapooya Mountains ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calapooya_Mountains ) southeast of Eugene here in Oregon yesterday.

A lovely ride, the majority was on pavement because I rode from my front door as usual. However, once in the forest, we (the bike and I) rode a formerly private timber company haul road, logging roads, and about 11 miles of MTB singletrack. All in all, a lovely day out but a long one at 176 miles (283km), a good day's ride given the road -- and off-road -- conditions. I carried only my underseat tools/tube bag and dined from my handlebar bag as I rode along. I started with 6.5l of water and didn't need to refill.

Favorite parts included a rails-to-trails path alongside Dorena Reservoir and designated MTB routes south of Oakridge, Oregon.
See:
http://www.americantrails.org/nationalrecreationtrails/blm/rowriver-or.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorena,_Oregon
https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8011556/greater-oakridge

There was a lot of smoke in the air and white skies from forest fires in the area, but temperatures were more moderate than last week, topping out at 91°F/32.7°C. Log-truck traffic was heavy at times but gave no trouble. I saw no mountain lions or bears this trip, but did see lots of bear spoor/droppings. I was delighted to find the blackberries were ripening nicely and probably sampled too many along the way. Oh! I also found a river agate -- one of the largest in my collection to date.

I saw some local cyclists on the Row River Trail, but no traveling cyclists except one couple touring with Ortlieb bags. I passed them as they looked at their maps, but when I returned after a mile or so on second thought to see if they might need directions, they were nowhere to be found. I think they might have detoured to Wildwood Falls, a popular swimming hole with a tragic history. The rushing waterfalls carry oxygen into an underwater cave popular with swimmers. However, if too many people visit in a short timeframe, the oxygen can become depleted with calamitous results, so a number of drownings have occurred there despite warnings.

I usually top out at about 200km day rides with the Nomad, not because it is much slower on pavement (it isn't), but because it tempts me to take slower side roads with much rougher surfaces than I would usually take with my randonneur bikes' 700C x 32-37mm tires. I suppose if I could discipline myself to stay on pavement with the Nomad, I might well go longer day-ride distances as I do on them. Despite the weight difference (20kg for the Nomad dry vs 14.5-15kg for the rando bikes) it works really well and the fatter, lower pressure tires and suspension seatpost are definitely faster on poor roads because they are more comfortable and result in less rider fatigue. I once again came to appreciate the generous standover allowed by the sloping top tube when it came time to dismount on singletrack, heavily potholed logging roads, and steep grades. No problem with the 2.0in Schwalbe Duremes on designated MTB trails and they worked nicely on pavement also. I remain well pleased.

Several of the day's photos attached below.

Best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 08, 2017, 09:17:02 am: More photos from yesterday's ride...

Best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 08, 2017, 12:03:43 pm: well done Dan epic cycling for sure id be dead if i covered those kinda miles i wouldn't even do it in a car .50 miles is about tops for me.great photos well done.

i had a friend call around last night talk about camping, he doing a tour over to the west of ireland he rides a Thorn raven it was me who put him onto thorn bikes he bough one for the wife as well but she never used it (needs Killing) anyhoo im giving him a loan of my tent no point in him spending hundreds on a tent if it turns out he hates camping.
thats the buzz well done on your trip 174 miles you crazy man.

anto
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on August 08, 2017, 01:21:48 pm: Superb, Dan -- that would be a couple of days' ride for me!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: bikerta on August 08, 2017, 07:05:16 pm: Quote from: jags on August 08, 2017, 12:03:43 pm
he rides a Thorn raven it was me who put him onto thorn bikes he bough one for the wife as well but she never used it (needs Killing)
anto

Ooh fancy leaving a Thorn Raven sitting in the garage unused with that lovely Rohloff gearing as well. That is what I would have liked to have bought originally as I hate faffing around with the deraillers, but far too much money for me at the time. Not complaining about my Sherpa though, still love it. Often think about getting a slightly faster bike, then wonder if I would ever ride it.

Recently, I have been giving a Brompton a lot of consideration. Each time I try to take my bike on the train, I end up having to stand with it in the passage way, getting in everybody's way and being very uncomfortable. Last year I did Lon Las Cymru and had to stand holding the bike from Warminster in Wilts to Newport, South Wales. O.k. I can put up with that as it's only about an hour and a half, but then I had to stand with the bike from Newport pretty much all the way to Bangor in North Wales. Needless to say I was pretty tired by the time I reached my destination. The only joy I have had on a train was travelling all the way from Gillingham, Dorset up to Thurso in Scotland for my JOGLE. Got a bike space and a seat where I could keep an eye on the bike up to London, then bike stored in guard's van on Caledonian Sleeper up to Inverness, then strapped onto a rack on the Inverness to Thurso section. Fantastic service.

A Brompton would make rail travel so much nicer and no having to worry about booking the bike either. Bit harder getting up the hills though.

Am hoping to do a tour around Wales next week, then meeting up with a friend in Aberystwth to spend another few days in Snowdonia with some cycling and some walking. Keep fingers crossed the weather picks up as it's been pretty grim recently. Typical, work at school all through the hottest part of the summer, now I have finally finished and it's not great.

What an amazing ride Dan, you make it all sound so easy. I shall probably be doing that sort of mileage on my weeks tour. I'm with Jags, 50 miles is about my limit at the moment, though I would like to try a hundred mile trip when I am a bit fitter.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: High Moors Drifter on August 08, 2017, 07:45:26 pm: Wow that's some ride Dan. Like the others my max would generally be 50 miles apart from a 100 miler when I was 14 many years ago. How long did it take? From your past posts I assume you do little riding in the winter due to weather conditions, how do you keep up your fitness through the winter?

Id.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 08, 2017, 08:38:17 pm: Yes Jackie it's just gathering dust pity, but nothing stranger than women thats the truth ;)
btw i think i'd rather stand than ride one of those brompton yokes imaging if it had a rohloff my god what is cycling coming too.

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on August 08, 2017, 09:49:41 pm: I've got a Brompton & find it quite useful. I have the six speed version with the low gearing option. That's low enough to get up some good hills. I don't know the actual gear-inches, maybe upper 20s just guessing by feel. For sure you can't carry a huge load and the steering is mighty twitchy. I love how I can easily ride no-hands on my Nomad, e.g. to stretch my arms on a long ride. Impossible to ride a Brompton no-hands.

I had a bottle dynamo with halogen lights on my Brompton and that whole set-up self-destructed somehow. I got a new front wheel with a hub dynamo and LED lights to go along with it. Haven't been out on that new set-up yet. I'd much rather ride the Nomad for almost any use, but that Brompton folds up in a flash. Another fun thing is when I take my car to be serviced, I pop the Brompton into the trunk. Provides a few hours of relative freedom!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on August 08, 2017, 09:54:22 pm: Quote from: jags on August 08, 2017, 08:38:17 pm
Yes Jackie it's just gathering dust pity, but nothing stranger than women thats the truth ;)
btw i think i'd rather stand than ride one of those brompton yokes imaging if it had a rohloff my god what is cycling coming too.

anto.

http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk/folding-bikes/brompton/brompton-rohloff-kit/
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 08, 2017, 10:55:38 pm: Ah rual ill never sleep tonight after looking at that.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 09, 2017, 12:12:32 am: Thanks for the kind words, folks, but it is not all about the distance. I'l try to explain... :)

Quote
How long did it take?
Id, for this ride I started at 05:00 and returned at 23:00 so was gone about 17 hours, mostly because of the slow going in the forest/mountains due to the grades and the road surfaces; the paved portions went pretty quickly. The average overall works out to 9.7mph/15.6km. Riding average is a little higher but but not much 'cos I didn't stop often or long.
Quote
From your past posts I assume you do little riding in the winter due to weather conditions, how do you keep up your fitness through the winter?
A few years ago, I added daily 5mi/8km walks to stay in shape, especially in winter. I have developed osteopenia (thinning bones) secondary to celiac sprue disease (gluten intolerance) and partly, I am told, because cycling is not considered a weight-bearing exercise. I enjoy hiking and when it snows, I take out the cross-country skis.

I do ride in winter, but much less as you have observed. At 57, I no longer ride in ice because I don't have much margin to tolerate more closed-head injuries and concussions. Deep snow packs up in my mudguards and locks the wheels and winter rain is always colder -- though cold temperatures alone are not a stopper. I start my cycle "training" in March by increasing my mileage, and am at my peak for the year starting in early-mid August, so that's when the big-distance day rides take place. I take just under 24 hours to ride 400km (10.3mph/~16.4km average), and by summer's end that means a lot of riding in the dark, when I don't see very much of the countryside beyond my headlight beam.
=====
The "If too long, don't read" version:

I started riding with real purpose at age 17 following a car crash that badly injured my knees. I am grateful for this because it forced me to develop knee-healthy cycling habits, good form, and an appreciation for low gearing.

At University, I began riding more as my knees healed and I joined an early group of "distance" athletes who charted their mileage publicly (think: pre-Internet Strava). Reinforced by this and a highly self-competitive nature, my cycling became obsessive and and I rode 8,000 to 12,000 miles (~13,000-19,000km) annually sick or well and I also worked as a professional (paid) tour leader. I fell into a "mileage trap" and began to display classic signs of overtraining and my performance fell off as well.

I made a decision to ride for pleasure and removed my cyclecomputer to help make it so. In a zenlike way I gained by letting go and performed better as I rediscovered the joy of cycling as play.

I was later knocked flat for a time by four tick-borne diseases and a fatal prognosis and survived a random murder attempt while cycling. In my darkest days, a "Tour de Neighborhood" came to mean as much as any longer ride. Fortunately, I recovered but I've downplayed my mileage since -- not out of modesty but because I don't want to fall back into a state where distance matters more than enjoyment.

I still enjoy riding and riding long distances as they happen, mostly because I want to see a new area. The exception is early in the season when I ride "utility miles" on a circuit to get in shape quickly after winter. On loaded tours my daily mileage hovers a little north of 70mi/112km each day because I want to see and experience more of the areas where I am traveling and photograpy and tourism afoot come into play, slowing the riding pace.

Over the last 40 years, I've learned and integrated all the little tricks that allow me to rest various muscle groups on the bike pedaling almost continuously and I don't really think about it. Bike fit is critical so nothing in particular hurts afterwards (except for my hands, which hurt from a kind of chronic tendonitis).

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on August 09, 2017, 04:05:28 am: Anto and I should be so lucky as to see the weather for that length of ride at the height of our "summer". If we ever did, we'd never stop bragging about it.

Super photos, Dan, especially the semi-precious stone. It's the sort of thing you see only on a bike, not from a car.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: martinf on August 09, 2017, 06:05:29 am: Quote from: JimK on August 08, 2017, 09:49:41 pm
I've got a Brompton & find it quite useful. I have the six speed version with the low gearing option. That's low enough to get up some good hills. I don't know the actual gear-inches, maybe upper 20s just guessing by feel. For sure you can't carry a huge load and the steering is mighty twitchy.

I'm also a Brompton fan, with two of them, plus another for my wife.

One has a 5-speed hub gear. I use this bike mainly for train-assisted commuting to the office when I am not on survey missions.

The other has wider-range gearing, 5-speed hub gear with modified 2-speed rear derailleur giving a gear range of 23" to 74". I use this one for train-assisted touring and load carrying when combined with train/bus/ship/motor vehicles. The Dutch-made front bag clips onto the frame and holds 30-40 litres of luggage, and when I need to carry more I strap a 45 litre rucksack (or very occasionally a 65 litre rucksack) to the rear rack and saddle. This bike has been very useful for combining a bit of bike touring with family visits when I wouldn't have had time to do the whole trip by conventional bike, getting a bit of cycling while on work trips, and some train/boat assisted holidays with my wife.

Not so comfortable as a large wheel bike, and not so stable as a Thorn Raven Tour when carrying lots of luggage, but not much slower on good road surfaces.

Bromptons are very useful in a household that doesn't have permanent access to a motor vehicle.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on August 10, 2017, 12:00:29 am: Made it up to Brigham City today:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1125787161/overview (https://www.strava.com/activities/1125787161/overview)

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/40zbb1owr5zx8viizwnopbzjtiudaon8.jpg)

Not the greatest bike ride - US-89 is two lanes in each direction and somewhat busy, with a variable shoulder. Mostly there is room for cars to get by without much trouble for anyone but if a cluster of cars goes by in a section where the shoulder has disappeared... it's mostly a 55 mph speed limit and there are some big trucks - a whole series of gravel pits along the mountains! - it can get a little scary in spots. The basic problem is that there are really only two roads going north, Interstate 15 and US Highway 89. What makes Brigham City a milestone is that route options start to open up at that point. So I anticipate a bunch of rides in the future that are loops from Brigham City, with that standard prefix and suffix, 18 miles each way, tacked on.

http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#11/-112.12578/41.42265/blue/bike (http://labs.strava.com/heatmap/#11/-112.12578/41.42265/blue/bike)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 10, 2017, 05:13:15 am: What a lovely photo, Jim! The bike looks grand also.

A few years ago, I planned a trip across Oregon, down to Utah via Idaho and across I-80, the roadway that spans the Great Salt Lake, returning through Nevada and SE Oregon.

Fortunately, I phoned the Utah State Highway Patrol in advance and found I-80 and a number of other highways -- with some exceptions -- are restricted for cyclists. This pretty well put paid to my plans, so I decided on another tour.

In researching my tour, I came across several links that might be helpful for you on future rides in Utah:
A Bike Suitability Map; restricted roads are shown with a red star:
https://bikeutah.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/BikeSuitabilityMap-2.pdf
Legalities of Cycling on Utah State Highways:
https://christensenhymas.com/articles/legalities-cycling-state-highways/
Utah Roads That Are Illegal to Ride Bikes On – prohibited bike routes:
http://www.utahbicyclelawyers.com/riding-restrictions-and-safety

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on August 10, 2017, 07:34:18 am: I'm pretty sure that you can ride on a lot of I-80. I actually rode through Weber canyon on I-84. Not much fun but it is a key segment for many routes out of town.

Thanks for the links - really good to have the official word!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 10, 2017, 05:26:57 pm: great photo Jim when did u get the blue bike ;)

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 11, 2017, 10:43:31 pm: Ride photos from Anto's 11 August outing on his lovely black-and-blue Thorn Audax, posted on his behalf.

Best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 11, 2017, 10:54:30 pm: Thanks Dan ;).
it was a lovely spin 40 miles plenty hills and one new road ive never been on lovely find.
knackered when i got home maybe one hill to many but i was going well and enjoying the ride.

anto.
Thats Newgrange in the second photo,i know all the back roads in that area class cycling but rough enough tarmac.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 11, 2017, 11:29:34 pm: Really pretty photos, Anto...exactly what I picture in my mind when I think of Ireland.

The bike is looking simply grand. So glad you got out on it and so sorry to hear it was hard on your poor back! Hope tomorrow is a better day for you.

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on August 14, 2017, 01:59:48 am: A cool, overcast day, just right for a ride in the green and beloved isle. Check out these giant puffballs between the road and the river. They're fully twelve inches across. Edible.

(http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/andre_jute_monster_puffballs_on_the_road_to_kilmacsimon_quay_800pxsq.jpg)

One of the party came back for these puffballs in his car.

This is our destination, Kilmacsimon Quay, a village of a handful of houses, a pub and a boatyard on the estuary of the River Bandon.

(http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/andre_jute_kilmacsimon_quay_on_the_the_bandon_estuary_800pxw.jpg)

The green tower is the proverbial widow's house, from which she would look out fearfully for the return of her sea-captain.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 14, 2017, 02:07:53 am: What terrific photos, Andre! The very picture of Ireland for me...

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on August 14, 2017, 09:26:38 am: Thanks for sharing these Andre, quintessentially Irish!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on August 14, 2017, 09:37:51 am: This years's tour was a local ride up to Hadrian's Wall and back down through the Yorkshire Dales. Here are shots over looking the Eden valley and Swaledale.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on August 14, 2017, 11:52:34 am: You can see why the place was so named, Eden Valley! The clouds in that third shot are spectacular.
***

It's striking that you chaps should think that scene quintessentially Irish. It is, but it wasn't inevitable that it should be. We were standing on the quay (not shown, behind the buildings, complete with a slipway from the boatyard) and someone commented that we'd chosen a day when the view was particularly pretty. I said I'd been thinking on our ride, a big loop of about 20km through a thousand shades of green, that if Michael Collins hadn't been shot (at another little village the other side of our town), we'd probably have ridden through solidly industrialized views every inch of the way, that Ireland looks the way it does only because Collins was assassinated and de Valera, who fancied himself a Ghandiesque leader of a nation of home spinners and poor peasants with a priest in charge of every street corner, was left in charge. This isn't just fancy; de Valera himself said that if Collins lived, he (de Valera) would have been no more than a footnote in the history books. Collins was an energetic, forceful modernizer, very short with the mythmakers and the old-stylers, and under him Ireland would have industrialized very, very fast, and very differently from the way it was done, by an inspired bureaucrat, after de Valera finally left office. If you're interested in lost leaders, Tim Pat Coogan (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=tim+pat+coogan&sprefix=tim+pat+cool%2Caps%2C209&crid=33KO1REZ5YID4)'s biography of Michael Collins is a superb read; he wrote an equally truthful biography of de Valera for whom he worked for many years as the editor of the de Valera family paper, the Irish Press. (And later, in our sunset years, Mr Coogan and I both wrote for the Irish Examiner.)
***

Jim, I thought your photo at Brigham City was of the registrar's office at my first university, Stellenbosch, a small college town with blue hills on the horizons. Amazing how that style of architecture travelled.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on August 14, 2017, 02:46:52 pm: Out for a wee spin on my Raven to the coast. Perfect weather with cloud cover helping to keep the heat down.
Nasty head wind slowed me down but finding three geocash out of 5 was a good result.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 14, 2017, 04:58:58 pm: lovely Matt you were lucky with the weather we had heavy showers here today mind you i did manage to avoid them just 20 miles few steep hills thrown in and very warm .
great photo as usual.

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 14, 2017, 05:01:50 pm: Quote from: geocycle on August 14, 2017, 09:37:51 am
This years's tour was a local ride up to Hadrian's Wall and back down through the Yorkshire Dales. Here are shots over looking the Eden valley and Swaledale.

class. 8)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on August 14, 2017, 06:45:12 pm: Our run down towards the Ayrshire coast yesterday, Isle of Arran in the distance.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on August 14, 2017, 09:25:24 pm: Quote from: rualexander on August 14, 2017, 06:45:12 pm
Our run down towards the Ayrshire coast yesterday, Isle of Arran in the distance.

And he led them out [of bondage] to a land of milk and honey.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on August 17, 2017, 02:04:11 am: Headed west today, out into the wild lands by the lake: https://www.strava.com/activities/1137371421 (https://www.strava.com/activities/1137371421)

Lots of space:
(https://app.box.com/shared/static/r41j17blhy7iu162eq3kuhf5a50jgnen.jpg)

I got a little bluetooth shutter release button!
(https://app.box.com/shared/static/r6gzlr3hj3cwe8vui879kszn7r1f1fdl.jpg)

If you look at the strava trace, you'll see I got spun around a bit when the track dissolved:
(https://app.box.com/shared/static/jefsdkux91vptvcfz6cu5tmj7e2e3ppb.jpg)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on August 17, 2017, 07:57:21 am: Great pics Jim. Love the 'selfie'. The terrain around here in northern England is best described as rolling with hardly any flat but no true mountains like yours. Must be a very different experience when you have those vast open plains ahead of you. I'd be dreading a head wind!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 17, 2017, 03:28:05 pm: Great photos jim you look super cool in that pose 8)

Anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on August 17, 2017, 03:56:34 pm: One common dreaded wind here is the canyon wind. Our house is right by the mouth of North Ogden canyon - you see some bent over trees around here! I guess there is a temperature difference between the two sides of the mountains and that drives the wind. Can be really brutal to ride into, that's for sure!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on August 27, 2017, 10:15:25 pm: Nice spin down the coast from Dunoon and round to Loch Striven today, bit cloudier than forecast but stayed dry, had a 'drum up' down by the loch for lunch.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 28, 2017, 03:19:47 am: Absolutely stunning as usual, Rual; thanks so much for posting.

All the best,

Admiring Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on August 28, 2017, 11:02:09 pm: Super photos as always, Rual. The water of the loch looks very calm.

These past ten days, we've finally had some standard-issue summer weather -- sunny, light winds, warm days and fresh-to-cool evenings. It's been a blessed relief from the rainy days of late spring and early summer.

I'm doing a few days rides into the hills as prep for a short there-and-back to Toronto in early September. This will be about 10 days of riding, approx 1000 kms plus another 100 by train entering and leaving The Big Smoke. My route will take me W & N from Ottawa (in the direction of the photo below, taken this past Saturday) into the Madawaska Highlands and then westward through the Haliburton Highlands to the area near Georgian Bay, north of Toronto. All this is through the lake and river country of the southern edge of the Canadian Shield. I'll camp about 60% of the time, staying with friends and family for the balance.

I'll spend a few days in Toronto with our daughter, and will introduce myself and Osi the Raven to the fellow who is the Rohloff agent in Canada. After that, I'll return to Ottawa via the north shore of Lake Ontario. Near Kingston, and the eastern end of the lake, I'll angle NE to Ottawa, more or less following the 200-km route of the rideau Canal, with its 49 locks. (A paddling route for another summer.)

I've tested a few tweaks on the bike over the past few weeks:

> With encouragement from Ron Seguin in Vancouver, I've mounted a set of 26 x 1.8 Naches Pass tires from Compass Tires in Seattle. These are the standard (rather than super-light) items, but at about 340 gms they're some 30% lighter than my 26 x 1.6 Marathon Supremes (and less puncture-resistant too, I'm told.) Inflated, they measure 41 mm rather than the advertised 45.7. I inflated the front tire to just over 45 PSI, the the rear to just over 50. They were very comfortable on a first ride of about 60 kms. I was not noticeably faster over the 3-plus hours of my hilly ride, but the Raven did seem to roll a bit faster on the steeper downgrades, and was perhaps slightly faster on the milder uphills. I'll keep them for day rides. For touring, I'll continue to use either my Marathon Supremes or my Maxxis Overdrive Elite 26 x 1.75 (actual inflated width: 40 mm.)

> Having tried both 1.6 Marathon Supremes, and 1.75 Maxxis O'drive Elites, I'm still looking for a little more volume in my touring tires. Both of the above are good tires, and have at least a couple of seasons left in them. In the future, I'll look closely at the 26 x 2.0 Supremes.

> In June and July, I tried a different shoe-and-pedal arrangement. For shoes, I tried a pair of FiveTen MTB shoes -- I wanted cycling shoes that I could wear off the bike when touring. The FiveTen shoes use SPD cleats, so I mated them to a pair of Shim T-400 Click'r pedals. The experiment didn't give me better results than the Sidi shoes with Look pedals that I have been using. The FiveTen shoes are robust (but a bit clunky), and while they are better for walking than my Sidis (with Kool Kovers on the cleats), they were less comfortable after six or seven hours on the bike than my Sidis. It came down to comparing inconveniences. I decided to keep my Sidis and Look cleats/pedals, live with an extra pair of shoes in my touring kit (lightweight Dawgs), and have supremely comfortable cycling shoes. Having comfortable feet on the bike is becoming more important as I get older--I'm having more discomfort from neuromas, and from calcification of toe joints :( A secondary consideration is that the T-400 Click'r pedals and SPD cleats felt less positive and secure than the Look pedals and cleats.

> Still testing the use of dry bags on my front rack, to save weight. (My Arkel T-28 panniers are well made, durable, and have very satisfying pockets, but a pair weighs almost 2 kgs.) I had a couple of drybags in my paddling kit, which I fastened to my Arkel front rack with RokShok straps. (See photo #2 below) These gave me comparable volume and a weight saving of about 1.5 kgs. The fastening setup proved to be OK on an overnight micro-tour in W Québec, but I'm awaiting a pair of back-ordered 13-ltr bags from Alpkit, which have better fastening loops: https://www.alpkit.com/products/airlok-xtra-13-litre (https://www.alpkit.com/products/airlok-xtra-13-litre)

More reports to come, in due course.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on August 29, 2017, 09:19:50 am: Sounds a great trip John! Look forward to the updates.

Having some cloudy days here but got up into the Bowland Fells. Have treated the RST to new stem bars and ergon biokork grips. Decided to go silver for a change to match the seat post. Front wheel rim has done 23,000 miles and now the blocks are slipping a bit on heavy braking so must think about replacing and get sorted before the nights draw in.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on August 29, 2017, 07:39:49 pm: Out and about the local lanes of Aberdeenshire this morning.
My eye caught this USA Mail box sitting on a wall outside a cottage.
An unusual sight for me. Not sure if it's genuine or a copy.
Any thoughts folks?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 29, 2017, 08:08:03 pm: Well y'see, Matt, the problem is a wrinkle in the Matrix. This little postbox *is* in 'Merka, but has shown up in your locale via a small wormhole. I feel confident labeling it "small" because otherwise the car in the drive would sport 'Merkin state plates and registration, and it appears to be a model not sold here.

Further, I'm guessing any mail put in the box will be delivered normally stateside, but may not "connect" with Royal Mail at all.

Here, a common joke is to place a post box atop a tall pole and label it "air mail", though really...who's to say if it works or not? When I was a kid, I saw planes actually pick up mail in remote areas by placing the mail in a net that was snagged by the airplane's tail hook.

If that can happen, the idea of "wormhole mail" becomes viable! ;)

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Indonesia
Post by: onrbikes on August 30, 2017, 09:42:09 am: Am just finishing my first ever visit to Indonesia and can highly recommend it.

Very diverse making each place different from the other.
People are extremely friendly, it's great value and the weather has been superb.
I did take an internal flight with Garuda and they give 20kg and a free bicycle at 20kg making a total of 40kg!

Will add my final budget and thoughts to the link in a couple of weeks,

At over 5000km in the last 3 months taking in plenty of Volcanoes and warm beaches for all you sun starved Europeans.
I've not met a single cyclist in all that time either!
Do it!

www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Indorun (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/Indorun)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: tyreon on August 31, 2017, 08:45:08 am: Onrbikes:'Do It'! Yer 'avin a larf,aint ya!

Just read your last postings....OMG. Wottanitemare. Nutters attacking you and with insolent abuse. Getouttathere,you don't need it. WTF. Sometimes....

Old story revisited. European guy(man,not mouse)travels with girlfriend on local intercity bus. On bus chickens,cases,goats...allsorts. As bus goes along man behind his girlfriend feigns sleep as his arm inadvertently(!)comes over his girlfriends seat to fondle her breasts(as naturally as any arm would do!!) European guy(man,not mouse)gets up,starts shouting out all about the bus and lams the 'innocent sleeper' five in the face. Bedlem then ensues. But then respect is established... and the bus continues on its way.....

Moral of the story? Let discussion commence....
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: j-ms on August 31, 2017, 09:30:44 am: Quote
At over 5000km in the last 3 months taking in plenty of Volcanoes and warm beaches for all you sun starved Europeans.
I've not met a single cyclist in all that time either!

I assume you meant cycle tourist and not not cyclist ? ;)

We're currently heading from Singapore to Saigon and have passed thousands of cyclists but only seven cycle tourists in the passed two months, all of them in Malaysia (two Malaysians on local tours, one German lady on a multi-year tour and four Basques on multi-week tour). The closest we have got to seeing another cycle tourist in Thailand was the proprietor of our hotel in Songkhla (see https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1mr&page_id=518335&v=7C (https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1mr&page_id=518335&v=7C)).

EDIT: Just remembered that we met three Thai cycle tourists near Ban Thale Noi a few weeks back. With the number of roads available in Thailand it is easy to miss other cycle tourists taking alternative routes to the same destination as you.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on August 31, 2017, 05:34:49 pm: A ride today for Anto and his Audax...despite getting some rain he managed a fair distance, Irish hills included.

Posted on his behalf.

Best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on August 31, 2017, 05:37:33 pm: Cheers Dan ;)
yeah weather was dire showers and more showers still it was great to get a good spin in .

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on August 31, 2017, 11:41:20 pm: Quote from: jags on August 31, 2017, 05:37:33 pm
weather was dire showers and more showers

Tomorrow in Jerusalem. Bugger waiting until next year. I'll report if I get wet on tomorrow's ride, already arranged.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on September 01, 2017, 02:40:29 pm: Hope u didn't get wet Andre ;D
Im just in from a nice spin 37miles .
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on September 02, 2017, 12:02:04 am: Thanks, Anto. Nice spin, 19ºC, light wind from the front going, behind us returning.

Great to hear our good weather passed over you too.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on September 02, 2017, 10:04:16 am: Its fantastic here at the moment but can't get out we have the 3 crazy grandkids.
Still I got plenty of miles in this week so happy enough.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 06, 2017, 03:14:48 am: Since I finished my 10-day ride through East & Central Ontario in mid-Sept., I've been buried in household chores big and small, with little space for day rides. This, despite weeks of the summer we never had -- sunny and warm-to-hot weather.

A couple of days ago, though, I managed a couple of hours' ride up into the Gatineau Hills. Following Graham Smith's question about lightening his Sherpa, I removed both the front and rear racks from my Raven, and checked the weight. The two together weighed 3 lbs 4 oz. The rear rack, which usually stays on the bike, weighed 2 lbs even. With its alloy fenders and mudflaps, the mounts for my Arkel handlebar bag, bell, one light, and two bottle cages, the Raven weighed almost exactly 30 lbs (13.6 kg.)

It was a warm cloudy day, with very little wind and rain in the offing. It might have been the lighter weight, or perhaps my lighter weight & residual muscle tone after All Those Hills a few weeks ago in early Sept., but the Raven was a gear or two quicker up the hills to Pink Lake.

As one leaves the bike path along the N shore of the Ottawa river (i.e., on the Québec side) and turns towards the Gatineau Park, there's a statue of Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary who lived much of his life in New France in the first half of the 17th century. The first photo below shows him in profile, paddle in one hand and crucifix in the other. The second photo shows the plaque cast after he was beatified in 1925. Brébeuf and one of his colleagues established the mission of Ste-Marie among the Hurons, just south of what is now named Georgian Bay. Brébeuf and his colleague were killed in a raid by the Iroquois in 1649. A recent novel by Joseph Boyden, The Orenda, features a central character similar to Brébeuf; it offers a more complex account of the relations among the French, the British, and the indigenous peoples in what became Ontario and Québec. (Then again, it's some 500 pages long.)

My turnaround point was my usual stop at the overlook at Pink Lake, at the top of one of the steeper hills in the Gatineau. A light rain was beginning to fall, and I chatted with a couple of tourists from California. I apologized for the weather, and said that they'd not have much of a view from the higher lookout further along, to the NW across the Ottawa River. They were disappointed that the autumn foliage was less than spectacular (though they were very nice about it.) As photo #3 shows, the colours are pastel at best. The heavy rains of spring and summer, and the weird "summer" temperatures of September have left us all confused--trees and flowers, birds, tourists, and locals. The geese are wheeling overhead--have been for two or three weeks now--but seem unsure whether to hang about, or head south. In such conditions, it's hard to write folks songs about the departing geese and their melancholy cries as heralds of winter.

Not sure how many more rides I'll make in this season. I'm due for some minor foot surgery in about three weeks, and my recovery will probably mean no more riding before the snow comes. (Mind you, my wife defines "minor surgery" as "surgery on someone else".) I'm planning to resume when we're Down Unda in Feb and March, visiting our family in Queensland. The plan is to take the Raven, so that the fierce climbs (grades in the mid-teens) will be a bit more manageable.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on October 06, 2017, 09:05:08 am: I see the trees are turning with you as well, lovely. Autumn can be one of my favourite times of year for cycling but it also is the most frustrating because of the winds we get.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Swislon on October 06, 2017, 11:03:43 am: Thanks for posting John. Its great to see other parts of the world from the safety of my kitchen table!
I must start taking more photos of my rides now I've retired and have more time on my hands.
Best wishes with your op and hope you are back riding soon.

Steve
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on October 06, 2017, 01:36:51 pm: Autumn is definitely my favorite season of the year. But in Ireland it can start late -- and this is one of the years when it does start late -- and be only a little more rusty than John's photo. On our ride yesterday I exclaimed about a fully turned tree, but my companion identified it as an imported long-domesticated gardener's delight, planted specifically for the leaves turning early. (Should come under the Trades Descriptions Act, that.) Nobody commented on the autumn being late. Maybe, in this part of the world (pretty far South in Ireland, generally 2C warmer than the Atlantic coast), we feel entitled.*

*But, generally speaking, don't plan your cycling holiday in Ireland for after September, or you could be caught out. And up the Atlantic coast your cutoff date should be mid-August to be a bit safer.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 12, 2017, 03:52:33 am: On Tuesday/10th, we had one of those days which explain why we ride these simple and brilliant machines. The forecast was foggy in the morning, but clearing at mid-day, and since I'd finished a pile of work over the holiday weekend, I took Osi the Raven for a three-hour canter up into the Gatineau Hills. The clouds cleared as the hills began, and I was equal parts surprised and delighted to see that we had some more vivid foliage than the week before. The sun broke through and the temps climbed to the low 20s by early afternoon. We had a northwesterly breeze, nothing too cool or demanding.

There were a lot of cyclists on the road, doing what I was doing. There was more motor traffic than usual--it is that time of year, after all--but aside from being forced off the road by an SUV coming into my lane as he tried to pass a cyclist on a downhill in full aero tuck ("WTF?!" sez I, heading onto the verge, "Why do they do these things? Exterminate all the brutes!") the drivers were generally well-behaved.

The afternoon sun gave the leaves of the birch and beech on the lower slopes a fine yellow glow (#1 below). I followed a slightly longer route to the summit, the back road to Champlain Lookout via the northern side of the ridge. It took me past some sumacs, doing what sumacs do most years -- though rarely in this year with its strange weather, wet in the summer and summery in the fall. Photo #2 shows a patch in customary full splendour.

From Champlain Lookout, one can look west and NW across the Ottawa River to Ontario, and northwards along the Lusk Escarpment. #3 below is the latter view. The soils on the western-facing scarp are thin and dry, and the trees are likewise--a lot of red oak, for example. But the agricultural lowlands between the scarp and the river are still soooo green you can hardly believe it, and today, the northwesterly was blowing wispy clouds towards us. #3 is my photo of The Holy Ground -- or so it is in my imagination, anyway. (Anto and Andre, you can set me straight, if you dare.)

Osi the Raven just leaned against the stone wall and soaked up the warmth. (#4)

On my ride down, a slightly faster rider caught up with me and we rode together for a few kms. He was curious about the Raven and my hub, and intrigued by the Rohloff. He normally rides a mountain bike, but was recovering from a prang he'd had when following his nephews along nearby trails in the wood. He said he was 54, and I suggested it would be OK to let the youngsters get ahead of him. Graciously, he laughed. I was telling him abut a couple of my recent tours on the Raven, and he was chuffed to hear those stories. We talked about riding to keep us healthy and young(-ish), and even more, to keep us happy. He paid me a couple of very kind compliments: When I said I'd just turned 70, he said he reckoned me for 60; and when he saw me turn up at the Lookout, I had a big smile on my face.

We're so privileged to be able to do such things, eh?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on October 12, 2017, 04:44:08 pm: Engaging description, John. You meet some nice people on your bike. Yesterday in front of the bank I found a man closely inspecting my bike. It turns out he knows all my chums but not me, despite living in the same small town for almost forty years, because -- wait for it -- he doesn't have a bicycle, an error he will rectify with all haste now he has met me and been invited to ride with us.

That color the sumacs turn is really something, a red the most crazed artist couldn't imagine without seeing them. Well, or being a Hungarian, because that's also the color of best-grade paprika.

The Holy Ground does look like that -- of course you're right! -- or will in a week or five when it has turned a bit. All your simulacrum requires is a circle of standing stones and a few drops of your blood where the thorns on the gorse caught you.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 12, 2017, 07:40:57 pm: Quote
a circle of standing stones and a few drops of your blood where the thorns on the gorse caught you

For sure. Those items are not really part of our landscape here, Andre. (We do have blackflies in lieu of gorse.)

I came to consciousness in a part of the U.K. with a good supply of standing stones -- Dorset and Wiltshire--and our kids were enchanted when we visited those areas with them for the first time, some 20 years ago. (Gorse on the Dorset Heath held less appeal for them, I dunno why. I did read them some of the opening pages of Hardy's Return of the Native, but that didn't help.)

It took a while to register with me, though, that there are, of course, magnificent standing stones in the Canadian Arctic: the inukshuk, created by the Inuit. These have become a symbol of Canada in the last generation. One of the very best exhibits for Canada 150 was a huge collection of outdoor plant sculptures in Jacques Cartier Park in downtown Gatineau, just across the Ottawa River from Parliament. All ten provinces and three territories provided sculptures which symbolized their landscape, culture and peoples. I had heard about this, but didn't pay very close attention, 'cos it sounded like a niche-market event, maybe a specialized flower show.

How wrong I was, and how delighted to learn that first-hand. I was returning from an overnight cycling trip in West Québec, coming into Ottawa/Gatineau from the east, on the north shore of the river. The bike paths were closed, and I was re-routed around--"What on earth is this?" I thought--an enormous exhibit of, of all things, plant sculptures!! Marcia and I returned to wander among them on a couple of visits, because they were magical, unlike anything I'd ever seen. Some of the best were from the northern territories -- an inukshuk taller than a house dominating all around it, and musk oxen which manage to combine grandeur and whimsy. I've added a few examples below.

One more example of The Unexpected, which bike trips so often generate :)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on October 12, 2017, 10:03:39 pm: That's... monumental. Funny how these things ring with light skinned johnny-come-latelies. In Australia. while at the University of Adelaide, I wrote on the arts (well, whatever took my fancy, but mostly the arts) for Nation Review. One of my most quoted pieces is a double page spread I did on the Dreamtime, the Aboriginal gestalt of origin narrative and art philosophy and much more, on hand of an exhibition of Aboriginal Art on North Terrace as part of the superb Festival of Arts. Thing is, normally I consider an overwrought interest in native art qua native art as a sign of trendy decadence and lack of imagination, not to mention guilt-driven pandering, but that exhibit had more than sincerity to recommend it -- it was authentic, which was why I gave it so much space.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 13, 2017, 05:38:29 pm: Quote
that exhibit had more than sincerity to recommend it -- it was authentic

You're spot-on there, Andre. Slowly, our collective understanding of Canada, and our expressions of that, are being transformed by indigenous voices and creations. One of my favourite examples is a few years old: The CBC held a poll to identify "Seven wonders of Canada". Two of the items named were creations of indigenous peoples, ways of living and moving in our difficult geography -- the canoe and the igloo. (Another was "Prairie Skies", a happy choice.)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 27, 2017, 04:05:29 pm: "Last ride of 2017?"

I'm off the bike for a few weeks (minor foot surgery), so a short ride up into the hills this past Monday may turn out to be my last of 2017. What a delightful trip it was, too: A warm day, temps in the low 20s, light breeze, mix of sun and cloud, and best of all, NO MOTOR VEHICLES on the roads in Gatineau Park. The park authorities had closed the roads last weekend, as per the usual practice. They'll reopen the roads to motor traffic sometime in early/mid-May next year. Cyclists might have another 4-5 weeks this year to enjoy the park sans autos, and the same next spring.

Of course it felt like the first day of the post-automobile revolution, a benign morning after the fading of the petro-age: dozens of cyclists on all manner of bikes, couples walking hand-in-hand, parents with little ones in strollers, joggers, inline-skiers, hikers, walkers with their dogs, and so on. Most cyclists seemed to be going about 75-80% or less, our dopey grins suggesting we could hardly believe our luck, lane discipline completely absent, people weaving all over the place, slaloming just for the pleasure of it. (The more common posture is over the bars, legs pumping, "Finish my ride and get home before I die!")

A few photos attached, showing How It Was.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: David Simpson on October 27, 2017, 04:41:07 pm: Stunning photos, John. That first picture is like a work of art. It captures the beauty of riding in the autumn.

Why is the park closed to cars in the winter? Do they use the roads for cross-country ski trails? (Is there enough snow for that?)

- DaveS
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on October 27, 2017, 06:32:23 pm: Superb photos, John. Just yesterday we were saying that a pleasant enough ride could have been much more pleasant without the cars and trucks and tractors on the small lanes. We don't begrudge the farmers getting the last of their harvest in during a brief late spell of mild weather, but huge machines rushing around don't add much to the peace of the countryside.

Hope the foot surgery goes well.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 28, 2017, 03:54:27 pm: Thanks for your kind words, Dave and Andre. The roads in the Gatineau park are closed to motor traffic from mid/late-October to early/mid-May. The parkways are then used for X-country skiing, as well as of course the many kms of trails through the wooded and open areas. Cyclists usually have about 4-5 weeks in the fall and the spring when there are no motor vehicles on the tarmac.

There are a few winter trails set aside for fatbikes and others for snowshoers, although as you might guess, the majority are for X-country skiers.

The place is such a treasure. I use it mostly for cycling now, but in years past I would also go hiking, paddling and X-country skiing in different seasons. Dave, if you're visiting your family in Kemptville sometime, give me a call and we could do a ride together. I have an extra bike you could use.

Cheers, John
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on October 28, 2017, 08:19:37 pm: class john. 8)

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on October 29, 2017, 09:26:13 pm: We had a nice sunny day out in Perthshire today, getting chilly once the sun went down though, 3'C, and dark early after the clocks going back last night.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on October 29, 2017, 09:26:54 pm: ......
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 29, 2017, 09:32:42 pm: What great photos, Rual! -- superb use of the evening light. Esp liked the one of the cyclist on the lane, with the setting sun on the rocky hillside behind.

Those shadows call to mind Yogi Berra's observation about the shadows in left field in the old Yankee Stadium in the Bronx: "It gets late early out there." :)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on October 29, 2017, 10:29:31 pm: Lovely photos Rual.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on October 30, 2017, 09:48:10 am: Wonderful late Autumn in Barbondale and Dentdale
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on October 30, 2017, 09:51:07 am: I'd advise you not to show that one with the glamorous sheep just fringed by light to too many Australians, Rual, or they might start talking to you about the deep bonds of mateship.

I love the moon, and also the cyclist riding up that hard brown hill.

Proves Julian's remarks a year or two ago that red is a very visible color in low light.

By golly, Geo, that's a lonely landscape. A few years of shepherding there will make a man of any milksop.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on October 30, 2017, 11:54:06 am: Quote from: Andre Jute on October 30, 2017, 09:51:07 am
By golly, Geo, that's a lonely landscape. A few years of shepherding there will make a man of any milksop.

One of the more remote parts of the Yorkshire Dales (actually in Cumbria). Would be interesting to go back 5000 years before the neolithic farmers cut down the trees, sheep grazing and impoverished soils has prevented any regrowth. A great place to have a ride on a sunday afternoon.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 30, 2017, 03:05:39 pm: Your photos give a tremendous sense of space, geo -- I'll bet the winds blow hard up there.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on October 30, 2017, 06:46:56 pm: pure class geo.

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 30, 2017, 06:49:44 pm: Not really a day ride, but here's a snippet from my there-and-back to Toronto last month. There was a fair amount of barn art on display, on both the northern route and my return along the waterfront. Some of the designs were stylized Canadian flags, others variations on the points of the compass. I particularly liked the imagining of a quilt on a barn, below.

It works much better, don'tcha think, than a kilt on a bairn?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on October 30, 2017, 11:21:45 pm: 8)great photo John you have a great eye for a good photo.

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on October 31, 2017, 02:04:32 am: What happened to Piet Mondrian after he emigrated to North America? Now a moot question.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on October 31, 2017, 07:14:43 pm: Just back from a week on Shetland UK.
Apologies to my Thorn friends on the island. Time was not on my side for visiting.
I used the excellent Bods ( converted buildings into cheap and cheerful ' hostels ')
I stayed at Skeld, Voe and Mid Yell.
I visited Haroldswick for the fourth or fifth most northerly UK geocash, and the most northerly Tea Room. Victoria's.
Memories: the wind was fickle and strong.
The local folk excellent company.
Both sea crossings (150+ miles each way ) were horrendous.
At one point I seriously considered calling Mrs. Matt to wish her goodbye. Yes, it was that bad. Folk unable to walk across gangways.........
But what an adventure.
I'll be back next year for my fourth visit and promise to catch up with old Thorn friends.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on October 31, 2017, 09:43:37 pm: Wow, Matt! Glad you're home, safe & dry & warm, and I'll bet that Mrs Matt is too :)

Andre -
Quote
What happened to Piet Mondrian after he emigrated to North America?

Here's the Wiki-bio:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Mondrian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Mondrian)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on November 01, 2017, 02:53:41 am: That's rough, Matt.

While you were away adventuring, we discovered Piet Mondrian is alive and well, cruising the Canadian countryside, painting quilts on the sides of rustic barns.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on November 01, 2017, 09:48:11 am: Sounds horrendous Matt, I would love to visit Shetland but I know Mrs Geo wouldn't make the crossing. Has that boat washed up in the poor chaps garden?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on November 01, 2017, 09:57:36 am: Thanks geocycle.
That boat shot you refer to is, I believe, the house they use for the lead characters house in the TV series, Shetland.

As the boat crashed through the waves and I thought my time was up, I reflected on my life.
Lucky that I have few regrets.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on November 01, 2017, 12:47:28 pm: How long was the rough crossing Matt?
I've heard of folk being on that boat for over 24 hours!
When we went in May the return trip was rough but on time, spent the whole crossing lying down in cabin and didn't feel too bad thankfully.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on November 01, 2017, 12:51:08 pm: 17.00 left Aberdeen.
Docked at Orkney midnight
Arrived at Lerwick 7 am
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on November 01, 2017, 09:53:43 pm: So, pretty much on time, not too bad then ;D
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on November 01, 2017, 10:50:07 pm: Quote from: rualexander on November 01, 2017, 09:53:43 pm
So, pretty much on time, not too bad then ;D
Those were the scheduled times. We were half an hour late arriving. Not at all bad considering.
As I was wheeling the Raven off at Aberdeen there was a guy with a very well loaded touring bike next to me. He looked very grumpy and with the crossing we had experienced, I didn't blame him. He was pushing a bike that could well have had his kitchen sink on top of the over stuffed panniers.
You know the kind of sight?
Anyway, I thought I'd ask if he had come far.
Innocent question?
He snapped back, " Well, considering I've been on the road for 3 years, yes".
Normally, just the kind of person I buy a beer and offer accommodation to, but not this time.
Oh, what a great crosssection of folk us cycle tourers are.
There's always one, as my granny was won't to say.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on November 01, 2017, 10:59:29 pm: Oh dear... You did well to keep your powder dry, Matt, and not react.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on November 02, 2017, 12:28:06 am: People like that, I take the view that he isn't surly because he's alone, but that he is alone because he's surly.

(Obligatory bicycle reference included above — twice.)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on November 02, 2017, 02:03:45 pm: Quote
Obligatory bicycle reference included above — twice.

Surly you jest, Andre?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on November 02, 2017, 02:18:58 pm: Quote from: Andre Jute on November 02, 2017, 12:28:06 am
People like that, I take the view that he isn't surly because he's alone, but that he is alone because he's surly.

(Obligatory bicycle reference included above — twice.)

People like that could Trek all over the Galaxy and never change.
😉
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on November 03, 2017, 11:38:04 pm: ;D
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on November 05, 2017, 05:56:21 pm: Anto's rides on 25 and 27 October, 2017. Part 1...

Posted on his behalf. ;)

Best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on November 05, 2017, 05:57:55 pm: Anto's rides on 25 and 27 October, 2017. Part 2...

Posted on his behalf.

Best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on November 05, 2017, 06:14:45 pm: Thank's Dan, that was a great days cycling loads hills one of my favourite routes .

anto.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on November 05, 2017, 06:58:33 pm: Love the sun! Here, it's cold, dark, wet and miserable -- standard November weather :(
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: rualexander on November 05, 2017, 07:24:34 pm: Local ride today out past Loudon Hill, scene of Robert the Bruce's first major military victory over English forces.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Loudoun_Hill

Two sundays in a row of sunshine and light winds!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: jags on November 05, 2017, 08:37:06 pm: Very nice 8)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on November 07, 2017, 10:01:52 pm: I haven't been getting out much lately, but still, now and then... today I tried a new route - ouch! Some serious mountain biking terrain! I got off a lot to push! When I got home, rats, one of the nuts that holds the saddle frame to the spring on my Brooks Flyer was gone! I knew it was coming loose and had been finger tightening it - tricky to get a wrench up in there! Now the puzzle got a little more complicated!

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/d3ilos0kuohz0rmhrjl9pmn08bovy3s0.jpg)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on November 07, 2017, 10:13:36 pm: Rual took a detour via Ayer's Rock (Australian joke -- look at Rual's photo to get it).

Jim, careful not to force any nut you buy at the local hardware store onto your Brooks saddle threads. They ain't heard of metric yet, and it might not even be a standard current British thread, instead being Whitworth, very common until after the war.

Trivia: I won't have any trouble undoing the first series Rohloff sprocket because I still have a hew-huge Whitworth wrench I have left over from my Bentley days which is the precise equivalent of the metric Rohloff sprocket socket.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on November 07, 2017, 10:26:29 pm: Thanks for that tip, Andre! I was thinking those threads could be mighty strange! I'm thinking this is the part: http://www.brooksengland.com/en_us/spare-parts/saddle-parts/9-32-nut-bmp-183.html but getting one here... ha, I actually have a spare saddle in reserve! But I don't think this bolt is very important - if I can just remember not to pick up the bike by the saddle!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on November 07, 2017, 10:29:05 pm: Quote
Whitworth, very common until after the war

Jim, your local network of ageing Brit-bike restorers/riders will know the suppliers of
Whitworth-thread nuts & bolts.

If you get stuck, you could ask these guys for advice: http://www.britcycle.com/ (http://www.britcycle.com/), or these: https://www.walridge.com/ (https://www.walridge.com/)

Nice horizons you have there -- the big rocks poking up from the ground will ensure you can only watch the horizons when you have your feet on the ground ;)

Cheers, John
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on November 08, 2017, 12:12:39 am: anybody figure out how to get a wrench or whatever inside those spring coils to be able to tighten that nut? I've got a nut on order from a USA shop... free shipping! - but I sure don't want the replacement to fall off too! Probably some lock-tight is called for, too!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on November 08, 2017, 05:56:45 am: Slow down, gentlemen. I didn't positively identify it as a Whitworth thread -- it's just a contextual guess because it rang a bell in my hand, but it's a long time since actually worked on a known Whitworth-threaded device. I actually had the bolt and nut on my Brooks out when it came loose entirely by itself, but I didn't put a thread gauge on any part of it because I had only one set of really flat spanners that would fit through the spring, and one of them was a so-so fit, so I bolted the thing up as best I could and was grateful not to have to send it away. It's lasted since. You can't get a thread gauge inside either, not unless you take it apart and even then it will probably be too long to turn vertically for the measurement.

I reckon the factory probably uses an ancient custom tool of their own making, probably in appearance like a larger version of the saddle tension spanner but better made and forge-hardened. Until the war manufacturers had their better apprentices make bench tools*, and the toolmakers who made the prototypes of custom tools were the highest paid workmen.

What would be useful for a Brooks saddle would be a really flat adjustable spanner. (Giving the precision engineers shingles, I know. Sorry, fellows, don't take it out on me, speak to good old Boultby.)

*In Spain, at ENASA, the bus makers, well into the 1950s. ENASA's apprentices actually built the handful of Pegaso, a sports car that left a contemporary Ferrari for dead. l
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: martinf on November 08, 2017, 06:07:54 am: On two of my sprung Brooks saddles (a Champion Flyer and an old B66 Champion) I replaced the nuts and bolts holding the springs to the lower metal bar with stainless steel metric hex bolts. This was in order to fit a custom saddlebag support.

I put the head of the bolt at the top, and the nut underneath, and had no problems tightening the nut, the bolt head didn't really nead holding.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on November 08, 2017, 07:21:14 am: Quote
When I got home, rats, one of the nuts that holds the saddle frame to the spring on my Brooks Flyer was gone!
I believe that is a 9/32in nut...available as a spare from Brooks here:
http://www.brooksengland.com/en_us/spare-parts/9-32-nut-bmp-183.html
...and from SJS Cycles here: https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/saddles/brooks-nut-zinc-932-bmp183/?geoc=US

Sadly, 9/32 is 0.2813in decimal inches or 7.1438mm...neither here nor there for anything but a 9/32in wrench.

It would sure be nice if the slim Brooks tension spanner would also fit this nut, but it is sized for 13mm.

All the best,

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on November 08, 2017, 02:32:21 pm: Some folks on reddit / bikewrench agreed that it's a whitworth threading. No matter, I'll just use the Brooks replacement. Somebody on facebook / The Slow Bicycle Movement had good luck accessing those nuts with needlenose pliers. Probably the main point is to use good thread lock there. I can't see much point in lots of torque - I just don't want to lose another nut!

I have one of those fancy leather Brooks tool rolls that comes with tools including some thin wrenches.... grrr, all metric!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on November 08, 2017, 03:41:51 pm: One would have thought--silly me--that Brooks would have used BSC (British Standard Cycle) threads... Maybe they thought that Whitworth had a poetic ring?
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on November 08, 2017, 05:43:24 pm: Quote from: John Saxby on November 08, 2017, 03:41:51 pm
One would have thought--silly me--that Brooks would have used BSC (British Standard Cycle) threads... Maybe they thought that Whitworth had a poetic ring?

What a thread, Walt Whitman meets William Wordsworth...! Must be about as romantic as you can make a bike saddle.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: geocycle on November 08, 2017, 05:45:14 pm: Really enjoying catching up with all the recent posts from Matt, Rual, Dan, John, Andre, Anto, Jim and others. Thanks all!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Danneaux on November 08, 2017, 07:59:17 pm: :)

All the best, Geo'.

Dan.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: John Saxby on November 08, 2017, 08:10:47 pm: Hope that Jim can find some humour in all this as he tries to avoid skinned knuckles whilst trying to ease a nut made in the 21st century onto a 19th century design fitted with a 16th century bolt...

;)
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: JimK on November 08, 2017, 09:59:38 pm: Thanks for the good wishes! I may go shopping for open/closed end SAE wrenches... there's a new hardware store that just opened down the road. A nice excuse to buy new tools! And some high strength lock-tite!
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on November 09, 2017, 03:41:41 pm: Out and about today bagging a few geocashes.
Hit 117 with 3 near a 4,500 year old Recumbent Stone site.
Great weather and views across Aberdeenshire.
Raven is perfect for the muddy back lanes and a few narrow field crossings.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: David Simpson on November 09, 2017, 05:43:35 pm: Stunning photos, Matt! Thanks for posting.

- DaveS
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on November 09, 2017, 09:58:10 pm: 0171109_122853677_HDR-2080x1170.jpg, last of Matt's photos, looks like the human sacrifice altar stands on its side, propped against one of the standing stones.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on November 09, 2017, 10:31:29 pm: Ha ha. No record of human sacrifice. More a solar/ planetary site, I believe.
Excuse vagueness but a little before my time. I'm sure Mr. Google will enlighten.
North East Scotlandshire had quite a few. Usually fenced off but this one was in a farmer's field. Visitors advised to be cautious of visiting when crops growing. The corn had recently been harvested so only stubble to cross this morning.
I must confess to feeling very humble when I stand next to something created by man over 4,000 years ago.
Nothing like a bit of humble to focus life's meaning and help keep day to day troubles in perspective.

Cycling is almost a spiritual journey at times.
Title: Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
Post by: Andre Jute on November 10, 2017, 06:04:45 am: Quote from: Matt2matt2002 on November 09, 2017, 10:31:29 pm
Cycling is almost a spiritual journey at times.

One visit to India and he goes swami on us.

We have plenty of standing stones here, with some having suggestively sized and elevated flat tables in the middle of the circle. But the second best one was built by someone in his front garden. I must remember to ride past there so I can photograph it.