cb400bill

Here are Alan's pictures.

JunkYardBike

Neat story and interesting little guy. I saw a yellow woolly bear caterpillar crossing the road at a busy intersection recently, but I decided he'd have to face his risk alone. It was the lightest colored woolly caterpillar I'd ever seen - perhaps a warm riding winter this year?

Appears the Luna Moth is easier on the eye than the Isabella Tiger Moth (adult woolly bear), but the woolly bear might actually qualify as cute and furry!

Doohickie

I rode here on my 1983 Raleigh Marathon:



Full ride report here.

divineAndbright

Not much, but here are a few pictures of myself riding the trek 2100 today, with my fave classic jersey, a peugeot cap, and some aviator sunglasses for extra style bonus ha.

nikkorod

It was a Singletrack weekend on my 1990 Diamondback Apex. I toured the Pennypack Creek Watershed just outside of Philadelphia. One set of photos is from The Pennypack Ecologocal Trust and the other is from Pennypack Park in Philly. It was wet & sloppy, but a heck of alot of fun. The Singletrack is not that technical, but still is fun. Many of the trail were overgrown. I have some battle scars from the sticker bushes.

due ruote 

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JohnDThompson 

My usual ride out to the only decent hill in miles.

bigbossman 

The High Sierra Fall Century - this ride is my personal Gold Standard - it is the organized ride by which I judge all others.

I wasn't intending to do the ride this year, as I had done it three times in the past and I also spend a week or so riding around the area in the summertime on most of the roads the century covers. This year, Markopolo and Mhendricks were going to take a run at it, and convinced me to tag along. I in turn, convinced my best friend to allow us the use of his condo, and he graciously opened it up to our use for the ride.

Because it is about a 6 hour ride form the SF Bay Area to Mammoth Lakes, we took Friday off and left early. Arriving at Mammoth in early afternoon, we registered for the ride, had a nice lunch, and ensconced ourselves into the condo. We soon became bleary-eyed and lethargic. I'm not sure who instigated it, but push came to shove and we needled each other out the door for a short ride in order to get better acclimated to the altitude. As the condo sits at 8,000', we needed all the help we could get. 12 miles and about 1,200' of climbing later, we had climbed up to 9,000' and made the return to the condo, dinner, and bed.

I must confess up front that I really did not expect to finish this ride. My riding habits of late have been sporadic, and I assumed that this, along with the high altitude, would conspire to wear me out before I reached the finish line. I was ok with that, and decided to ride as many miles as I could while still enjoying the effort. Because of this, I decided to optimize the ride experience to take fullest advantage of the scenic splendor of the area. To this end, I elected to part company with the main group of riders, go off the reservation, and transit through the June Lake Loop.

Surprisingly enough I felt very good after finishing the first major climb (Deadman Summit) and looping through and re-emerging onto Hwy 395, and in a bit of fortuitous serendipity I met up with MarkoPolo at the Hwy 395/120 junction. We headed off east, and it was here that I was beginning to set my mind on completing the ride. It turns out that this was Mark's first shot at a century, and I didn't want him to finish alone. In addition, I was feeling great, the weather was nice, the scenery fantastic....... and besides, what else did I have to do all day?

Mhendricks and the other fellows were up ahead of us, and we caught Mike at the next rest stop. After fooling around for a bit, we finished off the remainder of the second major climb (Sagehen Summit). Just before summiting at over 8,300' we crossed a large plateau called Big Sand Flat, and at this time we noticed building weather in the distance. Dark clouds were swirling over the peaks, and we could see gray-black horizontal streaks in the rapidly approaching clouds. As the wind began to switch and eddy, we rocketed down the 10 mile descent to Adobe Valley and lunch.

Lunch was unremarkable, and neither one of us had much of an appetite. While we were tentatively nibbling at the offered fare, my friend and our host Vic overhauled us. Vic had left the condo early and had started his ride in Bishop, just for fun. While I was now at mile 60 and hoping to make 100, Vic was at over 100 and hoping to make 250. Yikes.

We took off under leaden skies, and could see weather building all around us. We were now traveling north to south, and the storm was coming in from the west. I was sure it was just a matter of time before we were caught out in the open under a high desert squall, so we hustled along thinking to outrun the southern edge of the storm. We hit the base of the third and last major climb of the day, Wildrose Summit, a fun little 6 mile slog with a steadily increasing incline with a scintillating double-digit finish. By the time I hit the top and coasted into the rest stop, I was feeling pretty spent. Even so, there was now no question about pressing on - we were still dry, the weather was holding, and only a couple miles of 9% rollers and the obligatory brutal headwind was between us and the finish line. Yay.

Mark and I suffered the rollers, made the final climb to the top of Waterman Pass, and enjoyed the sporadic raindrops as we began our descent to the back of Crowley Lake and what has always been a punishing 20 mph headwind. As luck would have it, the wind was absent - it never materialized. I'm guessing the stormy weather was the reason, but I wasn't asking questions nor was I dawdling around to find out if nature would change its' mind. We had gotten very lucky, and I wasn't about to or press my luck. By this time I was all-in, and the expected wind would have surely killed me off mere miles from the finish.

We rolled across the finish line to burgers and beer with a 7:48 saddle time, 6,220' of climbing, and just over 100 miles and three 8,000'+ passes on the day. All in all, a pretty good run for me, and we even topped it off with a 23 mile spin around the June Lake Loop on Sunday before headng out. I ended up with 130 miles for the weekend, all told.
More random photos......

Headed east on Hwy 120, just south of Mono Lake:


Crossing Big Sand Flat:


Looking back across Big sand Flat - the clouds are building:


Lunch is up ahead somewhere:


Crossing Adobe Valley on fresh blacktop:


Cloud shadows:


Scooting across an endless landscape, coming up to Black Lake and Benton Crossing:


Looking back at the base of the Wildrose climb:


Chasing Mark on the backside of Wildrose:


Final descent into the back of Lake Crowley - the storm is there, but we dodge the bullet:

due ruote 

Are cars allowed on those roads?

Great trip report and stunning photos.

bigbossman 

Yes - but you don't see too many. These roads cross some wide, desolate areas, and you don't really see much traffic, or for that matter, wildlife. They don't connect major population centers, either. You have to want to be out there to be on them.

23skidoo

Not only great photos, but excellent prose bbm, well written and entertaining.

bigbossman 

Thank you.

Some more random pictures from the ride........


Pre-ride ride up to Horseshoe Lake:



Various points going through the June Lakes Loop:

YoKev

Hudson Valley Riders: Scenic Hudson Farm Tour TOMORROW AM. Yes, it's late notice, but it should be a good ride.

I'm doing the 25 miler' and riding from home over the Kingston Rhinecliff Bridge. I'm on the Woodrup, see you there?

https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o...vent_KEY=50451

skyrider

Thanks for sharing BigBossman, Great story and pictures, I really enjoy them. Sky

scozim 

End of the year 104 km ride on the 1984 Gitane Tdf today. 3 hrs 13 minutes on a chilly (40 degrees at the start) and rolling course that has some great scenery. Unfortunately I didn't have room in my pockets for the camera so I didn't get any photos.

bigbossman 

And now for something completely different.

Bored with the mind-numbing monotony of the California landscape, I accepted Old Fat Guy's invitation to weekend in Phoenix Arizona and participate in the 6th annual Tour De Scottsdale road race . That's right - a road race. Those of you that have ridden with me are doubtless chucking to yourself as you read this, but nevertheless that's what I did. 70 miles and about 3,000' of climbing shoulder to shoulder (more or less) with about a thousand other riders.

Now - I should state up front that the real racers start first from a slightly different location, and the "citizen" racers start together from the shotgun a short while thereafter. The race organizers attempt to stratify the starting chute by rider average speed, but that is an impossible thing for them to evaluate so folks just estimate where they belong and things pretty much sort themselves out in the first few miles. Me? I lined up with the shaved leg crowd, and after the gun hung on for a few miles before filtering back. The starting lane is sort of a rolling parade anyway, so it was all good and I got to enjoy the roar of the crowd for a little while before sinking into obscurity.

We played hide and seek with a weather system from the get-go, but other than suffering a pretty good wind we managed to get away without experiencing rain or thundershowers. But we did suffer in the wind for most of the day.

After rolling out of the starting gate, the course begins a gradual climb for about 9 miles, hooks right, climbs a hill, then hooks right again for about a 3 mile shallow descent before another left turn and the final climb on the first half of the course. I hit the climb pretty aggressively, figuring I could catch my breath on the downhill run. too bad I forgot about the wind - when I made the turn downhill, it was right in my teeth and blowing pretty good. As I gritted my teeth and cursed the unfairness of it all, a line of behemoths crept up from behind. Four men, none less than 6'4" tall, slowly passed on my left. As the last of the four glided by, I simply moved out to get behind him and immediately got sucked in. It was a wonderful 3 miles.

After we made the turn left for the coming ascent I dropped off because I could not easily hang with them on the climb, so I thanked them for the pull as they thundered off and left me in their wake. I summited in short order, and dropped down the other side for a long shallow glide down to the mid-course aid station at the 37 mile mark.

After a quick stop to refresh myself, I was off again to tackle the 2nd half of the course. This pretty much consisted of a long, stair-stepped and windy climb out of the valley I had just descended into, followed by a sort, steep climb before dropping back into the Scottsdale Valley and turning for home. I won't bore you with the details, but it primarily consisted of hopping from group to group while battling cross and headwinds for a couple of hours.

Similar to the beginning, the end featured another 9 mile shallow climb back to the finish. For once, I was in a tailwind - but this came at a price. It was now near noon and hot, and the following wind gave the feeling of dead air. So, I baked and toiled my way up the last series of grinds before eventually crossing the finish line and calling it a day.

My main goal on the day was to finish the race with a sub-5 hour time. I accomplished that goal...... barely. I'm officially in the record books with a time of 4:59:43.1, finishing 758 overall out of 1117 finishers, and 174 out of 209 for my age group. Woot.


And now for the pics:

The starting chute:


OFG awaits the bell, with one of his beautiful De Rosa's:


We're off!:


Descending to the valley, below:


Climbing back out:


The wind, she blows:


Chasing down some old guys:


The Sonoran desert:




Fini - couldn't quite catch #757 in time:

bikemore 

My friend and I are in Maine for Columbus Day weekend. She likes the smell the roses ride.
So we rode a 15 mile loop out of Kennebunkport Maine. Ocean Ave out towards George H. W. Bush's
place. Then to Cape Porpoise and Goose Rocks beach. I rode my early 70's Raleigh Grand Prix
and she road a mid 2000's Trek hybrid.

https://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3254302

Kennebunk river off of Ocean Ave


Bike at rest off of Ocean Ave


Road in Cape Porpoise


Enjoying the view from the end of the pier at Cape Porpoise


Road to Goose Rocks Beach


Not too much foot traffic to compete with bike track in October


Bike on the beach


This is actually a place called the Clock Farm, leaving Goose Rocks.

Boatdesigner

Brings back memories! I went to The Landing School in Arundel, right next door to Kennebunkport. I lived for a few months just up the road from Walker Point (where the Bush house is) and then moved to Kennebunk Beach on the other side of the river. My roommate's dog ran away once and was found all the way over in Cape Porpoise, sitting outside the lobster pound licking his chops. Quite the walk from Kennebunk Beach! I miss it up there in the summer, not so much in January!

jish1969

Rode out to Delaware Park in Buffalo today and then out to Niagara Falls to take in the fall foliage, but I forgot my camera chip so I was only able to take 3 pics on the cameras memory. About a 40 mile ride though, and now I have to get back out there with the chip....

BlankCrows

Yesterday afternoon I rode the Chesini up to Folsom Lake along the American River Bike Trail on a 43 mile cruise. The lake looked pretty distant way out there, but along the trail I saw some deer, turkeys and plenty of nice river vistas......

jan nikolajsen 

Haven't posted for a few months because of this Classic & Vintage bike tour we're on.

Our ride today took us to near Moab, Ut.

This is my son enjoying the fall without having to go to school:



..and looking back on some scenic switchbacks we did to get up to camp:



We have one of those crazyguy blogs for anyone interested in generic travel drivel

due ruote 

That is just beyond cool. I can only imagine the experiences you're sharing. Good for you all.

newbeat

This looks like one of those backround pictures that comes preloaded on a cellphone or computer. Awesome shot.

onetwentyeight 

sometimes you have to grab a few friends, a fancy bottle of bourbon, and climb a big hill.

mkeller234

Haha! DWI - descending while intoxicated!