banjo_mole 

That is a really cool highway- why was it abandoned? I want to ride it, for sure.

Today I rode up Mount Solomon in the hills around my city on a road bike... And just found a tick crawling around on the back of my neck.

Of course, after this is the customary nervous feeling of all my body to be sure there are no more, and the creepy, crawly feeling on the back of the neck that you can't shake although you've checked a million times...

Egad...I despise ticks.

-Nick

KiuBWhy

Its so rainy. What do you gents and ladies do when you can't ride? (I have no trainer).

mkeller234

Think about how we can't ride.... Some probably ride in the rain

KiuBWhy

Haha this must be true.

Too scary for me. I haven't and don't plan to try riding while its more than just a tiny sprinkle out. Old steel rims on my recently acquired bike. From what I've read, though not experienced, it would not turn out well if I wanted to say....stop.

mkeller234

You have heard right! I have steel rims on my collegiate and took rode it to work in a downpour.... my brakes didn't even kind of slow me down. I dragged my foot along each time I had to stop, luckily its only a 0.9 mile ride.

High Fist Shin

It is off the Breezewood exit of the PA turnpike. Exit 180. Here:

https://www.rays-hill.com/turnpike/home.htm


It was abandonded because the tunnels are only two lanes and the highway is four. It created a bottle neck and traffic would back up for miles. Abandonded in 1968ish.

cycleheimer

Here's where I am hoping to start my riding this Sunday (June 7). Just north of NYC.

Bicycle Sundays
Bike, jog or stroll the Bronx River Parkway next on June 7




The ever-popular Bicycle Sundays are back and, once again this year, joggers and walkers and those with strollers are welcome to join the fun on the Bronx River Parkway. The next dates for Bicycle Sundays 2009 are June 7, 14, 21 and 28; and September 13, 20 and 27. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
During Bicycle Sundays, a portion of the Bronx River Parkway is closed to cars for the exclusive use of bicyclists, joggers, walkers, and those with scooters and strollers. The course runs from the County Center in White Plains, south to Scarsdale Road in Yonkers, a round-trip of 13.1 miles. There are many points of entry and exit along the way. Parking is available at the County Center lot in White Plains for a fee of $4.
In the event of inclement weather, Bicycle Sundays will be cancelled. For cancellation information, visit the County Center online or call (914) 995-4050.
Bicycle Sundays is presented by Westchester County Parks. Exclusive media sponsor is 100.7 WHUD Radio.

Lizzy

Thanks. I'm really glad to find a group that loves vintage bikes. I'm finding some nice spots to ride though my area is hilly. I posted another area I rode this morning - https://www.lizabethwest.com/lizroute2.html. If anyone is interested some organized rides in Florida, check out this site - https://www.floridabicycle.org/. Click on Join Us, Events.

Mike Mills

Cycleheimer,

I've ridden extensively in two different major cities - New York and Los Angeles. I will say, unequivocally, New York is the better city for riding.

Out here, in LA, not only are cyclists not respected, they are actively and aggressively disrespected on the roads. I felt much safer riding in the streets of NY than I do here in LA - even in Manhattan.

The other thing is the availability of closed roads for cycling. Back in NY, they close roads so human-powered vehicles can have them. I can think of several raod closures of this type - Central Park being one; you Bronx River Parkway is another, Forest Park is yet a third.

Out here, I am not aware of even a single road closure of this type. There is the beach "bike path" but it has been taken over by walkers. It is, literally, closed to cyclists in Hermosa Beach. Imagine that, a bike path closed to cyclists. What will they think of next?

cycleheimer

You see a good number of cyclists riding around New York. There is a trail that runs along the Hudson River that is popular, and bikes are everywhere it seems. You definitely have to have "no fear" to ride the streets of NY, however. I saw a guy practically flying down the street on the Upper East side, weaving through traffic like a hockey player moving the puck down the ice. "Fear" wasn't in his vocabulary.

jan nikolajsen 

Did the Apple Century in Central Washington today. About 600 riders, mid seventies for the high,
not too much wind. This is a reasonably flat ride, for the mountains that is. Maybe 2500' of gain.
Very pretty terrain up the long and winding Entiat Valley, with minimal traffic and great pit stops.

Had a good time, with no flats or other issues. 5:18 hrs in the saddle, about 6 hrs total.
The old Gazelle behaved splendid. Got rid of the silly compact crank the evening before.
Instead I ran 53/39-14/28. Did it mostly as a solo/time trial style ride, since I never found
a group that wasn't either too fast or too slow.

Saw a few lugs, one or two sets of bar-cons, no DT shifters. I wore the only wool jersey of the day, and no one else had a front rack and bag. Passed dozens of carbon riders, but got thoroughly humbled by a couple of the same, too.

cuda2k

Yesterday I took a 32mi ride on the Serotta with my club. Didn't do the whole ride with them, picked up the ride as it passed through my neighborhood (the advantages of living in Allen Tx is that a good number of the weekly PBA rides roll through town) and jumped back off as we came through on the tail end of the ride. Had to work on staining the new front door for the house yesterday so I couldn't get in the full ride.

This morning I was back up early working on the door again (top coat) and after the first coat of clear I took a nice hour long ride on the Schwinn Crosscut along with my wife on her Townie. After dropping the wife off back at the house, I took another 45 minutes or so out on the Schwinn. I think I've concluded that my old SPD shoes are good for about up to an hour at lower speeds, but trying to really push it much and my knees / legs start complaining about not having my good specalized shoes on.

mkeller234

Yesterday I planned out a 35 mile route through rural Ohio. I wasn't familiar with the area so I typed out turn by turn directions, mapped the route and took off. Ohio has this thing where they don't like to put road signs in the country.... so naturally I got lost, twice. My ride turned out 52.4 miles according to my computer.

While I was riding I saw a Peugeot at the side of the road for sale. I pulled up and saw the owner of the home wrenching on a Raleigh twenty.... ok, I HAD to say hi to this guy. I'm glad I did, he was really interesting. He bought his first bike in the service and has been riding and wrenching for a long time. Some highlights of his collection were an early 70's Raleigh International, A nice looking Lejune, A really cool old Louis Bobbit (sp?), a couple cool folding bikes and a really really nice Phillips 3 speed. He was curious about the bio-pace cranks so I let him try my bike out. I was at his house for nearly an hour and a half, he filled my water, we shook hands and I was off.

I passed through Marlboro, it was about 3x3 blocks square but it looked nice.


Almost 400 miles on this 1987 Brooks and still no signs of breaking in, ouch!








This is a pretty nice looking seat cluster, it is WAY better looking than my Professional


Not as nice as the international, but I really dig the look of it.

Tigerprawn

^ Great story! Love meeting a fellow C&V enthusiast.

I gotta live vicariously through you guys so this is great!

Fast Cloud

[IMG]




I shot these on the local mup today...nothing special. A lost turtle, a couple of shots from one of the local campgrounds on the rez and some nice cypress trees that make it like riding under an air conditioner.

cycleheimer

North of N.Y.C.

Included Bicycle Sundays on the Bronx River Parkway in Westchester County, NY in my riding today. Did about 50 miles total. It starts at Scarsdale Road in Yonkers, NY (Between Crestwood & Tuckahoe). You head north and there is a small, stone building with a mobile bicycle repair station (from Danny's Cycles in Scarsdale), Westchester Tourism office with brochures and maps galore, and restrooms. Heading north again and just off the parkway, in Scarsdale by the train station, there is a Starbucks with restrooms. The ride then continues across nice road surfaces and mixed terrain (easy, rolling hills) to the Westchester County Center (an indoor colliseum). The scenery is quite pleasant, with streams and waterfalls, and you can stop anywhere and relax in the shade. I continued north, using the connecting Bronx River Bike Trail, to the Kensico Dam Plaza where there was an Albanian cultural festival in progress (great music, attractive women, good time). The Plaza is supposedly Westchester County's version of N.Y.C.'s "Central Park". It was packed, and there is a building there with a small fast-food restaurant and restrooms. I then rode all over the place, and quickly came to appreciate the quality of the road surface on the Bronx River Parkway. The streets had pot holes, and other imperfections, that had me clenching my spoke wrench and grinding my teeth. The next time I ride, I am hoping to head a few more miles north to what is called the North County Trail. It is a paved over railway line that is perfectly level, and quite scenic. Should easily be able to do 60+ miles altogether.

Bicycle Sundays:
The Parkway was packed with riders, since it was a beautiful day, but it was big enough to not be congested. The ratio of male-to-female riders was about equal, and most age groups had at least some representation. The bulk of the riders, though, were probably in their 20s to late 40s. Their were families, too, including some with kids in baby seats. You also saw riders in packs from cycling clubs. I also noticed smaller groups with Westchester Cycle Club jerseys. There was also a wide array of bicycle types being ridden. Plenty of mountain bike variations, but also road bikes of all ages, folding bikes, kids' bikes, and I even saw an "English Racer" (forgive me Sheldon B. for using that term). There also were walkers, joggers, skaters, and a few kids and adults on Razor scooters sharing the road. I had no problems with any of them getting in the way.

jan nikolajsen 

Hang in there. The only one I ever purchased from new took 1000.

Great ride report, BTW.

mkeller234

Thanks Jan, that seat is staying put (well actually it belongs to my Raleigh). It is stamped 1987, but it looks like it wasn't ridden much if ever. The owner of the International gave me some advice to break it in.... completely remove the leather cover, soak it in neatsfoot oil, hit it with a hammer then fold it for hours and hours...

His saddle literally felt like a baseball glove, I don't think I will be going that route.

bigbossman 

I had almost 700 on my B-17 before I gave up waiting, sold it, and bought something decent.

mkeller234

Ha, yeah I saw your posts about the regal. I was really tempted to grab one when you posted about the sale a while back.

YoKev

I put in 16 miles at Taconic 909 MUA yesterday. I rode my early 90's Dean. Fun

Lizzy

We've been in "monsoon" season here in N. FL. It rains every day and often all day. I put my 1997 Pacific Catalina mountain bike in my car to take to the office in case it's clear enough to ride at lunch time. It was wet out but she went up hills and sloshed through puddles fine. After work I took my 1970 Raleigh LTD-3, with fenders, out in a light rain. Had no problems but I was watching my brake response as it has steel rims.

nlerner

I did a 58-mile early morning ride yesterday (6 a.m. - 10 a.m.) with some neighborhood bike buddies. We headed southwest of Boston, which gets you in some very pretty 'burbs in no time at all, looped a bit north and then back. One highlight of the trip was crossing an abandoned airfield in Millis, MA. We saw tons of cyclists on the road in the last couple of hours, no real surprise as the weather was sunny and low 70s, which is quite rare for New England. I was on my Ron Blanton, American-made Reynolds 531P, bike.

Neal

bigbossman 

This weekend was the daughter's 14th birthday, so we took a trip down Monterey way and spent the weekend at Carmel. In a stroke of serendipity fellow BF member Markopolo happened to be visiting his in-laws there, so we joined up for a leisurely ride on Sunday morning. Nothing too taxing - about 31 miles and 2800 or so feet of climbing is all, with a couple of coffee stops and plenty of sight-seeing along the way.

It really was perfect weather to be out and about on a bike, and I'm glad I had time to hook up and go.

Over by the Aquarium:


The bikes - my Palo Alto and Mark's Tomassini:


Looking across Monterey Bay, at the Monterey Aquarium:


The Lone Cypress, close to Pebble Beach on the 17 Mile Drive:


Golfers playing at Pebble Beach (with professional caddys!):


Mark, cruising through the 'hood:


Clint's place:

Mike Mills

I used to live in Monterey on Lighthouse Avenue, a few blocks walk to the Aquarium.