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RIDES 2018 — add yours here
Andre Jute:
Summer will come again. It will! It will!
If you take a ride, report it here. Photographs most welcome. What may be pretty commonplace to you -- like my green scenery that I just cannot escape -- to members of the forum from elsewhere may be rare and wonderful, so don't ever think you're boring us.
Andre Jute is a novelist and painter — and a cyclist — who lives in West Cork.
Photos by my pedalpal Helen Lane.
John Saxby:
Great photos of & from The Holy Ground, Andre!
My photo (i) has no green :( and (ii) WRT cycling, shows why there isn't much right now.
As compensation, you'll see why the house across the street has won the NASOTTT medal this year: the Neighbourhood Award for Seasonal Over-The-Top Tackiness.
Cheers, eh.
John
Andre Jute:
Ugh! And that's not for the neighbor's seasonal decorations but for the ice clinging to the leaves and the ground. I can understand why you don't cycle with ice underfoot: it's treacherous stuff even with four spiked wheels under you, never mind on a bicycle, a broken hip waiting to happen.
Danneaux:
I got out for a quick -- real quick! -- 100km ride today here. Nothing exotic, just a leg-stretcher. Here in Oregon, we had freezing fog that settled as frost and black ice. As if that weren't slick enough, the moss has sprouted on the pavement (photo below) and it is really slippery. The Nomad and I picked our way along carefully, but any slight grade resulted in rear wheel spin, making me feel temporarily powerful as I entered the New Year. ;)
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After my return, I took an 8km walk to try out the $19 duck-down jacket I got from a seller in China. Success! Worn only over a long-sleeve t-shirt, I wasn't cold even standing in freezing weather and the hood made a real difference on my bald noggin. It packs into a tiny 8.9cm x 15.2cm/3.5in x 6in stuff sack and weighs only 310g/10.8oz, so the cost/warmth/weight ratio is favorable and it will be going with me on future tours for 'round camp use. It should feel good to wear when packing up at 5am and can be stowed in a rear jersey pocket.
These temperatures have been unusually warm for winter here and we're way down on snow; unless Something changes, we're in fro drought this spring and summer will likely see more forest fires. I wish we could get nighttime temps around -5.5°C/22°F so I could definitively find the practical "lower comfort" rating for my new "all-'rounder" sleeping bag. This is a custom model with overfill so it is supposed to be warmer at a colder temperatures than a standard model, but by how much? I really need to know before putting it to the test in remote places. The hood snorkles down nicely and it was so warm it nearly drove me out at 0°C on the back patio, so I'm encouraged.
Happy riding in the New Year, everyone!
Best,
Dan.
JimK:
I tried out a new route today: https://www.strava.com/activities/1336696612 ... the challenge is that to go north there are very few options. One is pretty much stuck on US-89 which is a high speed road that in places has no paved shoulder. Some drivers are polite but not all drivers. So I keep looking for options.
Today I tried the canal road. Had to ride by a No Trespassing sign but at least the gate through the fence was open. There were a couple locked gates along the road but easy enough to get around. Still, the road is plenty soft dirt in plenty of places and lots of short sharp ups and downs. I'm glad I checked it out but I think I will pass on using it. There's a better gravel road over along the Willard Reservoir. That has rough gravel so it is somewhat slow going but it's better than the canal road!
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