Author Topic: RIDES 2017 — add yours here  (Read 84572 times)

Danneaux

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #195 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.

onrbikes

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« Reply #196 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

« Last Edit: August 30, 2017, 09:45:45 am by onrbikes »

tyreon

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #197 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....

j-ms

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #198 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).

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.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2017, 09:41:42 am by j-ms »

Danneaux

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #199 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.

jags

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #200 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.

Andre Jute

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #201 on: August 31, 2017, 11:41:20 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.

jags

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #202 on: September 01, 2017, 02:40:29 pm »
Hope u didn't get wet Andre ;D
Im just in from a nice spin 37miles .

Andre Jute

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #203 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.

jags

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #204 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.

John Saxby

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #205 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.
« Last Edit: October 06, 2017, 03:19:36 am by John Saxby »

geocycle

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #206 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.
 

Swislon

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #207 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

Andre Jute

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #208 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.

John Saxby

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Re: RIDES 2017 — add yours here
« Reply #209 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?

« Last Edit: October 12, 2017, 03:58:06 am by John Saxby »