jamesdak 

One more weekend day, one more lazy ride taking pictures. This time on the other end of the valley where it was only in the 50's and quite windy.


Don't tell my Opus III but I now consider this the most beautiful classic bike I have. Shhhh, our secret.

Not much into the selfie thing but wanted to post a pic of the custom jersey David at Soigneur made me.

The valley floor is beginning to green up.

East facing mountains still have a lot of snow

If the greedy developers and our unethical local politicians have their way that whole area by that ski resort will be turned into a city. There's a big local push to incorporate to take control away from our county politicians who are clearly in bed with the developers. Utah does not have a real ethics code for politicians so they don't have to disclose conflict of interest, like owning part of the business pushing for this.

Barn in Liberty

Less snow on the west facing mountains.

Yep, will be a lush green shortly

Where I tuned around today. You can't tell from this picture but that road get's pretty steep for about a mile and a half. Wasn't ready to test the knees on that with only a 42T small chainring.

More snowmelt

Spaghetti Legs 

Even warmer today and the wind eased a little but still pretty gusty. I went up to Skyline and got 30 in. Today’s pic from the Cima Coppi for the ride at 3000 ft, this is the Crimora Overlook.


For a few years these overlooks had been less than glorious but saw a sign today that a non-profit in Augusta County had taken over the regular brush clearance so we have a wonderful Shenandoah Valley vistas back.

zukahn1 

Very nice weather yesterday so I got actually wash bike outside for the first time in several months choose to was the Marin MTB and took it on short Sunday ride to the Fairplay Cemetery which has some of the best views of the mountains. My humble pics just don't really capture how great the views are.

nlerner

It’s been a tradition for quite a while now for me to do a birthday ride: mileage = or > my age. I try to do that on my actual birthday, but the calendar doesn’t always cooperate: this year my birthday is on Wednesday this week, but I have to work on Wednesday, so today was the day I had time to ride (it’s actually a holiday in Massachusetts—Patriots Day/Marathon Monday). Even more enticing is that the weather fully cooperated with one of the nicest days we’ve had since last fall: mostly sunny, high of 70F, light headwind in the morning with a welcome tailwind for a good 20 miles or so on my way back.

I was on the Fitz all rounder (the roads were quite wet this morning from last night’s rain, so fenders were welcome):


I had to stop and take the money shot when I reached my target (though I had another six miles to go):

cooperryder

A friend has been wanting to do a 'ride your age '
ride. We planned it a couple months back and yesterday was the day.

Overall the weather was good with some extra effort needed when headed into a south 10 to 15 mph wind but then it was a tailwind when we turned around.

It was a long day in the saddle as we are older and slow but we celebrated his 75th by finishing 75 miles.

Happy belated birthday Jim!
You did good!

I don't know what percentage of 75 YO folks can ride 75 miles but I would not think it's a high percentage.





Texas bluebonnets.

RCMoeur 

A belated report on Saturday's ride.

Although my schedule and life (plus Covid) conspired to prevent me from getting many training miles in this beautiful winter and spring, I had still signed up to provide Bike Patrol for the Tour de Scottsdale, so I showed up anyway to ride with nearly 3,000 of my closest friends.

A few famous folks at the start line

Bike Patrol riders are expected to assist with flat tires, mechanical problems, first aid, moral support, clearing debris, and "other tasks as directed." It's fun and worthwhile. Here is my aluminum Nashbar cruiser in its "ride support" configuration. The Ridekick trailer helps me keep up with the fast pace and has a range more than ample for the entire event.

How much does it weigh? Don't ask.

The Jandd rear bags have med supplies, tools, spare tubes and a spare tire, oodles of snacks to share, and the front baskets are useful for toting dropped items like discarded bottles and stuff. Although PBAA events are well-known for their well-stocked aid stations / rest stops, I've encountered hangry riders in between needing sustenance, plus I carry items the aid stations don't have, such as highly addictive toffee Oreo cookies. The BikeTunes amplified speaker atop the rear rack blasts out a playlist of upbeat tunes along the route, amusing and encouraging the pedaling throngs, with an all-day rechargeable battery in one of the bags.

This is a timed event in the northeast region of the metropolitan Phoenix area, traversing suburban and desert areas. There were 62 mile (metric century) and 35 mile (half metric plus) options, and I rolled out with the elite riders at 7:00 am sharp to ply my services.

I made it a whopping 0.1 miles before stopping for my first customer - a rider who had dropped his chain on the outside of the crank. Fixed and off we go again.

The initial miles were a near-loop on a rolling uphill. The riders set a fast pace, as I mashed the Ridekick throttle to keep up. Unfortunately, I witnessed a few near-crashes by swerving and passing riders. Fortunately, no actual crashes. One woman swerved and started to go down as I started to yell "RIDER DO..", but amazingly she unclipped a foot and was able to stabilize herself without crashing or stopping. I thanked her profusely for her skill (or luck) and for saving me a lot of paperwork.

My old 35+ year old pickup truck can carry 8 or more bikes and a bunch of bodies, so my Rusty Spoke colleague Eli volunteered to drive it for the event. He stayed busy all day picking up bedraggled or hurt riders and delivering them to aid stations or the finish line. And he saved a few riders from a trip in the truck by repairing their bikes so they could keep going.


Onward we rolled as I fixed flat tires, balky shifters, and tilting saddles. I also picked up a few discarded water bottles (ooh, an insulated Camelbak!) and uprighted many traffic cones that had been hit or blown over.

A point that no one wants to make

Although I was averaging a brisk pace, by the time I got to the 62/35 route split I was well behind the 62 pack due to my duties, but was near the front of the 35 milers. So plans were changed.

There was a 10-15 mph wind from the south most of the day, which helped uphill riders think they were in really good shape. However, when we all turned back south, the gusts were a mild annoyance, compensated for by the downhill route. For a while southbound I had a long pace line following me as we battled the breeze, the Ridekick at full power and me sitting as upright as practical to create maximum draft. Made me a very popular guy for a while as I didn't have to ask anyone to take turns pulling with my little battery-powered friend.

And about those "other duties": On the route, there was a temporary orange bicycle detour sign directing riders to miss some construction on another major street. However, the detour route would take riders well off the official route, as several irate riders discovered. I was requested to direct the event riders to pay no attention to the official traffic control device and go straight, and as a practicing traffic engineer and ATSSA-certified professional I suppose I could do that - especially because they (allegedly) didn't have anyone else to cover the assignment. So I donned my Class II vest and directed the riders accordingly while the BikeTunes boomed out a mix of disco, new wave, upbeat lounge, and pop. Things did get interesting when non-event riders would want to turn left and follow the detour while we needed the riders with numbers to not turn, and there were moments when I had to yell "OK, you guys turn, but you (point at others) go straight! Really!" Initially, I was resentful that I was stuck in one place while everyone else got to continue merrily along, but as the minutes hours passed I got into the groove and adapted my bike-traffic-directing style to the song playing at the moment, which was well-received by the passing riders.

(No, I didn't get pictures. Use your imagination.)

Now I'm at the very back of the short-route riders and in desperate need of a restroom. While others may have found it rude that I zoomed full-throttle almost through the portapotty door at the next aid station, I did have my reasons.

The back end of an organized ride always has an interesting mix of riders. Some are faster riders who had mechanicals or dallied at the rest stops for a while, some are in various stages of muscle mutiny or chafing crisis, families of riders struggling to maintain group momentum, and those who thought a few hours earlier that 35 miles would be a breeze - until the breeze showed up. As was my duty, I did my best to uplift their spirts and encourage them on, helped by the music playlist. And to the riders who asked "how much fartherrrr?" I'd consult the map, look at their condition, do a bit of calculation, and reply "Um, we'll get to the finish... soon!"

We're almost at the end, but at the final turn the sign was rather small and many tired riders were going straight and getting lost, with the hired police officers (at this and every other signal) busy directing traffic and not providing any help. So, you guessed it - back on with the vest and time to direct grateful riders again. And accept a bit of unsolicited feedback from the riders who made it back to the route.

I rolled under the finish banner as the lanterne rouge of the 35 mile contingent, satisfied with my work and accepting my medal without any urge at all to choke anyone else with it.


I stepped off the bike after 37+ miles, and... cramps in the quads. Embarrassing given the relatively-few miles and the motor assist. Oh well. Then a good hot lunch and time to swap stories with other arriving Bike Patrollers, strategize on how to improve on the future, and wait for my truck to return. Which it did 5 minutes after they stopped serving the food, which irked my friend greatly. So I bought him In & Out on the way home instead.

Then drop the rear rack, hitch the trailer, and get ready for Sunday's big swap, the heroic tale of which can be seen at https://www.bikeforums.net/southwest...l#post23215518

thinktubes 

Finally was able to squeeze in a ride. Was in North Carolina last week (no zero bike)

What’s left of historic Dyche Stadium. NU claims it was keeping them from having a winning team. Neighbors aren’t too happy.





Lots of flowers in bloom now. Allergies are ramping up.



Did a total of 43 miles. Only my second ride in the last 6 weeks. Hoping to get 3-4 more in before end of April.

obrentharris 

No bike in this report. I hope you'll forgive me. I recently went on a couple of solo overnight hikes in Death Valley National park. The only C&V items were myself and my 1970's frame pack that I revived for the occasion.




My favorite hikes in the desert usually involve walking through canyons.




The austere scenery and the springtime flowers are part of what draws me.






My first hike was to Panamint City, an abandoned silver mine at near 7,000'.




Next was a hike up one canyon, over a divide, and down another canyon. In 29 miles I only saw 2 other people. The desert is a nice place to be alone.






But there were certainly people here long before me.




My most flattering selfie yet!




Brent

bironi

Some guy fumbling with his old phone and bad hands taking a selfie in his most shiny Nitto.

thinktubes