rccardr 

42 miles on the W&OD with MFG. I always ride faster when following him!
The recent Richard Sachs:

nlerner

Did an overnighter to southeastern MA yesterday to today. A few thundershowers early last night and I ran out of stove fuel while heating up water for dinner, but otherwise a very pleasant get away.

Wildwood 

Yesterday’s ride was so sweet that I dedicated a short morning ride to the same bike.
Goal for me in May is to ride (weekdays) twice a day with outdoor chores in between.


Blue sky everywhere.

Post ride - the ‘old man’ approves.

Spaghetti Legs 

curbtender thanks for the TI pics. That would be a blast to ride a bike over to there. If that building with the curved facade is by the main entrance to the former base, I worked there for a short time when I was a newly commissioned Navy butterbar.

Today was our first really warm, muggy day with temps well into the 80’s. I thought about riding up on the Parkway to enjoy some more 70 degree temps but thought I might as well start acclimatizing to the heat so did 45 miles out my front door into western Albemarle County. When I was at the distant point about 25 miles from home, noticed some darkening clouds and I remembered the forecast called for some afternoon rain, so cut out a gravel segment and got home just as the first drops were falling.



Catterton Road looking northeast.

Picnic spot. I’m just around the corner from Brown’s Gap road. I’m sure it was regularly used trail in the 18th century but now the upper parts are little more than a hiking trail up to the Blue Ridge. I foolishly rode my bike down it once.

The mighty Doyle’s River about 100 feet from the sign above. Browns Gap road in the background.

curbtender

It is. You wouldn't recognize most of the island. They have it really torn up right now. They have removed all the palms on the waterfront along the Avenue of the Palms and access has been reduced during construction. We usually stop for coffee at Aracely Cafe.

Wildwood 

High pressure over the region gives blue skies and 80*+F.


A brisk headwind into Issaquah. Hang gliders are the specks (if you have a large screen) and they can likely sail for a looong time today.

Nice shaded park with tables & chairs.

Boating season in full swing on Lake Samammish


20 yo, lugged Columbus steel, mostly EL-OS, Columbus Super Muscle fork. Made to order - Jon Tallerico.

with a bag front and rear - does it qualify as a randonneur if I put lights on it?

ascherer 

Last weekend was 35 miles north along the Catskill Escarpment, and today was a short half loop around the reservoir, I just didn’t have much in me for a few little reasons. I’ll balance it out with a good hike in the mountains with my wife and stepsons for Mother’s Day tomorrow.


Just a little bunny hop over the washed-out bridge…


Blue Mountain Reservoir, supporting the town of Saugerties, NY. Catskill Escarpment to the east, we’ll hike there tomorrow.


Approaching Palenville.


The Ashokan Reservoir is the largest of the NYC water sources by volume. It holds 123 billion gallons of water with a surface area of 8300 acres.


Circled by mountains to the North and West, it’s remarkably beautiful and I’m grateful to be able to ride it’s circumference.

Classtime 

Please direct us to the “Recent Richard Sachs” thread.

botty kayer

This summer seems to have had a number of false starts, but finally we had a sunny day at the weekend here in the UK, so all the cool cats and dog were scrabbling for their sunglasses.

These are rare spots anywhere in the world, but seeing a rhino in east London was definitely not something I expected to see when I set out this morning.

East London has all sorts of stuff going up on the walls, so like the rhino spot you never know what you'll come across next.


And I'm obviously 10 days late with this one, which was done for Star Wars day, May the 4th be with you.

Sadly today's bike is a chrome free zone, but my C&V eye spots something shiny in Hanover Square just behind Oxford Street, by David Breuer-Weil.

And I finish my 30 mile city ride going through Hyde Park, which as the sun was out was packed, but I managed to find a quiet spot among the newly sprouted cow parsley. Hard to believe this is in central London, quiet here but all paths lead to hectic.

RCMoeur 

Today's ride was the usual leading of the PMBC gang... only with a longer extension. I met the group at the park and we had an adventurous ride to a fancy restaurant for Mother's Day - Whataburger. (Hey, no reservations or long lines, and it was good.)

Now the extended part. Today I rode that white Trek 930 I fixed up recently. Had a couple extra non-cycling-specific bags today...


"On this leg, passengers are limited to one carry-on and one personal item."

After Whataburger, I rode over to the Rusty Spoke co-op, cleaned myself up a bit, and donated the Trek to that fine organization.


@RustySpokeTech takes the 930 into the Spoke's possession

Then a nice walk downtown to light rail, waving to old sleepy friends along the way.







Field in sight. Off to DCA for meetings.



So long...

Wildwood 

Going to 90+* with afternoon booked for family, and some morning household chores = I pulled out some of lesser ridden. That small gear of 42/26 or 28 has uncovered some of my limitations - and not seeking validation of my limitations are therefore designated for the garage hooks.

anyway a couple of samples.


AD Olympian and a nice rock wall

Mondia Super. No need to lay a bike down - in hilly country, the solution = just let the ground rise up to support a photo op. No stands or stick props

RCMoeur 

I hear ya. When I hung up my racing license, I kept the 26 in the back, but went to a 48-34 in the front. Much saner.

Brings a new meaning to that blessing "may the road rise up to meet you."

zukahn1 

Nice easy Sunday ride to Alma on the bike trail and some riding on the back roads about 20miles or so took the recently acquired zero dollar Specialized road bike not high end but nice basic rider.


Still some snow in the shady places.




Some nice new stuff on the walking trails in Alma.

zookster 

Took my 87 High Sierra out for a ride in downtown today, a "parks" tour of sorts. After that I rode up to Fountain Heights to watch our local Birmingham Hardcourt Bike Polo players at their weekly practice (forgot to get pictures of today's session, but I have include some from a few weeks back).

Avondale Park


Rushton Park


Rhodes Park


Caldwell Park


Storyteller Fountain (sans water today) in the 5 Points South area of downtown


Railroad Park with a train passing in the background


Hardcourt Bike Polo games/practice from March 26th

rccardr 

Hahahahahahaha. Yeah, I should get you guys caught up with my recent building activities.
I have been remiss.
My apologies.

shelbyfv

Cool that you posted the historic marker. William "Billy" Brown was my 5th great grandfather. I've never been to Brown's Cove but maybe there is still time. Looks like a beautiful area. William "Billy" had the misfortune to move to SC where he was killed by Tories.

thinktubes 

Phew - I was thinking “has he always owned that?”

nlerner

Go Sox!

RCMoeur 

This morning's ride is on a hotel bike - the Hilton Canopy offers bike rentals to guests. That being said, my mighty mount has too-high gears, rubbing fenders, a kickstand held on solely by sheer force of will, a cockeyed too-low saddle... and my tools are 2,000 miles away. But hey, it's a bike, and it's free. And I was able to pump the tires up.

Saying hi to the duckies.


Wobbled my way thru not-so-bad DC traffic up to the National Academies, parked at the bike rack in the garage, and now ready for a fun day of meetings. Whee. Hopefully the afternoon ride will go tolerably well (at least it's downhill).

darkmoon

Oh, East London!
Beautiful murals, I like 'em!

These trees of this pic, they must be tulip trees, perhaps.

They remind me of a big tulip tree just in front of the main building of Tokyo National Museum, Ueno, Tokyo.

The pic of the top page of TNM is, the tulip tree's twigs and some leaves.
https://www.tnm.jp/

botty kayer

Hello ​​​darkmoon, thanks yes east London has the best murals

Regarding the trees, I have cycled around and visited all of the 'great trees of London' as featured in the book of the same name, but I'm no expert on trees. I think those trees are just London Plane trees (Platanus x hispanica), they were widely planted across the city from the 1700's onwards as they were found to be fairly resistant to pollution. The seed pods give off this light fluff that really makes mine, and millions of others, eyes itch really badly, so they are not my favourite for May/June time. The biggest Plane tree in London has a name, its called Barnie and is thought to be about 450 years old, seen here: Barn Elms plane

[size=13px]Tulip trees do grow over here, but I don't think those ones in my pic are, but I could be wrong. My favorite tree of the week, as they are flowering at the moment and the flowers only last a week or so before falling off, is the Foxglove tree (Paolownia tomentosa), this one seen just around the corner from my house. Do you have these in Japan?[/size]

Spaghetti Legs 

Well now, I'm doubly glad I posted that! If you pull out a map and look about 6 miles north of White Hall, VA, intersection of Browns Gap turnpike and Blackwell Hollow Rd is where the marker is. Plenty of good hiking, road and dirt bike riding in the area. There is a beautiful B+B/resort nearby - https://montfairresortfarm.com - this spot is about 20 miles from Charlottesville and 10 miles from Crozet.

botty kayer

darkmoon as you like trees, you might like the following. This was a 109 mile bike ride I did 5 years ago just to see an ancient oak tree called 'Majesty'.
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/yo...8#post-5408876

darkmoon

Plane trees, hmmm, asked internet and google.
Oh, suzukake, in Japanese.
They were imported from China during Meiji era, 150 years ago.
I haven't seen big plane trees like Barn Elms Plane.

>The seed pods give off this light fluff that really makes mine, and millions of others, eyes itch really badly
It's an equivalent of Japan's sugi, Japanese cedar.
It's pollen is the chief culprit of hay fever, February to April.
Millions of Japanese, including me, develop hay fever every year.
When riding a bike that season, I need sports mask like Naroo.
I can't ride without a Naroo.


Foxglove trees, wow, yeah, there are in Japan, too.
We call it kiri.
But they are different.
Our kiri don't bloom like yours.
Flowers and leaves are at the same time.
Ours don't bloom like cherry blossoms.

Late February to mid May, I call it first blooming season.
The last flower of the first blooming season is kiri.
Kiri have started to bloom in Yokohama and Tokyo erea.


We have made wardrobes from kiri since Edo era.
Kiri don't pass humidity through itself.
The cell construction is different from other trees, google says.
It's a good wood to keep clothes dry and fine in the wet countries like Japan.
It's a good container for nihonga, Japanese traditional water color and ink paintings, too.

Kiri are also used to make the body of biwa, Japanese lute.

SurferRosa

Found the new GP5000 tires I mounted to my Bott a little too harsh. Labeled 25mm, but they measure 23.5. So I reverted back to the old wheelset (with a newly rebuilt rear wheel) and 25c Paselas. Not nearly as sexy looking, but the ride down to the beach was far more comfortable. I'll probably put some Vittoria Corsas on this at some point.