bampilot06

Never heard of this.

bampilot06

Apparently I’m that guy. Weird, Usually do it when I am with someone slower and try to push them to go faster. Oops.

LAJ

Cycling content.

Nasty ass day on the bike. Brutally hard, but at least I wasn't alone. 7.7 mile course, 3/4 mile of rough dirt that takes a right hand turn straight up a hill to the finish. 5.5 laps, because staging is at the Budweiser plant off course, so that meant the dirt and hill were 6 times. There was a wind from the northwest, which meant the downhill sections of the roughly square course all had a cross headwind, which really sucked. Very little rest. We went quick the first time up the hill and dirt, but not brutally so. The second time up the hill, attack city and I was able to hang on, though the field was thinned. The third lap, just before the right into the dirt, they lit it up. 3 got off the front, and I was 20 feet behind after having to pass those with faster fast twitch than myself. By the time I spooled up, I had to pass about 6-8 riders on the dirt. I made the turn, made it up the hill and they had about 50 feet on me, and looking back, I had a little more on the chasers. I just couldn't close it, so I figured rest was best, so I let off, let the 7 riders (come to find out) catch me, and we went on about the business. 4 of the 7 had teammates in the break, so three of us were doing the work. To our credit, we got rid 3 riders, and I dragged myself up the hill the final time in 7th. Hard day, and looking at the times of the youngsters in other classes, we did pretty well for being the cats that drink Geritol.

LAJ

6 inches of snow forecast tonight.

ls01

And how!...

MoAlpha

Rider next to you keeps pushing the pace by staying a half wheel ahead. Don't do it.

big john

Oh. Well, that will be noisy.

BillyD

Much like Vietcong don't surf, BillyD don't camp.

LAJ

Should they choose to do it, I let them get ahead and just suck their wheel. If they're too fast for the group, I'll drop them from the front.

indyfabz

I had never camped until the fist night of my cross country bike tour. I woke up to use the bathroom and there was a raccoon on the picnic table trying to get at our food. I was scared to go into the porta-pottie (we were in a group site, away from the plumbed bathrooms) for fear that there might be something like a snake inside. And at first I also used to think that every sound was from a predator or some other big critter. During my second tour out west I camped at a primitive site on a hillside that looked straight at the Tetons. Beautiful, but there were moose tracks around and ripped open tree stumps, which indicates bear activity. The only grassy area to pitch my tent was near the bear locker. Didn't get much sleep that night. Every rustle a branch creek made me nervous.

LAJ

Same. No need for that tomfoolery.

indyfabz

For several years they paraded down a street pulling the wagon in my neighborhood in connection with the Budweiser Made in America Festival, which was held every Labor Day weekend not that far from my house.

Koyote

I once got run out of a campsite by a black bear in the middle of the night. Smelled it before I even saw it - ursine smell is a thing. I had heard that black bears are afraid of people, so I waved my arms and yelled "Get the **** out of here!" Bear snorted and took a few steps toward me, so I said (out loud), "Okay, I'll get the **** out of here!" -- and then I ran like hell.

indyfabz

I have told this story before, but...In 2017, during a tour across PA, I was camping on the edge of the Allegheny National Forest (and right next to the prison where Wesley Snipes served his tax evasion sentence). Got while it was still dark and went to toss some paper trash. Saw that the dumpsters had been raided by a bear. There was a giant pile of scat. Walking back to my site I saw another pile about 30' from the tent. Make coffee, eat breakfast and pack up while keeping my head on a swivel. Roll the bike around to the front of the office and lean it up against a bench. About to don my helmet and turn on my lights when I hear the clinking of bottle and stuff. A HUGE black bear come walking out from between the two dumpsters, which were about 25' away from me. Probably at least 600 lbs. (PA bears often get very large. At least two 800+ lb. bears have been taken in legal hunts. One was believed to be the one that ripped a NJ resident's metal garage open to get at the garbage.) Not the way I wanted to start my morning. Stared at each other for about 5 seconds and ten I slowly backed away. He realized I was not a threat and ambled across the driveway and into the brush.

BillyD

We had a little snow harassing the tulips this date last year.



We even had a smidgen of snow May 10 last year.

BillyD

Awesome picture.

Koyote

That bear had been waiting for you to throw out your trash -- did you have bacon for breakfast?

I don't know what my bear looked like, since it was 1am. I went to the ranger's residence and found him watching TV. Told him what happened, and he looked at me and said, "What did the bear look like?" (It was a black bear, and the middle of the night.)

I gave him an incredulous look, and responded, "Give me a rifle, and I'll go find out."

bampilot06

I used to camp down in the OBX all the time. Back when I was 18 my friends and I were down there almost every weekend. I remember sometimes it would be too hot in the tent, and once I was sleeping on top of my friends van it started to rain.

I took my wife camping to the same camp ground the first week I met her. She had never gone camping before and loved it, but insisted from that time on we would have to bring a blow up mattress. We did that a couple of times, and the last time a cactus punctured the mattress.

Now we plan on getting a camper at some point, but we can’t agree on the amenities. I don’t want something huge, where she basically wants a mobile house with all the fixings.

seedsbelize 

Weather forecast is wrong. 93 for the high
Two hours out in the sun and now we're inside, in the first tent of three before going inside Prolly two more hours, but in the shade and sitting down. Mexicans spend their lives standing in line. It's one of the first things us impatient foreigners need to get past.

Mojo31

That's what my wife wants as well. I just priced a Sprinter van conversion out of continuing curiosity. What was selling for about $100k a year ago is now $187k. Hard pass on something that expensive that would be used 3 or 4 times a year at most.

big john

An air mattress is nice until the thing leaks. I woke up on some pointed rocks once, that sucked.

I've had 5 different shells and campers on 3 different trucks. The cabover was the best for many reasons, including storage capacity. Plus, it had a porta-potty, a 20 gallon fresh water tank, stove and fridge, and small sink. But one thing I never thought about was the ability to stand up. The fact that I could stand up inside was really nice. It was one that ended at the end of the truck bed, so the truck's tail lights were visible. It weighed about 2000 pounds with our stuff in it.

I had a smaller one that did not go over the truck cab and the whole interior converted to a bed and when you broke it down it had a table with benches along the sides. It was actually quite comfortable but I had to cook outside and use ice chests. Good for most trips and I had a lot of fun with it. It was about 1000 pounds and I had it on an old half ton truck with no problem. I also put it on a heavier truck and towed the motorcycle trailer behind it.

I had a shell that was a bit taller than the truck cab and I built a bed on one side and had storage under the bed and lots of room on the other side and slept well but not really ideal for two people. You can build whatever you want in a shell. It's like a van but wider and taller (sometimes). All of the trucks were 8' beds.

I always had room for at least 1 bike inside and the last camper had a rack for 2 bikes inside which could stay when we were sleeping.

indyfabz

No, but I will confess to carelessness. There was no place for breakfast stuff around so I had brought a cheddar and jalapeno bagel earlier in the day while picking up supplies. After I set up camp that afternoon I put it the gear loft of my tent while I went to shower so rodents would be less likely to go after it. Totally forgot about it there. Not smart in bear country.

This is my favorite photo from the NPS during the plowing of Going to the Sun Road last year. Look at the mitts on mama. There were several other bear sightings that year during plowing operations.

indyfabz

COVID has driven RV prices way up during the last year.

Mojo31

Indeed.

Might consider it when the frenzy is over and the foreclosure sales begin.

Koyote

Umm, those look like Grizzlies. If they are, I would've dropped the camera on the pavement as I **** myself and then started riding in the other direction.