Fifty Plus (50+) - Sometimes It All Comes Together-pics

1. An uneventful ride for the first 20 miles, which is a gradual 2000 foot ascent. At my stop (a fruit stand), a 50+ fellow passes by. "How far you going?" "About 50, I think" "Really? Wow", he says. I love impressing people.
2. I am able to find my way on some back roads, upon which I have been only a couple of times with a group. Some great twisty runs with swoopy downhills.
3. I take a turn up a road I am told is a climb and a dead end. I assume about a mile. The road ends after 4 1/2 miles. I have climbed and descended. My legs feel much better than usual. I climb back out, more easily than I thought I would. Here's a picture of the start of the climb. Of course, a picture never shows how steep it really is.
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/tomfrady/GardenBarClimb.jpg
And then the view from the top.
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/tomfrady/GardenBarPan.jpg
4. As I round the corner to my house, I see my wife walking back from the mail box. There is a home made enchilada from last night for my recovery lunch and . . . and . . . wait for it . . . PIE!
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/tomfrady/CIMG2119.jpg
5. She had been out to lunch at a new restaurant and brought me a slice of apple pie. My favorite. She showed me a brochure from the restaurant, lising the organic farms in the area from whence they buy. I had seen two of them on my ride up the dead end hill.

all-in-all, a great ride. 54 miles. Lots of climbing and pie at the end. I love bicycling.

Nothing could be finer.

Nice pie!

It looks like stunning country and a gorgeous day to ride. Thanks for letting me live vicariously while at work.:)

Congrats on the great ride + recovery meal.

From the pics, that road looks like a really beautiful place to ride.

Nice looking country side, thanks for posting.

Beautiful country! I don't ride far enough... yet, for pie at the end, but that looks like a good one!

Here's a picture of the start of the climb. Of course, a picture never shows how steep it really is.


I've always wondered if you place the camera closer to the ground if it would give a better indication of how steep those hills are?

The pie looks delicious:)

what a nice morning ride you must have had....good on ya....wish i was retired

Great photos, thanks for posting.

I've always wondered if you place the camera closer to the ground if it would give a better indication of how steep those hills are?

The pie looks delicious:)

+ quite a lot on the PIE. And on those hills- They rarely look steep in a photo but you always know how the legs felt and how much weight was lost in sweating out the hill. The rest of us will look at the photo and have to trust how steep it is.

Nice postcards from your ride, looks like the picture-perfect day, perfect ride, perfect pie.

Seems like all of your planets were lined up correctly on that day!

You're right about photos. That one pic makes the climb look almost flat. Those are beautiful photos.
Especially the pie!

mmmmm...................apple pie

I......am..........so..........jealous!!!!!!!!

+ quite a lot on the PIE. And on those hills- They rarely look steep in a photo but you always know how the legs felt and how much weight was lost in sweating out the hill. The rest of us will look at the photo and have to trust how steep it is.

Just a shot in the dark here, but rather than centre the crest of the hill in the photo (beautiful photo, by the way!), why not aim the camera perfectly horizontal, so that the edge of the pavement is right up near the top? I get tired just thinking of the angle it might produce.

Just a shot in the dark here, but rather than centre the crest of the hill in the photo (beautiful photo, by the way!), why not aim the camera perfectly horizontal, so that the edge of the pavement is right up near the top? I get tired just thinking of the angle it might produce.

That's correct. If you point the camera up then the picture taking axis is parallel to the ground and you lose the effect of steepness. Another thing that will increase the effect of steepness is to use as long a lens (zoom to telephoto) as possible while still including what you need in the picture. In this case I don't think a telephoto lens would have been possible, but if you are at a distance it will work well. And keep the lens axis horizontal.

I've always wondered if you place the camera closer to the ground if it would give a better indication of how steep those hills are?...

Naw. You got to stand at the side and tilt the camera...Carefully so the trees don't look too strange.

Great report, Mojo Slim.

Just a shot in the dark here, but rather than centre the crest of the hill in the photo (beautiful photo, by the way!), why not aim the camera perfectly horizontal, so that the edge of the pavement is right up near the top? I get tired just thinking of the angle it might produce.

Have tried all sorts of ways to show how steep a hill is and it never works out right. If you point the camera downwards it can show the steepness on an uphill (Reverse for a downhill)- but then you can't see the hill. The two road ones are of a 15% in our area- from the bottom and the top.In the one from the bottom- you can see by the wall on the right that it is steep- because of the stepping in the wall. The offroad one is steep and it does give an impression of severity.

I have seen some shots from the side, taken while not actually standing on the road, that give a better impression. And here's a shot to illustrate what The Smokester has said.
http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k87/tomfrady/ThompsonWallexx.jpg