-
This is the place to add your Rides in 2015. Descriptions, photos, whatever you want to send, are welcome and pored over intently by those who can't ride where you do.
-
Yesterday I was going stir crazy, so I defied the cold outside, and the cold in my head, and the miserable wind, to take a ride of all of 6km there and back, and felt better for it after lying in a hot bath on my return. Treadmill exercise is okay if you're a hamster, but on your bike you get more fresh air faster.
(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_gate_on_culdesac_top_of_kilbrogan_street_800pxw.jpg)
Just as well I went yesterday. Today there was heavy hail, snowy drizzle, high wind, intermittent icy showers, low temps, and very likely ice under the trees on my hills, in short extremely unpleasant, possibly dangerous conditions.
-
Andre you should have taked a lot more photos of that spin.
you wont be getting out in the near future with all this snow thats coming our way ,freezing bulldogs up here. >:(
anto
-
freezing bulldogs up here. >:(
Why do you think I needed to sit up in hot bath after my ride?
-
The weather was magic here on Friday, although we've had some rain and heat since. It was 34C here today.
A quick ride for me is the Fernleigh Track - I've posted on it earlier. It's 45km return from my place. (31km of rail trail plus street riding across town). A feature is the Fernleigh Tunnel:
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8679/16043422929_747cb35a98_b.jpg)
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7537/16203628666_2a013c131d_b.jpg)
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8592/16227665331_84f7a4f425_b.jpg)
Hot fun in the summertime! ;D
-
Hey Sam do you not get fed up with all that sunny weather i mean >:( >:( ;)
freezing hard here last night but made for a great walk by the river this morning.
anto
-
Anto, I have lived in NYC, Boulder Colorado, Casper Wyoming, and Steamboat Springs, so I know about "freezing hard". I've had winters where it froze hard in November and didn't thaw until March!
And whilst I don't mind some cold weather, I used to hate the short winter days. Even when I was in school, we'd go and come home in the dark. Doing that for months takes a real toll! >:(
So no, I don't get "fed up" with sunny weather, because I've earned it! :D I chose Australia for that reason. Thirty years ago in my first three months in Sydney, it only ever rained at night! I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! ;D ;D
-
Move over Sam i'm coming down there to join you ;D ;D.
i'm not a fan of miserable winter weather give me sun anytime ,post a few more photos Sam i enjoy being very jealous ;D ;D
anto.
-
...post a few more photos Sam i enjoy being very jealous ;D ;D
You're a card, Anto!
That trail is a wonderful amenity, Sam. Anto is right, it is envy-making. If I had something that good in my backyard, I'd be on it every day.
-
Oh to have a car free cycle way in my part of the country.
the wind is blowing might strong at the moment and its to get storm force later on and into tomorrow god don't you just love irish winters.
beam me up scottie. ;D
anto
-
Today we had our first ride with the studded tyres on this winter.
Last winter we didn't need them at all.
-
Oh! What a treat, Rual! Stunning shots, as usual from you.
Going back for another look....
All the best,
Dan.
-
Great shots, Ru. Where is this ?
-
South of Glasgow, between East Kilbride and Strathaven.
-
Great photos, Rual! Looks like you had a fair dump of snow -- holds the bike nice & vertical, eh? And 's no problem with the studded tires, either.
Observing the Ottawa temps from far far away to the south, there are regular daytime highs of -15 to -20 ... I watch with morbid fascination. Jeez, softie that I am, with those temps I rarely go x-country skiing, let alone cycling.
-
CLASS 8)
-
You don't need to go far from home to have an adventure! Brrrr photographs.
-
Thanks Ru! When I need a break from this heat, I'll cool down by looking at your photos! ;D
Actually, today the weather broke with our best rain in months. Temps back to mid-20s C. A cyclone may be brewing up north, and we're going to have a wet week. I don't know how I'll cope - it's been so long!
-
Finally got a day with decent weather when I had time to get out. Headed to the flatlands of the Fylde to avoid icy slopes. Highlight was the quaint Knott End ferry that took me across the Wyre estuary.
-
Having never ridden with studded tyres do you really feel secure in the pictured conditions ?
-
Having never ridden with studded tyres do you really feel secure in the pictured conditions ?
I'd find the view disconcerting, and want to orientate myself properly, make sure it isn't a mescaline nightmare, before I even moved and started wondering about studs!
-
Finally got a day with decent weather when I had time to get out. Headed to the flatlands of the Fylde to avoid icy slopes. Highlight was the quaint Knott End ferry that took me across the Wyre estuary.
Thanks for posting the photo. I thought I was seeing an optical illusion since the angle of the picture makes it appear that the road goes into the water. When I looked up that location on Google Maps, I found that it isn't an illusion! :)
- Dave
-
Having never ridden with studded tyres do you really feel secure in the pictured conditions ?
Yes, you can even brake confidently on solid ice, just be careful once you have stopped and put your feet down, unless you have studs in your shoes also!
-
thanks - I've been a bit chicken after breaking my collar bone a few years ago !
-
Two recent experiences that have weakened my confidence...
A month ago or so I was out riding, I think my first ride after putting on the studded tires. Not a whole lot of ice about, but some. But then I was starting up a long gradual hill and there was a big glassy patch of ice all over the road, a solidly frozen puddle. Just as I was reaching it a huge road work truck passed by me very close. I got into a bit of a panic and decided to stop and put my feet down... ach! No, I don't have studded shoes! Somehow I didn't go down under those huge scary truck wheels, but wow that was a fright!
Then about a week ago I went out for a shorter ride, my standard hour loop with a nasty little hill in the middle. I was inspired to get out by a little break in the freezing weather. Ah, but that nasty little hill still had some nasty little ice patches! No real traction problem when dry, but my studded tires just couldn't hold on that slope. I ended up walking maybe 30 yards. And I really just hung onto the brakes and came back down the other side very very slowly!
-
Thanks for posting the photo. I thought I was seeing an optical illusion since the angle of the picture makes it appear that the road goes into the water. When I looked up that location on Google Maps, I found that it isn't an illusion! :)
- Dave
Yes the ferry was great. I suspect these are a dying breed as folks just drive around estuaries. The sea today was great, like a natural foam party!
-
Yes the ferry was great. I suspect these are a dying breed as folks just drive around estuaries. The sea today was great, like a natural foam party!
Hello,
I live close to and use Sandbanks Ferry in Poole, Dorset. It is full up every sailing all day every day. It goes back and forth virtually without a break all day all week.
Try it one day, it cost a pound by bicycle.
Regards,
John
PS:- You can view from the outside, Millionaires homes by the beach including Harry Rednap amongst others.
-
Hello folks.
Managed my first real ride of 2015 today. Lots of bad weather, snow, extra work and bike err,,, adjustments prevented me venturing far until this morning.
All pictures taken within 15 miles of my home just outside Aberdeen Scotland UK.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-WPwLab2g3Q8/VMUFK0Jh8-I/AAAAAAAAHdw/lO6nAvtMUpE/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B001.jpg)
Strange names up here. Lord's Throat. Not been there but think its an area rather than village. I pulled over to take the snap, looked down and saw.....
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-M1_jZ1GsDeY/VMUFYXmju0I/AAAAAAAAHd4/MBCC54Dn5Hs/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B002.jpg)
A fresh kiwi fruit! Amazing. Fresh and ready to eat. Goodness knows how it came to be there. One for the pot.
Half a mile further on I went over this river. I always think of that song:
Ballad of Easy Rider by Roger MCguinn and Bob Dylan
The river flows, it flows to the sea
Wherever that river goes that's where I want to be
Flow river flow, let your waters wash down
Take me from this road to some other town
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_z1o_Y62eKE/VMUFp-TnPoI/AAAAAAAAHeI/xvqX_RTslYM/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B004.jpg)
This house has a great location on the river. One day.......
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-cP4FleIVoJA/VMUDhoDos9I/AAAAAAAAHdA/yDITEZJOcwQ/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B005.jpg)
Here's the Raven looking sharp.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-RBiw_Z23mXo/VMUDXhAh42I/AAAAAAAAHc4/PKqGCWPJIyM/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B006.jpg)
Stopped off outside another favorite house. One day......
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-cNKXg_rNuWM/VMUEQ1dMlfI/AAAAAAAAHdY/u8nkc8WW96g/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B011.jpg)
Brooks saddle is coming along fine. I had to use a set back arrangement since it was wider than my old Brooks Professional and I felt pushed forward. Thanks to all those folks who offered advice on that topic.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-yX9q-ZiO66k/VMUEcJOH4kI/AAAAAAAAHdg/KKMyMEvVAMc/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B013.jpg)
(http://)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_z1o_Y62eKE/VMUFp-TnPoI/AAAAAAAAHeI/xvqX_RTslYM/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B004.jpg)
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-japAGVnBTTs/VMUEwVJ14CI/AAAAAAAAHdo/VaT_HB4VC1k/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B014.jpg)
Countryside around Aberdeen is pretty flat but here is the highest hill, Bennachie. Pronounced Ben a hee.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7P-9N1jDPAA/VMUFZpjt1fI/AAAAAAAAHeA/p9jXn6hZogM/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B016.jpg)
This little fella was having his lunch.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-gtVQx-TVF3A/VMUHRYV3F1I/AAAAAAAAHe0/bv8uTYGo1IY/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B017-EFFECTS.jpg)
Little village of Monimusk is my half way point. 24 mile round trip. Lots of the buildings have been protected against change and development.
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-zsqaNkS7beQ/VMUGjnjRNUI/AAAAAAAAHeo/AkQCaFy8AF0/w580-h773-no/Jan2015ride%2B019.jpg)
Last one now. And it wouldn't be a post from me if I didn't ask a question.
I want to rotate my shifter a few degrees. What the heck is the right tool? It's not a hex or Allen key. I have tried both. It looks like a star shape?
The shop fitted it for me and if I can just rotate it a few degrees I will be able to see the numbers easier as I sit in the saddle.
Sorry - just found out it is a Torx. Any idea of the size?
Thanks folks.
Hope you enjoy seeing a little bit of Aberdeenshire.
Matt
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jr_i4U57ldY/VMUGd7ok8RI/AAAAAAAAHeg/cDC3FLd_jE8/w958-h719-no/Jan2015ride%2B020.jpg)
-
Interesting tip john, I'll look out for that one. Earlier in the year I did the one from Southampton to hythe which was a delux version of the Knott end ferry.
-
Hi Matt,
Great pictures as usual. It's good to get out again isn't it?
Re the shifter. I think they are Torcx bolts so my guess is you'll need a tx20 driver the same as for other bits of the hub.
-
Interesting tip john, I'll look out for that one. Earlier in the year I did the one from Southampton to hythe which was a delux version of the Knott end ferry.
That Hythe area is not particularly scenic. I went across 2 weeks ago. Very run down.
John
-
Thanx geocycle.
I remb
Embered I have a set but for the life of me, cannot locate them in the shed.
So annoying.
Why oh why use a torx? What's wrong with an Allen key?
Crazy. Allen key sockets ate all over the bike. What makes the shifter special?
-
Nice pics Matt
-
Love your photographs, especially the one of the little castle with the round turret.
Torx T20 is the standard Rohloff fastener. It provides an extra measure of thief proofing when your bike is immovaby locked to a lamppost and the thief is trying to strip the expensive components. The idea is that he won't have a Torx spanner, or, if he has one, it will be one for disc brakes, and therefore useless to him.
A Rolloff-specific multitool should have a T20 or adaptor included. (Most don't; instead they have a T25, which is common disc brakes.) One or two SKS models have the T20 included. See
http://www.sks-germany.com/?l=en&a=product&r=tools&i=7001&TOOLBOX%20RACE
and
http://www.sks-germany.com/?l=en&a=product&r=tools&i=7000&TOOLBOX%20TRAVEL
-
Mary and I camped at Molesworth on the Great Victoria rail Trail and did some day rides.
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-PDQP9u3wz28/VM8yMO5juUI/AAAAAAAAMzY/4TgwudP7YP0/s720/IMG_0785.JPG)
Looking down on Alexandra
(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-JsWx-wLJcKs/VM8yB5RzyJI/AAAAAAAAMx4/NyGxeLtPtlw/s720/IMG_0802.JPG)
Cheviot Tunnel
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-yc3yWnb4HmI/VM8yNKkc6tI/AAAAAAAAMzg/253gDEFLwaE/s720/IMG_0833.JPG)
Echidna
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3Vfg3eT8FJw/VM8yNyjyXyI/AAAAAAAAMzo/tl6XyAmVqRg/s720/IMG_0840.JPG)
B;ack Wallaby
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-LSF5H-tWgqo/VM8yO1UiGJI/AAAAAAAAMzw/JPl_qREjSPM/s720/IMG_0896.JPG)
Mary. Note dust on mudguards!
Mike
-
Simply wonderful photos, Mike! Thanks so much for "taking us along" on your journey.
The bike looks fantastic, as do the color coordinated jackets. Love seeing the wildlife.
Best,
Dan.
-
Fantastic photos, Mike! I love that part of the world - my wife and I were there last Easter.
I also love the bike - surely the only Thorn S&S tandem in Australia, am I correct?
-
I'd not want to hit an Echidna even with marathon plus tyres! I guess close encounters with wildlife in dark tunnels is one of the joys of riding in Australia. Victoria looks dry.
-
Mike (and Mary) --
Thanks for posting those great photos of your trip. It looks like a fantastic place to ride. I like hearing about old railway beds being turning into biking/walking trails. With their gentle grades and often beautiful scenery (away from roads), they make perfect biking routes. We have some old railway beds here that have been converted to bike/walking trails, such as the Kettle Valley Railway (http://www.kettlevalleyrailway.ca/ (http://www.kettlevalleyrailway.ca/), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_Valley_Railway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kettle_Valley_Railway)). My dream is to ride it someday with my son, and your photos make me all the more motivated to do it.
- Dave
-
Thanks for sharing, Mike. Makes me quite homesick seeing an Echidna and a kangaroo!
-
Dave, at your suggestion, I looked up the KVR, and phwoar!!! 600km of beautiful trail - I'm in! When do we start? :D
If you haven't already, check out vintagetourer's post today on rail trails in NSW. We've got the scenery and the disused rail lines, but we're (literally) miles behind on RT development.
-
Thanks to all who replied.
Mary does most of the photography except for the odd occasion when I can grab the camera from her to take her picture.
We have not encountered another Thorn tandem either with couplers or without in our travels in Victoria.
An echnida's spines are soft, unlike a porcupine and would not damage any tyre, let alone a Schwalbe Marathon Supreme!
Like Slamming Sammy I agree that the Kettle Valley looks a great ride!
Mike
-
Why oh why use a torx? What's wrong with an Allen key?
Crazy. Allen key sockets ate all over the bike. What makes the shifter special?
It is a diabolical plot by Rohloff and Thorn to get you to buy another tool!
Actually a Torx driver has a lot more contact points with the fastener than a hex key which has only six so is therefore able to be tightened and loosened with less danger of rounding the faces in the fastner (bolt/cap screw).
FWIW
Mike
-
Mike and Mary, thanks for those Oz-photos. I've been following the crazyguy thread about the growing interest in railtrails in some Australian states, and they're very inviting ... at a cooler time of year :-)
David, thanks also for the post on the KVR. I didn't realize it was as long as it is. I seem to remember that the old wooden trestle was dismantled a few years ago -- no bad thing if the line is now a cycling trail! Am thinking about a ride in Alberta-BC and Cascadia, maybe next year, and I'll put the KVR into my planning.
-
I seem to remember that the old wooden trestle was dismantled a few years ago
There are many old wooden trestles along that line. You may be thinking of the ones in Myra Canyon, some of which were destroyed in the big Okanagan Lake forest fire of 2003. That fire destroyed 200 homes, 20,000 acres of forest, and 12 of the 16 wooden trestles in Myra Canyon. With a combination of government support and volunteer help, these trestles were rebuilt over the next 5 years. Today it is a very popular recreation site for cycling.
Photos of the fire: http://www.myra-trestles.com/gallery/fires-and-reconstruction/ (http://www.myra-trestles.com/gallery/fires-and-reconstruction/)
History of the Myra Canyon trestles: http://www.myra-trestles.com/history/past/ (http://www.myra-trestles.com/history/past/)
My wife's parents live in Penticton, about 35km south of Myra Canyon (as the crow flies). The Kettle Valley Trail passes a couple of kilometres from their house, and I am planning to ride from their place to Myra Canyon this summer (or the other direction). From Pentincton to Myra Canyon along the KVR trail is about 75km, almost all up-hill -- although it is only a railway grade. People normally start at Myra, and ride down to Penticton. I'm not sure which direction I'll ride it, but I'll get a ride in the car for the other direction.
When I do the ride, I will be sure to post photos on this forum (probably in this thread).
My bigger goal is to ride from Vancouver to Penticton, following the KVR, in 4 or 5 years from now. It's about 400km. My son is 10, and he is excited about doing it with me. I've never done such a long bike trip, but with the info that I've learned on this forum, I feel a lot more confident about tackling a 4-5 day self-sustained bike trip.
- Dave
-
Thanks, David. What a journey that would be to do with your son! For sure you could get lots of advice and support here. Trips of that kind can be wonderful, and shape a lifetime. When our son was a teenager, he and I spent a week hiking in Kluane, and that trek played a big part on restoring balance and affection into our relationship, which had been strained by tensions between dad and teenaged son. (Rebuilding an old ex-comp motorcycle together played a big part too.) Our daughter and I have always had an easier relationship--in part, because we've done a lot of hiking, canoeing, and now cycling together, & in some pretty special locales: Malawi, Namibia, Spain, Denmark, the Canadian Shield, etc.
Thanks also for the info on the Myra Canyon trestles. I was thinking of (the?) one that used to be advertised as the longest wooden trestle in the world -- I didn't realize that fire had destroyed so many. (We were living in South Africa between 2003 and late 2006, so missed a lot of information about Canada in those years.)
I have a clutch of old friends in Nelson, whom I'd visit on my mountain-trip-in-the-making; and my wife and I have an old friend who inherited her parents' farmhouse in the Okanagan just east of Vernon, off Hwy 6, and we'd plan to rendez-vous there as well. There are the usual variables of time-on-the-road and time-of-year to be juggled, of course, but I've thought of taking the train from Ottawa to Jasper, then cycling south from there for a month or more.
-
David and John,
I assume the best time of year to do the KVR would be June, or would you be better off going in September?
-
I think June would be better, although September would also be nice. In July and August, it gets hot in the Okanagan Valley, around 35-40C. (Side note: At the southern end of the valley, it is one of the hottest places in Canada. It often is 38-40C in the summer in Osoyoos. It is also Canada's only desert.)
If you go into October or before May, you may hit snow in the Coquihalla region (midway between Vancouver and the Okanagan). The Coquihalla canyon regularly gets a total winter snowfall of more than 20m (70 feet). When the KVR was running trains, the Coquihalla would normally be closed for a couple of months in the winter because they couldn't clear the snow. The part of the KVR that goes down the Coquihalla canyon and especially the Othello Tunnels has been called some of the most difficult-to-build railway track in the world. If you are interested in the engineering of railway grades (tunnels, bridges, etc), read about the Othello Tunnels. I've seen them, and they are simply amazing. (Another side note: The Sylvester Stallone movie "First Blood" was filmed at the Othello Tunnels and in the nearby town of Hope.)
If you are interested in riding the KVR, there is a relatively good book you should take a look at: "Cycling the Kettle Valley Railway", by Dan and Sandra Langford (on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Cycling-Kettle-Valley-Railway-Third/dp/0921102887/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423149258&sr=1-1&keywords=kettle+valley+railway)). There is also a lot of info on the Internet, if you search for "Kettle Valley Railway cycling".
A great book on the history of the KVR is "McCulloch's Wonder: The Story of the Kettle Valley Railway", by Barrie Sanford (on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/McCullochs-Wonder-Kettle-Railway-Classic/dp/0921061250/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423149258&sr=1-2&keywords=kettle+valley+railway)). Note that this book is about the railway, not cycling.
The KVR is also part of the Trans Canada Trail, a government project to have a complete walking/cycling trail across Canada. Once the trail is finished, it will be almost 24,000km! However note that some of the sections of the trail are for walking only, not for bikes, and some of it is on roads. See tctrail.ca (http://tctrail.ca).
- Dave
-
Thanks, David, for all that useful info. Look forward to the research and dreaming!
Sam, I'd second David's suggestions on when to make the ride. On my transcontinental ride on my airhead in July and August, 2013, the temps were in the high '30's in the Okanagan in late July--"a dry heat", though, as we say, one of Canajans' many weather-related euphemisms. (Vancouverites were grumbling & worried 'cos in mid-July it was sunny and in the mid-high 20's, with no rain for a week or two.) The high plateaux in the North America West can get very hot in July/Aug -- but I expect you know that from your time in 'Murrica, no?
If you go into the high country in June, you can encounter snow in the high passes. Visiting Montana and Alberta in late June a few years back, we reached the "Road to the Sun" highway in Glacier Ntl Park (Montana), to learn that it had been opened only a day or so before we arrived.
-
Took a short ride with my pedal pal Helen. Temperatue 6C, wind 16kph veering to be in our faces all the time, "feels like OC' according to the forecast on my iPhone. Pretty friz speeding down the hills but not out long enough to turn into a block of ice through and through, down at the bone level. Might try it again, but in my angora long johns...
-
It was an absolutely perfect day for a ride yesterday here on Canada's West Coast. 14C degrees, sunshine, and just a puff of a breeze. Headed out on the dikes for a great 50km with my friend.
(http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae343/mrspike222/IMG_0113_zps936c5f0a.jpg)
10,781ft / 3286m Mt Baker is 100km by road from my front door, just across the international border in Washington State. It is accessible by road up to the 3500ft / 1067m level. The dike I'm on is about 10ft / 3m above sea level.
(http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae343/mrspike222/IMG_0121_zps383fe43e.jpg)
Hard to keep the smile off one's face when riding here
(http://i986.photobucket.com/albums/ae343/mrspike222/IMG_0126_zpsdb54d49c.jpg)
Or here
I have a clutch of old friends in Nelson, whom I'd visit on my mountain-trip-in-the-making; and my wife and I have an old friend who inherited her parents' farmhouse in the Okanagan just east of Vernon, off Hwy 6, and we'd plan to rendez-vous there as well.
John, check out this ride. It passes right through Nelson. With luck, I am going to ride it this September. I just started a new job, so I have last kick at the vacation date can.
www.selkirkloop.org
My sister, an avid gardener and cyclist, lives in Ottawa, so I know what a brutal winter you have had. I hope cycling weather comes soon for you.
Ron
-
Stunning pictures Ron, had awful day here in northern England, sleet and strong winds. Windchill was awful. Where has spring gone?
-
Thanks, Ron. The Selkirk Loop is one the sections I want to look at -- welcome hearing your reports about it later this year. Love the photos--very Lower Mainland, the mountains as background to the lowland. And the greenery! (sigh...)
My rides so far this year are strictly vicarious. Caught up with a cycling buddy here in Ottawa few days ago, and we realized that we're just a month from the spring equinox! No bets on the roads being clear by the end of March, though -- we haven't had a lot of snow this year, but none of it has melted, bar one weekend in mid-Jan. Some good X-country skiing remaining, though, and the canal is still solid, with very good skating conditions. There was a report on the CBC the other day that the Great Lakes are 80% frozen over.
-
We got a nice blast of warmish air today here finally, up around 40F. Snowed last night maybe 5 inches, on top of the rest. So the roads are rather clogged up. But I finally got out, just around the neighborhood to keep away from traffic. Still, 200 foot hills to climb every which way. Good to get out.
Back to cold weather tomorrow but some better prospects late next week.
-
(http://<iframe src="https://www.flickr.com/photos/nztony/16587299541/player/" width="75" height="75" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe>)
Been meaning to do this ride, just so I could get the photo ever since I got my Nomad in Dec 2013, so it is over a year old now and not too far off 12000km. Trying for a 1000km a month, which is (relatively) easy to do here in summer in New Zealand, although missed out in Jan by 50km! Would have made it but called in for overtime and threw my schedule out. I should be fine for Feb as 906km done and just 94km needed and I have three rides available to do it, so should make it with time to spare.
-
No grass here.
-
:o :P :( Poor mickeg and folks everywhere East of me in the YewEssay.
Friends in Memphis phoned me yesterday. Schools closed the last two weeks due to layers of ice, snow, more ice.
I'll setup the electric fan in the driveway and aim it your way in hope of sending better weather. It can only help...
All the best,
Dan.
-
No grass here.
Nor here. ("Where's the bike?" you ask. Inside the shed, for a while yet...)
-
White grass. :P
Poor guy. I can tilt the fan your direction as well. Just a smidge more to the left should do it...
All the best,
Dan. (...who knows we'll be paying for this good weather in the form of droughts and wildfires this coming summer)
-
Perhaps this is not a good time to mention that it is summer here in New Zealand, but .... it is starting to cool, so it won't last for a lot longer:
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8604/16738019991_2e147cfcbf_z.jpg)
If it is any consolation, it poured down with rain a couple of hours after this, creating flash floods in the city
I was riding away from to get home.
Tony
NZ
-
Aw, glad you got out and about Tony; enjoy it for those who can't. If nothing else, it gives hope and sustenance to see such fine weather. Sunny days here after freezing nighttime temps; supposed to top out near 21°C by the afternoons, but with rain due middle of next week.
Take care!
All the best,
Dan. (...who is working on all kinds of bikie projects this weekend...instead of mowing the lawn, as he should do*)
* Backyard has a 2.4m tall fence. Neighbors won't see if that lawn is cut or not, making it easy for bikie projects to take priority. ;)
-
Dan
I've been getting a little bit brave and even been doing a little bit of gravel off road riding, something I would never ever had done in my road riding/track riding in the 1980s. After 12000kms and only two punctures, I now have excellent faith in my 2.15 Marathon Mondials.
I rode down to the shoreline of the curving bay and rode to the far end and around and back to the main roads.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8643/16126582744_cf5fb4c03f_z.jpg)
Fitztroy Bay, near the entrance to Wellington Harbour, New Zealand.
Ride: http://sportypal.com/Workouts/Details/4204227
Regards
Tony
P.S. I'd rather be out on the bike than mowing lawns, hence I pay someone to do mine once a month.
-
My! I am enjoying this thread. Such a treat to get this little window on others' worlds and to see their bikes out in the "wild".
All the best,
Dan.
-
In contrast to Tony's sun-dried New Zealand landscape, some pics from the last two weeks rides here in green and damp old Scotland.
-
Rualexander,
Particularly love your first shot of the misty landscape, and on closer inspection the two cyclists riding through the shot really make an interesting photo great. I don't say that because this is a cycling forum, but because they add interest regardless our our cycling interests.
If this was the photo sharing website Flickr, I would had it as a Favourite.
Tony.
-
Super photos as always, Rual; and thanks, Tony, I missed the cyclists first time round, captivated by the outline of the dark knoll in the mid-background.
green and damp old Scotland
... looks pretty good right about now. X-country skiing on Monday, and there's still a metre or more of snow in the hills across the river. Melting rapidly in the city, though, so I may get a bike on the roads in the next week or so :-)
-
Super photos as always, Rual; and thanks, Tony, I missed the cyclists first time round, captivated by the outline of the dark knoll in the mid-background.
...
Thanks John, the 'dark knoll' is Loudon Hill, site of one of Robert the Bruce's victories in his campaigns against the English http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Loudoun_Hill, another historical note is that Alexander Fleming of penicillin fame was born and grew up at a farm a couple of mile from Loudon Hill.
-
Thanks, Rual. So rich in history--so many landmarks have their stories, don't they? Loudon Hill makes a dramatic contrast with the surrounding countryside.
-
Lovely sunny, only slightly chilly ride to Kilmacsimon Quay today. Photo of a stream beside a lane through a little forest on the return journey by my pedal pal Helen.
(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/From%20Helen%20Lane%2021%20Mar%2015.JPG)
-
Lovely photo of sun on green, Andre (thanks, Helen!), he said, with an envious sigh. Looks, well, gentle.
On the other hand, chez nous, I've spent the last few days preparing for 2015 rides with our daughter Meg, who's just returned to resettle in Canada after five years in Berlin. Radying the various bikes and planning summer rides is an act of faith, really, born of a defiant belief we'll one day use the bikes on summer rides... As a non-welcome for Meg, this spring is the latest I can remember -- still a lot of snow on the ground, and tonight the temp will be -15. Three years ago exactly, I was working on a project in Zimbabwe, and the temp here in Ottawa was 25, 3 degrees warmer than in Harare on the day.
Tomorrow is s'posed to be sunny and cold, so who knows?--if the roads dry before they freeze, I might be able to take the Raven for a wee ramble.
-
Hotter than Harare? Nowhere is hotter/sweatier than Harare!
I did actually say today that, at the end of the summer, on a day like today we'd stay inside as "too cold"; it was about 10C. But at the end of a miserable winter you become stir-crazy, and it becomes easy to convince yourself that any day that looks bright is a great day for cycling, never mind minor details like low temperature and high wind.
-
Mar 21, 2012: in Harare, cloudy/rainy, 22 degrees; in Ottawa, sunny & warm, 25 degrees, like a late-May day.
Pressure systems are all messed up, the crows are indignant & the geese nowhere to be seen. Just checked the forecast, and the high tomorrow is due to be -8! DSMG, sometimes I feel that we'll live on a cold planet for the rest of our days, like characters in The Left Hand of Darkeness ... maybe I'll wait 'til mid-afternoon bef venturing out on my Raven.
-
A bit better here, but still tomorrow's high is forecast to be 32F, the low tomorrow night 16F. I may get brave next week and take off the studded tires... I have been out riding a few times, but conditions are not very conducive!
-
Mar 21, 2012: in Harare, cloudy/rainy, 22 degrees; in Ottawa, sunny & warm, 25 degrees, like a late-May day.
May that become the norm!
Pressure systems are all messed up, the crows are indignant & the geese nowhere to be seen.
I'll be taking that. [When you do it, it is stealing, when I do it it is un homage.]
Just checked the forecast, and the high tomorrow is due to be -8!
A bit better here, but still tomorrow's high is forecast to be 32F, the low tomorrow night 16F.
I feel for you guys. It's actually possible to ride here today, 8C with an SSW wind of only 11kph, intermittently sunny...
...but my bike needs to have the Rohloff's oil changed, the factory lube still on the chain given its 3500km visual check in good light, and a general nuts and bolts checkover, the sort of small thing that went by the board in the last few years while I was recovering from surgery. A good clean will have to wait for another day, as it can take all day to do the job right.
-
Just getting out on short rides these days... can I get myself in shape to take advantage of the warmer weather that will surely be coming...
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/Nomad/IMG_2321_zpsdagixrrn.jpg)
-
Y'did well to get out at all, Jim. Still plenty of snow there by the roadside....
All the best,
Dan.
-
Spring has arrived in the Yorkshire Dales... Finally got out to Upper Ribblesdale.
-
Envy you your green, geo :-)
Here are my notes from my first rides of 2015:
These may not even qualify as rides, even when bundled together, so much as poking a seldom-exposed toe into the water after an impossibly long cold winter. Not quite Back in the Saddle Again, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR4wEZDez7s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR4wEZDez7s), but one has to start somewhere, sometime, and a few days after the equinox seemed if anything overdue.
I wanted to check out a few tweaks made on my Raven, Osi, over the winter, but mostly, with the temp finally easing above freezing (if barely) I was looking forward to a ride near the river, and a chance to see any signs of spring approaching.
Wellll
the first ride on my Raven was little more than a short outing, just a few kms in all. March 25 was the first mild day in about four months, with softness in the air brought on a gentle wind from the southwest, but not surprisingly, I guess, there was precious little visual evidence of spring. Certainly nothing like the greenery of Scotland, or Ireland, or the Yorkshire Dales. Heres the photographic record: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y4vjhiuznfqat8x/AAAyIQlZ_2XdcadLpC5sfY8oa?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y4vjhiuznfqat8x/AAAyIQlZ_2XdcadLpC5sfY8oa?dl=0)
This too will pass. (He said, defiantly.)
The Tweaks Report is positive, however:
1) Wheels: I changed my rims over the winter, from Velocity Cliff Hangers to Mavic XM 719s. The Velocity rims were sturdy and on the heavy side at nearly 600 gms each, with a deep V profile probably more than I needed for the kind of touring I do. The Mavics are lighter (475 gms), with a flatter profile.
There are new Marathon Supremes (26 x 1.6) on the new rims as well, replacing those with sidewall damage and repairs from last summer. These are a known quantity, of course.
Everything felt lighter and more responsive of course, the bike was unloaded but even by comparison with my Eclipse derailleur (see below), Osi felt frisky.
2) Small adjustments: repositioning the Rohloff shifter. I angled the Thorn T-bar backwards slightly, maybe 12 15 degrees, to let me get a door-knob grip on the shifter more readily. Repositioning that way, the shifter slides more easily into the natural angle of my right hand and wrist directed inwards from my elbow towards the centre of my torso. Not a big change, but it immediately felt less awkward. Home ergonomics at play.
3) Small adjustments: more air for the glider. When I dismantled and cleaned the Chainglider last fall, I noticed a little wear from friction on the inside of the plastic sheath enclosing the rear portion of the chainring. To counter that and free up the chainring, I decided to introduce a little more slop into the system (assuming one is allowed to do such things with high-quality plastic engineering, and then, to talk openly about it.) I eased a couple of the fixing tabs out of their slots, pried the inner and outer sides of the sheath slightly apart, and fixed the plot with several strips of plastic matte-black electricians tape. The result was an extra 3 mm +/- of play, both up and down and fore and aft -- the latter seemed to make the bigger difference. The extra slop made the glider quieter when I spun the cranks with the bike on the stand, and effectively noiseless when on the road. Ill keep an eye on everything as I do more distance more often, but first impressions are positive.
I followed up my ride last week with about 15 kms in an hour-plus this past Sunday afternoon, in the sunshine no less, around the Experimental Farm and along the canal. This, on my Eclipse derailleur bike, my Go (marginally) Faster bike. I wanted to check my new-last-fall Marathon Racers, and a clip-on Bibia mudflap from Dutch Bike Bits. The Racers rolled very well, although the 60-plus PSI was noticeably firmer and less comfortable than the similar pressure in my Ravens 1.6 Supremes. The Bibia flap worked well, although the PlanetBike hybrid fenders dont provide anything like the coverage of the VO alloy fenders on Osi. I'll have to do some more fiddling to bring the Eclipse brifter levers slightly higher, and hence more accessible when Im riding on the hoods. Every time I ride the Eclipse, Im reminded how much better the Raven fits me, and hence how much more comfortable it isthe Eclipse does not present big problems, just some not-quite-right settings to be sorted. The Ravens fit and ride comprise the reference points.
More reports to some in due course. Im getting some lightweight camping gear over the next 6 weeks, and hope to try that out on a 4-5-day ride through the Madawaska Highlands in late May. By then, there'll be greenery a-plenty, and I'm hoping that our very late spring will put the bugs back on their heels.
-
That's an interesting report, John; thanks.
Ergonomics, in the sense of user comfort, is a matter of tiny adjustments, which is one reason I have learned, late in life, that I hate to have anyone else work on my bike. But getting the adjustments right is absolutely essential to the longterm health of your fingers and wrists.
I'm surprised to hear about wear in the Chainglider. I haven't had mine open for thousand kilometers, but I'll take it right off when I service the bike next and inspect it carefully. It is another place where very minor adjustments usually make the most difference.
-
If this is the spring, they can keep it.
Dull here, with sunny patches, but at least no rain. Temperature, believe it or not, in double figures Celsius, just, but there. The problem is a 35kph wind absolutely head-on going out, and lashing you with the wind chill factor from behind on the way home. Looks great from behind glass but is impossible to cycle in, as I discovered when I wheeled my bike out. And wheeled it back in. Aargh!
-
I'm surprised to hear about wear in the Chainglider
Thanks, Andre. The problem wasn't too serious -- just that the wear on the inner sides of the sheath was noticeable. Similarly, the home-made adjustment seems to have helped. Equally, it might've been a matter of me being fussy, when I simply could have ignored the whole thing.
On the spring thing, the season that is: We're waiting for a serious rain to clear away the ugly snow. Mind you, the detritus of winter is beginning to appear, and there will be a huge amount of yard work to be done in a few weeks' time. I'll take the tradeoff, though--forecast for Friday is 13!
-
I'm a chainglider man.
Can you clarify...
fixed the plot with several strips of plastic matte-black electricians tape. The result was an extra 3 mm +/- of play, both up and down.....
What do you mean by ' plot'?
Thanks
Matt
-
Thanks, Matt. Sorry for being obscure. By "plot", I meant most of the the front part of the 'glider, where I had loosened the fixing tabs. I pried these parts slightly apart:
i) The sheath over the rear part of the chain ring;
ii) The top and upper half of the front part of the 'glider, over the top & front of the chain ring.
I left the tabs alone in the lower front part of the 'glider.
Having expanded things a bit, I then put electricians' tape lengthwise on the top and upper-front part of the 'glider, and on the rearmost part of the sheath covering the rear part of the chain ring. The tape is only about 1/2" wide, so I used two overlapping strips. That way, the 'glider can't (I hope!) come fully apart, and dirt and water can't easily get in.
Hope that's helpful, Matt--sorry for causing confusion.
-
21km across the hills nestling in a loop of the river between where I live on the River Bandon and Kilmacsimon Quay at the tip of the upper estuary. The photo is of a restful lane providing a shortcut home via Ballylangley, from nearer Innishannon, also on the river. You can't ride home along the river because right by Innishannon there is a short section of narrow road without hard shoulders and very fast, impatient commuter traffic.
(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_little_forest_on_way_to_ballylangley_800pxsq.jpg)
-
Perfect weather here today & I managed to get out, my longest ride so far this year, 38 miles:
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/674735158
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/Nomad/IMG_2341_zpsp2rntno7.jpg)
-
Great stuff, Jim -- must feel good! Love the wee waterfall -- there'll be a nice audio with that, for sure. 20o here today, and heavy rain on Friday, but the parkways in the hills across the river are still packed with snow. So, I contented myself with 2-3 hours along the bikepaths beside the big river, and along the canal & through the Experimental Farm. Today was our Annual Display of Dopiness--people get a bit daft on the first warm day, wandering aimlessly around the road, staring at the clear blue sky, closing their eyes with the sun on their face--all this whilst driving/riding/jogging/whatever. Caution advised ...
-
That road follows the stream up a bit more, then T's onto another road that crosses the stream right at a couple of bigger waterfalls. One of those drops the water right under the bridge, so it makes a sort of booming cavern sound. Very impressive!
-
Great stuff, Jim -- must feel good! Love the wee waterfall -- there'll be a nice audio with that, for sure. 20o here today, and heavy rain on Friday, but the parkways in the hills across the river are still packed with snow. So, I contented myself with 2-3 hours along the bikepaths beside the big river, and along the canal & through the Experimental Farm. Today was our Annual Display of Dopeyness--people get a bit daft on the first warm day, wandering aimlessly around the road, staring at the clear blue sky, closing their eyes with the sun on their face--all this whilst driving/riding/jogging/whatever. Caution advised ...
-
Rode the Bunny Hop 50km Audax down Falmouth yesterday. Spotted a lovely looking Thorn Mercury, a stunning green Thorn Audax, and a steam engine called Janet. The ride was nice and relaxed and finished off with tea, sandwiches and superb home-made cake at the Falmouth Cricket Club.
-
It was a beautiful morning here in Vancouver, and I took some pictures of my commute to work. When the sun is shining, the view is fantastic.
The first photo is looking southeast at the city centre. The second is is southwest over English Bay. The last one is looking back north at the North Shore mountains. It has been unseasonably warm this spring, and the snow had disappeared from the mountains until two nights ago, when we got about 10cm up there.
[The original photos were upside-down. I have re-uploaded them in the correct orientation.]
- Dave
-
Nice pics, Dave! But I had a weird phenomenon happen. Your pics were right side up in thumbnail, but upside down in full size! I'm using my iPad 4, same as always. This hasn't happened before.
Anyone get the same?
-
That's because you are in Australia. :)
- Dave
-
They look OK for me on my desktop. My partner has a Galaxy tablet - she was having trouble like that. Her "auto-rotate" was disabled somehow. You might poke around to check that switch setting.
-
Sorry for the bad joke, Sammy. Yes, I get the same when I click on the title under the picture and the pictures are downloaded. (This is on my desktop computer.) When I click on the thumbnail, I get the larger image in-place, which is the correct orientation.
When I get a chance, I'll upload rotated versions of the pictures.
- Dave
-
That's because you are in Australia. :)
- Dave
;D ;D very good .
-
Same problem here, thumbnails look great, full size are upside down! I'm on an iPad 2. Don't usually have this problem.
-
I have uploaded the photos in the correct orientation.
- Dave
-
Hi all,
You'll have gathered that we're a bit obsessed with the weather here in Canada ('cepting folks 'crost the Western Mountains, who regard it as largely a benign force -- 'least, that's what they tell us Easterners), so I'm happy to report that spring has at last appeared in Ottawa. In the past 10-12 days, I've made three rides -- two short rides in Ottawa and surrounds sandwiching a longer day ride, a 125-km loop south of the city along the Rideau River. The photos in the link below show the neighbourhood in early spring. (Well, it's "early spring" in climatic terms; it's about 3-4 weeks late on the calendar, and the usual signs of spring, like bird poo on the car, are scant. The Canada Geese in the photo beside the Ottawa River are part of a handful which have wintered here. I have no idea why they are so fat.)
Here's the link to the photos from the rides: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aj28v82m6t319w9/AAB9EkGPSxi0sTPFk-smATsba?dl=0
The rides begin with a two-hour circuit of the city, along the Ottawa River on the Quιbec side, returning to the Ontario side downtown near Parliament, where the Rideau Canal locks step down to the Ottawa River, and then home along the Canal and through the Experimental Farm. (We're privileged to have a big, publicly-owned working farm in the middle of the city. Early in the 20th century, a researcher there discovered the Red Fife wheat cross which he named Marquis wheat. This anchored the grain economy of of the prairie provinces in the first half of the last century.)
A couple of days after my river ride within the city, I did a mid-week day ride south and west along the Rideau River, down to the countryside near David Simpson's relatives in Kemptville. There was a strong SW breeze on my quarter on a sunny cool day, and after an hour's ride took me beyond the suburban sprawl, I enjoyed quiet rural roads next to the river. I was looking forward to the south-westerly giving me a tailwind home after lunch, but the weather gods had other ideas. The Rideau makes a right-angle turn to the west about 25 kms south of Ottawa, and in late morning, I turned into what all-of-a-sudden was a very stiff northwester. "Sunny and cool" became "sunny and cold", and I was glad I had my cross-country skiing jacket, lined rain booties, and fullfinger gloves :-(
The day turned into something of a slog, despite its beauty. I spent about 80 of my 125-plus kms battling headwinds, sometimes strong enough that I was down into 6th gear on the Rohloff -- this, on flat ground! (A photo shows that furry locals were indifferent to my struggles.) I'd figured that I'd be on the road for about 7 hours or so, in the saddle for maybe 6 hours ... I reached home quite knackered a full 9 hours after setting out, sandwiches and snacks all hoovered up by mid-afternoon, and my two litres of water finished about half a kilometre from home. A long hot shower and a couple of cups of strong Yorkshire tea did the necessary restoration, however.
This past Wednesday, finally, I made my first ride of the year up into the Gatineau Hills across the river in West Quιbec. There's a nice regular ride I take covering a loop of 55 - 75 kms. The day was more like November than April, cold, grey, wet and windy. Following Dan's review of the new-ish Rohloff "lightwave" shifter, I had installed one the day before, and wanted to try that out, so I ignored the cruddy weather, for a while at least. As I climbed into the hills, the rain got a bit heavier, so I muttered, "Why choose to do this?" and decided to cut the loop short, stopping at the first summit and lookout, Pink Lake, about 20 kms from my home. The last photos in the group show the pallid colours of the countryside.
Osi the Raven worked well in throughout the different conditions of the rides -- no fuss or bother from brakes, lighting, chain, saddle, tires, fenders/mudflaps (all as expected), and the new shifter worked well. I took care to add a light coating of grease to the O-ring and the inside of the shifter tube, and gave the interface between cable pulley and Thorn T-bar a wee squirt of Boeshield T-9. I eased off the cable tension a bit as well. The result was an easier shift, and the slightly fatter new shifter fitted my hand and "doorknob" grip quite nicely as well.
In a couple of months' time, I'll post some photos of a forest road in the Gatineau Park, retracing a X-country skiing route from mid-Feb -- the contrast between mid-winter and mid-summer is dramatic.
Safe riding all, John
-
Good golly, this is almost better than being there! Thank you so much John.
Pity about some insensitive engineer putting up electricity pylons in the background of the clever sculpture of the boat. Or you could call it an aesthetic contrast (depends on whether the critic's mom knows the engineer's mom).
-
Thanks for your kind words, Andre. About the only things that could be said for the pylons are (i) at least the electricity they carry is from a renewable source; and (ii) they're a modern reminder of the gritty/unpretty neighbourhood of the dam and the mills. Glad you liked the boat--it's a nicely stylized reminder of the days of working boats on the river.
The Karsh brothers were brilliant photographers, working from their office the Chβteau Laurier Hotel in Ottawa from the 1930s onwards. Yousuf is probably the better-known of the two, properly famous for his portraits -- Churchill and Hemingway owe their popular visual images to Karsh, for example. Malak did some extraordinary work on the lumber trade in the Ottawa Valley, and his shot of the holding bay below Parliament used to grace the $1 bill, in the days a few decades back when we had such things (holding bays and $1 bills.) Have attached that famous image below. His photo, taken from the North bank of the river, includes a good silhouette of the Chβteau, east (left) of the canal locks & the Parliamentary Library and Peace Tower on the hill to the right. And of course a working boat in the midst of it.
-
Wonderful report, John; thanks. Really glad you were able to get out and about -- at last!
Glad the new shifter works nicely for you. ;)
All the best,
Dan.
-
Great photos, John. I'm glad spring is finally appearing for you.
- Dave
-
Big Country for sure .
Class photos pity im not 40 years youngerand the owner of a Thorn and a pocket full of money i'de surly see the world.by bike of course.
great photos John thanks for posting.
jags.
-
Have attached that famous image below. [Malak Karsh's] photo, taken from the North bank of the river, includes a good silhouette of the Chβteau, east (left) of the canal locks & the Parliamentary Library and Peace Tower on the hill to the right. And of course a working boat in the midst of it.
I think you must be classed as A Useful Friend, John. One can get a curious education just going about with you (virtually) on your bike. The last person to mention Malak Karsh to me, before you, was Marshall McLuhan, sometime in the later 1960s.
-
Thanks, Andre. I'm happy to be mentioned in the same breath as McLuhan. (Pretty good for you, though: "Well y'know, when Marsh 'n' me were talking about People Taking Pictures, back in the day...")
-
The sun shone on Yorkshire today so got out on RST. Even some mild rough stuff!
-
What a lovely shot, Geo'!
All the best,
Dan.
-
only way to see the country . ;)
-
Man, now that's a photograph!
-
Aren't sheep great little animals you could put the feckers anywhere and there happy campers.
thought just came into me little head just thought I'd share it ah well.
anto.(geek of the week)
-
Aren't sheep great little animals you could put the them anywhere and there happy campers.
Are they really happy, Anto, or we just don't hear them complain?
Every one I've come across says living conditions are b-a-a-a-d.
:D
All the best,
Dan.
-
;D ;D no Dan there as happy as larry honestly,
but i like your take on it. ;D ;D
-
Here's another one without sheep. Looks like a carradice advert!
-
Every one I've come across says living conditions are b-a-a-a-d.
Well, if you greet them with a cheery, "Hello, dinners!", what do you expect?
-
Splendid photos, Geo -- love the depth in the high country!
-
pure class stunning countryside. ;)
-
Southend to Plymouth over 3 days on my Raven Tour.
http://imgur.com/a/sHDws
-
Great shots, guys, and the weather looks magnificent! I guess winter is well and truly over in your climes.
There is no "fever" quite so contagious as that which strikes each northern spring. It literally puts years on your life!
-
The hill:
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/Nomad/skytop%20drive_zpsbazctx72.jpg)
the groceries:
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/Nomad/groceries_zpske5lwgnl.jpg)
At least it wasn't snowing!
-
You earned those groceries, Jim!
All the best,
Dan.
-
Breakthrough day! Just a short ride... the plan was a simple out and back. But then I noticed a branching point in the power lines... where does that other line go? Into the woods, yeah, but there is a rideable sort of road... hmmm, a wire cable across the road, no trespassing signs... but I don't see a house... might as well check it out... wow, it connects to a nice fresh cinder road! The power line goes left, so I go right - the fun would be if the road jumps over to a different circuit, which it almost must. A road without a parallel power line must bridge two circuits: it's almost a theorem. And it held in this instance! Up Eagle's Nest Rd, back down Morgan Hill Rd. I've been looking for a possible connection for a year now, and today I found it!
I'm thinking that cable across the road was at 41°56'32.69"N 74° 5'54.60"W
-
Really happy for you Jim! Isn't it magic when you find that connecting road at the end of a long search?
I had a similar situation here locally and was overjoyed to find Mazama Road connected south Eugene through woods to the bedroom community of Creswell. What a great discovery! Then, next ride I found out it had been closed and posted so just once and never again. Ride yours as much as you can while you can!
All the best,
Dan.
-
Breakthrough day! Just a short ride... the plan was a simple out and back. But then I noticed a branching point in the I'm thinking that cable across the road was at 41°56'32.69"N 74° 5'54.60"W
Orienteering by bicycle and good fortune.
Congratulations on finding your own way.
-
My curiosity got the better of me:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/527+Eagles+Nest+Rd,+Hurley,+NY+12443,+USA/@41.9448111,-74.0985622,20z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x89dd04f5a2e5eefd:0x1246373626d1c9c2
Click the satellite option
Brilliant stuff!
-
views are not that great tho :'(
lots of trees in them there woods.
-
yeah there are a lot of trees! So the views are not distant at all. The houses are quite sparse but amazingly varied, that is one point of interest. And the road itself! Some steep stretches, up to 13%
http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/661373924/
and then the surface variety - rock, mud, gravel, every combination. Another victory today was on one steep wet gravelly section, my back wheel was losing traction and spinning, but I managed to pedal through it.
-
Our college student is back home after his third year studying Electrical Engineering! So today we did 40 miles... quite flat, but his first ride in a year or so. He survived!
http://s140.photobucket.com/user/kukulaj/library/Nomad/New%20Paltz%202015-05-24?sort=3&page=1 (http://s140.photobucket.com/user/kukulaj/library/Nomad/New%20Paltz%202015-05-24?sort=3&page=1)
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/Nomad/New%20Paltz%202015-05-24/IMG_2358_zpshokabmri.jpg)
-
Terrific, Jim! What a lovely place for a ride. I love how the overarching trees make a nice allee.
Wonderful you could take a ride together. I remember the tour you did with him and how enjoyable it was for you both.
All the best,
Dan.
-
class photos Jim looks like you lads had a great ride.whenever i go cycling with my son he's usually a mile up the road ahead of me no fun .
-
Gorse on the Left,
Gorse on Right.
Into the Moat of Thorns
Rides the Cyclist.
(with apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson)
(http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/andre_jute_dawn_on_ruined_castle_at_ford_of_innishannon_2015_oil_on_canvas_8x6in_800pxw.jpg) (http://coolmainpress.com/ajwriting/archives/4947)
Andre Jute: Dawn on the Ruined Castle at the Ford of Innishannon
Oil on canvas, 8x6in, 2015
-
Wonderful, Andre!
(Who'da thought that Raglan, the old fart, would've given Tennyson the chance to write his poem, and you the chance to borrow it? Glad we've benefitted from this particular example of the law of unintended consequences -- there weren't so many benefits at the time...)
Love the colours against the grey stone. Have attached a photo from Mt Mulanje, in Malawi, which echoes that. (I'm stretching for a cycling link here: the closest I can do is that, when I first hiked Mulanje in the late 1980s, there was an annual competition for the guides and porters, a race from the Likhubula Pools at the foot of the massif to the base of Sapitwa, the highest peak on the top. The winner got a bicycle.)
-
Thanks John. I particularly appreciate the offering of a bright photo as an aide memoire of the flora of a region I once knew well.
Now you have me wondering if the bicycle they gave as a prize was a Raleigh...
-
Tonight after dinner the wind -- which has been making recent rides, even short ones just into town, a misery -- finally died to "only" 21kph. I grabbed a short ride over well-known lanes and returned home at 2245 feeling much less stir-crazy.
(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_dusk_over_a_valley_in_west_cork_3246pxw.jpg)
andre_jute_dusk_over_a_valley_in_west_cork_3246pxw.jpg
-
I got to use my bike for a practical journey recently, just 19 miles to spend five days at a big meeting, then 19 miles back....
http://interdependentscience.blogspot.com/2015/06/gathering-thoughts.html (http://interdependentscience.blogspot.com/2015/06/gathering-thoughts.html)
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/IMG_2371_zpsjtqmvepw.jpg)
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/Nomad/IMG_2368_zpsdgpnm2fr.jpg)
-
great photos Jim read a bit of your blog way over my head but the bike looks great.
happy travels.
anto.
-
Magnificent old tree, Jim!
-
This is a note on the first of a couple of rides I made in the first two weeks of June.
Midweek in the first days of June I made a short overnight ride up into the hills across the Ottawa River in West Quιbec, in the Gatineau Park. I needed a break from the city, and wanted to check out some new camping gear I had purchased over the winter.
I regularly make a 3 4 hour ride up into the hills, partly for training, partly for sheer enjoyment, but that ride is further to the West, to the escarpment overlooking the Ottawa River as it turns north just west of the city. The Gatineau Park is a spacious funnel-shaped affair, about 40 km south-to-north, narrow at its southern base (only a km or so wide) but widening out to 40 km wide, east to west, at its northern side. The park is laced with 200-odd kms of hiking and biking trails in the summer, which are used for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in the winter. In the larger, northern sectors, there are several campgrounds accessible by road, as well as some campsites reachable only by canoe.
For this trip, I booked a campsite on Taylor Lake, in the north-central part of the park, just at the Parc de la Gatineau symbol on the Google map of Ottawa and West Quιbec: https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.6204967,-76.0266725,11z (https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.6204967,-76.0266725,11z)
The trip included an enjoyable loop, maybe 120 kms round trip: I crossed the Ottawa River into the southern end of the park, climbed to a ridge overlooking a lake, then took a nice long downhill out of the park to the village of Chelsea, an excellent spot for coffee, ice cream, and some very good eateries. From there I headed east and north to the Gatineau River, and rode along the river to the riverside village of Wakefield, about 60 kms or so from home. It makes a splendid spot for lunch, with a view across the river to the old covered bridge. From there, its a short 25 kms westwards to the northern entrance of the park, and to my campsite at Taylor Lake.
The brilliant green of early summer has softened the landscape, and I had an altogether lovely campsite. There were a couple of other parties in the neighbourhood, but none closer than a couple of hundred metres away. I spent a relaxing afternoon and evening, pottering around the camp, soaking my legs and feet in the lake, but not swimmingstill far too cold, as we had had night-time temps down close to zero the week before.
There was a good breeze beside the lake, so the bugs were barely noticeable. (The next day, in the woods, there was no wind, and the mozzies took their revenge whenever I stopped for a photo. Brutes.)
The next morning, I took an old settler road south through the park to Chelsea. The road is passable gravel in the summer, and a ski trail in the winter. In the link to the photos below, Ive included some shots taken in mid-February, and ones at similar or identical spots less than four months later, in early June. The landscape is not just different, but completely transformed: All is changed, changed utterly/Our annual summer beauty is reborn. (Thank you, Mr Yeats.) Im always astonished by the amount of light in the woods in winter, compared with summers dense canopy of foliage. (Helps if you like trees. Jim K will find the scenery familiar, Im sure.)
Heres a link to a selection of photos taken along the route:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/echnrn9akxa0kp1/AABNMnlxAZQV2thiHxskUBnRa?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/echnrn9akxa0kp1/AABNMnlxAZQV2thiHxskUBnRa?dl=0)
Were so privileged to have this place on our doorstep.
A note on the gear I was checking: I had invested in some lightweight and compact gear, partly to reduce weight and bulk, partly to renew equipment past its best-before date. These were the items:
- A Tarptent Moment DW one-person tent, very light at one kg, but spacious, with two vestibules. Packed size: 10 cms x 45 cms.
- A Western Mountaineering summer-weight down bag, just less than 600 gms, and a packed size of about 12cms x 25 cms.
- A Revelate Tangle frame bag, which straps to the top tube, down tube, and seat tube.
- A Klymit Inertia Force sleeping pad, about 350 gms in weight, and about 10 x 20 cms packed. This was a bit of a gamble/experiment: the pad is inflatable, and its air chambers are a set of large bagel-shaped rings for ones torso, with a separate inflatable pillow and a conventional chamber for ones feet.
First impressions, with more to come as part of a post on a four-day ride this past week in the Madawaska Highlands:
- The Tarptent Moment is spacious and well ventilated. The dual vestibules are very handy. It pitches fairly easily and quickly, although the central hoop pole does not slide as quickly and easily through its channel as I had expected. It seems to be very well made. Definitely an upgrade from my faithful-but-aging Sierra Designs Cliplight. One detail, noted in the setup instructions, on which Ill follow up: the ripstop nylon floor is quite slippery for sleeping pads and my WM down bag with its ripstop nylon shell. This puts a premium on pitching the tent on level ground! Tarptent recommends a few swathes of seam-sealer on the floor to add some friction.
- The WM bag was expensive, but is fabulously comfortable, and ridiculously light and compact.
- Revelate frame bag: Very well made, it mounts in a straightforward manner, but there are six Velcro tabs to be fastened, so its not a quick-and-easy on-and-off. I used it for my rain gear and my Click-stand. Very handy, and unobtrusive when Im riding. The only slight negative is that the water bottle on the inside of the downtube nudges the bottom of the bag, so that its not quite as easy to return the bottle to its cage while in motion.
- Klymit sleeping pad: On balance, this didnt work well enough for me. It seems well made, and is crazy-light and compact. But, theres a design flaw. The bagels dont hold enough air to support my weight (86 kg) when I sleep on my side, usually about 50% of the time. On my back, its quite OK. Maybe it would work better for someone 10 kg lighter? For the time being, Ill stick with my Thermarest Prolite Plus, which is slightly heavier, and quite a bit bulkier, but supports my weight & is durable.
Beyond the (mostly) pros and (some) cons of the new gear, the aggregate of lighter and more compact items made a big difference in the load I carried. On this trip, I left my 28-ltr pair of Arkel front panniers at home, and thus could have left my front rack at home as well. The reduction and relocation (to the Revelate bag) in the size and weight of my camping load allow me to look at using smaller/lighter panniers and/or dry bags. More on that in the report to come on my Madawaska ride.
-
My! What a fabulous ride report, John, and photos to boot!
Really looking forward to your ongoing observations wrt your new gear and how it all works out for you.
A quick question: By any chance, do you know the lowest nighttime low temps while using your new Western Mountaineering bag? I've been pleased with my REI Sub-Kilo women's size large bag (the women's bags have extra down in the head and feet and fit more snugly than the men's with less shoulder room, so less airspace to heat) and it has a hard comfort limit for me of 0°C atop a pad in a tent with my base layers on. I'd like to get a sense of how cold you think the WM might go for you, keeping in mind we all sleep differently warm.
My observations on the Klymit pad are much like yours. I sometimes sleep on my side, and tend to punch through many pads as a result. I may start off warm/comfortable enough on my back, but can awaken when I turn on my side. I have finally given up and have settled on my ~1kg dua-layer Nemo Tuo Standard pad for 'most all conditions; when the temps drop down toward -17°C and I'm on exposed rock, I haul two of them with my and layer them.
All the best,
Dan.
-
though I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of cycling on either B roads or smaller A roads...
Around my town all the main roads, and most of the minor ones, are somewhere between lethal and stressful to cycle on. But over time my group of pedalpals have developed local knowledge to such a pitch that we mainly ride on lanes (virtually all blacktop) and little-used country roads, or even on well-used country roads at those times when they're quiet. Yesterday we rode a 22km loop, including a piece of road that is nasty if you don't catch it right but on which we met only a handful of cars by traversing it between the rush hour and the soccer mums fetching the kids home from school, and didn't have a single moment of stress. (Believe me, meeting a bus on a road only 12ft wide with broken verges is not to be recommended. You'd better pray the ditch flows your side of the thorny hedge...) I also learned, discussing heart rate brackets with my doctor on the ride, of yet another loop with steep hills (for getting your respiration rate up on a short ride) that exposes you for less than 50m on one of the lethal roads.
Of course, the key phrase is "local knowledge". On the map, one of my favourite quiet roads actually looks to be bigger than several of the most dangerous; it's just that it leads nowhere except a small farming village just a wee bit too far from the city to have become a dormitory town. Yet.
The perspective changes over time. Last week a fellow stopped his car on the road to come talk to me. He used to cycle with me. His bike is now hung up because he considers the roads too dangerous. He reminisced about how 25 years ago we would ride out after dinner in the dark of summer nights, thirty and forty and fifty miles on roads which are now so stressful that on one of them that starts 50m from my front door I won't go for even a kilometer, turning back on a scenic corkscrew and riding up a very steep hill instead to get back to town via a detour on safe roads.
It's amazing how many attractive cycling loops you can set up with the accumulation of local knowledge. Not that it helps the tourist passing through, or camping; those who stay in guest houses can ask and will usually be told which are the safe areas and roads, and even in some places be given a map.
-
do you know the lowest nighttime low temps while using your new Western Mountaineering bag?
Thanks, Dan, for your kind words. On the WM's "real" temp rating (i.e., as it applies to me!):
The nominal rating is 0 degrees. We can approach that anytime in May; May can also have daytime highs of 30. The night I camped at Taylor Lake, the night-time low was about 5 - 6 degrees, and that made for a nice sleeping temp. I did put on a pair of polypro liner ankle-high socks, and wore a longsleeve lightweight merino top, plus a pair of boxers. I left the hood drawstring of the bag on the loose side--I don't like to feel my head too tightly enclosed, so if it gets cold (I'm follicly challenged) I'll put on a muff or a beanie before snugging up the drawstring. On this night, I didn't wear any extra head covering. One thing that the WM bag doesn't have, is either a drawstring or downfilled yoke across the shoulders/chin opening; my -7 MEC down bag has both, and for subzero temps, I'd say those are necessary. On the WM bag, I liked the extra wiggle room across my shoulders.
From my experience so far, I'd say that the WM bag would be fine to 0 degrees. Below that, and maybe even approaching that, I would add polypro longs, maybe a midweight l/sl top, and a beanie. I really like my 3-season (-7) MEC bag, but it's much more than I need for summer camping, or even anything from early May to late Sept. If I were in the high country in the shoulder seasons, even the Adirondacks, I think I'd use the warmer bag. The extra weight & bulk are a drag, though.
One additional note: For ages, I've been lugging around an emergency space blanket, all 60 gms of it. From a comment by an Aussie on crazyguy, I decided to do what she does, and use it as a heat-reflecting groundsheet under my DW Moment -- not on my Taylor Lake overnight, but on my Madawaska ride, where I had one cool night about 5-6 degrees. That seemed to make the floor of the tent less cool.
Hope that's helpful, Dan -- not really a precise answer, I know. More to come after this season, but so far, (i) the bag is a very good buy; and (ii) I think I'll use it if I make my "planned" trek in the Rockies in July 2016. Cheers, J.
-
the key phrase is "local knowledge"
Thanks, Andre. So true, eh? I make my 4-day ride through the Madawaska Highlands along back roads, and sometimes I'll see a motor vehicle once every 20 minutes or so. At other times, there'll be dump trucks hauling gravel for road work, but I've found that their drivers are considerate. That's not always the case in the city or the 'burbs, quite the contrary.
One of the difficulties of cycling in many parts of Canada, is that there simply are not many roads, hence many choices for back roads. This is especially so on the Canadian Shield -- there's just not enough settlement. (Southern and Central Ontario, and parts of Eastern Ontario do have a good supply of country roads; but, these tend not to have paved shoulders. Quιbec, with its investment in La Route Verte province-wide cycling network, is much more bike-friendly.) From time to time, as a result, you can find yourself on a busy stretch of a "secondary" road. Then, you really have to watch out for the jerks young men in a hurry driving big Ford and Dodge pickup trucks. Last Friday, I was rolling south on my long ride home on my last day (in the rain), and had to deal with a straight, but up-and-down 11-km stretch between a small town and a hamlet. This was the worst part of my ride, except for the ghastly exit and arrival from Ottawa, along the suburban arterial roads (which at least now have bike lanes and/or paved shoulders, most of the time.)
I'd still like to organize a LEJOG trek in the UK, if I can suss out the routes; and maybe extend that to include some of Ireland too. Still to be determined, however -- all too often I find myself saying, surrounded by motorists in SUVs, pickup trucks, and high-end German sedans apparently trying to kill me, "I don't need this."
-
Crazy weather around the USA. Record breaking heat out where Danneaux lives. Here it's cool and rainy. I'm still getting out a bit... getting rather wet too sometimes!
The streams are up!
-
Crazy weather around the USA. Record breaking heat out where Danneaux lives.
<nods> Yes, Jim, it has just been torrid out here, and -- today excepted -- there doesn't seem to be much if any relief in sight for as far out as the long-range forecasts go (mid-August).
Eugene broke a record for high temperatures the other day, and we're on-track to do it again all this coming week.
The Sugarlof Complex fire in Central Oregon has now grown to 5,50 acres and the little town of Dayville was evacuated this afternoon. yesterday, it was 98°F/36.6°F here...and I have no air-conditioning (not often hot enough long enough to justify it), so the thermometer on my office wall read 87°F/30.5°C. Not counting all the fires started by lighting this past Friday, the Oregon Department of Forestry has suppressed 301 fires. Currently, 20 small fires are burning in Douglas COunty, just south of Lane County, where I live.
I'm back home for awhile now, rather than going back and forth between the Coast and Coast Range for work, so the contrast in temperatures is really noticeable. I need to be careful with my hydration while cycling, and make sure I wear my sun sleeves and buff to block the intense sun. The number of fires going forward will make tour planning a real challenge! As for me, when I go I may well rely on pre-cooked/uncooked food, rather than risk a spark. I sure wouldn't want to cause a fire, nor be caught in or behind one.
Jim, if you can spare a little water, please send it this way -- the Willamette River at the end of my street is low, low, low, with lots of exposed gravel bars. We need water! That photo of yours is just lovely. I can feel the green-coolness from here!
All the best,
Dan.
-
100 in Eugene - that really is crazy!
We had some dry weather maybe a month ago with some wild fires that took a few days to get under control - there was definitely some smoky haze floating up the valley.
Stay safe, Dan!
-
Crikey! That, combined with the dire water shortages in California...What have you guys been doing to upset the weather harpies? We have the Wimbledon strawberry eating festival this fortnight ( they also hit balls at each other too! ) and a heatwave is scheduled to arrive during the tournament. I shall load up on extra water as I ride to escape the "Oh I say" and "Glorious backhand" soundbites.
-
Well on saturday myself and Darragh got 77km on the tandem we had a grear spin even tho the weather dull and windy ,this year has been unreal for wind seldom do we get a calm day .
we would have done more km only Darragh was playing at a wedding so had to get back for that.
i'm starting to enjoy this tandem stuff tough at first what with balance and cadence and starting off but we have it spot on now 123 go simple as that ::) photos on facebook sorry no idea how to post pic here.
stay safe folks enjoy the summer..
anto.
-
You have a mouse, Anto? Right, it is as simple as grabbing and dragging a photo between two windows. Sit in front of your screen, open Facebook, take hold of your mouse:
With Facebook open and looking at your post, click on the photo or photo group. The photo storage opens with a larger view of that photo.
Find the photo you want by clicking to the left or the right of the photo you see.
Open a second window for the Thorn forum. Open the post in which you want to place the photo or start a new post.
When in Facebook's photo storage you see the photo you want, grab it with the mouse, drag it into the Thorn post.
You will now see a buncha gobbledegook, something like this:
https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10422588_802378153202370_1230720542926682964_n.jpg?oh=6789033f00bb3b16ee25a94fb95946fd&oe=5627A9F9
Select it all, and click the graphic icon (in the second row of symbols on the Thorn forum reply page, second from the left, next to the blue world-sphere). That turns it into a visible image.
[Picture of currently competing tandem deleted -- Dan.]
-
A very nice tutorial for Anto, Andre, but we need to generally limit featured non-Thorn bikes here except as they have common features that are helpful to others dealing with similar issues and features -- as with the Rohloff hub, Hebie Chainglider, and now electrifying your own non-Thorn bicycle.
The Thorn Forum is a wonderful community and playground, but it is paid for by Thorn's own dollars and intended primarily as a sales tool and user-support forum for its bikes...if currently competing brands are featured, then it amounts to biting the hand that feeds us. Forum members have been good to realize this.
Fortunately, there are a number of other Fora that are not factory-sponsored where the broad scope of competing bicycles can be openly featured and discussed.
Best,
Dan.
Thorn Cycling Forums Administrator
-
ah sure im sure its good advice for other stuff cheers Andre anyway. ;)
anto.
-
Dan, I posted photos of my Bromptons just a little while ago (in the non-Thorn related section), before reading the above. I did think about the competition aspect, but took the view that, as SJS very prominently sells the brand, which in no way competes in Thorn's space, it would not be an issue. If that was presumptuous, please remove/edit as necessary.
As you know, I inhabit many bike related fora and social media pages, but I consider my Thorn Forum buddies my closest friends in the space. (Several of them are also connected with me elsewhere.) As friends do, we love sharing bike-related happenings in our lives, not all of which are Thorn-related.
As always, keep up the good work. That's why Thorn pays you the big bucks! ;D ;)
-
Dan, I posted photos of my Bromptons just a little while ago (in the non-Thorn related section), before reading the above. I did think about the competition aspect, but took the view that, as SJS very prominently sells the brand, which in no way competes in Thorn's space, it would not be an issue.
Very thoughtful of you, Sam.
I know Thorn are sensitive to protecting their brand designs and sales of bicycles they produce, and Andy Blance has removed some key frame dimensions to avoid aiding the competition in duplicating Thorn's geometry. He told me he came to this decision when he met a rider on a Thornlike bicycle who said (paraphrasing), "It's not a Thorn, but is the same".
Where Thorn kindly pay the bills to host this Forum for us as a peer-based support and sales tool, it would be unkind to feature competitors to the brand -- it is the Thorn Cycling Forum, after all -- and I don't want them to reconsider providing this space, which has grown into a close-knit community for some. Each day, I vet about 600 membership applications. Most are spam, but a few are registrations by competitors. I try my best to be fair to all while protecting Thorn's interests, because they have kindly provided this space.
As for Bromptons...they're not Thorns, but are a featured brand of SJS Cycles. Although they are restricted from selling them online, St. John's Street Cycles (Thorn's sister company) has a wide range of Bromptons available at their Bridgwater store -- and en entire range of parts and accessories available online from their "Brompton Shop", here:
http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brompton-shopbrompton/?geoc=us
You've some lovely Bromptons, Sam, and I wish you all the best with them -- surely some of the nicest examples I've seen. I lusted after one myself many years ago, but couldn't afford one so I designed my own, nearly done if I can find the time to braze on three more cable stops and the front derailleur boss.
All the best,
Dan.
-
I lusted after one myself many years ago, but couldn't afford one so I designed my own, nearly done if I can find the time to braze on three more cable stops and the front derailleur boss.
You are an amazing man, Danneaux! Just go ahead and design a folding bike (MANY have tried and failed), and then build it by hand! I'm in awe, as well as envy.
Respect!! :o 8)
-
Thanks for the very kind words, Sammy; much appreciated. I've PM'd you some of the details so I won't clutter the Forum with them.
All the best,
Dan.
-
This year has been a bit disappointing so far - no big adventures on the bike! I have been getting out regularly enough, just nothing very long.
Today was my longest ride so far this year, 44 miles. A beautiful day for it, too! My partner's son came along. He hasn't been riding all that much but he certainly has no problem keeping up at all!
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/8979423 (http://ridewithgps.com/routes/8979423)
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/2015-07-05%20Boiceville/IMG_2377_zps1kvjheej.jpg)
-
That's some angle he's got his saddle at.
-
He just started using an old bike of mine, so the blame for the seat angle rests entirely with me! Here is another photo which lets one compare the angles of the seats on the two bikes - they look quite the same!
I always find that I need a Brooks saddle aimed up a lot like that. It seems like the way the saddle is made, the center part has one line from back to front, but out to the sides a bit, where the sit bones sit, the saddle slopes a lot more down to the front. So if you want the sit bone parts to be level or just slope a bit down to the front, then the center part will need to slope up to the front. Anyway that's my theory!
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/2015-07-05%20Boiceville/IMG_2378_zps1hxy9eca.jpg)
-
should have locked both bikes together. ;)
-
I always find that I need a Brooks saddle aimed up a lot like that. It seems like the way the saddle is made, the center part has one line from back to front, but out to the sides a bit, where the sit bones sit, the saddle slopes a lot more down to the front. So if you want the sit bone parts to be level or just slope a bit down to the front, then the center part will need to slope up to the front. Anyway that's my theory!
That's a very interesting observation, Jim! I love my Brooks, and tend to ride with them virtually level, but I still notice that I often slide towards the front. I can't handle pointing them upward even slightly (too much perineal pressure) but I have often looked with interest at the very droopy looking saddles out nowadays (I can't recall the brand). You know, the ones with a marked curve down in the nose... Have you tried these?
-
I haven't experimented much with saddles at all! Certainly not with anything at all recent.
Another factor in saddle angle is surely handlebar height. The more a person is leaning down to the front, the more the pelvis will be tilted to the front, the more perineal pressure will be an issue if the saddle is tilted up. Seems like a level Brooks is the way if you are generally down in a sporty position. I have my grips up at saddle level so my pelvis isn't too far forward.
Probably down in a sporty position the arms are working more anyway so a bit of forward slope to the sitting area would work OK. I don't have enough experience on which to base any actual claim, though!
-
Diff'rent slopes for diff'rent folks, as is often the case. My Brooks works very well for me with the central portion level and the nose thus a wee bit higher. As you can see from the photo, though, my rando bars at the hoods are higher than the nose of the saddle, while as you'd expect the drops are below it (here, masked by the black handlebar bag):
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qfxhr425nx6rej9/5%20-%20Raven%20at%20Taylor%20Lake%20campsite.JPG?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/qfxhr425nx6rej9/5%20-%20Raven%20at%20Taylor%20Lake%20campsite.JPG?dl=0)
-
Just my usual boring 12 mile grocery run today... was looking a bit unusual just because I was stuffing too many too big items into too few too small bags. Then on the nice long downhill on the way back... nice except it's a busy four lane divided highway - at least the shoulder is wide, but then it is filled with all sorts of debris... what, a bit of a shimmy, higher frequency, lower frequency, positively unstable, rough noise - a flat!
A chunk of glass had worked its way through the Schwalbe Marathon Racer in the back. Hard to say how much is the lack of protection in the tire and how much just a nice sharp chunk of glass having its way.
Road side repairs are never too much fun but at least it wasn't raining! I think it was my first time using the Lezyne micro floor drive HV pump, which got the tire up to 42 psi quite nicely. The Schwalbe digital gauge was easy to use. The chainglider didn't cause undue trouble. The chain was nice and clean, I could see! I do think probably that newish chain has gotten rather slack though inside there - probably I should adjust the EBB sooner rather than later.
I'm thinking the little hole in the tire is not going to be big enough to let the tube bulge through, but for sure I will need to keep an eye on that!
At least the groceries got home in the end!
-
About particularly Brooks saddle angle, I operate my Brooks B73 apparently level with the nose pointing up just a wee bit. But, in fact, as same says, considering where one's sitbones make contact with the Brooks, effectively that is to slope it a bit more towards the rear. Since my longest ride is only about two and a half hours, the slight upslope at the nose isn't enough to induce the characteristic numbness and I do find it a valuable locating tool because I sit as near to bolt upright as you've ever seen a modern cyclist sit. (Any more upright would probably jar my lower back uncomfortably.)
The Brooks is an eminently adaptable saddle.
-
For watercolors en plein air I normally use water brushes but for Father's Day I was given a set of Da Vinci 1503 Kolinsky Sable Travel Brushes. This rough sketch is the first time I had an opportunity to use them.
The viewpoint is up on the old railway track above the road between Bandon and Innishannon. I've been waiting for a sunshine day to block out an oil painting 16x12in of this scene but, as you can see, the Irish weather isn't being accommodating. So I decided that between showers I'd make a quick watercolour sketch in my little pochade tin and get the details and the oil at home in the studio.
(http://www.coolmainpress.com/andrepaintings/andre_jute_the_sentinels_watercolor_6x4in_pochade_2015_800pxh.jpg)
Andre Jute: The Sentinels, watercolor, 6x4in, 2015
-
My new Marathon Plus Tour tires came in the mail today, so I swapped out my Marathon Racers. I've had two flats with the Racers in the past few months... lots of broken glass etc. on the roads I am stuck riding on, so probably best just to work with what I have.
I used the opportunity to clean my bike, and also to lube the brake pivots which I had been neglecting... oops! Once the bike is so nice and clean, might as well go out for a ride!
-
Definitely. What's a clean bike good for if not to ride on a muddy path?
In vintage and classic cars there's a phrase for a vehicle which is polished to death and shown off at gatherings of likeminded rich men, but never, ever where'd you ever get that horrible idea, old chap! driven on the road, where something might spatter it. It is derogatively called, by those of use who actually drive old cars as they were meant to be driven when new, "a trailer queen". Now I wonder if there is a cycling equivalent.
Whatever the word is, Jim's bike isn't a trailer queen!
-
On today's ride I got a free extra bit of adventure. I'd seen the signs, "Road Closed", and was pretty sure the closure was right on the little bit of that busy road that I use to connect up my loop. But where cars fear to tread... what about a bike? Yes! A little shaky but no obstacle!
-
I love autumn in Ireland. It is generally the warmest season of the year here in West Cork, the sun might even shine, and often it doesn't rain.
(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_dawn_at_the_y_at_tinker_s_cross_12_sept_2015_800pxw.jpg)
The sun at dawn is low on the Eastern horizon behind me, as you can see from my elongated shadow near the middle left of the photo.
You can't see the bottom of the valley, but on the far side is the steepest hill in West Cork. From the bottom of the valley, to leave in any direction you must face the first, second or third steepest hill in West Cork.
Of course there is a network of small roads, very pleasant riding. But if I were descending across the fields at speed, while a fall might not hurt too much on these hassocks, I would want my doctor in attendance. Reluctantly I turned away to...
(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_bombing_downhill_at_kilbrogan_12_sept_2015_800pxh.jpg)
Speeding downhill at 51kph. Oh, the thrill of it! This is more than halfway down already, with the steepest, fastest bit behind me, more's the pity.
And here I just caught a thrill at 50+kph on a much safer surface, where the only danger is a tractor coming around the corner at the bottom of another steep hill, this one a couple or three kilometers away from the first photograph.
-
class looking route andre im impressed at your speed. 8)
lot going on in the cockpit.
anto
-
I go up the hill a bit slower...
I'd like to chuck one of those gauges but they're all required for at least two functions.
-
i usually cycle hills whem im out on my todd plenty of them around here as well.
the only bit of gear i have on my bars is polor cadd 200 computer and i just use it for cadence speed and distance oh yeah i always take my ipod i listen to music all the time when im out .
-
Beautiful photos, Andre. How did you get such a clear (not blurry) photo while moving at 50km/h? I know your Big Apples make the ride smooth, but ...
- Dave
-
Good heavens, I'm not silly enough to try riding onehanded on that road at 50kph while with my other hand manipulating a camera. No, I stopped the bike, recalled the maximum speed on the even steeper section behind me, and photographed that. Even so, where I was standing is still steep enough that at standstill I had to grip the brake lever pretty urgently.
For comparison, and an idea of the problem with moving shots raised by Dave, here's a shot taken on a much slower-moving bike on a much less demanding road:
http://coolmainpress.com/andrejutewatches.html#Pistoia (http://coolmainpress.com/andrejutewatches.html#Pistoia)
-
Good heavens, I'm not silly enough to try riding onehanded on that road at 50kph while with my other hand manipulating a camera. No, I stopped the bike, recalled the maximum speed on the even steeper section behind me, and photographed that.
OK, that makes sense now. (Although, for a while there, I held your riding skills in very high esteem.)
- Dave
-
Good heavens, I'm not silly enough to try riding onehanded on that road at 50kph while with my other hand manipulating a camera. No, I stopped the bike, recalled the maximum speed on the even steeper section behind me, and photographed that.
OK, that makes sense now. (Although, for a while there, I held your riding skills in very high esteem.)
- Dave
I shoulda kept dead stumm and just tapped my nose knowingly.
-
Good heavens, I'm not silly enough to try riding onehanded on that road at 50kph while with my other hand manipulating a camera. No, I stopped the bike, recalled the maximum speed on the even steeper section behind me, and photographed that. Even so, where I was standing is still steep enough that at standstill I had to grip the brake lever pretty urgently.
For comparison, and an idea of the problem with moving shots raised by Dave, here's a shot taken on a much slower-moving bike on a much less demanding road:
http://coolmainpress.com/andrejutewatches.html#Pistoia (http://coolmainpress.com/andrejutewatches.html#Pistoia)
i'de say ya man in the jeweler shop loves to see you coming. 8) 8)
-
This past Wed., I made my regular ride across the river and into the Gatineau Hills. The leaves are just beginning to turn, and on a midweek afternoon, there's very little motor traffic. The day was sunny and cool, with a good northwesterly breeze, and when it clouded over from time to time, it became quite chilly, so I was glad to have warm clothing along.
Here are a few photos from the ride. The landscape changes dramatically with the seasons: in little more than a couple of months, the roads will be full of skiers, not cyclists.
PS edit after viewing: Well, that didn't work. Something wrong with our bloody ships today... To be cont'd after I shrink & attach the things. Done, voilΰ!
-
Class photos man that looks great cycling country.
well anto is away to bed im knackered.
night night John boy.
anto.
-
What a beautiful country you live in, John.
-
Thanks, Andre and Anto. We're very privileged to live here -- it's something I never take for granted. A month or so ago, I cycled up to Champlain Lookout with a buddy here, and during our stop at the top, we said hello to guy on a Surly LHT. He was from New England, and cycling in the Ottawa area while his son was up the valley visiting mates at a paddling centre on the Madawaska River. He said, "You have a jewel here," and it's true--we do, one that we treasure in all seasons of the year.
The Gatineau Park is a federal (as opposed to a 'provincial') park, but because it's close t a small metropolis (Ottawa-Gatineau), it gets a lot of use, and the green space is under pressure for commercialization, highways, and so on. It's quite well managed, but things get a bit crazy sometime. This weekend, for example, is Thanksgiving, and the car traffic will be such that the park management has banned parking at the various lookouts. Instead, there'll be shuttle buses running to the lookouts from the ski hill on the north side of the main ridge. A good solution, but an indicator of the vulnerability of the place.
Back in the day, there used to be public transport to a couple of entry points. Now, that's limited to some buses to the ski hill in the winter. Not an issue in the summer (for cyclists, anyway), but I'd prefer not to have to use the car to get to the park in the winter.
-
Unfortunately that sort of pressure on public parks only increases, never slackens.
Yesterday we went up to the city to eat in a favourite restaurant. There was one of those charity events on where people drawn into "cycle to work" schemes by tax breaks are enticed into rides too long for their fitness, on roads lethal to their lack of skills. We counted no fewer than eight ambulances riding at intervals in a "peloton" strung out for twenty miles.
I expressed the fervent hope that I will never see those people on my lanes, because in the narrow ways they would be dangerous to me as well as themselves. On a main road with 100kph traffic -- and some of it faster -- they were riding five abreast! But a member of my party said, 'Nah, after the sag wagon or the ambulance delivers them home, their bike will go into the rafters in the garage for good."
Interestingly, though. the organizers hardly ever lead these events through the parks and other beauty spots. The one charity ride I know of that follows a vulnerable scenic route (1), the Ring of Kerry, is, according to a pedal-pal who's been, regimented by the Iron Fist to cause the least obstruction and zero environmental damage; it's a well-funded and -experienced annual event of long standing, and there are many more applicants than they accept, so the discipline holds well.
(1) In a country where almost all routes, including the main road into the city we used yesterday, are pretty scenic, by "scenic" we Irish generally mean historic or liable to be damaged by overuse.
-
Oh don't get me started with the 'Ring of Kerry' Oblique references to either a physical ailment or something Tolkienesque spring far too readily to mind :)
-
Yesterday for the first time I wore long underwear on my bike. It was bright and sunny and theoretically the temperature was into double figures, just, but the wind dropped the actual perceived temperature to single figures. I was getting stir crazy, so I went despite the wind, keeping to the valleys where I could. The few spots where I was exposed on a skyline you could almost hear my joint crackle as my core temperature fell. Still, a nice ride.
Of course, with winds over 30kph, I would not have been able to go or to return, one or the other, without the motor. As it was, I noticed that without going faster on the motor than normal, or putting in less pedal effort than usual (indeed more), I used up as much battery power in 8.6km as I usually do in 22km. Maybe that wind was fiercier than I thought. According to my heart rate monitor, the entire effort was shifted two divisions out of five higher than a normal ride over the same route. Some wind!
-
This afternoon I catch a bus with my Raven from Aberdeen to Inverness.
No charge for either of us oldies.
£16 bed in hostel then up at 5.30 am for the 114 mile ride home on Monday.
Weather looking good.
Overr the Letch ski centre is always interesting.
Plus Tomintoul, highest village in the Highlands.
I'll report back Tuesday folks.
-
Ah good stuff Matt i was wondering what u were up to.stay safe and enjoy.
anto.
-
The Lecht is on my to-do list. Have a great time Matt - I'll be thinking of you tomorrow!
Edit - I've just seen that there are reports of snow :o . Take care.
-
Back home safe and all went to plan.
It was the third time this year I had done this run - so knew the way and what to expect hill-wise.
Leaving the hostel ( £14 ) at 5.55 am saw me ride off into darkness but a beautiful red dawn soon brighten things up.
A few hills leaving Inverness on the B9002 but nothing compared with what would follow.
First stop at 8.05 am after 28 miles
Second at 9.15 am in Grantown on Spey - 41.7 miles
Third stop for bacon roll and tea at Tomintoul - highest village in the Highlands.
350m/1148 feet
10.50 am - 56.29 miles
Coming from Inverness there is a very steep section before entering the village.
Almost a get off and push section - but I managed it this time by zig zagging across the slope.
Fourth stop at the top of the ski resort - the Letch. 12.30 pm 63 miles
I think its 1450m/4757 feet
Usually have a coffee here - but shop was closed and felt fine - so pushed on down.
3 sharp drops so brakes well covered
Hit my max speed here - 31.7 mph
Alford by 3.15 after 95 miles
Then home by 4.55 pm
Total miles 114.61
Time in saddle 9 hours 32 mins
Average mph 12
Max speed 31.7
Door to door time 5.55 am - 4.55 pm - 11 hours
( have I missed any stats? I don't have an altimeter on my bike computer )
Feeling fine this morning. Last trip I had bad cramp and pains in one leg/ankle
Memories?
The red sun-rise
The smells from the farms
The bird song at dawn
The remoteness of the Cairngorms
The pine forests
The autumn colours of the trees
The sense 'of being out there'
Winter day light hours probably prevent me from doing this trip again until Spring next year.
The memories will see me through the dark nights ahead.
Matt
-
The memories will see me through the dark nights ahead.
You've inspired me, Matt. In a couple of hours, when the rain and the wind abates, my nurse and I will ride a 22km round trip to Kilmacsimon Quay.
Thanks for sharing.
-
great ride matt fair play to you.
up my end of the country is dire rain and more rain so no cycling today :'(..
you put an idea into my head , The dead centre of ireland is a place called Athlone which has a new cycleway all the way to mullingar 40km i think. from there i could head back home should be a good 100 plus miles ;) emm have to sus that out might be a goer.
-
Great ride, Matt, and well told. Today, I'm going to make a quick 4 hrs there-and-back across the river & into the hills. The autumn foliage is pretty threadbare now as you near the summits & lookouts, so the trip will be less spectacular that it was a couple of weeks ago; but, we still have some colour in the city. Tomorrow, though, the tag end of Hurricane Patricia reaches us, high winds and lots of cold rain, so I'll take advantage of today's window.
-
bring a camera. ;)
-
bring a camera. ;)
I took a few nice ones on my phone.
I'll upload when allows.
-
So very well done, Matt!
All the best,
Dan.
-
bring a camera. ;)
I took a few nice ones on my phone.
I'll upload when allows.
your a good man Matt 8)
-
Just a test to see if I can post from my Nexus tablet.
If attachment works it shows the autumn colours of the trees.
More to follow if this succeeds.
And nothing sucks seeds, better than a parrot!
-
It came through beautifully, Matt. We have a "go" for more...! :)
All the best,
Dan.
-
Thanks Dan.
Are you sure they open up ok?
When I try they stay small.
I had thought of saving them in Google+ and then posting from there.
Anyway, a couple of the river Don.
It runs all the way to Aberdeen and the North Sea about 40 miles away.
And me at the top.of the ski resort.
Not open yet and no snow.
Plenty of activity preparing the slopes.
A season ticket is on sale now for the up coming winter.
£240.
Although less than ,2 hours way by car from home its not for us.
Old bones don't bounce, as my granny was wont to say.
-
Looks like u had the place to yourself. ;)
-
Pretty much Jags.
Just me and the guys working on the ski slopes preparing for the snow.
Attachment is of me at another ski resort.
Kyrgyzstan.
Taken in July there sure wasnt any snow about but in the winter it's popular up in the mountains.
And they have a few.........
-
Are you sure they open up ok?
When I try they stay small.
<nods> Yep, they open. They photos are pretty large, so it can take awhile for some browsers to render them, depending on connection speed. Also, uploaded attachments are stored on Thorn's server, which always has some lag for me.
I sure like your photos, Matt. Really clever composition.
Downhill skiing can break a few bones, for sure, but is nordic/cross-country skiing available? Often taking place on level slopes, it is a pretty safe approach to getting out in the snow.
All congratulations on your ride; you did a fine job! I'll bet it will be hard to wait till Spring to go back.
Best,
Dan.
-
cheers matt i'de say that was a crackin mini tour all alone in the wilderness sure what more could a fella ask for.parts of the west of ireland look a bit like scotland ,up my end is very much built up houses everywhere (celtic tiger).
anyway thanks for the photos great stuff.
anto
-
So I managed my four-hour ride across the river & into the trees yesterday afternoon. It was a bright sunny day for most of the ride, with a brisk cool northerly and some high wispy cloud appearing in late afternoon, a sign of the change of weather to come today. (The wet windy stuff is forecast to arrive anytime now, as we near mid-day.)
The colours had faded a bit from their splendour in the early part of the month, because most of the leaves had fallen from the trees, especially near the hilltops. Still, that meant that the woods were open to sunlight for the first time since mid-May, and that change brought some lovely combinations of light and shadow into the woods beside the road. And from Champlain Lookout, at the top of the scarp, the brisk northerly gave us clear air and a bright sky.
The parkways are now closed for the season to motor traffic, so there were no cars on the roads. Instead, there were dozens of cyclists, some hikers, people walking their dogs, inline skater, and inline skiers prepping for the X-country season, everyone meandering along more-or-less on their side of the road, nodding cheerfully to whomever they saw. It was a bit like an impromptu citizens' celebration, welcoming the beginning of a low-carbon age. If only.
I took along the camera and stopped along the way for a few shots. Here's the link to the folder:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6bev8q7kz7ybkr8/AAAmCVhylU4uDiv-LJzWkZHVa?dl=0 (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6bev8q7kz7ybkr8/AAAmCVhylU4uDiv-LJzWkZHVa?dl=0)
(I seem unable to post the photos themselves from my Dropbox file, when following the instructions to paste the link between the <img> tags. I get only a blank space in the message. As I read Dan's post below, I think that the problem may be that I'm not waiting long enough for the photos to load.)
My ride took rather longer than the usual four hours or so for the longer loop, which ascends the ridge to the lookout from the north side, lengthening the overall ride by about 15 kms. And, there were quite a few cyclists at the top, so we took some photos for each other, and chatted about the beautiful day. We do get such days in late October, and even early November, but not many, so we treasure them, and in our Canajan way we talk about the weather. ("Fait beau, eh?" "Best to enjoy it -- might be snow next week." "Not too many more of these coming, eh?" etc.)
Then, unexpectedly, a short but enriching personal encounter and conversation happened: I was just about to leave, following my photos, snack, and small talk about the weather, when a woman cyclist rolled up on a high-end road bike. We nodded, and chatted, remarking what a beautiful day it was. We talked some more about what a jewel we have in the park, with its beauty in all four seasons, and on the rides to be had around the Valley. I mentioned the ride we'd done in August with my friend Trevor, from South Africa, to celebrate his 80th b'day. She knew the route we'd followed, starting on the Ontario side of the Ottawa river, and said how she hoped to be able to do that at 80!
And then she said, and then she said, that she had just turned 50, and was so happy to be back on the bike: she'd just resumed cycling this past June, having been away from it for two years, after being operated on for a brain tumour, and recuperating from that. Then, when she rode back up to the Lookout in June, she cried tears of joy all the way up. We talked some more, and I mentioned riding with Trevor in South Africa. Turns out she knew about SA, because she had been on Canada's national road-racing and mountain-bike teams when she was younger, and had competed in MTB races in SA. (She loved the cycling culture & the countryside, but wasn't so keen on the snakes beside the singletrack...) I mentioned having met a couple of guys at the same spot in previous years, who had just recovered from cancer surgery in one case, and in the other, from years of debilitating effects of blood clots. I'd met both of them after they'd made it up the 15 kms and 300 (net) metres of climb, for the first time in years, taking twice as long as they normally would -- and both of them proud and a bit overcome.
We thanked each other, said "'til next time," and went our separate ways.
The things you learn from "casual" encounters and conversations. When you have such encounters, and hear such stories, you can only feel lucky and privileged to have your own health, rocky bits and all.
-
Lovely photos and story, John; thanks!
As for the photos I just tried posting one of yours with inline html tags and it worked fine.
I just went to Dropbox, opened the individual photo in a window so it displayed at the default resolution, copied the image URL, came back here and pasted it between the IMG brackets and done.
I'm answering here in open Forum 'cos I thought it might help other Dropbox account holders with similar questions.
I'll post the first one here briefly as a test to see if it takes in open Forum, then I'll take it down after a few minutes and edit this post so you can do it if you wish.
All the best,
Dan.
-
Thanks, Dan, that's very helpful as always. I'll try it on my set post-with-pics.
-
Excellent ride report John.
I liked the account of your chat with the lady cyclist.
I have recently noticed how folk my own age respond to a nod or a wave as I cycle past them.
I suspect some of them are envious of me but who knows?
It happened quite a few times on my way home from Inverness.
I had intended to include it in my list of 'likes' so thanks for jogging my ol' memory.
-
Well Im heading out for a night spin later on 8pm or near enough ,i have me bike set up with 2 good lights fully charged 2 tail lights/ highvis top/ ankle bands also high vis.
no point in taking photos it will be pitch black besides no idea how to post them and im not on a thorn bike. :o.
jags.
-
Lovely story and photos, John. This photo
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6bev8q7kz7ybkr8/AAAmCVhylU4uDiv-LJzWkZHVa?dl=0&preview=Hillside%2C+beaver+meadow+%26+lodges%2C+late+October.JPG
looks precisely like you took it across the Bandon River at Kilmacsimon Quay, the turning point to one of my favourite rides:
-
Well Im heading out for a night spin later on 8pm or near enough ,i have me bike set up with 2 good lights fully charged 2 tail lights/ highvis top/ ankle bands also high vis.
no point in taking photos it will be pitch black besides no idea how to post them and im not on a thorn bike.
Anto!
Although it was pitch-black, I took some photos of you as you left on your night ride, and then again as you returned. I've attached them below.
All the best,
Dan. ;)
-
hah very good Dan that looks like me right enough ;D ;D
im only just back from my night ride only 11 miles it started to rain would you believe :o
but still i enjoyed it i was well lit up front and back took photos but didn't come out just pure black ah well not to worry.
anto.
-
looks precisely like you took it across the Bandon River at Kilmacsimon Quay
Thanks, Andre. It's remarkable how such similarities show up across such distances, isn't it? Your photo also reminds me of the Dorset heath -- a bit closer to your neighbourhood, to be sure.
In the same vein of landscape painting and photography, we just saw a magnificent doccie on TVOntario, Painted Land: Rediscovering the Group of Seven. Landscapes to die for. The film has just been released to the public, so I'm not sure if there are any copies widely available. Here's a link to a description with some photos from the film: http://northernhoot.com/group-of-seven-painted-land-documentary-algomas-landscape-past-present-onward/ (http://northernhoot.com/group-of-seven-painted-land-documentary-algomas-landscape-past-present-onward/)
Two of the key people behind & in the film are Gary & Joanie McGuffin, whose names I know from canoeing circles -- they paddle across vast stretches of Canada, and photograph & write about their travels. In this film, with an art historian friend, they go in search of the spots from which members of the Group of Seven painted the landscapes of the Canadian Shield a century ago. Their search takes them into the country north of Sault Ste Marie, particularly the Agawa Canyon, and into the immediate hinterland of the north shore of Superior a couple of hundred kms N of the Soo.
The paintings of the Group of Seven (& their buddy Tom Thomson) are sublime; to see them juxtaposed with today's photos of the same spots, and to see & almost feel the videos of the canoes that took them there -- well, I got hopelessly weepy and sentimental.
You can, if you're resourceful, cycle to to some of those places. The Algoma Central Railway runs a train into the Agawa Canyon, which both the Group of Seven and the modern doccie team used, and there are MTB trails accessible from the line. The Trans-Canada Highway along the north shore of Superior is spoken of as a "signature" drive or ride, and indeed cyclists do make that tour. The route carries a lot of truck traffic, though, and much of the road has inadequate shoulders. So, I won't cycle it until the Gvt of Ontario either gets trucks off the road & onto the old Canadian Pacific railway line which parallels the highway; or adds real shoulders which cyclists can use. I'm not holding my breath for either one. Have to say, too, that I rode this route (W to E, so that I was on the lake side of the road) in the summer of 2103 on Hans, my airhead, and I was disappointed: too many trucks, & not enough pull-offs for the view. I did stop at some quiet coves, such as the one below, but not enough of them to make up for the fact that the road was so overrun with trucks. (I hadn't travelled that road since my first crossing in 1972; in those days, the railway carried a lot of the freight.)
-
Fascinating that they can still find the places where the artists stood. It tells you something about geological time and landscape time and tree time (the treescape is hardly changed!), and how short three score years and ten really is. Thanks for sharing, John.
-
We took a trip down to the Clyde coast today and over to Cumbrae island.
-
love the night time photo 8)
-
Ah ha.
My old stamping ground.
When you say ' down' from whence did you come?
-
Ah ha.
My old stamping ground.
When you say ' down' from whence did you come?
Only from Glasgow area Matt.
-
Bearsden boy myself.
Then Dumfries and Galloway.
Now Aberdeen.
Miss the West coast and islands.
But drier this side of Scotland.
-
I think that curve in the road with the bay behind is stunningly composed; Vincent van Gogh could imagine those colors and nobody else, but then he was touched in the head.
-
(http://www.coolmainpress.com/miscimage/andre_jute_3_helen_over_kilmacsimon_quay_oct_2015_800pxh.jpg)
Over Kilmacsimon Quay, a ride we take often.
-
that curve in the road with the bay behind is stunningly composed
+1, for sure. Wow!
-
Andre is that good looking woman drinking a cup of tea /coffee. :-\.
great photo looks like great cycling country.
anto.
-
good for the inners i drink it meself. ;)
thats what i miss about the sherpa i used to take either a flask of stove on my rides nothing nicer than a cuppa in the middle of nowhere. ;)
-
This rainy weather is cracking me up hasn't stopped since early yesterday morning ,looks like we are in for a very wet winter :'(.......
jags.
-
No sun, only rain till
Wednesday Friday, and then cold. Duh. Winter is not all it is cracked up to be.
-
i feckin hate winter give me sunny weather anyday.
-
Weird 'n wonderful stuff going down here, guys. Last Wed I rode up into the hills for 4 hours -- it was 20 degrees and sunny, if you please. Has cooled off a bit -- today was 10 degrees, fresh & sunny, forecast similar for the next couple of days, so I've put off my Raven's oil change for a few days & will go riding instead :-)
Talking with some friends today who have a cottage on the Quιbec side of the Ottawa River, and counting the weeks on our fingers, we reckoned that their bay will be frozen in about six weeks, solid enough for skating. There were dozens of geese on it today, making a great cackle as they checked their takeoff and landing formations. They'd better get a move on smartly, or they'll be locked in for the winter.
-
still raining :'(
-
40-50mph winds, driving rain, yech.
Perhaps we should consider moving to Canada. Of course, once the snow sets in, it'll be just at as well, sitting around the fire, that John is a first-class raconteur.
-
Don't think i'de hack it Andre ,mind u i always had a dream of living in a van well away from the rat race but yeah to old and set in my ways to even try .
America sure is a beautifull country a fella with an adventurist mind sure would have a great time exploreing it.
-
You're too kind, Andre. There's a strong Celtic heritage here, though, guys -- come visit, you'd feel right at home. The winter can be tough, it's true, but you can count on three months or so for working on winter bike projects. (Less if you live west of the Rockies, where they have daffodils in Feb., as you'll know from the photos posted by Ron & Dave, in Vancouver.) (Mind you, Brazilian friends make a little jeu do mot with that word, calling it "Vanchuver", "chuver" being the Portuguese verb for "to rain".)
What most people don't know, 'cos winter gets all the attention, is that summer in these parts is glorious. There are bugs, of course, and most people feel that the summer is too short, but I usually manage about 9 months of cycling, more in a good year.
Just back from a 3-hour there-and-back across the river & into the hills: sunny, high temp of 11, brisk northerly breeze, but again, no cars on the parkways in the Gatineau, just cyclists, walkers, skiers-in-training. The woods are stark now, no foliage at all, except on the evergreens, so the woods are full of the afternoon sunshine, which reflects off a carpet of leave about 6" deep. This happens every year, of course, but it always seems to come as a surprise, like something we're seeing for the first time. Then, after about 30 minutes, you realize, "Well, duh, yeah, this is how it is."
Have attached some landscapes you might enjoy. These were not, strictly speaking, taken during bicycle rides. They were taken on trips where we talked about cycling, however, and I got there on 2 wheels. The first two are from a trip I made in late September to visit Jim K (and his Nomad) in Kingston-on-Hudson, north of NYC. The first is a photograph taken high above the Hudson, from the old railway bridge across the river, which has been converted into a walkway and cycle path -- fabulous spot. (New York is becoming justly famous for this sort of thing -- have a look at NYC's Highline Park, here: http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/the-high-line (http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/the-high-line) The second is a photo of Jim, at home in his neighbourhood, on Castle Point, the turnaround spot in our hike in the Shawangunks, a range of low mountains connected to the Catskills, which is famous for its rock-climbing faces. The third is a photo taken in late August from Lake-on-the-Mountain park in Prince Edward County, in the NE corner of Lake Ontario. This looks N & E up the Bay of Quinte; the left-side shore is the north shore of Lake Ontario.
-
i'de say that last photo is bigger than ireland. ;D.
stunning country for sure ,roll on the summer.
anto.
-
Nice ride in the Scottish Borders on sunday, lovely bright moonlght for the last few miles.
-
Simply gorgeous, Rual; thanks so much for sharing!
All the best,
Dan.
-
Also first ride with new Carradice Classic saddlebag support rack, seems pretty good.
-
Julk very kindly gave me one of those racks (uplift) works great on the carradice bags,
i havent used it in a while hopefully it will get plenty use next year.
fantastic photos Rual stunning countryside.
anto
-
Yay, Rual, I especially love the last two shots as art; those trees in russet silhouette are the bees' knees.
-
Julk very kindly gave me one of those racks (uplift) works great on the carradice bags...
Julian is a real benefactor. Back when the fitting of a fixed rather than adjustable n'lock stem caused rolling consequential adjustments that disturbed an established, proven, comfortable posture on my bike, he gave me an unobtanium dual-rail-to-micro-adjustable-seatpost adaptor that saved my beloved Brooks B73 from becoming unusable and me from the chore of having to break in another Brooks saddle if I wanted to sit comfortably. It's a piece of nearly featureless carved black plastic (see photo), and a couple of bolts, nothing the uninitiated will get excited about, but it saved hundreds of euro of expense and probably at least a month of frustration.
fantastic photos Rual stunning countryside.
I was just thinking that some of Rual's photos look amazingly like the lanes I ride here in West Cork, though his flora is clearly a bit hardier, as one would expect from the difference in latitudes.
-
Julian is certainly one gentleman for sure ,i have a great carbon seatpose on my dolan he gave me super guy 8) 8).
happy christmas Julian bit early i know i hope santy brings u loads of pressies this year.
anto.
-
Super photos, Rual. Such clear skies and strong colours for late November!
-
Getting to the point here when the studded tires will need to be swapped in! The short days are proving the value of a good lighting system, too!
Got out this afternoon on one of my standard local routes, the five hills: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/374432393
some of the low light:
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r6/kukulaj/Nomad/IMG_2434_zps3vwztu9i.jpg)
-
Last rides of 2015? to my surprise and delight, I've managed two, no less, in the last ten days, and here we are in early December. This does happen occasionally, but maybe only once in a decade or so--I put the bikes away when the snow and ice comes, mostly because of the posturists, not the cold.
We've had a mild autumn so far this year, so a week ago I thought I'd take advantage of a very cloudy but reasonably dry and mild day to take a ride eastwards along the Ottawa River, on the eastern side of town about 20 kms from where I live. There's a hardpack gravel track that runs right along the river's edge. It's not well known, and on a late November day in almost an hour's ride along it, I saw one other cyclist and a couple of runners. This, in a metropolitan area of almost a million people. Mind you, everything was wet under foot, as we'd had a couple of centimetres of wet snow two days before, and the day that started cloudy but dry turned cloudy and drizzly when I reached the other side of town.
The photos attached show what a grey November looks like in these parts:
#1 below shows the rear of the Parliament buildings, from the North bank of the river
#2 is the old railway bridge between Ontario and Quιbec. It now carries cars, but is also a cycling and pedestrian route
#3 The river widens east of town. I stopped for a snack at my turnaround, completely alone.
#4 The beavers have been snacking as well, doing what beavers do.
The Raven was thoroughly spattered with grey mud after my 2-plus hours along the river, so I cleaned it up and put it away in my basement for workshop for what I thought would be at least three months.
But--who'd'a thought it??--yesterday was sunny and mild, 8 degrees with a breeze from the SW, so I too Osi for a canter up into the hills across the river, my usual 3 - 4 hour ride up to Champlain Lookout on the escarpment. This was an altogether more cheerful ride, and dozens of other cyclists thought so too -- I must have seen a hundred, including one unicyclist, who went all the way to the top, and earned my thumbs-up as "Viva!" as I passed him.
A few photos from yesterday's ride follow as attachments to the next post.
-
can't see those photos john. ;)
-
can't see those photos john. ;)
Same here but I'm using a tablet. Does that make a difference?
And I'm in Scotland.
:)
-
i'm on the auld pain killers meself Matt :o :o
oh wait got that wrong again i thought you meant drugs. ;D
-
i'm on the auld pain killers meself Matt :o :o
oh wait got that wrong again i thought you meant drugs. ;D
You should try Scottish tablet one day.
:)
-
Thanks, Anto. I've turned them into attachments to the earlier message, with the others following below. Not sure what's happening -- they're 'heavy' photos, often 7 or 8 MB, so maybe they're just taking a very long time to load & I'm not patient enough.
-
and here are the others:
Sunshine transforms the river, and even though the early-December colours are muted, makes the entire landscape more beckoning:
Just about all the cyclists I saw were wearing goofy grins, as if we could scarcely believe our luck. But who knows?--perhaps weird is the new normal?
-
Worth the wait John stunning country bike looks great .
i'm only winding these boys up on he other thread about rohloff .
here in town i put 3 people onto sjs they all bought raven rohloff bikes and they love them.
stay safe and i hope you get more spins in before the weather brakes.
anto.
-
Sharp teeth, those beavers, judging by those gnawed-off trees.
-
Such a pleasure to see your lovely Osi again, John, and the equally lovely countryside he frequents with you. Beautiful photos.
All the best,
Dan.
-
We took a drive up to Callander today to ride up the old railway line cycle path as it was the first real frosty day this winter and our local minor roads would be a bit icy.
I haven't put the studded tyres on yet so the cycle track surface was a safer bet.
Nice ride but quite chilly, returned the same way but in the dark with the lights on.
-
Fantastic but man i'de say it was bloody cold. :o :o
-
Magnificent, as always, Rual! So pleased to see more of your photos.
All the best,
Dan.
-
Super photos as always, Rual. Looks brisk, though, and I wouldn't much like tumble into the water.
Last week, I rode downtown along the river, and a young couple were taking photos of each other on a disused railway bridge about 15' above the water. Silently, I wished them well, and urged them not to fall in, as I really did not want to have to jump in & try to fish them out. The temps in the Ottawa River are OK for swimming from early June to mid-September; anything outside that period and you face hypothermia very quickly; and that, combined with the currents, mean your survival chances are slim. I grew up near dangerous water, and learned early on that railway bridges are to be avoided.
We're about 10 degrees above longterm averages here--last Friday, for example, we had a record high of 11 for the day. ("Normal" high would be -2; record low was -25, set in 1958.) Wet, but still no snow on the ground. Who knows?--I might yet manage another ride before winter arrives, other than errands around town.
-
John crazy weather Ireland is under water. :o
man i hate winter.
jags
-
John crazy weather Ireland is under water. :o
man i hate winter.
jags
8 days until the days start getting longer, soon be spring!
-
John crazy weather Ireland is under water. :o
man i hate winter.
jags
8 days until the days start getting longer, soon be spring!
Optimism is good too.
-
;D ;D ;D 8 days yeah right even longer days to endure all this feckin rain .
you know i bet there someone out there that actually enjoys this weather :o
-
John crazy weather Ireland is under water. :o
man i hate winter.
jags
8 days until the days start getting longer, soon be spring!
Optimism is good too.
Too true, but I was told a pessimist is an optimist with life experience!
-
John crazy weather Ireland is under water. :o
man i hate winter.
jags
8 days until the days start getting longer, soon be spring!
Optimism is good too.
Too true, but I was told a pessimist is an optimist with life experience!
Heh-heh. Can't sneak anything past you.
-
A few days ago, the calendar said 'twas the solstice, but we had no evidence of the days getting any longer. The weather gods, or whoever controls such matters, gave us three days of FDR (as they say in Atlantic Canada: fog-drizzle-rain) and we settled into a greyscale half-light, altogether gloomy and damp. The--lo!--the morning of Christmas Eve turned sunny and warm, with a fierce southwesterly reaching 70 km/h.
At midday it was 15 degrees, if you can imagine, so I took Osi for a canter along the Quιbec side of the river. The wind had backed off a little bit, but I was on the lee side of the bridge--I reckoned that a gust blowing me towards the railings was better than one pushing me towards the traffic. As it turned out, the wind wasn't bad, but the river, a kilometer wide at this point, was covered with whitecaps, the wind whipping a fine spray off their crests. The river was high as well, perhaps from rain or more likely releases from the reservoirs far upstream.
In the event, I managed a delightful warm two hours along the bikepath through the riverside forest, the trees stark and devoid of foliage. I stopped near some fierce rapids (photo#1 below), thoroughly glad I was on terra firma. A Quιbecoise d'un certain βge stopped, and asked if could please take a photo of her with the river as background, I obliged, and we chatted about the weather, agreeing that it was incroyable, bien sϋr, mais ιgalement un peu bizarre. Indeed, never mind the temps, weird precip and pressure systems, el Niρo is messin' with our heads.
I carried on to the Aylmer Marina, where the river makes a 90-degree bend to the NW, and enters a broad reach, some 30 kms long. There were waves on the lee shore, some of them a meter high, as the wind pushed the water up onto the lee shore (#2 below). There were 3 or 4 wind surfers in wet suits, having a grand time. Better them than me, I thought, and headed back along the path, rolling along in 11th and 12th with the wind at my back.
By the time I reached the bridge, the wind had dropped from near-gale to just a stiff breeze, and a wooden bridge over a wind-flooded but now calm inlet made a peaceful scene on a wonderful-but-wholly-weird Dec 24th afternoon.
Last ride of 2015? I was saying that a month ago...
Happy new year, all, and safe riding.
John
-
Lovely photos and writeup, John. Still struggling with flooding and landslides here, but riding all the same -- reroutes mean destinations are a surprise. Cold this morning at -5C, but thankfully clear.
Hoping you'll have more riding days in the remainder of this year, and many more in the next. Will you be taking your "spare bike" with you Down Under for some riding?
All the best,
Dan.
-
Thanks, Dan, glad you liked my wee tale of such an unlikely afternoon ride. I forgot to add my borrowed-&-adapted comment from the French general watching the charge of the Light Brigade during the extreme unpleasantness in the Crimea a century and a half ago: "C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas l'hiver."
We're seeing a lot of extreme weather in North America--I hope that the flooding in the Western states is not catastrophic, as it can be, and instead helps to replenish your creeks and rivers, and perhaps snowpack when it gets colder.
I won't take the Eclipse to Oz in Feb/March, but perhaps on another trip -- have to negotiate both storage and usage...
Take care in your routefinding amidst the wet, especially if there mudslides too.
John
-
Nasty chop on that river, John. It's heartening to hear you got in a satisfying ride; it makes a meaty read, a good solid fist of observation and reportage, and first-class, fascinating contrasts in your photos.
Here it has been raining, with high winds, for weeks. Most depressing. At least no snow, and not cold either, most days double Celsius digits. I manged to get in one or perhaps two rides in December, just shopping trips to places less than kilometre from home -- and still managed to get the bike wet enough to have to wring the towel out halfway through the bike-drying process. Well, that's the bike's biennial wash. Actually, in consideration of this being the bike's sabbatical year, I wiped the dust off it at the beginning of the year, so that counts as a biannual cleanup... I'll yet win the Daniel Wood Bike Cleanliness Award aka the Toothbrush!
-
Thanks for your kind words, Andre. Look forward to posting in your "Rides of 2016" in maybe 4 months' time.
Lot of rain & flooding in the UK & Ireland, we hear. Stay dry!
-
I wiped the dust off it at the beginning of the year, so that counts as a biannual cleanup... I'll yet win the Daniel Wood Bike Cleanliness Award aka the Toothbrush!
<nods> You may well, Andre! I managed to keep the Nomad pretty clean during my ride in the rain and around the floods, slides, and sinkholes which continue to plague the State of Oregon. It has gone on for some time now -- since October -- and is beginning to grow a bit old. We're finally getting some snow in the mountains which will help next summer...but is a mixed blessing now because it has come so heavily and so quickly, it has broken and felled many trees in my preferred Backcountry playground.
I've attached several photos showing the bike path a block from my home. I don't ride though water that is more than rim deep; it simply is not worth it to risk water entering the frame, SON28 dynohub, or Rohloff, so I've been re-routing instead, making intended 200km rides more than a bit longer. On "real" tours with stream crossings, the bags come off and the bike gets portaged across, then the bags. Tedious, but the process ensures long-lived components and avoids overhauls or failures in the middle of nowhere, to say nothing of avoiding future rust getting a toe-hold in the frame. No tin worms for Danneaux!
I'm okay and so is Eugene-Springfield, but elsewhere, the weather is making bicycle and other travel a real challenge. Right now, I wouldn't camp in the woods on a bet; too much risk of treefall. Interstate-5 (the main north-south freeway connecting Canada to Mexico through the western US was closed at Woodland, WA by a slide, as was US 101 (the main coast highway).
For those who are interested, here's some links to ODOT (Oregon's Department of Transportation) and news video showing the weather challenges of the last several months:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/oregondot/
https://www.youtube.com/user/OregonDOT/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlA7CdhE-c4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbwgtFstvis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYxDx7M1-Ys
http://www.kptv.com/video?clipId=12063282&autostart=true
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VYaMXDQJmA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14RbuAjAQEo
I feel for friends in Manchester, Lancashire, and Yorkshire!
Best,
Dan.
-
Riding that bike path could soon get to be expensive in frames and hubs and other mechanicals, as you say, not to mention many hours of labour.
One of the great things about taking only short rides for exercise, and having spent almost all my life working at home, is that I can wait the rain out on most days, and am accustomed to doing it. So I don't go out in heavy rain unless I become stir crazy in endless rain, weeks and months of it. Thus I'm both a fair weather cyclist and a four seasons cyclist, because generally speaking, the spring and the autumn here start early and run on late, so that the summer may not be fabulous but at least the winter is short; one glorious year we rode till days before Christmas and were on the road again a couple of days into the New Year. (Bring back Global Warming. Please!) Being very fair-skinned, and burning easily, I don't even mind if the sun doesn't shine; my favourite days are overcast and cool enough to permit considerable exertion without my respiration rate rising out of bounds.
But the current deluge and accompanying high winds are beyond ridiculous. I'm starting to have dreams about my treadmill, in which I feature as that hamster Freddie Starr ate.
-
The pictures of the "river" flowing past the Woodrup bike shop in Leeds were amazing. My thoughts go out to the family who run it (and the beautiful bikes that they make !)
:( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
-
At last, a day of sunshine and light winds on sunday, nice ride down in the borders near Hawick.