Drillium Dude 

Thanks! I felt pretty good. @Wildwood and I are doing Mount Rainier National Park from the Carbonado on Monday for our birthday ride (he and I share the 17th), so I'm resting tomorrow

And thanks for the explanation and additional pics - those are great. I like the looks of that little area. Cool that you caught a pic of the garter snake

DD

northbend 

I woke up this morning early - around 4:30AM and see a text message from Bob Freeman from the previous night. He and @Andy Antipas are heading up to climb Sunrise in the Mt. Rainier National Park in the morning, would I like to join them?

“heck yea” I respond.

So there we were, a few hours later, pulling off and parking at the bottom of the Crystal Mountain Parkway just outside the Park Entrance. One of my Happy Places.

Short time later we clip in and start the climb into the park. Bob is riding a titanium Davidson with vintage 6sp Super Record, Andy is riding a stunning flamboyant blue Colnago Super and I am on my Merckx MX Leader. The weather is mild, mostly clear but with clouds starting to form around Rainier, expectations for a bluebird day are tossed away which is too bad because this is Andy’s first ride into the park.

It’s busy today and by the time we get to the White River Entrance where Park Rangers collect visitors fees there is a long lineup of cars. A sign is posted saying the Sunrise lot is full so expect long delays. This is actually a selfishly good thing from a bikers perspective because the Rangers are metering entry for as many cars they see exiting and this morning very few a exiting. The Sunrise Road will be quiet for our roughly 9 mile climb to Sunrise. We climb up at our individual paces and regroup at Inspiration Point roughly 2 miles from Sunrise Visitors Center. The picture may not show it but Andy is enjoying himself here!

Andy is near the top by NBend, on Flickr

We get to the top and see there’s not much of a view today with the clouds wrapped around the mountain so I ask another biker to take a few pictures of our mugs for posterity instead.

Sunrise Simians by NBend, on Flickr

With nothing else left to do, we go inside for a bite to eat.

Can’t really say the food was all that great but it’s at least something. After we eat, Andy buys some souvenirs in the gift shop and we go outside, get our bikes and descend one of the funnest downhills in Washington State.

The road is in great shape, the traffic is light, and soon Andy and I are trading places at the front going as fast as we can through long straightways and chicanes, touching brakes only for the hairpins. It was a great way to get to know another forum member and I found myself completely at ease riding in close quarters with him. He’s obviously a highly capable bike handler.

I sure appreciated the invite from Bob this morning - it was an unexpected treat. I loved riding with you guys.
When we look normal by NBend, on Flickr

DQRider 

Wow, look at you guys go!

The photography in this thread is improving by the day, and it was already pretty darned good to begin with.
@Drillium Dude - Love the low angle on the Medici shot. And the use of light in your other shots shows that you are paying attention.
@gomango - Yes, beautiful paint on that bike, but where was that shot taken? I know it must be within riding distance for me, but it doesn't look familiar.

This is fun to watch. Keep `em coming!

gomango

Here you go DQRider.

https://www.nps.gov/miss/planyourvisit/coldwater.htm

Sir_Name 

Hot lap before a family party...just under an hour at a good effort. Woke me right up!





---
...catching up with the last couple pages of this thread.

@Drillium Dude, nice pics, I 'experienced' The Experience Music Project in either 2000/2001, really cool spot. Among the other exhibits I remember a gigantic multi-story guitar sculpture somewhere near the entrance(?) - really cool place.

Great pics all around, this thread is one of the best.

scozim 

Took the Klein out for a "brunch" ride and some serious climbing. Barely crawling up a couple of the inclines so the sweat was running and I was feeling "good". It always seems to be hard to catch the true angle of a grade with a camera.



The last 4 miles is an old spur logging road that was overgrown in places but actually cleaned up fairly well after the local sheepherder came through with the sheep a month or so ago.



At the top you come to a nice open area that was serenely quiet. If I wasn't so wiped from climbing and needing to work some softball stuff with my daughter I would have followed the path on and up to see where it went.

Vonruden

Roads we ride







Post ride

jimmuller 

"Mmmm, roads, he rode" Yoda said. Today's ride added 66 miles to the Masi. I wanted to get out to Lancaster, no particular reason, just a nominal destination half a world away. A few things conspired to delay me (that happens to me a lot, I never quite make my original destination) so I ended up doing a nice backroads loop in Stowe before heading home. One of the delays was stopping to assist another cyclist. It turns out some guy had lost a link of his chain and a woman cyclist with thoroughly grimy hands was trying to fix it. She'd removed one link but was having trouble getting her chain tool to drive the last pin home. I carry a spare Quick Link so I offered it. Then she says "Ah, it went in! You helped just by showing up!" He! I wish it were that easy, just show up and things work. In real life however...

The second delay was this on Powder Mill Rd which I think is in Concord at this point. There's huge hole between here and there.



That other cyclist pulled up as I was setting up for a picture. He was doing a longish ride out of Chelmsford and wanted to dash west over to Old Pickard Rd for a run back into Concord. Otherwise he was out of his element and didn't know how to get back. I wanted to cut over to rt117 bypassing a section with a narrow shoulder. So I said I knew how to get around that obstacle. Traffic was light so we rode together south to rt117 then west to Dakum Rd where he went north. As we were starting off he noted my bike, said "That's a real classic." We spoke bikes for a bit. It was nice payback for showing him how to get back on track.

I continued west, through parts of Maynard, stopped for a quick lunch in some nice shade at a shopping center in Stowe.



The bike took a selfie of itself too.



The way back was uneventful. My left knee has been talking to me these last few weeks, and some of the things it has been saying aren't exactly, as how you might say, charitable. I think a tendon is the squeaky part. Must be careful not to mash too hard. Fortunately the Masi encourages spinning!

Wildwood 

Great pics from all.
i'm missing too much fun in this cooler (than the last 3 summers) weather. The exceptionally wet winter exposed some issues in this now 18 year old house. Here I am excavating a crushed downspout drain that's sitting on the foundation footing, about 3.5 ft below ground level. This is 2nd spot where the 4" pipe had been compromised. My saddle time is waaay down, as I dig slowly and recover poorly.

Now back to your regularly scheduled fun pics.

Andy Antipas 

After meeting Matt (@Northbend) during the Seattle bike expo back in March, it was great to finally ride with him. His fitness on the climb was impressive as he effortlessly pedaled away in a significantly higher gear than I was riding... Though my fitness has steadily improved, I have a long way to go to be able to keep pace with Matt. We had a great time flying down the decent, which came to an end all to quickly. Sunrise makes the third epic NW climb for me in three weekends including Artist Point and Hurricane Ridge. All great character building climbs and I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite.

Andy Antipas 

Here are a few of my pics from the ride to Sunrise overlook in Mt. Rainier National Park

DQRider 

... is that you get to deal with the harsh light of mid-day.

To celebrate Bastille Day two days late, and the Tour de France, I rode my first French bike this morning on part of the Grand Rounds that @gomango mentioned yesterday.



In keeping with this spirit of insouciance, I also elected to sleep in, have a nice breakfast with the wife, and didn't actually hit the trail until about 10a.m.

Man, was that sun ever bright!



So all of my photographs today are very contrasty and sharp - my penance for being French; er, I mean lazy.



Still, some of them turned out alright:



At one point I rode past this "Ghost Bike" - the first one I've actually seen on a ride:



I don't know whom it commemorates; there wasn't a name or anything on it that I could see.

Anyway, everyone who goes to Mill Ruins Park near Saint Anthony Falls probably takes this shot:



... and that's all I have for today. I'll post more later in the week.

Jason9142002

How do you post pics on here? Says URL?

curbtender

Hit "go Advanced", then hit "Manage Attachments".

thinktubes 

Doh!

Wildwood 

Matt has the reputation of being a hardman in any environment. Dirt&gravel for days on wooden wheels, climbs like a goat - unless it's fixed/ss, whereby he climbs like a slow goat, easily gets in a century before lunch, etc. BTW, he will also snow ski your azz off with double diamonds, too. And hike your legs into nubs. Plus the recent unsupported month-long tour.

But i like goofy guy MP.

edit: if this wasn't a BICYCLE forum my first (and only (unfortunately)) ski day with Northbend would be appropriate for telling. hmmn - let me look for a pic. that's not a 'thumbs-up' for the camera, he is pointing to the double diamond run he's going to take me to, on my first day last season.

gomango

VR- Your Pegoretti is officially in the running for my favorite Italian bike.

Ever.

Seriously.

Vonruden

Thanks Grady, it's a Legnano tribute.

gomango

Did Dario build it just for you?

It appears to be spot on size wise for you.

It also has one of my favorite fork crowns.

The color is very eye catching and the build looks to be performance minded.

A complete, thoughtfully executed effort.

How's about a thread somewhere so we can gawk.

rccardr 

Yep, that peg is stunning!

Flog00

Just a ride to the post office and the town square.


2017-07-17_05-09-42 by flog00, on Flickr

noglider 

The last ride I have pictures from was on the 9th. I made a route seeking out climbing challenges. It's 26 miles with 1,900 feet of climbing. The first big hill was harder than the second, which is strange, because the second looks both longer and steeper. Anyway, I did OK and even bumped my ranking on the first hill.

GPS tracks

Sir_Name 

Seconded, that's a special bike @Vonruden.

Vonruden

Thanks guys, I'll get some closeups and start a Luigino thread.

qcpmsame 

Nice pictures @noglider, very well composed Tom. That sounds like a right productive day of exploring and climbing for you.

Bill