Rides 2015 — add yours

[JimK]

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!

[Andre Jute]

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.

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...

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.

[jags]

class looking route andre im impressed at your speed.
lot going on in the cockpit.


anto

[Andre Jute]

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.

[jags]

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 .

[David Simpson]

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

[Andre Jute]

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

[David Simpson]

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

[Andre Jute]

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.

[jags]

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

i'de say ya man in the jeweler shop loves to see you coming.

[John Saxby]

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, voilà!
 

[jags]

Class photos man that looks great cycling country.
well anto is away to bed im knackered.

night night John boy.


anto.

[Andre Jute]

What a beautiful country you live in, John.

[John Saxby]

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.

[Andre Jute]

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.