thinktubes 

I hope you didn't have any trouble with ghost shifting...

Chrome Molly

We need a rim shot sound effect with these emoticons...

Today did 71 miles, with a cold and foggy start. Once I got north, the wind kicked in from the south and blew out the fog. For some reason it seemed like a more difficult ride than it should have been. Maybe the cold, still happy to be riding no matter what the temp.

Heading over the St Croix, some boats through the fog.


It warmed up to a balmy 41 degrees an hour into the ride.


Complimentary toe warmers were available right next to the roller grill at the gas station


Obligatory Stillwater lift bridge picture


Turns out to be a nice sunny day, though a bit crisp for mid September

Lascauxcaveman 

Mt. Muller ride Part II: (I just remembered I also took some snaps with my non-phone camera before the battery died)

WNG ridge-running near the summit of Mt Muller. The trick here is if you want to look at the fantastic view, stop the bike and plant both feet. If you're looking out across the valley while pedaling you may reach the bottom sooner than you want to, and in none too good a shape


"You know what Will?
"What?"
"These donuts aren't get any lighter as we go up. Let's eat 'em."
"Good plan."


My friends know me as a fun, colorful guy. I guess it comes naturally when you grow up in a place with lots of colorful fungi:


Lots of ups and downs along the ridge:


Some crazy steep downhill stuff along the way where WNG and I were taking turns impressing each other with our mad singletrack skilzz. Sick drops, bunny hops, carrot tops*, agitprops*, Ollies, Lennies*, Squiggies*, you name it, we were bustin' it. But seriously, there's probably a MTB term for when you're taking a tight, downhill corner as fast as possible and you plant the inside foot, feather the front brake and grab hard on the rear brake to skid the back of the bike around the corner. Whatever that maneuver is called; it's a lot of fun. We got plenty of reps on that one. The street tires on the Shogun were pretty forgiving for that, and I only crashed once, in the softest, fluffiest bush on the whole mountain.

(*not an actual cycling term)





See if I can swipe a photo of our from our post-ride dinner from WNG's flickr account:




[url=https://flic.kr/p/pbq33g]

Cool. I should just start swiping all his shots and say their mine. He's got a better camera than I; and a better eye than I.

northbend 

^ man, that looks like fun, caveman...

jimmuller 

Somebody's having too much fun. And why are you riding a mountain with my name?

Lascauxcaveman 

^You have my permission to summit any Mt Caveman you may happen to cross

scozim 

23 miles yesterday and 103 today with Roger M in eastern Washington and north Idaho. Photos to come tomorrow

Vonruden

Can't wait to se. That's impressive in them hills you got out there.

Vonruden

Got 50 miles in this morning, even stopped by to say hello to J-Wow, Snookie, and the Situation.















The road ends here

crank_addict

After yesterdays surprise chill ride, the sun was more welcoming today. Fun ride with forum member Steve W. and Mike.

Steve Whitlatch 

It was a fun morning. The ride, great breakfast and the auto show at the West Dundee Heritage Fest. I got a great shot of you with that beautiful bike of yours and a few cars from the show to add.

scozim 

Nice cars! Roger M and I headed to my parents place on Friday afternoon in the Palouse country wheat fields of SE Washington. Got in around 4:15pm so had enough time to jump on the bikes for a quick 23 scenic miles with about 1500 ft of total climbing.

Roger on his beautiful metallic blue Serotta:



This road used to be gravel when I was a kid - now it's beautiful smooth asphalt



Roger coming to the top of one of the climbs on the day:



A panoramic at the top of the big descent for the day:



Farm implements:



The merry go round that used to be on the playground at our 40 person elementary school - too bad kids can't experience the joy/thrill/terror these days of hanging on by your fingertips



Sunset from on top Steptoe Butte:

scozim 

Part II - Saturday was the annual trip on the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes in north Idaho. Last year Drillium Dude tagged along and this year Roger was looking forward to it. We took off from the trail head a little after 9 am with a goal of 100 miles (the trail is a paved 73 miles in total distance and we were starting from the western end). It was about 50 degrees at the start which has a 6 mile descent to Lake Coeur d'Alene. Needless to say it was good and chilly for those first 6 miles. The route was not without incident however. There was a charity ride for MS going on and we had two very near head on collisions as riders in the other direction were paying no attention and were within feet before we realized they weren't moving back to their side of the trail and we had to yell out. Total distance for the day was 103.5 miles and a little over 1000 ft of elevation - yes, the ride is that flat. 5 hrs 46 minutes in total ride time

Lake Coeur d'Alene from the middle - on the bridge of course





It was a beautiful day along the Coeur d'Alene River:







Roger was having a great time:

scozim 

Part III


Even saw moose on the trail for the first time



How many towns do you see the demolition derby cars just driving down the street:



This was some kind of demo derby drag race - we weren't sure what the purpose was, but it was quite hilarious to watch



And, I got to come home with a prize from my dad - Klein Pulse Comp. I need to get rid of the yellow riser stem and go with something a little flatter

Frogbutter 

My GF and I got out on the Loggers Loop today in Dunn Co. Wisconsin. Beautiful ride plenty of sun and an awesome headwind. Rode one of my favorites, a 70's Libertas, it is a wonderful bike.

Roger M

I'll ad on to Scozim's post. I had a great weekend over at his folk's place.

Friday night ride around and through the Palouse. There are so many great roads winding through the many miles of wheat.







Near the start of our ride, here's the south end of Lake Coeur d'Alene







'spotted in the wild'.. at Walmart, where we grabbed a sandwich for lunch.



continued..

Roger M

... continued

I spent some time this morning hiking the hills around his Mom & Dad's house while he mowed the lawn. The Palouse is a amazing place. The gold rolling hills go on forever.




A selfie



His parent's place from one of the hills behind.

Lascauxcaveman 

Wow! Roger and Scoz, you're killing me! 100 miles with 1000 ft elevation gain? A whole different world.

I've got to get out there to find out if I have what it takes to be a time-trialer. (I don't )

Still, anyone got a large funnybike they want to loan me?

scozim 

Took the new to me Klein Pulse Comp out for 20 miles or so in the hills today. A little over 2 hrs with a decent amount of climbing and some fun descents. I forget how fast this bike feels and the prior owners move to a front disc came in handy a couple of times for a quicker slow down.

One of the hills that climbed for awhile. The dirt is getting pretty loose and dusty on top now that archery hunters in in there quite a bit.





The first part of the fun descent athough the heavy rains last month made it a little more challenging as it created some good size trenches:



The fastest descent came through this meadow - you could really fly here



A little better picture of the cool rock outcropping I saw this spring.

beastonabike

Last ride of the day was my 27km commute home. Got me home by midnight. Strongest ride home of the summer and it was after an 11 hour shift.

jimmuller 

obrentharris 

That's one hell of a lawn!

Seriously, beautiful photos of beautiful country.
Brent

scozim 

Got out with the Klein Pulse Comp today. Goal was to climb to the top of the ridge behind us which is between 6600 and 6800 feet. Starting point was 2300 feet. At one point I made the correct turn to get up to the top but second guessed myself and turned around. That was probably a wise decision as I would have pushed my arrival back home and getting my daughter to soccer practice. As it was I was still on the bike for 4 hours and climbed up to 5700 feet. The bike handled great even in the powdery dirt of this time of year. The downhill was definitely tiring though. Total distance was around 30 miles. Took 2.5 hrs to climb up to my turnaround point and 1.5 hrs to get back.

From on top:



On the way up you pass this big rock formation with one scraggly little pine tree growing out of it:





The "fork" tree:







Kind of a cool sign to find up there:

-holiday76

25 mile hilly shake down ride of my Jack Taylor Super Tourer this morning. It was slow since I kept stopping to take pics of my bike in front of things. Then some guy flagged me down when he saw the bike and we chatted for 20 minutes in the middle of the woods.

EBH

Abother enjoyable page in this thread here....