Spaghetti Legs 

Lots of storms overnight last night didn’t do anything to bleed off the humidity today. With the prospect of wet roads and lots of climbing I took my all rounder Ciöcc for a ride up Afton Mountain and over to Batesville. I was expecting to suffer from heat and humidity today but clouds settled in keeping temps down so ended up adding a few miles by exploring some unknown roads for a total of 28 miles, 2800 feet climbing.



Mountain Rd - Afton, VA

Blue Ridge to the southwest

Good times in the Rockfish Valley

curbtender

Took a group out on the China camp loop from Pt Richmond.


Old shrimp boat.

McNear quarry with Mt Diablo beyond.

northbend 

One of the great things about living where I do, on the western slopes of the Cascade mountains in Washington State is the ability to drive an hour or less over the Eastern side of the mountain range and ride in a much drier climate in Eastern Washington. The mountain range acts as a barrier for the moist weather systems that blow in from the Pacific Ocean. Western Washington is very green and heavily forested, East of the Cascades the climate is semi arid. From the crest of Snoqualmie Pass eastward, trees transition from Douglas Fir, Hemlock and Cedar to Lodgepole Pine then giving way rather suddenly as drop in elevation to grassland near @scozim hometown of Ellensburg. When springtime weather in western Washington is gloomy chances are pretty good you can find warm, dryer conditions to ride here on the East side. After riding all spring close to home due to Covid concerns, I was ready for a change of scenery when restrictions were eased recently allowing for non essential travel and small group gatherings. On Wednesday, I made plans with 2 friends (Bob and Scott) to meet me over in Ellensburg for a mixed surface ride to the town of Selah. On the way out, we’d climb over Umptanum Ridge and drop down the other side to the Wenas Valley. From there we’d ride south east to Selah, have lunch and return to Ellensburg via the Yakima River Canyon.
The route by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

I first contacted Scozim to see if he’d be interested in riding with me but he had to decline, not having a suitable bike available right now. His Cino bike is in storage after his recent move to a new home.

I reached out to some of my local friends and Bob Freeman and Scott Highland quickly replied YES! So the ride was on…We started by heading out of Ellensburg on Umptanum Road, climbing up the ridge south of town.
Heading out of Ellensburg by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Umptanum Road by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

A few miles of climbing on pavement puts us onto the wide Plateau of Umptanum Ridge. The climb eases as the road surface transitions to graded dirt and gravel.
Umptanum Ridge by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Bob Freeman was riding is Davidson Travel Bike
Beautiful ride over Ellensburg Pass by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Scott was riding his new Woodrup 650b Rando Bike
Scott Riding his new Woodrup 650b by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Scott’s bike, built this year by Kevin Sayles at Woodrup, is lined up here with mine so you can see the similarities although they ride differently. Scotts has much lighter steering than mine. Bob had his hand in both of our bikes steering us to Kevin Sayles.

Woodrups 700c (mine) 650b (Scott) by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Nice Day (Bob Freeman Photo) by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

northbend 

We drop down into Wenas Valley

Wenas Valley by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

We regroup when we reach the pavement of the North Wenas Road. Bob takes a picture for reference on future adventures.
Future references for Bob by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

The North Wenas Road is one of those great rural roads. Rolling and slightly downhill with beautiful scenery, there was hardly any traffic so it was easy to take photos on the fly.
Scott by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Bob by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

North Wenas Road by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Tree Arch by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Wenas Valley View by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

northbend 

After eating lunch at a city park in Selah, we ride up the Yakima Canyon
Yakima River Canyon 1 by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Yakima River Canyon 2 by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Yakima River Canyon 3 by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

It is quite normal to battle headwinds in the Canyon but on this day, it was remarkably calm. Smiles all around.
Thats a big rock, Bob by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

The smell of sagebrush and dirt was a welcome change and being able to ride with friends again was good for the soul.
Regroup by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Rosbif

My daily ride to work takes across the river Seine at the Mirabeau Bridge with a nice view of the Eiffel Tower.
Lots more cyclists in Paris at the moment; due to the Covid 19. No one wants to use public transport.
New member so can't post photos yet!

Spaghetti Legs 

Welcome! Definitely post pics when you can! Isn’t Rosbif a term used for a Brit?

scarlson 

Sous le pont Mirabeau coule la Seine
Et nos amours
Faut-il qu'il m'en souvienne
La joie venait toujours après la peine
Vienne la nuit sonne l'heure
Les jours s'en vont je demeure

Do you know the poem by Apollinaire?
I had to memorize it for a university French course and it has stuck with me all these years.

Please post some when you can!

teplickyjan@gma

I love Velické pleso 1666 in Tatra mountains, but in season is the path full with tourists.

zukahn1 

Somewhat nice ride in Thnmpson Forest yesterday on the trails just a lot of illegall Dirt bag Dirt bikers's riding single lane slow speed trails walking or MTB at 20-30 miles an hour making some trails less safe than the street's.

ascherer 

I've really wanted to get on the Old Croton Aqueduct trail and play in the dirt. The full run is too long for me to do there-and-back and I wasn't keen on taking the train back to Manhattan. After a lot of hemming and hawing I decided to head towards the South County Trail which is a parallel route a few miles to the east and paved. Wouldn't you know that I found myself on the Aqueduct trail? Whodathunkit? I ran up as far as Tarrytown, near the Tappan Zee (coughcoughMarioCoumo?) Bridge. There and back was a tad over 43 of which about 30 was dirt, and the most fun I've had riding this year.


Still in the Bronx, the fun begins.


I was so happy to be on the trail.


Welcoming committee in Yonkers. I stopped to chat, she was nonplussed.


Skeletal greenhouse at Lyndhurst


Lyndhurst welcome center


Iced espresso in Dobbs Ferry. Presentation: 10/10. Hudson River in the background.

nlerner

For yesterday's ride, I got to try out a new wool jersey:

Untitled b

avecReynolds531

Reculver Towers in the distance, on the north east Kent coast, U.K. It is said that they are still used for ship navigation.

malcala622

Ride with the family and hauled precious cargo

JacobLee 

Went up and did a couple of loops on Fairmount Blvd in Portland. On the way back I always ride through the high school parking lot. There’s a mulch pile which is always changing shape, but is always some sort of jump, and I always roll over it just for fun. Well, the kids must have too much time on their hands because they dug out the middle of it to make a pit to jump over. I wasn’t ready for a double! I managed to ride through it, but it was very close! I usually reserve that sort of adrenaline for the mountain bike!

abshipp 

Rode the MUP out to a forest preserve on my fixed gear.

northbend 

Rain overnight, cool morning on Sunday, we waited until the afternoon to go for a ride around the upper Snoqualmie Valley. We met over at Bobs house. Rick brought his latest build - a 60’s era Jack Taylor. New bikes of course, attract attention..
Ricks Jack Taylor by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Lynn on her way up the Uplands neighborhood.
Lynn in the Uplands by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

The Uplands is a great warmup.Normally I do it as part of a loop to Rattlesnake Lake but today, Lynn wanted to stay on pavement to avoid getting dirty so when we got to the top of the hill we just turned around and rode back down the same way we climbed up. It is a really safe and fast descent.

I had to laugh at myself as I was descending. I realized that I was enjoying it so much, I started to drool like when you begin to eat a delicious meal. The wind was howling in my ears and drool was streaking across my cheeks from the corners of my mouth :-)

We headed out to the Middle Fork Road. Steve and I getting a bit ahead of the others in the fun sections like on the one way Lake Dorothy Road.
Steve by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

MF3 by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

This was Ricks 1st ride after building up the Jack Taylor. He had a few minor issues and eventually left us a little early on the return leg because of concerns about a loose pedal
Rick by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Along the way, I ran into an old friend, Sean. The last time I had ridden with him was back in September 2018. The day I went down on the backside of Stampede Pass and broke my collarbone. He had helped shepherd me 30 miles back to the car. That was a hard day.
A chance meeting with my friend Sean by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Our turn around spot was the Middle Fork Trail Head. Sean left up there and continued on while we rode back.
Hanging out at our turn around spot by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Bob Steve and Lynn by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Next, we rode out to Ernies Grove.
Bob by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

I realized it was getting late, after 5 and I decided to peel off and ride home so I wouldn’t be late for dinner. Bob, Steve, and Lynn continued on to do the “Tokul Loop”
Ernies Grove by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

Another decent day made even better with friends

non-fixie 

If this is the reward, than I want to do that someday. Thanks for the tip!

non-fixie 

My favorite kind of ride report.

I haven't been able to take a picture like this yet, this season. For obvious reasons, but still.

Spaghetti Legs 

Rode 30 miles today on one of my standard routes southwest of Charlottesville. One might think from my recent pics that we're all a bunch of lushes here in C-ville with images of vineyards, beer, "beer-centric" B+B's. You might be right, so here's a pic outside a distillery. Really nice riding weather today with some clouds and temps around 70. Normally we're settled into the hot humid stuff by now.



Taylor's Gap Road - Albemarle County VA

Drillium Dude 

A few pics from Sunday's ride down to the U District and points southwest:















DD

zukahn1 

Took a ride up to Thompson Forest and road a bit of the Hack trail a bit surprised to see some other MTB riders on this trail.

abshipp 

23 lovely miles. Trying out a different saddle for a while.

Myles Quarter

I cannot post pictures yet, but if anyone lives in the Toronto area check out 16 mile creek for some great trails/jumps.

zukahn1 

Got some nice half clips in the mail so I was able to put some smaller less blocky nice classic pedals on my Ralieigh MT-200 the change actually gives me the half inch more size I needed. Really impressed how nice this bike rides did about 20 miles to and back Alma on the path and came back on the back roads with a bit of round about since one road was closed.