Thorn Cycles Forum

Community => Non-Thorn Related => Topic started by: Andre Jute on January 17, 2020, 03:12:59 pm

Title: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on January 17, 2020, 03:12:59 pm: This is the thread to post your rides, weather reports, and photographs, so everyone else will know where to come look for them. A few exceptions, also for the convenience of other members: If you're on a long tour and intend posting daily or at least regular reports, start a thread so you reports can be kept together; some keen photographers who post regularly may want to keep their quality photographs together in a separate thread; need I say that it's not that such posters aren't welcome, but that the convenience of readers should be considered. Vicarious thrills rule!

(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_the_weir_bandon_winter_2020_800pxwpxw.jpg)
andre_jute_the_weir_bandon_winter_2020_800pxw

Too miserable, gloomy, wet, cold, windy, for a serious ride but I had to go down to the Post Office's distribution centre for a parcel I missed at the door and, just to extend even a utility ride when I was already wet and miserable, on the principle that any fresh air is valuable fresh air, took a detour to photograph the clouds over a more inspiring vista. While I was standing on the footbridge with my iPhone, a local clergyman came by and said to me, "See the river to heaven into the clouds?" So there was! Since it snaked from side to side, I muttered to his disappearing back, "Lot of room for waywardness in there."
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: John Saxby on January 18, 2020, 01:19:08 am: Tremendous skyscape, Andre!

I've seen a few cyclists in Ottawa today, tho' not many: our wayward chinook with its mild weather has given way to uncompromising Saskatchewan weather -- -25 this morning, daytime high of -17 with a brisk northwesterly. (it's worse elsewhere,however. Edmonton's LRT was stalled by cracked rails caused by the -40 weather there. The forecast for Newfoundland this evening & overnight is 75 cms of snow, along with high winds and storm surges. 'Tis a night to stay inside, b'y.)

Will post some notes & photos from SE Queensland in mid-late March.

Cheers, John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: RichardFM on January 18, 2020, 09:12:37 pm: This is an image from my ride today. (https://i.postimg.cc/MZ5K9GvL/IMG-20200118-113833038.jpg)
This is the Usk Valley in South Wales. It was ride of just over 60km from Newport via Caerleon and Usk to the Clytha Arms for lunch and a pint and then back.
The ride was from a book called Lost Lanes Wales by Jack Thurston
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on January 19, 2020, 04:55:52 pm: Quote from: John Saxby on January 18, 2020, 01:19:08 am
Will post some notes & photos from SE Queensland in mid-late March.

Look forward to those, John.

What with Canadians riding in Australia, South Africans riding Patagonia, Americans all over the Balkans and Europe and icier countries to the north, Scots and Englishmen riding in Asia and Africa, -- and apologies for anyone whose ambitous rides I left out -- it really sounds like the forum is the Thorn International Outreach Club.

Quote from: RichardFM on January 18, 2020, 09:12:37 pm
The ride was from a book called Lost Lanes Wales by Jack Thurston.

Good for Jack Thurston! I ride mainly on lanes and the smallest roads here in West Cork, so I'm very keen on their preservation.

That's a beautiful photograph, Richard; I especially like the deep perspective on those far hills disappearing into that brilliant blue sky. It's Wales from the memory box. "How brown was my valley in the winter" -- what Richard Llewellyn almost said.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on February 14, 2020, 07:47:50 pm: I went out today, because the temperature, before taking the wind chill into account, was in double figures, 10C, and I was going stir-crazy inside. But the first thing I did was close my jacket's pit vents because the wind was getting overly familiar with my ribs, and then on the footbridge across the river I nearly had my bike's front wheel blown into the railings, a kiss on St Valentine's Day all the way across the Atlantic from Newfoundland. Can't say I recommend her choice of mouthwash.

I stop off at my doctor's surgery, mainly to get warm before crossing the river on the way back home. He insists on taking my blood pressure and while he's at it clamps the heart rate monitor on my finger. He remarks on how quickly my heart rate returns to 50bpm after exercise and I say, "In a racing car, in the middle of a race, when I was young, my heart rate was 45bpm. Medical science, such as it is, has failed me." He's not impressed. He tells me about this Tour de France cyclist who has a heart rate of 25bpm. "If he came into my surgery without telling me who he is, in a flash I'd have him in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, tagged for the Resuscitation Team. A heart rate that low, you could take one beat, go eat lunch, and when you return take up his wrist again for the next beat." I am very impressed with a cyclist so fit his heart rate is that low.

On the way home I come over the motorcar bridge, on the quiet side of a big panel truck. The driver winds down his window to say to me, "Don't ride the countryside back of Aherne's bar [this is a bar at a crossroads in my summer riding grounds] or you'll be on your arse. The crosswinds were fierce, rocking my truck." I don't know his name but I see him in the little roads making deliveries and sometimes he comes to our door too. One of the advantages of riding the same lanes decades on end is that the people who use the lanes get to know you, which for an elderly cyclist is a really valuable resource. His predecessor in that truck picked me up one day when a sudden gust of wind in that area blew me off my bike, probably thirty years ago now.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: John Saxby on February 16, 2020, 02:29:34 pm: Fierce winds indeed, Andre. Weather news from Foggie Olde signals that they're continuing.

"Rides of 2020" for me remain strictly in the realm of visualizing--we just had the two coldest nights of the year, down around -27 with a stiff northwesterly, hence windchills around -35 at 7 AM. Sunny days, tho' :-)

The plan is for visualizing to become The Real Thing just bef the vernal equinox here & the autumnal Down Unda -- stay tuned.

Cheers, John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: JimK on March 28, 2020, 11:32:22 pm: I've got a regular short ride in my neighborhood that's mostly hill:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/gv0xmkjcmxukxwbn9td31bimk65znd6x.jpg)

It's all new houses up there, with empty lots and construction projects. How the housing market will fare under the changing financial situation... we shall see!

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/hvq5vbg7u4606eiqudtzhc6pqulp2imo.jpg)
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on March 29, 2020, 02:06:51 am: What's happening to your annual Australian holiday, John? Our niece, who lives in Adelaide, was in Japan with her grandchild and cut the visit short because the government down under announced that even Australians who had been somewhere else over two weeks would not be allowed back in. That was last week, so the screw may tightened even further in the meantime.

Jim: a pity to waste such fabulous views on empty and half-built houses.We've for years on our rides here looked at estates of fully finished houses that couldn't be sold, or unfinished houses which couldn't be finished because with all the contractor bankcruptcies and the government bailing out the banks, nobody knew who actually owned those houses. This in a country with a very serious housing shortage.

We were having new water mains laid on our street this last week, after months of planning and PR persons from the engineers coming to reassure us they won't wreck the historic street or the historic houses... With the lockdown since midnight last Friday, the street looks like Beirut, and I don't know when the workmen will be back. But I'll be able to get my bike out for a ride.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: JimK on March 31, 2020, 02:04:04 am: (https://app.box.com/shared/static/kbdhuic8cye1k8tw1lcqsabobs8ybcb9.jpg)

There are some great bike trails here. I heard that we'll have the hmmm was it the second longest bike path west of the Mississippi. One of the key connections, from the perspective of we folks up here at the north end of things, is a the connection from the Ogden / Weber River Parkways and the Denver & Rio Grand West rail trail.

Here's the River Parkway at the confluence of the Ogden and Weber Rivers:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/ibnt7xxji2btsihslw95pgf3muvmzgiu.jpg)

Right along the Parkway there are a couple bike design & manufacturing outfits. Enve Rims is the established player. Now Selle Royale - and Brooks! - are putting together a research facility:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/vxea9c7zd0awiqeeyt8mpuj7homfc2dm.jpg)

Here's the Denver & Rio Grand West rail trail:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/w1sbb0nn8uucf3d6jzscawvaf23a4sz0.jpg)

and the little section of the connection that has yet to be paved:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/xll5eotpd6ch34qmxvslfkadxqbffcbx.jpg)
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on March 31, 2020, 09:51:02 am: Quote
Right along the Parkway there are a couple bike design & manufacturing outfits. Enve Rims is the established player. Now Selle Royale - and Brooks! - are putting together a research facility

Looks like you made the right move when you went West, Jim. Soon it will be the centre of the cycling world. Super photographs. That will be a stunning trail when it is finished.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: John Saxby on March 31, 2020, 01:31:33 pm: Quote
What's happening to your annual Australian holiday, John?

Thanks, Andre. We're back home in Ottawa, currently part-way through 14 days of self-isolation. We reached Queensland on Fri/13th, and on Tuesday/17, learned of the Cdn gvt's advisory (which was categorical & comprehensive) for Canajans abroad to return home. (An email from our supplementary health insurance provider said, "If you don't, we'll curtail your insurance.") We rang our travel agent, and she, bless her, within 24 hrs had advanced our return flights by a month, to Wed/25th.

We left the Gold Coast on the morning of the 25th, and reach Ottawa that afternoon, with 28 hrs of travel--flights, and time to, at & from airports. Tip: don't try this if you have any options.

Since then, we've been recovering from jetlag, catching up on emails, beginning spring cleaning, und so weiter. We had laid in some supplies bef we left in mid-March (reflexes from a childhood on an Ontario farm, and years in Africa) and friends have augmented our larder.

For us and our family Down Unda, it was a big disappointment, but nothing more than a major inconvenience. Thousands upon thousands of others--and surely more to come--are dealing with a catastrophe.

'Midst everything, I managed a few short-ish rides along the coast & into the hills. The Coast's autumn sunshine was marvellous :-) Notes and photos to come.

Spring is just emerging here--mild wet weather, and best of all, a couple of days ago, I saw and heard two big Vees of geese, honking and wheeling northeastwards. Magical sight and sound, makes me all weepy every time I hear the creatures.

Have used the time indoors to tweak my bikes, and I'm hopeful that I can resume riding in a week-plus. Not sure about that Gatineau park across the river, however: authorities have closed it to hikers, and the roads are rarely open to bikes before about the 3rd week of April.

Cheers, J.

PS: super photos, Jim! Love that Wasatch range!!
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on March 31, 2020, 07:36:18 pm: If the Chinese Virus doesn't get you, 28 hours of travel surely will. I remember straight-through flights from Adelaide to London where over Switzerland I just wanted to die in my own bed. And that was when I was thirty. After one particularly gruesome flight, to arrive in London and find our hotel bookings given to someone else and facing another couple of hours to Cambridge, ever after on the way out we'd break for a week at Kuta Beach in Bali (if you haven't surfed Kuta, you haven't surfed -- just once will do, as it is a dangerous wave for the inexpert), and on the way back in Singapore for a few days of shopping and a visit to Jet Set tailors, who always had a bolt of really loud cashmere ready for me. ("This one loud enough for Mr Duke [John Wayne, the actor] but his wife say over her dead body.") Glad to hear you're taking it in good spirits though, and that you're recovering fast enough to be thinking of cycling. Just up the road here, on one of my regular rides, the Whooper Geese overwinter in a field every year, turning it white, then one day they're just gone north again at dawn. One can see them from the main road or better from the vantage of a country lane on the ridge above the other side of the river. Looking forward to your photographs and tales of tall rides in the Wild Outback.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Bill on April 03, 2020, 03:43:28 am: John, it doesn't look like you will be riding over in Gatineau anytime soon.

No riding around here, we are having the third pulse of old man winter in the last 3 weeks, a crisp -12 in the mornings, snow and highs of -8. All the x-c ski trails are closed, the only thing to do is work on my bikes in the hope that maybe I can get out next week.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: John Saxby on April 03, 2020, 03:23:25 pm: Quote
it doesn't look like you will be riding over in Gatineau anytime soon

You're right, Bill, now that the bridges are closed for the foreseeable.

Mild weather here, and in the city the snow is almost all gone. Monday forecast is 12 and sunny :) :) There's been a lot of snow this winter, but the snowpack has steadily diminished, with mild temps and rain, so it appears that the extreme flooding of the past couple of years is unlikely to recur.

Our self-isolation ends next Thursday, so I'm plotting some rides westwards along bike paths and secondary roads.

Meantime, tweaking the bikes in my basement workshop.

Take care, John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Bill on April 03, 2020, 03:53:38 pm: More light snow and continued cold this morning.

In my basement working on bikes, but it is getting hard to source parts. I tried to place an order with SJS, realizing it would take a long time to get here, then I find out they are not shipping to Canada anymore.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: geocycle on April 03, 2020, 08:28:34 pm: Enjoying taking the RST down the trails on my pre work corona rides. This is the Lune estuary.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Oggi on April 03, 2020, 09:48:50 pm: I’m lucky to live in the Peak National Park and can get to rides like this from home. Stay save and stay local folks.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Bill on April 04, 2020, 03:21:31 am: Quote from: Oggi on April 03, 2020, 09:48:50 pm
I’m lucky to live in the Peak National Park and can get to rides like this from home. Stay save and stay local folks.

Beauty. Enjoy it!
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on April 04, 2020, 10:23:09 am: A beautiful photo, Geo. The interesting circular erosion in the middle ground behind the bicycle really lifts what was already a superb composition of a lowering sky and water to another level.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: JimK on April 05, 2020, 04:41:46 am: (https://app.box.com/shared/static/neee82hp57x44affgl7lpj25yiyo1zc0.jpg)

This is the rutted section of that rail trail - I was back out there today. The problem I have with riding it isn't really keeping my balance or anything. I guess I am learning why mountain bikers use dropper posts, not that I really understand how they work exactly. Maybe I just need snugger shorts. I walked my bike through this again!
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: leftpoole on April 05, 2020, 11:12:36 am: I will take advantage today, of the fine weather. I have been ill for a long time.
I have been isolated of course and have been doing my gardening.
A short ride later today but will not be a Thorn bicycle ride as I shall give my Brompton a treat.
John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: JimK on April 12, 2020, 12:21:03 am: Managed to beat the rain here today. A boring ride in town. Too many people on the river parkway - I should have skipped that on a weekend! But I got in some hills at least:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/0iett32y94gk1dzqw5dyx8uu1rqa3oi2.jpg)

Average speed 9.7 - that seems to be the speed I ride, rather consistently!

I'm a numbers guy, that's my main way to relieve anxiety. Here is a scatter plot of my rides this year:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/glh7sb0dyjxgijddqi5szvg4fzzkpzi0.jpg)
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: leftpoole on April 12, 2020, 11:41:45 am: Saturday, nice ride of 20 miles in countryside. A few cyclists about but really quiet and calm!
Sorry but I really cannot load photographs to this Forum, sorry.
John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on April 12, 2020, 01:49:14 pm: 42 quiet country road miles yesterday
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: John Saxby on April 12, 2020, 02:58:03 pm: Not yet out onto country roads, but on Friday/Saturday, a couple of short rides along two of our three rivers, the big 'un, the Ottawa, running more or less W-to-E, as the border with Qué; and the smaller Rideau, running S to N to drain into the Ottawa just E of Parliament Hill.

Friday was a raw day, cloudy and cool, around 3°, with a stiff northeasterly suggesting rain. Yesterday was a mix of sun and cloud, but much more cheerful, though still cool, even in late afternoon. The wind had shifted to the NW overnight--hence no precip :)--but even in late afternoon, it was a brisk 6°, and the northwesterly, gusting to 50-60 km/h, made for a bit of a workout.

I took the Raven for one ride, and my derailleur Eclipse for the second, to check the adjustment on my new long-cage RD. (This is the 42nd such device I've fitted, seeking well-adjusted performance. I do this each spring--season of eternal hope--and then replace it each fall/winter. Now, it's part of the annual seasonal cycle chez nous.)

These were my first rides of 2020 in Canada. Last month, I managed three in Queensland, but have yet to do my notes and photos on that--it now seems long ago and far away. Have included one photo from those rides, however--see if you can guess which it is.

The rivers are full, but not yet spilling the banks. This year's snowpack further N and W up the Ottawa Valley was substantial, but has melted slowly and early. Forecasts signal that the "once-in-a-century" floods which have marked two of the past three springs will not recur.

Motor traffic is light on the roads--think of a busy day in the low-carbon age--but my experience from two short rides suggests that dangerous/inconsiderate/WTF-ish behaviour by motorists has not diminished. Have to ponder that paradox :(

More to come in the weeks ahead, I hope. The options are limited by the fact that the Québec government has closed the bridges to all non-essential traffic, and the Gatineau Park is also closed.

Safe riding, all.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on April 12, 2020, 06:06:34 pm: John, your quiz will keep me awake. Give us a Clue. -- Andre

PS the quality of your photographs never cease to astound me.
***

I'm quite envious really, all you guys riding out, while I'm now dutifully staying indoors because my government -- big surprise as mostly they cannot find their backsides with both hands and a map to assist them -- actually seems to have a better grip on the pandemic than many, many others. In particular, they have all along advised the over-70s to "cocoon", meaning to stay inside and not go out at all even for the exercise permitted the rest of the populace.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: John Saxby on April 12, 2020, 06:22:36 pm: You're too kind, Andre.

Just keep at the puzzler -- you'll do it, I'm sure.)

Our regulations for social distancing do allow cycling and walking, but not en groupe. I think that the public health authorities, as well as federal/provincial/municipal leaders, recognize that it's reasonable to make some allowance for exercise and trip to grocery stores (except for 14-day quarantines). Tragically, about half of the deaths in Canada have been among residents of nursing homes.

For me, le chanson du jour is Georges Moustaki's "Ma solitude", esp the lines: "Je ne suis jamais seul/Avec ma solitude."

Cheers, J.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on April 12, 2020, 11:54:48 pm: I looked up Moustaki and played that through. Nice. It's given me the idea to play my complete collection of Jacques Brel, especially relevant now that we are so much in need of a universal single digit ascending skywards in defiance of the atrocity the Middle Kingdom has wished on us. Brel's oeuvre is pretty much a collective middle digit. I was once asked by a pedalpal for good music to cycle to, and answered "Brel!" though I dissuaded him from earbuds in his ears while riding because a cyclist needs all his senses to survive.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: lewis noble on April 13, 2020, 01:10:07 pm: I've been doing some local rides out into the Peak District, which is adjacent to my home in Sheffield . . . . . roads very quiet, but quite a few cyclists about in the better weather. Cycling still 'allowed', some interesting observations a few days ago on the home page of Cycling UK - but I sometimes wonder whether the number of cyclists about, albeit everybody taking care, distances etc. actually encourages some to resent their 'confinement' and go to public places etc.

On the Audax now, I used the Sherpa more over the winter, as it feels better for me in heavy traffic and bad weather. I was planning a return trip to Provence in late May, riding round the Sault / Ventoux / Touralenc circuit. But that is not going to happen now, ferry crossings changed, campsite closed etc. I was really looking forward to that - my breathing is sometimes more of a problem than it used to be, so I was keen to get this ride done while confident I still could. But fortunately, a change of medication has cleared the old bellows up a bit, so I will plan to do the ride in the Autumn or, more likely, next year . . . .

Audax re-chained and rolling along sweetly . . . .

Stay safe everyone.

Lewis
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: leftpoole on April 17, 2020, 10:49:25 am: Sport Tour out and about avoiding other cyclists!
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: PH on April 17, 2020, 01:28:08 pm: Quote from: leftpoole on April 17, 2020, 10:49:25 am
Sport Tour out and about avoiding other cyclists!
Lovely photo John.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on April 19, 2020, 03:32:20 pm: Out for a 44 miler around the rolling Aberdeenshire roads, visiting the coast.
Sure cannae beat the sounds and smells of the rocky seashore.

Here in Scotlandshire the lockdown rules are clear.
However folks continue to split hairs and wangle their way around the rules.

A recent change allows folks to drive for a walk as long as their walk is longer than their drive.
Hence allowing more hairs to be split.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: John Saxby on April 19, 2020, 03:45:50 pm: Great stuff, Matt -- love the sun!! (Were you using Rual's camera?)

44 miles is the stuff of envy. Yesterday, I managed a mere 35 kms on Ottawa bikepaths, and the big river, reassuring and beautiful as it is--especially as it's still within its banks--ain't quite the seashore.

Cheers, mate. John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on April 19, 2020, 04:55:27 pm: Kind words John.
Pop a Thorn in front of a camera and hard to take a bad picture.
Many thanks also for all those tips you kindly gave me for cycling out of USA into Canada.
All plans on hold now of course but one day.....
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: lewis noble on April 19, 2020, 06:37:52 pm: Lovely photos Matt . . . . my wife's family were originally from Aberdeen, and she still has some cousins there . . . . and a good friend used to be a GP in Ellon.

What is the name of the little community and harbour in the photos? and behind the distinguished looking fellow you took a picture of??!

We were out in the edge of the Peaks today, some of the roads up into the hills around the western border of Sheffield. Beautiful day, quite windy on the tops.

Lewis
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on April 19, 2020, 07:09:15 pm: Hi Lewis.
Nice to hear from you and thanks for the compliment. I have a natural ability to spoil a good landscape photo.

Small world. I rode through Ellon on my way to that coastal village, Colliston.

The Peaks? Good memories from my honeymoon, many many years ago. We didn't have time to cycle but I'm sure it's a great area.

Let me know if you find your way up North.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on April 19, 2020, 09:13:32 pm: Quote from: Matt2matt2002 on April 19, 2020, 03:32:20 pm
A recent change allows folks to drive for a walk as long as their walk is longer than their drive.
Hence allowing more hairs to be split.

John-from-Canada is right, your ride and its terminus is the stuff of envy. Super photos too, beautiful shots.

We have a 2km limit and I've just discovered how much of urgent interest lies within a 3km radius... But there's an exception for the over-70s: they're advised to stay indoors regardless. Not that today would have been a riding day anyway: dull and overly cool and with a constant heavy drizzle blown in your face by the wind in the green and beloved isle.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: lewis noble on April 20, 2020, 07:49:26 pm: Thanks Matt, yes,my wife recognised Collieston, she was taken there sometimes as a child when staying with relatives in the Granite City. She remembers it being approached by a road underneath a low bridge - still the case?

It looks like a nice ride from Inverurie . . .

Lewis
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: lewis noble on April 26, 2020, 07:37:04 pm: In addition to enjoying cycling, I'm also, I confess, a bit of a ferroequinologist. (Train Spotter). And of course, part of the enjoyment of cycling is looking at the landscape, seeing how everything fits together, and how it might have been formed and used.

I reckon the bridge on the approach to Collieston is a relic from the old Great North of Scotland Railway Boddam branch, which left the Aberdeen to Peterhead line at Ellon. The branch was constructed in the 19th century, to Boddam via Cruden Bay, in an attempt to attract tourists to the coastal scenery, planned golf courses etc. A large hotel was built at Cruden Bay, but the venture was a commercial failure - passenger traffic stopped in 1932 I think, the branch closed altogether in 1945 - much earlier than most closures. The Peterhead line is also now closed.

Surprising perhaps that the bridge has lasted so long. Maybe now used for farm / livestock access?

Not much to do with Thorn bikes, I'm afraid, but it is to do with the pleasures of seeing from a bike.

I'll stop now.

Lewis
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: leftpoole on April 27, 2020, 12:02:42 pm: Lewis,
As I write I am smiling.
Why am I smiling?
Your just so sad report!
Yes I write with humour...
I hope you are well?
I am getting out around every 3-4 days for my Thorn excercise. Forced to choose between chat to next door neighbours over the fence or cycling,,,,,,
All the best,
John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Swislon on April 27, 2020, 06:46:45 pm: Out on my regular 30 miler route I always stop here for a comfort break. A man of routine !
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on April 27, 2020, 10:11:40 pm: Quote from: Swislon on April 27, 2020, 06:46:45 pm
Out on my regular 30 miler route I always stop here for a comfort break. A man of routine !

Ha ha. Yes I have those. 😄
Nice bike.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Matt2matt2002 on April 28, 2020, 05:33:00 pm: Lucky with the weather today.
Looks like April will be a high ( for me ) milage month.
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: leftpoole on April 29, 2020, 10:33:27 am: All looking good.
John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: leftpoole on April 29, 2020, 10:47:15 am: Near Berkeley in Gloucestershire. Actually right by the Salutation Inn.
But the most important part, is the yellow bicycle!
John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: leftpoole on April 29, 2020, 11:00:59 am: Quote from: Matt2matt2002 on April 19, 2020, 04:55:27 pm

Pop a Thorn in front of a camera and hard to take a bad picture.
.

Absolutely full agreement!
John
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: JimK on May 01, 2020, 12:56:20 am: Various fighter jet squadrons have been flying in formation here and there in the USA as a show of support for first responders. Usually they'd be at air shows but those are all cancelled. They have to get their flying hours in one way or another! Anyway it made a nice excuse for a bike ride - actually one of my regular neighborhood rides.

The local scenery:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/5z2o9mh1svbozaki4v0mfjj71zws6j72.jpg)

F-35s in formation:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/01nd9nfbemcc6jcddvpcgudbw0dpc4t8.jpg)
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Post by: leftpoole on May 01, 2020, 12:19:20 pm: What!!!!!!!!! No blur from those no doubt speed airplanes. Great photograph.
John
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Post by: John Saxby on May 01, 2020, 09:57:40 pm: Are those from Ft Douglas, Jim? My father-in-law used to be the base commander there in the early 1970s -- it was his last posting before he retired.

Nice photo of the Wasatch Front!

Cheers, John
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Post by: JimK on May 02, 2020, 02:20:08 am: The F-35s are based out of Hill Air Force Base which is maybe 15 miles south of where I live. We can hear the jets rumbling quite often, but they mostly fly west to the practice weapons range there, so we don't really see them from here. I ride to the southwest quite often though, right underneath their usual flight path. From the mountainside where I'd perched to wait for the fly by, I could see Hill AFB on the southern horizon:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/0e7cfv8yjzugcv7f2d12d097cvvm3ukn.jpg)

Ft. Douglas has a small Reserve presence but mostly it has been turned over the University of Utah, I gather:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Douglas
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Post by: leftpoole on May 08, 2020, 10:57:48 am: Ride. I think that Lewis will like these.
John
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Post by: lewis noble on May 08, 2020, 01:49:54 pm: Thanks John, yes, I remember that we met you at the cafe there in . . . . . .2007?? or thereabouts . . .

I was brought up in the southern Cotswolds, my brother still lives there.

Been out on one of my regular looped rides this morning, up to Ringinglow / Stanedge, easily reached from where I now live in Sheffield, beautiful weather, lots of cyclists about . . . .

Take care everyone

Lewis
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Post by: Andre Jute on May 08, 2020, 10:54:19 pm: Jim, that panorama really is the business. I can remember when making something like your photograph require some tens of thousands of heavy equipment lugged into the countryside, and then at least half the time even professionals came home without something usable, and even then it was tricky splicing the negatives so they matched. Actually, I can remember further back, when the pano would have to be together from actual prints by a "paste-up artist" with steady hands (a usually weird person who looked and behaved as if she had sniffed too much of the spray glue which was her main tool and environment), but prefer not to...

These modern electronic cameras are wonderful!
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Post by: JimK on May 22, 2020, 10:24:08 pm: I got out today, mostly places I've been already but one new little twist:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/fh5dwwe48epr04wck3ld2160kqxirp6t.jpg)

A local denizen I hadn't seen before:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/mbn7o77hzs0o26eosb846jxf83cw2op5.jpg)

but mostly a lot of ranch land:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/pmy2z9dp1ohg3ahdq6cmgsfi8qxe866o.jpg)

Right at the mouth of Ogden Canyon I thought maybe I could ride up the BST, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail - people do ride on that, but it was mostly too technical for me. Narrow rocky curves...

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/jgn2nibo75yz9gm7gddb5g7d8vaduki7.jpg)

But walking the most treacherous bits, I got up to the canal road, with a nice view of downtown Ogden:

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/kp3mughxpi7r6sqkubwxj76qq6j39vad.jpg)

That's the municipal airport - the Air Force base seems maybe over a ridge from this vantage point. But you might make out an Interstate highway or two, plus some railroads... the town's nickname is Junction City.
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Post by: Andre Jute on May 23, 2020, 08:18:07 am: What I found really fascinating in your last photo, Jim, is the layered mountains in the perspective distance growing hazier and hazier. From your map and the photo it looks like Ogden is in a bowl between mountains and a lake. I'm suspicious of places with a Little Mountain indicated on the map (bottom left on Jim's map); it's a sure tip-off that nearby is a Bloody Great Big Steep Mountain labelled "Shortcut for Cyclists".
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Post by: Oggi on May 23, 2020, 05:32:40 pm: The roads and tracks in the Peak District have been remarkably quiet but are getting busier. This is the Pennine Bridleway crossing Dam Dale, it’s a pity that beyond here it has been ruined by the 4x4 brigade.
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Post by: lewis noble on May 23, 2020, 06:56:12 pm: Interesting photo, Oggie . . . . Is that near Peak Forest?? I haven't ridden out that way for quite a while, my usual haunts are nearer Sheffield . . . .

Very windy the last few days, strong gusts . . . .

Lewis
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Post by: JimK on May 23, 2020, 07:02:47 pm: I learned about the local terrain from John McPhee's book Basin and Range. Reno and Salt Lake City are getting pushed apart so the crust has cracked and the various bits then tilt to form ranges and the gaps fill up with sediment to form basins. Here's a map with the rough direction of that photo - the closest mountain is Antelope Island. Behind that is probably Stansbury Island.

(https://app.box.com/shared/static/ftk9dx81al08cgx06bmgp0282hg7toqo.jpg)

Little Mountain is curious. I rode out there one time. The road ends at a gate with military warning signs. They test nuclear warheads out there, far as I can tell. They don't actually detonate them, happily, but I think they blow up conventional explosives etc. nearby to see how the warheads survive. Near as I can tell. On the east side of Little Mountain are a couple mineral extraction outfits. One is Western Zirconiium. Zirconium? I had to look that up! Ha, it's used in explosive detonators, what a coincidence!
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Post by: Andre Jute on May 24, 2020, 12:08:16 am: You're a grand man, Jim, for taking the trouble to post an additional map. Ten minutes of virtual orienteering and I saw the topography from a cyclist's perspective. Everything is bigger in the States.
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Post by: Matt2matt2002 on May 24, 2020, 10:14:34 am: Great idea for the map to accompany the pictures. I'll try that next time I'm out n about.
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Post by: Matt2matt2002 on May 25, 2020, 11:20:29 pm: Off to the coast today. Clear blue skys, minimal traffic and rolling hills.
What's not to like?
Also managed to find 4 geocaches.
Raven purred along for the 55 miles.
18° and the same tomorrow.
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Post by: leftpoole on May 26, 2020, 10:58:53 am: I am uncertain as to where these photographs were taken (Map too small) but surmise either Ireland or Scotland.
Looks a lovely place but I assume cold and snow in Winter?
John
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Post by: Matt2matt2002 on May 26, 2020, 11:51:09 am: Quote from: leftpoole on May 26, 2020, 10:58:53 am
I am uncertain as to where these photographs were taken (Map too small) but surmise either Ireland or Scotland.
Looks a lovely place but I assume cold and snow in Winter?
John
Thanks John, for your comments. Not sure why the map came out so small. I must have reduced it twice instead of once.
Scotland. Aberdeenshire. Grampian region. The Highlands are to the north of us.
I'm 18 miles west of Aberdeen city.
My ride took me 25 miles north east to the coast near Collieston.
Weather? The prevailing winds are from USA but we are protected quite well by the Cairngorms.
So it's colder and dried than my previous address on the West coast.
No snow to speak of for 2 years now. Suits me, but our ski resorts suffer.
Our immediate vicinity has plenty of country lanes to buzz around so short rides of 25 miles are a dream.
With my Raven and location, I feel truly blessed.
Matt
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Post by: leftpoole on May 27, 2020, 10:54:10 am: Matt2matt2002

Thank you! Indeed it sounds great. Not sure I could cope up there in Winter all the same.....
I have lived where I am now (edge of Bristol edge of Cotswolds) three times! The two times in between I lived in Dorset (Bridport, Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch) Much warmer all year of course. I really do miss the New Forest for cycling (roads only) which was a few miles from home (actually in Hampshire) and I do, of course certainly on a daily basis, miss the sea! Having a view of the sea at anytime of year is wonderful. Strangely there are people born and raised in Poole who have never been to the beach or even seen the sea!
I have been to Scotland (all the way in a day to John O'groats!) it was a long long way and in 1974 in a Lotus Escort. I was tired out for a week. It was the month when Nixon resigned from Watergate scandal if I have the year correct. It was very hot weather (August) and I and my then girlfriend enjoyed ourselves.....
Anyhow once again well done and thank you.
John
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Post by: Andre Jute on May 27, 2020, 10:57:20 am: I like the nose of your Brooks saddle cosying up to the colourful but shy platitude. Well spotted, Matt!
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Post by: Bill on June 06, 2020, 05:52:53 am: Rode Banff Alberta to Castle Junction last week, this is Vermilion Lake and Mt Rundle .
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Post by: leftpoole on June 06, 2020, 07:19:28 am: Quote from: Bill on June 06, 2020, 05:52:53 am
Rode Banff Alberta to Castle Junction last week, this is Vermilion Lake and Mt Rundle .

Oh, wow! Look at that!
John
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Post by: Bill on June 07, 2020, 05:03:12 pm: This is Highwood Pass, the highest paved road in Canada. Closed to vehicular traffic from Dec 1 to June 15, they were removing snow at the summit last week.
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Post by: Matt2matt2002 on June 07, 2020, 09:13:14 pm: Quote from: Bill on June 07, 2020, 05:03:12 pm
This is Highwood Pass, the highest paved road in Canada. Closed to vehicular traffic from Dec 1 to June 15, they were removing snow at the summit last week.

Is it me or....?
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Post by: John Saxby on June 08, 2020, 02:00:38 am: Matt, pls do pay attention to the dates, eh? You can and must go there, likewise the Highway to the Sun in Glacier Park, Montana, due south -- but only if the road has been opened.

(Not making this up ;) )

Cheers, John

PS to Bill: great photos!
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Post by: Andre Jute on June 08, 2020, 02:54:01 am: Amazing photographs, Bill. And an adventurous ride, to say the least. Thank you for sharing with us.
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Post by: Bill on June 08, 2020, 03:13:58 pm: Highwood Pass opens again for regular car traffic next week -June 15. Last week there were a couple of maintenance vehicles removing snow at the top in preparation for opening. Might be an opportunity to ride it again this week while it is still car free.
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Post by: Bill on June 12, 2020, 07:52:05 pm: One more Highwood Pass photo from June 11, riding from the North gate.
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Post by: John Saxby on June 13, 2020, 03:19:05 pm: Fabulous landscape, Bill.

Below, my photographic memory of the neighbourhood.
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Post by: Andre Jute on June 13, 2020, 11:19:45 pm: "...and upon reaching the peak at 7239 feet, I turned around and rode down to the bottom, just so as I could say I climbed it twice!"

Green with envy.
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Post by: John Saxby on September 25, 2020, 11:57:50 pm: Signs of the changing seasons from a brief 3 hour ride across the river and into the trees of the Gatineau Park.

One of the unexpected-but-welcome effects of the pandemic has been the decision by park authorities to close the Gatineau Park to motor traffic for all but Sunday afternoons between early May and late September. Cyclists, runners, walkers, cross-country skiers with their inline training wheels, parents with kids in strollers--we've all been giddy with pleasure and slight disbelief, enjoying the park without having to worry about cars and trucks And All That That Entails.

As Lincoln Steffens might have said, "I have seen the future, and its roads are full of bikes."

But tomorrow is another day: on Saturday/26th, Carmageddon resumes, and Bad Carma descends upon the park, as the roads are opened to the motorized cavalcade of foliage seekers.

Today I rode up into the hills for One Last Peaceful Ride with my buddy Dave. We did a three-hour there-and-back to the village of Chelsea for a mid-afternoon kaffee-mit-date square.

The day was mixed sun and cloud, a mild southeasterly breeze, and felt a bit cooler than the nominal 16°.

We enjoyed the glory of the late September colours -- see the photos below, one of a hillside above a beaver pond (the beaver lodge is on the right side of the photo, just above the foliage reflected in he water), and another of a couple of maple trees near the riverside bike path on the way home.

The forecast for October is a good one -- sunny and above-average temps -- so we may have some more rides in the next few weeks before November's dark'n'wet.
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Post by: Andre Jute on September 26, 2020, 11:03:03 am: Great that you got in a ride before the winter, John. On Thursday the oil man, delivering, said it was the first day of the winter here. Wind, rain, the usual. It was like cutting off the late summer with a knife: sunshine, shirtsleeves one day, sweaters and rainjackets the next.

Besides the beaver lodge, your Fall Hillside photo is notable for not one but two Loch Lomond monsters, pale albino types, fractionally short of the right edge of the photo at about a third of the way up. Amazing what you can see on photographs if you're "cocooning", which is what the Irish government calls their recommended regime for sunset warriors.
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Post by: energyman on September 26, 2020, 01:43:03 pm: .........OHHHHHHH the colours John.......
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Post by: John Saxby on September 26, 2020, 03:16:26 pm: Thanks, guys, for your kind words. When I visit the park, at pretty much any time of year, I'm reminded how privileged we are to have this place on our doorstep, its entrance just 15-20 minutes away by bike.

Quote
not one but two Loch Lomond monsters, pale albino types

I think you mean the pale vertical bits, Andre? These are connected to a drainage structure--not created by the beavers--of which the horizontal part is just visible. As the beaver pond rises and falls, the drainage whatsit is less or more exposed. There are multiple streams, ponds and marshes in this immediate are of the park. The Gatineau River is just 3 kms or so away to the east -- the hillside runs more or less N-S. The Gatineau is a tributary to the Ottawa on the Québec side, and a splendid river in its own right. Below, a photo of that river from a three-day mini-tour in mid-July.

Cheers,

J.
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Post by: Matt2matt2002 on September 26, 2020, 05:45:42 pm: Fortunately the weather held for my recent over night bike and camp out at Portsoy on the coast 40+ miles to the north of my home, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire.
A lazy ride over the rolling hills took me through Turrif to Banff and then alongside the seashore to my destination.
No hurry, so enjoyed the rural views of harvesting the oats and corn. It's been a poor year here in UK for grain growth but our local area appears little affected.

Arrived at my usual spot to find a campervan bang in the middle of the grass patch. With less than an hour before sunset I had to quickly conjure up plan B.

A nearby spot was located, so it was off to the local fish and chip shop for a carry-out and then back to set up the Hubba Hubba over looking the sea.

Nearby is a disused seawater lido. I guess the demand fell away and the Council closed it due to lack of demand. Or costs?

Sunset around 1900 and after a short stroll taking in the fresh sea air, I was tucked up snug with my FM radio and Kindle.

Undisturbed during the night apart from the sounds of crashing waves.

Dawn around 0700 ( it was our equinox ) and the Jetboil heated my water for coffee and muesli.

Bonus was a perfectly dry tent. Amazing.

Packing up I chatted to a few locals, one of whom ( there for his early morning swim ) almost convinced me to buy a kayak.
But that's another story.

A slow ride home through a stiff headwind with a couple of coffee and cake stops to support the local economy.

Raven as usual, faultless.
A dream to ride with 2 rear panniers, tent and barbag.

Looking forward to the next mini adventure.
They are enough to blow the cobwebs away and keep me sane during these strange times.
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Post by: lewis noble on September 26, 2020, 07:37:01 pm: Looks good, Matt - photos really capture the atmosphere and the pleasure of a successful trip.

The area round Gatineaux and John's home looks beautiful and interesting - thanks for contributions.

Lewis - Sheffield - laid up with dodgy knees, I hope they improve.
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Post by: Andre Jute on September 26, 2020, 10:47:08 pm: That's a mighty river, John. Not quite what one thinks of as a "tributary".

Super description and photos, Matt.

I trust your knees are improving, Lewis.
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Post by: John Saxby on November 07, 2020, 10:54:36 pm: Today, a Saturday in early November, we had a spring-like sunny day with temps of 19 and a mild westerly wind. The air was soft--not a word often used to describe Ottawa's weather in any season--but it was all so beautiful that I went with my cycling buddy, Dave, across the river and into the hills to sit on the verandah of "Café Les Saisons" with a coffee in Chelsea, Qué. (I took my derailleur bike so I could stay with him on his old-but-still-sound Klein touring bike.)

We do see mild temps in early November from time to time, but usually no more than 10° at most. Today's conditions seemed almost freakishly fine, but were no less delightful for that. Of course we were not alone: the parkways in the Gatineau Park have been closed since mid-October, and with no snow on the ground, the roads and bikepaths were chock-full of cyclists of all kinds, with runners on the grassy/softer verges, and skiers young and old training on their inline skates.

Everyone, it seemed, had a dazed can-you-believe-it? grin, and more than one person said, "It feels like spring!" or, "Maybe we've skipped winter?!"

The landscape has changed dramatically from what appears in the photos I posted in late September. The brilliantly coloured Bliss-Carman-like hillsides of hardwood trees are now a mix of dull greys and browns, with only the various conifers, mostly on the northern slopes, offering us some green. OTOH, with the hardwoods stripped of their foliage, the woods are now full of light, and we could easily see runners and mountain bikers on the trails; up until the end of October, those trails were hidden from sight.

("Bliss Carman" you say? A lifetime ago, I came to Canada as an eight-year-old, and finished Grades 5 - 8 in a one-room schoolhouse in the woods near Peterborough, Ontario. For a kid leaving the groomed countryside of Surrey, England, it was impossibly wild and exotic. We had a big thick reader full of stories and poems that I forever associate with those days. The latter included examples of Bliss Carman's charming harmless verse, full of iambic quadrameter and the like. Di-da' di-da' di-da' di-da', thus:

Along the line of smoky hills,
The crimson forest stands,
And all day long the blue jay calls,
Throughout the autumn lands.

My kids had to put up with that sort of things as they grew up, as well as longer bits of Robert Service's Canajan magical realism, such as "The Cremation of Sam McGee". Have to say he managed it brilliantly well for a bank clerk from Preston, Lancs.)

But back to the thread. Just a month ago, our back yard in the city had arboreal scenes like the one below--today, we contented ourselves with downhills free of motor traffic, and whipped past hillsides that would have stopped us immediately just weeks ago.

Instead, we basked in the springlike warmth and midday sunshine at Les Saisons, chatting with some of the dozen or more cyclists doing the same. One fellow told me he'd just finished 35 kms on his inline skates--he was training for his cyclocross season, which typically runs into the snowy-cold-and-wet of of early December. I congratulated him on All That, saying I'd never quite understood the appeal, but hey! whatever turns your crank, eh? He laughed, and complimented me on my derailleur bike, saying it looked like a capable touring bike, and was it an early ti-framed Eclipse? I said that indeed it was, and told him some of its 20-year-old history, and my seemingly endless search for a functional derailleur with usable ratios--resolved, happily, in the last few years--and my decision to join the Church of Thorn-mit-Rohloff bikes for loaded touring.

So there we are -- not many better ways to spend 3 or four hours on a November Saturday :) The fine weather is forecast to last into the early part of next week, with Tuesday temps s'posed to reach 21, if you please, so maybe I'll get another run into the hills before the winter closes in.
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Post by: Andre Jute on November 08, 2020, 04:42:49 am: Looks to me like there's still some green on those leaves. Maybe your late autumn isn't wishful thinking, perhaps it'll extend itself a bit further. Good luck with that. You deserve it for your nicely turned description, which cheered me on a day under skies of unbroken and unremitting Payne's Grey, with a deadly drizzle ditto.
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Post by: John Saxby on November 08, 2020, 02:00:10 pm: Thanks for your kind words, Andre. Those leaves in the photo are from Oct 8, a month ago. Same trees today have no leaves at all. The sunshine cheers up the swath of grey/brown trunks & branches. November is usually dark, wet & cold :(
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Post by: Bill on November 10, 2020, 08:13:38 pm: I ran some errands on my bike yesterday, it was around 0, but the roads were mostly dry.
Temperature is about the same today, but 5 cm of snow and it is continuing to fall.

Might have been the last ride of the season.
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Post by: John Saxby on November 11, 2020, 03:26:42 am: Quote
Might have been the last ride of the season.

And today's could have been mine, as well.

A brief but enjoyable 2-hours-plus this morning up into the hills to the lookout at Pink Lake, a beautiful regular stop. The days was mixed sun and cloud, with a high (afternoon) temp of 23 (!!?? Mon dieu! What is going on?)

I stopped on an island in the middle of the Ottawa River to make some saddle and bar clamp adjustments. Photo #1 below shows the scene, all muted blues and greys.

These days, a cyclist on the roads through the Gatineau Park can see all sorts of lumps of ancient granite, as the woods are full of light, with the hardwoods now bare of foliage. Come late early June next year, a canopy of leaves will close off photo #2 below. (Not a captivating scene, I readily admit, unless like me you find ancient granite reassuring.) (Mind you, I was never a farmer trying to scratch a living from the Canadian Shield. Our farm was on the sand and loam of the Great Pine Ridge just north of the Lake Ontario shore.)

Photo #3 shows Pink Lake from the lookout, the only green on offer being provided by conifers -- here, cedar and white pine.

And photo #4 shows Osi, my Raven, restin' in the late-morning-early November sunshine. A few tweaks don't show: I've embarked on a weightsaving project (=buying lightness). This focusses mainly on reducing the weight of bags and panniers, particularly swapping out sturdy-but-heavy Arkel waterproofs and handlebar bag for ultra-light Altura front panniers and a Revelate Sweetroll handlebar bag. The Raven now has a couple of carbon-fibre components, a seatpost and a stem. Also new are spiffy SJS Chromoplastic P55 fenders--not a lot lighter than the Velo Orange 52mm Zeppelins they replace, but slightly wider and a better fit than the VO items, which are actually 650B 'guards. I've swapped out the Brooks knock-off saddle on my Eclipse for a much lighter Selle Italia item, and will see how that plays out.

Wednesday's forecast is for a rainy morning, and another high of 23 (!), with the temp set to drop 24 degrees in 12-15 hours. I've got a big list of house-maintenance items, so I'll skip challenging the cold front...
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Post by: Matt2matt2002 on November 24, 2020, 08:32:47 pm: I enjoyed an autumnal day out around the rolling hills of Aberdeenshire today. My main task was to tidy up a few of my geocaches and set 2 more, bringing my total up to 182. (I’ve found 700+).
It’s my number 2 hobby.
Number 1 – riding the Raven of course.
The best day is when I can combine the 2 hobbies.

Enjoying my new Schwalbe Marathon Plus 1.50 tires. Down from 1.75 and rolling faster (I think).
£39.99 each from SJS in October.
My previous 1.75’s had lasted around 3 years. I averaged 2,900 miles per year over that time. Down from 4,500 miles per year, 4 or 5 years ago. There was plenty of life left in them, but the good price offered by SJS made me snap them up.

Raven performed as per usual. It’s a real go anywhere bike, for me. As much at home here on the forest trails in Aberdeenshire, as in Ethiopia and Sri Lanka a few years back.

Random pictures today:

I think the camelidae are young alpaca. Although their necks are perhaps too long, so maybe a llama? Expert opinion welcome.
They came over to inspect my Raven - or maybe it was my aftershave?

From the side: forest of pines. Very quiet today. However a business that has taken off in our area over the last few years is dog walking. Busy folks who work during the day pay a ‘walker’ to take their pooch out for a ramble. Typical arrangement is for a van to pull up at a forest walk carpark and 7 or more dogs leap out and proceed to drag around a ‘walker’ who continually yells futile commands at the pack.
I always take a few steps off the track and try to put the Raven between myself and the hounds. Invariably I’m told, ‘Don’t worry, they are friendly / just want to sniff you / they’re harmless.
I’m not sure if the ‘walkers’ have to be licensed but I presume they must be insured. For the dogs and passers-by!
Today I passed just one pack and all well behaved.

From the rear: the ferns in the foreground caught my attention. Such a bright green in contrast to the browns of the leaves / pine needles.

Castle background: one of Scotland’s oldest, Hallforest, 7 miles from my home. Dating from the 14th century and built by Robert the Bruce as a hunting lodge, Mary Queen of Scots aged 20, stayed there in 1562. She lived another 25 years, the last 19 as a prisoner to Elizabeth 1st, in Fotheringhay. She was executed there on 8th Feb. 1587.
It’s not a large building, measuring just 48’ x 36’ although the walls are 7’ thick. There were 6 floors and possibly a moat.
I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t pass or planning regs now!

That’s it folks.
I hope you’ve enjoyed a wee insight into my day here in Scotland UK.
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Post by: lewis noble on November 24, 2020, 08:58:57 pm: Looks a good ride, Matt, thanks!!

The terrain reminds me very much of the riding I did when I had a Raven Tour . . . . . purchased in 2006, when I was planning to do all sorts of rides in difficult terrain when I retired from full-time work . . . . . but for various reasons the rides never happened . . . . . but an ideal bike for those conditions. The bike never really suited me, a long frame in the days when Thorn were more emphatic than they are now on the 'flat bar / long frame' formula. My Sherpa (flat bar) is an S and suits my creaking bones better. My Audax, versatile bike though it is, is not happy for long periods on gravel trails; it will do them, but a hardtop bike really.

You've got some lovely countryside up in Aberdeenshire, thanks for sharing.

Lewis
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Post by: John Saxby on November 24, 2020, 10:22:46 pm: Good countryside for ramblin', Matt -- enjoyed your photos!

The seasons they are a-changin' here: Sunday night we had the first real winter storm, 15-20 cms of snow, kinda wet soggy stuff. Pretty by moonlight, tho'. Then the temps dropped, and now the roads are slick. No fun on a bike unless you're shod with studded tires.

Last Friday, though, saw 13^o beneath a pallid overcast, so I managed a 50-plus kms there-and-back westwards along the Ottawa River. No demanding hills or rewarding high vistas, just a mix of late-November greys and browns. But, entering the greenbelt of fields and woods about 11-15 kms west of our house, I saw several vees of Canada geese overhead, wheeling and honking, at least a hundred birds in all. "Whaat?" sez I, "There's snow comin', guys and you better get going southward." Further along, near an equestrian centre, I saw another hundred birds on the ground in a pasture, munching on who-knows-what. Another 3-4 kms further west, I passed a maize field where the crop had been taken off in mid-late October, and there was a huge flock on the ground -- there must have been 300 or more, all hunched down and carb-loading.

I pushed on towards the little village of Carp, just NW of the city proper, and made my turnaround a few kms short of Alice's Village Café, my usual stop for a cappucino-mit-date-square. I had agreed to meet my cycling buddy, Dave, for a socially-distanced cup of tea on our back deck, and with a welcome tailwind, made it home in good time.

I paused en route to take a photo (below) of an old log farmhouse at a crossroads on the road to Carp. This was built in the mid-1800s, I'd guess, and modernized fairly recently. These buildings are dotted all over Eastern Ontario. The clue to its age is the size of the bottom-most log in front of the house -- it sits upon the foundation, which is hidden by a protective sheet of plywood. The squared log is about 18-20" on each of its four sides, and it meets a similarly-sized mate on the lowest run of the side of the house. The size is similar to comparable logs in the 19th-century farmhouse owned by friends in the Madawaska Highlands northwest of Ottawa, which was built in the late 1860s. By contrast, the timbers used in log houses made today are more regular in size, and are rounded rather than squared--but they're rarely more than 8" in diameter.

My friend, Dave, is a retired engineer who in the past few years has explored some distant new horizons, travelling to East and Southern Africa several times. He'd never had Tanganda tea, and when I gave him some, he pronounced it the best he'd ever tasted. May be four or five months before we can enjoy another cuppa on the back deck with the temp in the teens...
Title: Re: Rides 2020 +++ Add yours here +++
Post by: Andre Jute on November 25, 2020, 02:23:16 am: It's possible, Matt, that the reason for the rather small internal volume of a royal house was the difficulty of heating it.

That's a log house, John, from when men were men.

I vicariously enjoyed both your rides but -- oh woe -- have nothing to report here but heavy rain and more heavy rain. The Green and Beloved Isle will be very beautiful in an early spring -- Irish version of "Next year in Jerusalem" --but intending tourers, especially of the Wild Atlantic West Coast should wait until May or even June and plan to be snugly home by the end of September. We've had few runs of several extended summers recently, and even now at the tail end of November this year it isn't all that cold but you can't count on it, which I've heard said is part the charm and anyhow, as we used say in Australia, where I live on the other side of the country it is usually two degrees Celsius warmer than, say the countryside north of Galway.
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Post by: PH on November 25, 2020, 07:47:04 am: Thanks John and Matt, just caught up and enjoyed your reports and photos.
I managed a couple of overnighters between the lockdowns, must get round to looking at the photos and writing them up.
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Post by: John Saxby on March 12, 2021, 04:33:40 pm: First ride of 2021 chez nous yesterday!

Just a tiny one, 3-4 kms to buy a couple of pounds of coffee and do a few things at our credit union, but hey! Gotta take whatever you can get.

Wednesday was 15 degrees and sunny, that temp making it the hottest Mar 11 on record in Ottawa. Thursday was not far off, so the streets were awash with water from melting snow, people walking and jogging in shirtsleeves or less, giant puddles everywhere 'cos the ground is still frozen and a lot of drains are still covered in ice & snow.

The crows were celebrating, or just making a racket, as they do, and it was a welcome sound. No geese yet, though--another month or so, I'm guessing.

With a 50-60 km/h westerly behind me, Osi the Raven fairly whizzed to the coffee shop. On the journey back, not so much, the headwind and modest neighbourhood hills reminding me how much cardio-vascular work awaits me when regular cycling resumes in a few weeks' time.

My spiffy new SKS silver chromoplast fenders kept everything pretty dry, tho' I'd fitted my 'glider just in case. One stretch generated some anxiety: going along a bike path, I had to navigate a puddle 2-3 inches deep and about 25 yards in length. It was a muddy-milky colour, slightly translucent, and I thought, "Oh jeez, hope those milky streaks aren't ice beneath the surface!" as I steered towards the darker bits.

It's going to be colder over the next few days, daytime highs just above zero and nighttime lows down into the mid-teens, so all those huge puddles will become sheets of ice. In a week's time, with luck, the riverside paths will be rideable, and I might be able to post some photos of the start of spring runoff.
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Post by: Andre Jute on March 12, 2021, 10:24:29 pm: Click here for Rides 2021 (http://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14104.msg105090#msg105090)