greg3rd48 

I just took a 25 mile morning ride in the Bronx through the fog with a turnaround point of Maritime College on the Long Island Sound.

Untitled by irishbx4th, on Flickr

Untitled by irishbx4th, on Flickr

Untitled by irishbx4th, on Flickr

Untitled by irishbx4th, on Flickr

Chrome Molly

Beautiful high country scenery. I really like the third picture. Hope you get a few more rides in this season.

scozim 

After two weeks of smokey air that limited my riding to the indoor trainer I finally ventured out. The air was still marginal but I couldn't stand it anymore.

The Trek 950 seems to be the go to bike for the lunch time rides these days. Forgot about archery season for elk until I came up on a hunter decked out in camo.

nlerner

I rode the 13th annual Boston's Hub on Wheels ride this morning along with thousands of others. I've done this ride every year except one, when I broke my hand the week before, and it's a fun romp through various Boston neighborhoods. I got there early enough this year to be near the front of the pack, and that made for a fast 40 miler. It was a cool, foggy morning, too, which was excellent for riding. I was on my '97 Lemond Buenos Aires, and vintage steel was hard to spot among the crowd, which is usually the case.

At the starting line. That crowd behind me would eventually reach the end of and wrap around that big building on the right (Govt Center).

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scratchpaddy

That reminds me of my time growing up in Georgia. I liked to run over any sticks in the path to hear them crunch, until one day one of those "sticks" reared back and showed me its white fangs. It was a cottonmouth. I managed to swerve around it and thankfully, it didn't strike. I'm pretty sure there are way more snakes in the southeast than here in Arizona. I've only ever seen a rattlesnake once.

I starting doing a new route about a month ago, north to ASU, west along the Salt River, and then looping down south on the Consolidated Canal path. The section along the Salt River is really nice.



I took my old route today west along the Powerline trail through Gilbert and Mesa. Some days, I get little electric shocks when I touch the frame of my bike. Steel is real... conductive. At least it's not aluminum.



I really like it out on the far end of that ride. Everything's wide open and empty, no sounds except cows in the nearby dairy. The stink is eye-watering when the wind's blowing from that direction.



I can't wait for fall to start. The mornings are finally starting to get nice, dropping into the high 70's now. Pretty soon, I won't have to set out before dawn to avoid heatstroke. It's only supposed to get up to 98° today.

Sir_Name 

Yesterday a friend and I rode the Ashford Metric Century Gravel Grinder in the North-East hills of CT.





The tally for the day was 63.8 miles with 4,595 feet of climbing along challenging roads through beautiful New England scenery. The high for the day was around 80 °F, but thankfully we never really felt that as much of the course passed through wooded forest and service roads. It was shaded with muted temperatures underneath the tree cover, but the humidity was brutal. I was swimming from start to finish, button-down shirt flapping in the wind. In the woods it was impossible to miss the first signs of autumn, but the vestiges of summer were right there with them.

The humidity (and my reaction to it) was a challenge. Plenty of water w/ Gatorade powder. Two bananas along with the other snacks during rest stops was not enough to stave off cramping entirely. At one point on a paved climb toward the end of the ride I stood on the pedals to stretch and mix things up a little…..or at least I tried to. As soon as I was out of the saddle with some weight on the pedals my legs threatened to lock up and send me tumbling to the side. Reflexes took over and I was back in the saddle maintaining momentum with screaming legs.

The course was a blast and included a range of gravel from well packed white dirt to fist sized+ rocks with patches of loose deep sand and slick packed mud. The roughest sections were as good as a steep dried creek bed through a forest. Some of the sketchier off-road descents felt like a game of plinko where the only prize was staying upright with good momentum. The type of off-road descent that has your arms buzzing. Fun stuff.

Passing over spots of packed mud and loose sand between a jack-hammering from the rocks, floating on the bike to stay upright and moving ahead at speed. Both ends of the bike getting loose at times, fun catching an unplanned fishtail. In a few sections the best line was on the razor edge between forest and “road.” Long sections of pavement connected the gravel segments, much of which thankfully was on secondary roads with little traffic. A few smooth paved descents saw a max speed of 39.8 mph for the day.

Ready at the start, just after 8 am.



The day started in a Stephen King layer of fog.



One of the smooth sections of packed white dirt.



Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the rougher, more entertaining sections of the ride. I couldn't take a pic from the saddle and didn't want to stop. Plus I was having fun.

At the first rest stop my friend and I connected with a rider who drove down from Maine for this - he rode with us to the finish and was great company to boot. He was on a VO Campeur built as a touring and light camping rig - a beautiful build. Low combo of 24f x 34r…cool. It did come in handy on one or two sections according to him. In chatting with him along the ride it came about that his goal for this summer was to finish a gravel ride in every state in New England…sound great! This was his first ride in CT and his next ride in his home state would complete the summer goal. Cool dude.

The bike at the finish.



The light white dirt sections kicked up a fine dust similar to silt. It collected on everything. I had a pretty impressive dirt tan by the end of the ride.

A shower beer, a good stretch, and a healthy serving of pallea along with a couple episodes of Game of Thrones with Ms_Name rounded out a great day. 😊

Today I got out for a short, mostly leisurely stretch.







A perfect weekend.

malcala622

Went on a 12 mile ride with the wife along the river today.

thinktubes 

Nail polish matches the jersey - bonus!

gaucho777 

I went out for about 40 miles with a small group of local Berkeley riders. We went up and down some hills, through some redwood trees into Moraga, stopped in Orinda for coffee, and up and over another hill back into Berkeley. At 44, I was easily the youngest rider, but also the only one on a vintage bike, and the only one without electronic shifting.

Here's one of my neighbor's Eisentauts:





First stop of the day at the top of the first climb:



Coming down Redwood Rd. and then Pinehurst Rd.:




A short detour along a walking path to circumvent a bridge that is still closed from storms earlier this year.

greg3rd48 

After work I went on a 31 mile ride on my U08 with heavily laden panniers filled with odds and ends that I needed to bring home. The weather was just too nice for me to go straight home especially when there was an empty house for a couple more hours. I only took one photo of this fellas fishing off of Pelham Bay Park. They must have walked out during low tide and waited for it to return to have their chosen fishing spot. Another cyclist stopped an chatted for a minute about steel bikes. He was decked out in a Puerto Rican cycling jersey and cap and rode a beautiful yellow and purple Serrotta. Nice day!

Untitled by irishbx4th, on Flickr

noglider 

I've been preparing for Hillier Than Thou in New Jersey which will be on Sept 24. On Saturday (Sept 16), I did my own proving ride. 104 miles and 5,800 vertical feet of climbing. My ride was through rural and wooded areas. Because I sought out tall hills, the sound of rushing water was even more common than the sound of cicadas which pervades the area. In the Catskill state park, population is sparse, and living appears to be simple.

I had the roads almost to myself, hardly seeing anyone in cars, on bikes, or on motorcycles.

My bike at the start of the ride.



A typical tree-covered road.



Suddenly the sky opens up.



I better not turn down Harm's Way.



The local prison.



Decker's Crossing.



One of many brooks I rode alongside.



Some of these small waterfalls are loud!



My bike, mid-ride.



Time for lunch and a selfie.

noglider 

And a bikie?



The little hamlet of Phoenicia.



A brook with a view.



The blue line is the route I planned, but it included a private, impassable trail, so I stayed on the road (the red line). I was out of cell coverage at the time, so I navigated with my nose.



Turtle crossing? I also passed a chicken crossing.



The Ashokan Reservoir, which supplies New York City, a hundred miles away.



The reservoir is vast!

malcala622

^why the long face?

zukahn1 

Road from home Fairplay to Alma CO on the bike trail then took the back toad route home over a couple of 11,000 hills county road 10 and Kootchie Koochie RD. and County road 1 before they start getting first snow in the nest couple of weeks.

thinktubes 

Great pics you guys!

obrentharris 

Looks like a really great ride Tom!
I'm glad you stayed out of Harms Way.
Brent

greg3rd48 

My workday started late this morning so I decided to take a nice four Borough ride beforehand. I looped around Manhattan heading south on the Hudson Greenway to the Battery where I took a couple of photos of Lady Liberty and Ellis Island in the backgroung. The tailwind was great and refreshing and the water was choppy. I then headed N/B and over the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn then north along the waterfront through Queens. The RFK Bridge was the next to be traversed then I headed north through the Bronx and on to work north of the City. The S/B headwind as I rode north was pretty taxing. 50 miles and lots of traffic dodging which keeps one alert. The weather was and is absolutely splendid.

Untitled by irishbx4th, on Flickr

Untitled by irishbx4th, on Flickr

Untitled by irishbx4th, on Flickr

scratchpaddy

I'm really enjoying everyone's pictures and stories.

@zukahn1 , your pictures make me want to move to Colorado. But, snow in a few weeks?? Maybe I'll stay here. I've been here long enough to loose all tolerance for cold. And hills.

@greg3rd48 , what a beautiful bike! I love the urban scenery, too. I ride to work each day, but it's a very short ride. I can't imagine riding 50 miles, and then going into work.

DQRider 

Some images from last Sunday morning, when I rode with Mikey again. This time it was along the waterfront in Saint Paul.

First shot is my old Raleigh roadster down by the water's edge:


Mikey stayed up at the top of the ramp - he really is learning to ride a bike all over again.

They have really spruced up the waterfront downtown:


For some odd reason this image evokes Berlin in my mind...

The sun was hiding behind clouds most of the time. Still, that makes for dramatic images from the right angles:


No shadow for Mikey to race today...

You had to be quick to catch the light when it did appear. This shot would be ho-hum without all the shadow play:



After about eight miles with a couple small climbs, we decided to head back to the barn. Finally the clouds parted as we rode back into town:


A "selfie", of sorts...

gaucho777 

I was able to get out for two rides today. First, in the morning I headed out into the East Bay hills for one of my regular loops and some views of the SF Bay on my Look:







Then later in the day I went out for a short test ride on my '73 Speedwell after making several changes. I built a new wheelset for this bike using Hi-E hubs, Super Champion rims, and Robergel Trois Etoiles spokes. Then I added a generous 30t Regina freewheel thanks to @obrentharris, and swapped a long cage onto my Suntour Cyclone RD from a GT unit. Lastly, I installed an OMAS titanium bottom bracket. I dropped some weight and made it fit for some climbing. The only negative is that the Hi-E skewers are going to have to be for show only. The rear skewer in particular can't get enough pressure to hold the wheel in place during acceleration. The alloy skewers don't play well with the Ti dropouts, even though the dropouts have been notched to prevent slippage. Now that it's adequately geared for the local environment, I hope to get some more use out of this bike which has been something of a garage queen.

obrentharris 

[QUOTE=gaucho777;19874103]

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Beautiful bike! The Suntour derailleurs and pedals look perfect with the Dura Ace crankset. The hi-lo Hi-E hub is the cat's meow.
Brent

gaucho777 

Thanks, Brent! I love that freewheel you sent me. (By the way, I don't think you were implying the pedals are Suntour, but fwiw the pedals are early Weyless.)

gaucho777 

I'm trying to make the most of my school break before Fall classes start tomorrow, so I got out for a nice, hilly ~45 miles in the east bay area (Berkeley-Orinda-Moraga-Oakland). Mostly cloudy with temperatures around 70 degrees, which made for some nice, not-too-hot riding.

Heading over the east bay hills leaving Berkeley on Wildcat Canyon over looking some reservoirs.



I explored some new-to-me areas around Moraga. I usually avoid MUPs, but this was was too pretty to pass up and didn't have much foot traffic.



A brief photo op stop at St. Mary's College.



Then I took a slight excursion up Bollinger Canyon. It's a short little canyon that dead ends into a private road, but that also means hardly any car traffic. I also came across this cool old wagon.





Then I headed toward Pinehurst Rd., a route popular with local cyclist for its redwood trees, idyllic scenery, and climb back toward Oakland/Berkeley. But first, I had to do a little cyclocross since the bridge leading to Pinehurst Rd is out of commission and this dirt trail bypasses the bridge.



Pinehurst Rd.

curbtender

Hey Gaucho, is that dirt trail bypass well marked?

gaucho777 

From Moraga Way, take St. Andrews Dr. by the golf course to Augusta Drive and turn left. Then follow Augusta until it ends and you'll see the dirt path. It's only a few hundred meters of dirt before it connects to the paved foot path.

Coming the other direction from Canyon Rd. the entry to the foot path is right where the Road Closed signs are located. Can't miss it. Then follow the foot path about 1/4 mile. Just before it ends there are two connectors to the dirt path on the left. Not marked but easy to find.