zukahn1 

Really nice fall weather today for the rocky mountains mid 60's sunny with clear skies and just a slight breeze. Took the Marin MTB for a nice ride on the local back roads around Fairplay. Nice change of pace riding the 25lb very nice solid riding hard frame after riding my horror build bikes for the past couple of weeks.



With nice temps clear skies and good air quality some really got some really nice pics with my recently upgraded improved camera.


Most of the leaves are gone but still a bit of fall color and the odd late season wild flower in places.

seagrade 

Just shy of five hours into a building northerly in mid Spring Down Under. Early bicycle switch after misunderestimating how much damage the tired stock black pads would do to the rims on my Ron Cooper during a long undulating ride. Campagnolo-pattern Kool Stop all-salmon replacements inbound.

northbend 

Easy spin on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail today.
2023-10-22_04-36-49 by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

A chance encounter.
The Skid Kings Vintage Bicycle Club were out in force.
Cool bikes - all 26" cruisers, fun group, a bit tricky to get through them though.
The Skid Kings by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

The trail was closed for bridge repairs a few miles North of Carnation so that was the turn around spot. I retraced the route back home.
P2310770 by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

ascherer 

Weekends have been mostly wet, and last Sunday my lower back got badly tweaked. I got a leg over the Paramount for 25 miles of grey skies and falling leaves. Blink and you’ll miss it.


2 weeks ago it was all green.


Looking up my road. From this point I have 6/10 mile and 120 feet of climbing to my house.

SurferRosa

Did ​​​​​​​Robert Johnson spend time in Big D? His 2-disc Complete Recordings is mandatory listening.

cooperryder

​​​​​​​

Thanks for asking about this SurferRosa.
I did not know much at all about this musical artist except to hear his name a few times so I just looked him up and found this very interesting article that tells of his Dallas connections.

I cycled a block from this Park Ave address yesterday that is mentioned in this linked article.

https://www.centraltrack.com/508-park...io-recordings/

I pulled it up on Google maps to see where it was exactly and Google maps shows it was a Decca Records studio in the 60's.

Remarkable! Fun to learn about this.

Next ride that direction I'll stop and look and take a pic.

I know I've ridden down that short street before as there is a homeless assistance center in that block as I recall .

RCMoeur 

Today, I played hooky from my important consulting practice to put in a longer-distance ride. Three reasons:
1. I need to improve my mileage base to prepare for upcoming events such as El Tour de Tucson and the Turkey Day ride.
2. I replaced the saddle on the Raleigh Pro after the 12 Hours of Sun City debacle in July when the Unicanitor I'd used for almost 40 years became intolerably painful to my aging hiney after only 50 miles.
3. The afternoon highs have finally dropped into the 80s. Yay.



Hi. I'm the 'new to this bike' saddle. I hope I do OK...

Started out at sunrise and met up with a friend on the canal path. We rolled out the Arizona Canal Diversion Channel "bicycle freeway" out to Peoria, then switched over to the New River path (also grade-separated with ramps).


When you see a fork in the path, take it.

As we all know, proper nutrition is important on longer rides.



We rolled north through Westwing and on up to New River. We considered adding a few miles on Interstate 17 as the shoulders are open to bikes up there, but a huge construction project has temporarily converted the shoulders into 75 mph travel lanes, so instead we turned south along the narrow two-way frontage road and took the lane into Anthem.

Time for more nutritional supplementation.


Gooood doggie.

But wait! There's more!

Presumed fed, we re-energized the ol' legs on a downhill roll to Carefree Highway, but the south wind that made us feel invincible on the uphill portions decided to make us work on the return. Still can't complain much about a downhill.

We tacked eastward along Sonoran Desert Parkway to add a few miles and get some of that tailwind mojo again, enjoying the semi-scenic vistas.



Then south on a very busy Cave Creek Road, which is also designated as the Phoenix Sonoran Bikeway, which stretches all the way from the farthest north exurbs through midtown and downtown to South Mountain Park. The artist who designed this (admittedly non-MUTCD-compliant) sign, Pat Ten Eyck, was a long-time club member who just passed away a few years ago.



More miles, more headwinds, slight downhill, nice day, no real complaints.


Greetings, Grasshopper Bridge. We must be getting close to home.

The final miles through Moon Valley were enjoyable, except a short sprint to cross Thunderbird Road and get in the left turn lane caused two otherwise-behaving legs to both lock up simultaneously into painful cramps (and yes, I'd been taking electrolyte supplements regularly during the ride - it wasn't all just fun food). Whee!

Made it home as the cramps subsided, and I'll have to say it overall was a good ride. And it was good to put in some quality miles on the ol' Raleigh Pro again.

Final verdict on the saddle: not perfect, but quite satisfactory.

thinktubes 

It was an improbable 81 degrees, so I squeezed in 30 miles after work. First ride for October - my sister was in from PDX and then I had a bug for 10 days. Good to be back!

On the way out I got stopped by the Linden train, as is the style.



Tapped a kidney at the Glencoe station.



Color in the ravines is just past peak.



Never too late for road work in Illinois. A notoriously rotten section of Lake-Cook road has been replaced (thankfully!)



As I got close to home, a fit looking pedestrian called out “this is the last good day!” - I suspect he’s right.

esasjl

Lovely autumn morning!

northbend 

That same thought is in my mind alot this month.
Snuck one in before the rains by Matthew Pendergast, on Flickr

SurferRosa

A week later, and it's 49° for a high.



But, it's also new bike day! Maiden voyage on this Falcon. 🌞👍

bironi

Looks like we are lucking out for a few more dry opportunities.
I'm hoping to get my Moots back from our great local guru to test my new old man setup.
By

Spaghetti Legs 

High 70’s today with temps supposed to go into the 80’s this weekend. 27 miles on one of my typical routes. Not complaining but it does seem like the warm air takes some of the crispness out of the fall color. Also seems like more golds and yellows this year, not much red.




One of my regular rest stops. There was a guy just off stage here working on a painting. We had a nice chat and I got his card so I could get a look at the finished work.

rccardr 

Agreed. Put in 94 miles so far this week looking for a nice mix of color but eveything here in northern VA seems to be green, brown and yellow.
Nice shot, tho.

MooneyBloke

Sadly, no riding here. This is what is looks like in my neck of the woods the last few days.



Spent most of yesterday pissing down rain. I stayed home and worked on the computer.

botty kayer

Day off work so managed 25 miles around town, getting back minutes before the heavens opened, which is always a win.
First stop was some new artworks in Leake Street tunnel, where painting can continue even if its raining.

I'd bet the ancient cave paintings in the Chauvet caves in France, which have paintings estimated to be as old as 35,000 years old, inevitably feature portraits which have had moustaches drawn on by later visiting artists. It seems a practice as old as drawing itself, and continues across the world to this day, and these days can feature more modern facial accoutrements like glasses too.

And here's some glasses painted properly.....

And I found a couple more of the string artworks by Perspicere that always impress me.


....a bit later over in east London, ever get the feeling you're being watched?

I stop for a photo at the picturesque Italian garden in Kensington Gardens.

....and nearby is this cool new beetle carving.

And final stop of the day was outside the Royal Society of Sculptors, which has this skip (you Americans and Canadians call them dumpsters I believe) installation.

jdawginsc 

For a first non-shake down ride I have had in a long while, I decided to keep it short. However, short meant 4 miles of uphills (7-8 grade I presume). Stoopid... Managed to survive and stop at around 10 miles, but it feels good to get off the bench.




Figuring out a contraption that protects my beak under a helmet. Maiden voyage.

zukahn1 

Likely the last semi warm day for a long time here in Fairplay CO low 50's, likely single digits lows this weekend with freezing highs and snow. Got the wheels nicely trued on my SS Nishiki which I haven't ridden in a bit after a altercation with a car a while back glad to be able to save the Mavic Cxp-10's with stx hubs setup spaced for SS really nice for a light beater wheelset. Went for a short ride on the local back roads found a nice $50 leather man tool by the side of the road when I stopped to take some pics help make my day.



Really nice air quality with near ideal temps so some good pics.

The leatherman tool as found.



Hard to believe that in a few weeks the trail will be covered with Ice and Snow.

bargo68 

Love this thread! If I only check in to BF once in a day, it's to see the amazing terrain covered by the intrepid riders of C 'n' V cycles.
Most of my miles are a relatively un-picturesque commute, so this represents an afternoon very well spent on the Monterey coast in California.
Did 58 miles from Carmel up to Marina and back on a gorgeous day on the Zunow.
It performed flawlessly!

At the Ghost Trees looking south towards Point Lobos.



At old Fisherman's Wharf with the Harbor Seals, Cormorants and Sea Lions.





Getting on the Monterey Coastal Trail.



"End of the line" up in Marina.



Back down towards Carmel, a lone paraglider swooped into the shot!



My only complaint was from my legs, but I told them to shut up!

1989Pre 

zukahn1 

The snow is here.

curbtender

Great shot...I can barely make out the bike. Which one is that?

zukahn1 

A nice short first of the season real snow ride on the Zombie Jeunet.


As promised snow.

More snow.

botty kayer

A bit jealous in equal measure of playing in snow and of those big blue sun filled Californian skies.

Over in the UK its more like 50 shades of grey, so the Italian thoroughbreds were avoiding eye contact preferring to stay in the warm, so I did a quick 18 miles on the my MTB instead.

Starting off down near Tower Bridge where I found 2 more Gillie & Marc sculptures. I came across some in Paddington a few months ago, at the end of my post here: https://www.bikeforums.net/22974774-post20791.html
Firstly a rhino and a dog playing chess......

...and next up, come rain, snow or shine, work or play, it does not matter what's going on in our lives or across the world, us Brits down tools when its time for a tea break....

A pic of the famous old bridge, surely one of the most photographed bridges in the world, oh well here's another one....

I then ride over the bridge to the north side and make my way back westwards, stopping off for another pic at a well known landmark...

And for us city dwellers the best place to see the autumn/fall colors is in the parks. Nothing to rival some of the spectacular pics you lot have posted already, but I swing by the Admiralty Citadel, where the colors are just turning. I'll pop by this again over the coming weeks to record it turning completely red.

I then continue on to Hyde Park for some more autumn color.


I'm then forced to stop for a photo and have a chuckle at the Albert Memorial, not laughing at the glum expression Albert has, like he's waiting for the Royal wiper to arrive with a new toilet roll. But rather having a laugh at the assembled men beneath him. I don't know who they are but expect they are leaders of industry. science and the arts. But whatever their level of expertise, certain members of them I could not take seriously, as now, as I'm sure was the case then, its a struggle to convey the serious-ness of anything when you've got a pigeon on your head.

And my final pic of the day is a retirement age, that's 65 here, lovely C&V MG MGA Roadster, from 1958 but looking in great condition for it age. The season for top down motoring in the UK has definitely passed however, so the cars owner no doubt arrives home like this old goat did, with a wet bottom and reflecting on what we could have done differently. Now where's those waterproof trousers......?

MooneyBloke

Sounds like my sort of ride. I've have enough time out of the saddle that I think just about any hill is likely to beat up on me pretty badly.