crank_addict

Awesome riding day lower east Wisconsin. Upper 70's, light breezes, gorgeous sky. Started late only because of a change of mind. Wifey had the day laid out for errands and shopping with me... ughh. I'm not ready for football Sundays. Took a pass on going to Elkhart Lake WI for the historic races.

I had enough riding during the last six weeks of 40 and 50+ year old bikes so I ditched all and jumped on the early 1980's RRB, clocked in 143 miles. Unplanned but when the bike and body is in sync, forget everything and just go.

This bike is a joy. Well behaved and reliable. A middle grade ride but spirited with super comfort. Rock solid 80's shimano 600, DT shifters, 600 pedals + clips (thnx for those RobbieTunes), awesome comfort RHM saddle (thank you as well Mister Rudi). Ticking the miles in comfort thanks to early Matrix USA rims, boom proof 32 spoke w/ 600 hubs and riding on Tufo CS33 Specials (thank you whoever makes them in the Czech Republic - hammering hard today I smacked a few nasty chuck holes, no bruise, no pinch flat and truely a clincher rim saver!). Stronglight tapered roller bearing headset dialed in is such a treat. The Stronglight crankset is solid as they get but shows the weakness of the frame flex when hammering ascents.

The ride today was fun. To begin with, I took a fave longer scenic route ride and noticed a marker to the Wheeling Wheelman Harmon 100. Had no idea it was today and was only 3 miles away from the start. What the hey, I'm in. Terrific route with some whoop hills. Loved them. Don't need no sticken' bailout chainrings away, just kept it in the big and flattened them roller coasters. I'll admit to being a pirate on this ride, just happened and took only one reload on H2O and ate my own road snack. BTW: I tried to capture a pic in the sunrays, but I carried a riding pal with me! A tiny spider stayed the entire route.... he webbed across the two brake cables in front of me. Unable to capture a decent pic but the web was very fine but amazingly held. LOL

I should have taken a few pics as there was some nice scenery and objects of interest, but I was a bit in a zone. After the century finish, continued on into a town for some tasty ice cream. A late 1940's Packard sedan rolled in. Did some chit-chat with the owner. As he leaves, the car konks in the roadway. Three of us pushed that monster sized black beauty into the ice cream shop lot. No biggie after all, the owner restarted and went on their way. Lovely Summer full moon at a dock topped the day. Lights out....

Sixty Fiver

124km on the '66 Moulten... this was the 8th annual Tour de Perogy which coincides with our Ukrainian Heritage Village's Harvest Festival and besides copious amounts of the food the site is a living / working museum that venerates those immigrants who have had such an impact on our culture.

The site covers the early 1900's until the late 1930's... the restoration of local buildings and recreation of early buildings is nothing short of amazing.

We had about 5 hours of sunshine for the whole day... the return was all rain.

thinktubes 

Did the Harmon 100 as well. utterly perfect day and the route is a ton of fun.

Wildwood 

Eddy helped get me to a special beach.
I didn't take the 200km distance from Port Angeles, but that wasn't Eddy's fault.



The Extraordinary Shi Shi Beach | Olympic Peninsula

For those who don't like to click - Shi Shi Beach is just about as far north and west as you can go in these contiguous lower 48.

cooperryder

This past Saturday I had a nice longish ride exploring various areas of Dallas on my Univega MTB which I converted to drop bars and added some nice smooth tread fat 2.3 x 26" Michelin tires.
It's a bit on the heavy side but those tires absorb the bumps very very well.

jimmuller 

My sweetie and I did two loops around Acadia Natl Park's Park Loop Road on the tandem. 38 miles, somewhere around 2400 ft of climbing, and more than a few grades of 15-20%. Maybe more pics tomorrows.

Chrome Molly

13 miles on the drop bar Croll today. Left the house not feeling like riding, but once on the MTB trails with some other riders it was all good.

Wildwood 

Here's a couple of more from the northwest tip of the Olympic peninsula from this w/e past.

Changing Patterns


Cape Alava Trail & Sand Point Trail


The sky isn't always up. -- The sky isn't always


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Port Angeles, a town of murals

WNG

Yesterday, I took on and conquered Hurricane Ridge, at Olympia National Park in Port Angeles, WA.

19 miles of never-ending climbing, with 12% grades at times. Toughest thing I experienced. Took Lascauxcaveman's advice to bring as much food as possible. Ate it all to get me to the top. The descent was worth the pain.

Will have more about it and pics in my Pacific Coast bike tour thread, once I get it updated.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wng555...7658174218849/

HURRICANE RIDGE -145 by WNG555, on Flickr

HURRICANE RIDGE -178 by WNG555, on Flickr

HURRICANE RIDGE -185 by WNG555, on Flickr

HURRICANE RIDGE -196 by WNG555, on Flickr

HURRICANE RIDGE -117 by WNG555, on Flickr

northbend 

Nice job WNG! wow, looks you were up there late in the day. Great light for photos

Sir_Name 

Great, WNG. Looks like you're having a fantastic journey. Enjoy.

jimmuller 

WNG, spectacular pics, spectacular ride! You wanted adventure, you got it!

After that I hesitate to post my own minor accomplishment today, a climb up Cadillac Mountain and a circuit of the PLR. Not quite Hurricane Ridge but the PLR has a number of climbs that peak out over 15%, and one that hits 22% for a brief section. There is a section of 25% too but since the PLR is one-way and that slope is the opposite direction no one goes up it. The run down is nice though!

The Motobecane overlooking Bar Harbor, ME, partway up Cadillac.


Blue Hill Overlook, looking west.


Where I came from, down there someplace.


At the summit, looking northeast.


My sweetie walked up and met me, snapped this pic over lunch. It was socked in at the top by the time we finished lunch.

Lascauxcaveman 

Nice eye, Wildwood. You make me want to travel out that way again. It's been about ten years since I've been. I'm overdue, I think. (well, except the mural shot; that's right across the street from me )

Will certainly managed to photograph that ride in a way I've not seen before, and I've been up there enough!

I finally got an afternoon off and managed to do a little tour-guide detail for our visiting touring cyclist friend. We headed out west of Port Angeles to a see a few points of interest on the Elwha River, where the largest dam-removal project ever has freed up a major salmon spawning run.

Starting at the hotel where I work:


We headed through the western neighborhoods of Port Angeles until we hit the rails-to-trails bike path beginning at the termination of Milwaukee Drive:


Just off Hwy 112, there's a road that takes you down to the site of the Elwha Dam, one of two removed from the river:


Gravel grinding? Yessir! Those Cino Heros got nothin' on us, I'd say!


Here's the slot where the dam used to be:


And viewed from the other side, here's what the dam looked like 18 months ago:


We ended up crossing the Elwha Rive twice, once on the highway, then again on Elwha Rive Road, where the bridge has a bike & pedestrian deck below the main road level:

Lascauxcaveman 

Heading down the side road to the Lower Elwha Reservation, we grinded us some more gravel, along the Elwha dike road:


Which takes you past some nice blackberry vines (the absolutely last ones of the season, but still fruiting):


And then out to the mouth of the Elwha River, where 100 years of dammed-up river sediment flushing out of the rushing river is building up a whole new complex estuary and beach. It's pretty remarkable for us natives, seeing significant geologic changes happenign right before our eyes. This whole area was a barren stony beachhead two years ago:


Here's Will shooting some pics on the beach:


It being too nice of night to just head home, on the way back downtown we rode out to Ediz Hook, which forms Port Angeles harbor; originally built up over the last 100,000 years or so by the sediment effluent of the Elwha River a few miles west. Over the last hundred years, the Hook has been held together by millions of cubic feet of rip-rap boulders dropped into place to keep the sea back (Thanks, Army Corps of Engineers!). Not too long from now, the sediments of the Elwha should be building this sand spit back up again with a natural sandy beach, no less. Here's Will on the Hook looking back towards Port Angeles:


And some ladies of the local rowing club rinsing down an 8-man (8-woman?) shell after hauling it out from an afternoon's rowing. (Check out the legs on that dame, she could probably kick ALL our asses on the way up to Hurricane Ridge):


Here's me, goofing around at the end of the Hook, proving I can simultaneously pat my head, rub my tummy, chew tobacco, play harmonica, shoot photos and ride a bike. (Except for the harmonica and tummy part. And the tobacco part, that would be gross.)

WNG

@northbend Yes, a late start in the afternoon. Thinking I could make it up there in the estimated 4 hrs....I took 5! :-P The last 2 were tough. By the time I descended, it was dusk. And the last 3 miles was in the dark. I left my headlight at Tim's hotel! Duh!
@jimmuller Nice accomplishment none the less. Moto has no granny ring like my ride. :-)
And great views from the top of Maine.

Tim, you took some great pics of the afternoon ride. Thanks for a great time. As adventurous as Hurricane Ridge. The 29 miles had so much varied terrain and views! And under warm sunny blue skies. Funny, when I saw the lady's legs at the boat launch, I thought the same thing. Damn look at those muscles! ;-)

Rocket-Sauce 

North Andover, MA
Wasn't there a thread discussing lawnmower / bike shops?

I didn't see any bikes...

Wildwood 

For any cyclist visiting Port Angeles area, Tim has just the ride for you. Be it all road, gravel, dirt, mixed - you name it. And if he has time, he'll probably LEAD you on that ride. Maybe he used to be on a rowing team.

Elwha & the Hook were my Sunday.
Here's another angle of where the dam was. Matches your pic, from 18 mo ago.


Sorry to miss WNG by a day.
Head south young man.
San Diego is many hills and a long way.

mountaindave 

I'll take the Hurricane ridge challenge! My wife and I have always wanted to visit the Olympic peninsula. That sounds like an awesome ride! When I do it, I'll let you know how it stacks up against the Cino What's @northbend's take on two?

Fantastic photos @WNG and @Lascauxcaveman

northbend 

@mountaindave Hurricane is more like Logan pass. Long grind, a bit steeper, not much to look at till you get to the top though. Great climb and a safe speedy descent. For me, I'd choose an epic day riding sunrise, cayuse, stevens canyon over to paradise and back all within Mt. Rainier Nat. Park. About 120 mile and 11000 ft of climbing all of which is very scenic...

Hurricane is great though..used it for training a few years ago for a ride in colorado with my son.. did 2x hill repeats

mountaindave 

Mmmm... so many mountains to climb... so little time... Thanks for the suggestion!

YouthxCrew

There's a cemetery a few blocks form my house that my friends have told me to try, since although it's used as a jogging/riding spot by many, it's deserted compared to any of the MUPs around here:






Nice good mix of flats and hills, though I'm glad I have a frame stable enough to absorb most of the shocks from the cracks and holes in the roads/paths.

Vonruden

Hit the trails in the Pine Barrens of NJ on the SS Lynskey Pro 29er







Knee versus Tree...tree wins

Lascauxcaveman 

^DUDE, you treed it!

(Hope the Lynskey came out OK )



Here's a couple shots of where WNG and I went riding, also MTB, on Thursday, the only day I had off this week. National Forest trail up to the top of Mt. Muller, a 3700 ft peak just west of Lake Crescent. A nice strenuous hike that somehow I never knew about until last year. Anyway, the first three miles is mostly just pushing your 30-lb MTBs up to the ridgeline, just a little too steep to get going in the saddle. Then you get a couple miles of ridge-running, lots of ups and downs, but with a whole lot more saddle time than the first three miles. I was on my Shogun drop-bar conversion and Will borrowed my Kona Lava Dome.



Will shot zillions of pix, which you'll all see in a couple weeks when he finally catches up on his uploads


Lots of great breakout views of the Sol Duc Valley along the ridge. here's a lovely view of Lake Crescent from new-to-me vantage point:


Pretty grueling ride the whole way, so we used the plentiful huckleberry bushes as a regular distraction to stop often and catch our breath. Tasty, tart stuff.

Wildwood 

He said he 'hit the trails in the Pine Barrens' - literally.

Vonruden

not a scratch.

I was going downhill on some switchbacks, cornering a little too tight and clipped my knee on the tree, luckily the Lynskey avoided the same fate.

Close up (i think there is some tree bark in there)