Rides 2014 -- add yours

[Danneaux]

My, fellows; what overly photos of outstandingly beautiful countryside you've posted. Please keep 'em coming!

Poor comms prevent a more comprehensive reply expect to say I sure liked the photos.

All the best,   

Dan. 

[Andre Jute]

Seem to be making a bit of a Horlics out of this.

'orrible 'orrocks strikes again! Beautiful photos Hootatder. I've taken one of yours and modded it for easier posting, and couldn't resist balancing up the colour too. Here's your original:



Here it is again, this time
--reduced to a screen res of of 72dpi in both directions
--set to 800 pixels long in the longest direct with proportional scaling on
--the standard colour balance of the app clicked (GraphicConverter, highly recommended, very cheap, lot easier than Photoshop for non-professional to work in)
--saved at 90% quality rating (you can't see the difference even if you're an expert) to save some kilobytes.



Two of these per post should give the software no hassle; I've on occasion sent more per post without hassle. It's a little smaller physically but the forum software won't cut it off at the right, or present it at an odd size, and the clarity of the photo is enhanced, and the actual image requires a little less storage, and is rewritten into standard web format with excess code stripped off.

When the software claims it posted a message it rejected that you are posting again, just add XXX at the end and post again.

Jags will fill you in on anything I missed out.

[Andre Jute]

I'd be mindful of charring me tripes and incinerating me chitterlings stopping so close to that beast.

I used to operate Quad ESL63 electrostatic panel speakers without the covers. Of course, I took care not to brush up against a charged 5600V capacitor, which is what those speakers basically are. But my wife's cats... Well, if you aren't a cat-lover, you can find out by getting Two Shorts: High Fidelity & Christmas Oratorio, an advance extract from my memoirs, free of charge in any format from Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=andre+jute or from Apple and all other good vendors (not Amazon!).

with the amount of juice coming from that place ,just point your bike at it and bobs your uncle.

Suck on the ether! If electric bikes really take off, there will be a plug next to each ATM in front of the bank, the new filling stations.

[Hoodatder]

Thanks for the info Andre.

I will post 2 x reduced pics with a little spiel and see if it works.

If it does, I will tell you how I did it.

Ian

The streets in Le Puy are cobbled and very steep. I rode someway up them and common sense prevailed. Being clipped in and cycling up cobbled streets, loaded up and the back wheel skidding is asking for disaster!

The photo of the church on the walnut whip (volcanic plug) is St. Michael d'Aiguilhe. This was taken from a cast iron statue at the top of Le Puy.

The ascent out of Le Puy drains you - it really drains you and leaves you depleted for the rest of the day - especially after the euphoric descent into the Monistrol Valley and the inevitable climb out!

[Hoodatder]

Ah well, that worked. I have Office 2007 and I resized my pics as follows:-

Right click the photo
Select "Open with Microsoft Picture Manager"
Click Auto Correct - (thanks Andre)
Click edit pictures
Click resize
Click redefined width
Scroll down and select "Small 800 x 600"
Click ok
Click on file - top left corner
Click Save as

I was half doing the above but the auto correct and 800 pixel opened the door. Hope this helps others who have difficulty posting pics.

Sauliac is in the Cele Gorge, part of the Lot Valley. For me, this was as interesting as all the ascents + descents + panoramic views.
The river twisted and turned, there were houses chiselled out of the cliff, it was serene with dappled shading. There were idyllic hamlets / villages with bars + boulangeries.

Altogether a pleasing and calming days cycling with the titbit of St Cirq la Popie to rest up.XXX

[Hoodatder]

Not sure if you can zoom in on the church spire.
I don't know if it was built like that or the green oak twisted over time and did it's "thing"

[Hoodatder]

Hi,

I cropped the original photo and then enlarged it, just in case it was impossible for any of you to enlarge - zoom in on it.

That's about it from me. I mainly took videos and my mate took the photos.

I was taking a video whilst cycling on the way into Estaing. I passed a walker from behind and hailed "Bonjour". He nearly jumped out of his skin and you can hear me laughing on the video. The camera is still rolling as I approach Estaing. I slow down and unclip my right foot only - still riding - and start to come to a halt at a very, very low wall on which I can rest my right foot, all the time giving commentary. Just as I touched the wall,  I gauged it wrongly and ended up pushing myself sideways away from the wall with my left foot still clipped in.

Result:- a over t squared with the ignominy of the aforementioned walker coming round the bend and witnessing the whole debacle.

What goes around, comes around or was that walkers prayer's being answered?

[macspud]

Great photos! do you have a link to your videos?

[Andre Jute]

What great countryside (except for the hills), what great photos!

One more tip, Hoot: do the colour balancing (autocorrect) last, just before you save the photo. Among other things it deals with stray unwanted artefacts of the various scaling processes, usually manifested as stray pixels, so professional practice is to leave "balancing up" till last.

[Hoodatder]

Hi,

Unfortunately not. I'm still at the baby steps stage with the Brownie camera.

I will post my companions photos when he has edited and sent them to me - might be a while though. He had a decent camera and a good eye for perspective.

To be truthful, I was a bit blasé about taking the photos, having done the whole route from Valence to Finistere 9 years ago. I have a photographic memory and it is hard to convey to the onlooker the ambience of what one feels in real time.

If you want a flavour of the ascents + descents, go to bikehike.co.uk and plot a route from Valence to St Agreve and the look at the profile - then plot Le Puy en Velay to St Roch - then plot Aumont Aubrac to Estaing, one hell of a downhill ride.

I'll try to dig some more snaps out, but I didn't want to bore you all and dominate the thread for too long.

Here's hoping------

[Hoodatder]

Thanks Maestro,

Will do.

Always grateful for professional and common sense help and anything else that will educate me.

"hoot"

[Hoodatder]

The 1st pic is looking down on to the cathedral but NOT from the top of the statue.

The 2nd pic is on the ascent out of Le Puy looking back at the town.

You can see the statue on the left and it's height above the cathedral. I climbed up inside the statue and there are viewing holes at various places.
On the Notre Dames head is a plastic "goldfish" bowl to get a 360' view, but it was difficult to get a good view. Apparently, the statue was made out of melted down canons after the battle of Sebastopol.

[Hoodatder]

1st pic is looking back on Conques but still not out of the woods. I got as near to the edge as I could / dare and not fully zoomed in so that again, one gets the perspective of the backdrop and a feeling of steep ascent.

The first time I went here. I came in from the NE and this place is just hidden from view, not an inkling that's it's there - and then, out of nowhere, there it is. You can feel the relief of the distant pilgrim seeking refuge when approach from this way. Approaching from the NW, again it is hidden from view, but entry is gained by ascending to it, rather than descending into it.

On leaving Conques, you descend down a steep cobbled and quite dangerous path and over a seemingly fragile medieval bridge. The climb out is shaded but the feeling of looking back and seeing Conques nestled in all that tranquillity is rather humbling, especially after lodging for the night in the abbey.

Rocamador, on the other hand, is a bit like Lourdes - Blackpool with religion!! It might be hewn out of the cliff side and buzzards wheeling 10 a penny above, but the garish and brash atmosphere detracts from what is actually a stunning piece of craftsmanship logistical miracle.

Not many pictures of this. My mate was dehydrated and not up to par, but nothing a few beers couldn't put right!!

[geocycle]

Great to see such fabulous pics of France. Next year's tour might have to pass that way...!

[Hoodatder]

Saw the forecast last Sunday and made a snap decision to cycle to Kielder Water from York. Camped overnight at Darlington and Hexham and hired a cottage for 3 nights. Apart from the 7mph NNW wind on the first day, cycling conditions were perfect and so was the scenery.

In my hasty preparations I overlooked one crucial element. I decided to change saddles and break in a new Spa Nidd saddle. I didn't set it up properly and paid dearly for it 2 days later. In fact, if I had been abroad it would have ruined the holiday!! I have always considered myself able to jump on abike and ride it without any complaints and have always had the stamina to "get there", no matter what. This nonchalance got me into deep crap stranded in the middle of nowhere, but a lesson has been learned - don't abuse your body and take it for granted.
The 1st + 2nd pics are entering Teesdale. Here all the vegetation is green and by the 3rd pic you can see the landscape starting to change to purple.