DQRider 

Well, the weatherman (member of what I call the "Windsock and Crystal Ball Guild") says we are about to have three days of sunshine and high-temps in the 40s. So I took today off work and decided to ride my "Unnecessary Bridgestone" around the neighborhood shortly after sunrise this morning.

I've just completed the final touches on this bike by painting and lining the "Technart" lugs. I walked it out onto the dock at Thompson Lake to get these shots of my handiwork.






This either adds a touch of class to an otherwise ordinary bike, or I picked up a jeepney design ethic from my time in the Philippines. If you see crosses and Madonnas begin to appear on my bikes, we will know it was the latter.

TheTeaHermit

After weeks of putting off going on the maiden ride on my recently rebuilt Centurion I finally aired back up the tires and got in the saddle after a couple of months of not riding. Those months were felt in my legs for sure. Still getting fit dialed in, but I had to commemorate the first ride of the new year with a picture.

abshipp 

Yesterday I learned to not attempt to clear a stuck stick from your fender with your left foot.

Even if you've done it multiple times before.

Especially if you've done it multiple times before, because you have been come complacent with previous success.

Thankfully I was able to bend the fender back so I could ride home, with nothing hurt more than the fender, a scraped knee, and my pride.

Drillium Dude 

That's a bummer - but glad you're okay!

I guess if you're gonna drop it, better on a chrome frame than a painted one

DD

Dean51 

GORGEOUS sunny day in the Pacific Northwest! I rode my '77 Schwinn Volare on four laps (48+ total miles) on the route of a local race called the Tour de Dungeness. 'Saw a few other riders out there in shorts and suspected they were wishing they had a layer or two of full length tights like I was wearing!

Dean

My Volare....



Outfitted with it's OEM 1st Gen Dura-Ace bits.....

Drillium Dude 

Dang, that's a pretty bike. It looks like it just came out of a box!

I rode about 2 miles today - to my LBS. The Miche cartridge BB loosened up and unthreaded about 1/4" out the drive side of the shell. This particular BB doesn't have flanges so once it got going it was on the move - the non-drive arm was almost touching the shell. I don't have the tools for it, so I had the pros do it. Since I'll be converting all the Zeus to Campy (I don't want to spend more on specific tools for just one bike), I asked them to remove the pedals from the cranks, cranks from the BB and BB from the frame. I will list the Zeus stuff somewhere to fund a few more Campy bits I'll need to have a complete bike.

I dropped the bike off and walked home as it was a gorgeous afternoon here, too

DD

obrentharris 

I really like your "lug lining!"
Full jeepney will require a dynamo hub and a whole lot of running lights won't it?
Brent

DQRider 

"No hab dynamo. Use lotsa batteries, okay? We sell cheap-cheap!"

Vonruden

Wind swept, salty roads are keeping my good Steel bikes on the hooks. I can’t wait til Spring. Til then, some Titanium Seven goodness.

gomango

Good looking Seven VR.

My new neighbor has the same bike, other than Compass tires.

Will yours go to 700x28s?

Vonruden

Yes, front is 28, may even fit 30's. Looking to get some Gatorskin 28's on, just waiting for a good sale.

camjr

36 miles on the old Motobecane. Nice ride up and around the rural roads near the lake.

gugie 

@Andy_K and I have been riding together more weekends than not. @Wildwood is down from Seattle-ia (is that correct? If it's Portlandia, then...) house sitting in King City. We tried to pull a ride together, but Andy had some family duties this morning, I have some tomorrow afternoon, so a "virtual" ride was created by Andy. I'd do it today, Andy tomorrow. First, Andy and I are scared s***less that we're going to die on the Eroica Cali coastal route, so we're trying to up our mileage and get more climbing in. Last weekend was a fiddy miler, so he added ten with more climbing. It's a route we've done together before. To add mileage he just looped the climbing section, which also had the effect of nearly doubling the climbing.





When I left at 8am this morning, rain was predicted around 1. I figured I could get at least one loop in. It was foggy and drippy up on the mountain ridge where all the climbing was done. I pulled into the South Market Cafe around 11:00 after my first climbing lap, had a coffee and pastry (pear tart, delicious), and checked the weather again. Rain had been pushed out till the evening, so I went and did the second lap. This time it was much clearer, so I stopped to take a snap.



62 miles, 4500' of climbing. Hurting only mostly after a hot bath in epsom salts and three Vitamin I. There's a chance I'll survive Eroica.

Wildwood 

Was inspired by your Seven. Windy = yes. My pic with sun is very misleading, cloudy & 40s is dang chilly. I went shorter and climbed less than @gugie on @Andy_K 's route. You might say I was with them in spirit but not intensity or sweaty-ness. Still, my route had little hills i had forgotten about.
Apologies for non-vintage rig.

rumrunn6

those are some good looking locations. our roads are plowed but the shoulders aren't so friendly

DQRider 

Spring Fever got to me today. I've been dying to try out my Raysport Turismo/Lake Pepin bike, and I just couldn't wait anymore. So I searched for a nice trail that was out in the open, so the sun had a chance to melt any ice patches, and it looked like I had found a winner with the Hardwood Creek trail out of Hugo, MN.

So I drove up there, unloaded the bike, and didn't ride more than a quarter mile before I realized something I should have known beforehand: The Hugo Redneck doesn't plow his bike trails in the winter; he grooms them for snowmobiles!

The roads up there were horrible as well. They brought to mind a quote my wife told me just the other day: "People in England ride on the left side of the road. In America, we ride on what is left of the road." Nothing but potholes and salt-water puddles hiding ice underneath.

So here is the only photo I shot before I loaded `er up and headed for home:


Doesn't look so bad, right? Unfortunately, the trail was covered in ice.

When I got back, I chose a different bike and just rode around the neighborhood. The roads are horrible here too. Welcome to Third World America...

gomango

Totally agree.

Our roads have to be the worst in the nation. Just a week ago I was riding on fantastic country roads near Austin, Texas in the Hill Country. Three days of riding bliss. Zero potholes and the gravel was even hard packed.

I rode for three hours here yesterday and my kidneys hurt from bouncing around so much.

Pure torture.

Oh well, makes me love my Yeti and Monstercross even more.........

malcala622 

Did a short 15 mile ride earlier today. Had to to something physical to get out of the vacation funk.

northbend 

I got out on Sunday and rode a loop around the upper and lower Snoqualmie Valley.

The roads were wet when I left, temperatures mild enough for just a light windbreaker

Mt Si by NBend, on Flickr

I stopped at the Falls before climbing up and over Snoqualmie Ridge
Snoqualmie Falls by NBend, on Flickr

After dropping down from Lake Alice, I cruised on the River Road to the town of Carnation. This road is a favorite of mine.
River Road, Lwr Snoqualmie Valley by NBend, on Flickr
Looking South from Jubilee Fam by NBend, on Flickr
I’ve worked out the remaining issues with the new bike. I lowered the bars, mounted the H'Bar Bag, re-wrapped the twine on the bars and the brakes are finally quiet, ahhhh....
I made my bike happy today by NBend, on Flickr

After lunch at Sandy's in Carnation, I climbed back up to the upper valley on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail closing the loop at about 45 miles. My progress coming back from being sick has been slow. Just have to keep at it, and be patient....
Heading home by NBend, on Flickr

thinktubes 

First ride of 2018.

36 miles up the North Shore, fueled but yesterday's St. Patricks corned beef, cabbage, and whiskey.

Headwind off the lake on the return leg. Ended up with a slight case of "frozen ham".

DQRider 

WOW!

What the heck am I doing here? I need ta move!

grayEZrider

C'mon down to TN! 22 miles of perfect sunny 65*. (only 22 because that's down the mountain and back).

Andy_K 

After the reports above from @gugie and @Wildwood, I felt a lot of pressure to actually get out and ride "my route" today. Starting from my house instead of gugie's place would have trimmed about 8 miles off the route, so I had to make some modifications to hit my distance goal, which gave the route a rather interesting shape.



I also decided to start off with the Westside Trail, which has a series of short hills with about 10% grade. I'd summarize my reaction to the first hill this way.



Eventually I made it to the Bald Peak climb.



The first time through the ridge, I stopped to take a bunch of pictures. You know, because the scenery was really good -- not because my legs needed a rest.





The descent down Laurel Road was great, and I agree with gugie's assessment that the views in the valley were nice too.



With one loop down, it was time for lunch at the South Store Café.



The woman at the table next to mine was a granddaughter of previous owners of the café, so that was interesting. Also, her boyfriend was a cyclist so I got to talk bikes a bit too.

On the second time up to the peak, I found myself wondering what gugie was talking about with "picking up the pace" on the second loop. I was mostly just trying to talk myself out of a plan to turn around and coast back to the bottom when my legs gave out. As it turned out, I did make it back to the top and once I was up there I felt good enough to put it in the big ring and cruise a few times between rollers. I'm not normally a selfie kind of guy, but I guess the endorphins were kicking in because I was feeling good.



My legs did actually start to give up on me about five miles from home, but by then I was close enough to get through on will power. After a bit of Ibuprofin and some ice on the sore knee, I felt good enough to take my daughters to the market as I had foolishly promised yesterday. So, yeah, I may be on track to survive Eroica. I'm not sure about the Ronde next week though.

Vonruden

Very nice!! You done well on the build.

noglider 

I'm catching up with this thread after not checking in for a while. Wow. Amazing pictures depicting such good times, scenery, folks, and bikes.

Let's see what I have. I haven't taken any recreational rides for a while, but today's commute was scenic. We have few clouds today for a change.