rccardr 

Mrs. Doc had a weeklong program in Bismarck ND, so flew out there the end of last week, rented a bike (a rather nice Specialized Roubaix) and took a 40 mile ride north into Lewis & Clark territory. I hadn't known that Bismarck was such a bustling riverboat town in the 1800's, but this sign along their bike path tells the tale:


The Bismarck city bike paths are extensive and nicely maintained. I rode this one a few miles north of town until it ended at River Road:


...which is aptly named. It didn't run close to the Missouri the whole time, but every once in a while I got a glimpse:


Rt. 1804 (think about it, you'll understand) is a great riding road. Shoulder is narrow and has these sound bumps on the white line, but the surface is smooth, the cars were few between and very polite, and the road has a lot of gentle rolling hills:


The day turned hot by the afternoon, and I was schvitzing by something terrible. Had to conserve fluids as I had only brought one water bottle with me:


Made it up to Milepost 100 and turned back, as I wanted to make sure I had time to visit a historic native site I'd passed along the way:


Double Ditch is a native site occupied from the 1400's to the later 1700's. Beautiful area, lots of neat stuff to see and read about:



Took one last shot of the Missouri at Double Ditch before heading back to Bismarck. Great ride, great day!

obrentharris 

@mountaindave beautiful pictures and great riding! I'm envious. @bianchigirl the demeanor of that duck gives me the impression that the Boiling Springs Tavern is just the place for a Scotch on the rocks! Have one for me next time you're in that neighborhood.
Brent

jimmuller 

No pics. Just the usual boring commute, 32 miles round trip, every day this week except yesterday. Ho-hum.

Drivers were in a hurry today and traffic was heavy. I think the cool weather wakes up everyone's urge to migrate so they have to go somewhere fast, anywhere, it doesn't matter as long as they are going.

mountaindave 

Rt. 1804: From the start of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition in 1804? Nice country there!!

southpawboston

For my birthday, two days ago, I was in the Catskills again, and decided to explore some more secluded dirt roads. As part of a new birthday ritual, I ride a distance in miles that equals my outgoing age. I put together a 44 mile loop, of which 43 of the 44 miles were entirely new to me. I met up with a reader of ridingthecatskills.com and we rode it together. It wound us along some deliciously hilly and curvy dirt roads, lined with tall shady trees and mossy stone walls. Past lots of barns, farmland, and hill after hill of green trees. A perfect birthday ride. Oh, and I came home to a wonderful double dark chocolate cake, made entirely from scratch by my wife, assisted by my 9 and 8 year old daughters.

Here are some pics from the ride:

First climb of the day:


Quaint old working barn:


Freshly bailed hay on the top of a hill:


Narrow carriage road:


A particularly muddy section of the road in the last pic; I had to walk a portion of it:


My riding buddy, a strong climber who was usually ahead of me in the ascents:


Typical Catskills vista:


A hard climb:


A well preserved barn:


Abandoned storefront; old buildings like these are disappearing fast in this area:


The morning started out cool and foggy; the fog was so thick that droplets formed on my face and hands. By mid-morning the fog lifted, but the weather remained cool and cloudy, with a constant threat of rain. Fortuitously, the rain held out until I packed up the car to head back home!

Vonruden

Awesome pics Rccardr! I was born in ND and spent time in Bismark as a kid, brings back memories.

Now I am in Dirty Jersey, below are some pics of todays ride on the BG.








After Ride

Lascauxcaveman 

That Bruce is boss! Can't say I'd have gone that direction on the bar tape, but I get all swoony when I see mid-for rack mounts. Very pretty luggage, too.

Vonruden

Yes, agree. I just picked up some new repro Hoods and plan to get some Brooks leather bar tape and she will be complete.

Bianchigirll 

@rccardr Great pics!! I used to love to be able to stop and those huge markers when I was piloting the big rig across the country.

I was off the bike a few days for various reason, job hunting being one of them on Thursday, but after finishing up the gear swap on the Cornelo last night I took her out today. OH as a sidebar; when I went to buy some HG pins the guy at the bike shop, the nice professional one not the grungy uncaring guys suggested a KMC master link which worked perfectly.

Anyway back to my ride. I got out a little late because of the chilly Aug temps and procrastination but finally I set off. I got 3.7 ,miles out and happen to notice a loos bottle cage, Bugger!! Now I have to turn back. I stopped at an auto zone hoping to borrow a wrench bit judging by blank look on the clerks face as she disappeared into the back she had no idea what an allen wrench was. So back home I tighten both cages up, pockets the wrench and set off again. After that things were great as I headed for the country and some hills, at least to me they are hills.

I was just beginning to think I went overboard with the 13-28 and 42t chain wheel but then on one of the bigger hills I somehow lost all my momentum and that 28 came in handy. I also took a new road and ended up on this skinny semi private road with a nice maybe 3ish% grade (trucker drivers know these things) and the 26 came in handy there. I made it into my usual water stop at the 30mi mark, thanks to trip back home, with a slight thump in the rear wheel. Upon inspection I found the casing of the tubular splitting. Since I was already 30 I opted for quicker shorter route home than I had been doing. I had a uneventful return logging a nice 45.6 ride with 882 ft of climbing. Yeah yeah I know you guys out west and in Cowhampshire do 800+ ft in 5 miles but hey this part of PA is a little flat.

Not as grandiose as the great pics from out west and New England but pretty scenery just the same.

Lascauxcaveman 

"Cowhampshire."

(Actually, my 4.2 mile commute home is more like 1000 ft gained, but yeah, you got the right idea.)

joychri

A few pics from today's ride in the Boston suburbs. It's been a few years since I have posted anything (young children have left little time for bikes). Hopefully, I attached the pics correctly.
Thanks to all of you who have posted such wonderfully pics through the years.

jimmuller 

joychri, nice pics. I'm trying to guess which suburbs you were in but I don't recognize any of it. Maybe Lincoln but pro'bly not.

BG, your pics are great too! Nice ride. Too bad about the tire. That Cornelo is hot. "Your bike sucks"? Does Mr. Cornelo have a sense of humor?

We got out on the tandem today, beautiful weather, temps eventually hit the low 80's. We did 49.5 miles but I was hoping it would break 50. The last run from Concord to Bedford must be shorter in that direction than going the other way. FWIW, max speed 30.0, moving avg 13.3. Not a bad day. Actually a very nice one.

A pretty sun-dappled road


Required farm stand stop near the end of the ride for blueberries

Bianchigirll 

Great pics!

joychri

Thanks jimmuller. Those shots are from Dover and Needham.

joychri

Thanks Bianchigirl.

seedsbelize 

Looks like Kramer's front porch.

pastorbobnlnh 

For @Bianchigirll, real pictures from today in "CowHampshire." Actually today I rode the rail trail, so had maybe only 200ft over 7 miles. Yesterday I climbed Hogg Hill and probably did 500ft in one mile.

From the Northern Rail Trail at Potter Place in Andover, CowHampshire.

The end of the ride was at dusk and I was greeted by the full moon rising over the station and caboose.



At the beginning of the ride looking down the station.



The the transporting Schwinn, an '88 High Sierra, Pastor Bob style.

Bianchigirll 

Great pics! I love that old luggage where are you off too?

pastorbobnlnh 

Either southeast towards Boston or northwest to White River Junction, VT and then Montreal. Think I could tow that cart?

Lascauxcaveman 

A dude who enjoys drilling tiny holes in aluminum alloy bicycle components walked through the door of my hotel and booked a room. He was carrying an absolutely gorgeous Colnago on his shoulder. Says he'd like to ride up to Hurricane Ridge tomorrow, and said he wouldn't mind if I tagged along, since I mentioned it.

Since the weather was so nice when he arrived, we headed off down the local waterfront hike/bike trail out to Ediz Hook the rip-rap-fortified sand spit that forms the local harbor . A nice little 8.4 mile out-and-back with a whopping 19 feet of altitude gained. Maybe

Tourist shot out on the Hook (we're old guys, so I think we qualify to use the handicapped parking spaces)


Then on the way back, an unmistakeable "PING!" rang out on a pretty bad bump on the bike path. Ruh-roh. Bike shop closes in 12 minutes.

The dude got a new spoke ($1) and had the friendly LBS guys yank his freewheel (the spoke that breaks is always on the freewheel side, isn't it?) And then commenced to some spoke tensioning and truing in my junk room.


Long story short, the wheel balanced out pretty nicely, and the dude doesn't have to borrow one my spare wheels for the big climb tomorrow.

We might shoot a picture or two of that and post some of it here after the ride.

pastorbobnlnh 

Looks as if retirement is suiting "the dude" very well!

etherhuffer 

If he is doing Hurricane he is going to be a real animalon the Cino ride. I better go do some hills!

Steve Whitlatch 

Went on a 35 mile river path ride today with forum member jjhabbs from Geneva Il to Oswego Il. It was a nice fun ride. Here is a couple of pictures of our bikes at our lunch stop.

YouthxCrew

I've been here before, but this is with a now better bike:





Gray's Ferry crescent is a MUP along the Schuylkill, but very rarely do I find anyone there, except for skaters on their way to the skatepark located there. I'm hoping that the city's plans to get the swing bridge working again soon in order to re-open it come to fruition.

scozim 

No bike shot yesterday - but I rode my Nishiki Marina 12 in smokey air to a local town for their car show