zookster 

Le Tour De Ham weekly Tuesday evening ride, this time out on my Raleigh Roadster.

botty kayer

Thanks. No not a Villa fan, the other game with late goals, I'm a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. We've had our best start since 1965 but have our biggest game of the season away to local rivals Arsenal this weekend. *gulp*

RCMoeur 

As day rolled into evening, I parked the Haro and took my chrome cruiser to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions for Dear Wife. While there, another person who arrived via bicycle struck up a conversation, comparing his Genesis 29er to my old Schwinn. His was newer, but mine was shinier. No photos, as it was dark and not very scenic.

Then it was time to experiment with the Ridekick trailer I bought off eBay last month - the trailer is fully functional, but the LiFePO4EMC2EIEIO battery is not merely dead, but most sincerely dead. I'll get back to that when I can...

RCMoeur 

Hi. Me again.

As I posted earlier, the days are getting slightly cooler and the miles are beckoning, so I loaded up the nearly-40-year-old Rans recumbent for the ride down to the Rusty Spoke co-op for the Wednesday night shift.



The ride was mostly uneventful. I did see a USPS Grumman mail truck roll up on an intersecting side street, and as I glanced over I thought "Hmmm, that A-pillar configuration could block his vi"

And right then, just to prove my point, the mail truck pulled out just as I was going by. I must have subconsciously adjusted my lane position to the center of the travel lane (very little other traffic this time of day) and there was no collision - just mutual hard braking.

I greeted him in the appropriate manner. "HEY!!!WATCHOUTDIDN'TYOUSEE" He then ruined that monologue by smiling, waving, and yelling "Sorry!" Dagnabbit.

The rest of the southbound journey was fortunately without incident, and now we're toiling away at the Spoke.



We'll see how the homeward ride goes...

thinktubes 

Did a quick 40 after work. Getting dark sooner than I would like.

Inside the HP station



Green bridge is still standing (somehow)

cooperryder

I rode a dozen miles this afternoon on my Austro Daimler Puch bike. It's now 94 degrees and I just wanted to get under the A/C.

I'm glad Autumn is around the corner.

daverup 

Took my 87 Black Lightning down along the lakeshore.

botty kayer

I rode 15 miles after work to Penge and back, to drop off some rims and hubs with a wheel builder. I don't have the knowledge, time or patience for wheel building at this stage in my life but wheel building is definitely on the 'to do' list of things to learn at some point in my future. Until then I'll gladly rely on others.

Penge is in sleepy south London suburbia and is not really famous for anything or anyone, but I know it to be one of the least known best places to see street art in London. So after dropping off my wheel parts I have a quick whizz about Penge's side streets and back alleys to photograph some artistic delights in the last hour or so of daylight.

Autumn arrived with a bang this week, we've had thunderstorms and torrential rain, and blue skies have been replaced by moody grey skies and clouds barely above the street lamp level. I hear you loud and clear Robin, cycle away quickly...

I'm like Dr Dolittle, I talk to the animals. Hello kitty......

Hello Yogi....

And funny I should see a bee as I got stung in the neck by one earlier today while minding my own business. It still stings now as I type this, but the bee came off worse obviously, RIP bee, you will be remembered and now immortalized forever in Penge.

Fast and furious....is not how you describe London rush hour traffic, furious yes, fast, no. So abandon the car and get a bike....

I really like this pencil work.....

And there's some really clever ones in some really out of the way places too. You've got to be careful not to get lured down any unlit back alleys, you may get relieved of wallet and bike. Really clever perspective and good idea for such a narrow gloomy space...

And this is also really clever, its down a small residential cul-de-sac so is likely seen by very few people, and it would be quite easy to walk past and miss completely as its almost camouflage, hiding in plain sight, can you see it? Its Wylie Coyote and Roadrunner of course, loving this....

One thing about Penge is from where I live I have cycle up and over the hill at Crystal Palace to get to it, which is a climb of nearly a mile and a half peaking at about 9% gradient, Hors Categorie by London standards. Which of course means coming home I've got to do it again, so final pic of the day at the summit, in the shadow of the Crystal Palace Transmitter.

Penge is also in the shadow of the transmitter the BBC used to beam TV across south London, yet most Londoners know nothing of the wonders to be found in this sleepy corner of suburbia.

mackgoo

My typical daily ride.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9895637624/overview

zukahn1

Long live the blue and yellow cheap tape it only lasted a year or so 2010 or so.

darkmoon

3 yellow letters on the left are Japanese katakana, which say "da-n-ku" and mean "dunk".

botty kayer

darkmoon ah cool thanks for that. could maybe the katakana be referring to the artists name? Because the artist is called Dan Kitchener, he usually signs his works DNK, which you can at the top right corner of the image.

darkmoon

agreed!
They must be the artist's name.

cooperryder

Pic from today's ride.

Looks like this road crew may have been in the sun too long.

zukahn1

Short easy ride on some back roads to look at the aspens hard to believe Summer is over.

bironi

No pics, but the day was special.
In our hood, PNW weather has been unusually dry.
Drought is where we have been classified and it looks like it to the native eye.
So today may be the end of that pattern.
We have a forecast for a week of rain and some heavy dumps.
Today we six riders did a perfect 41 mile loop on quiet roads, followed by a very nice lunch meal with beer and music.

Tomorrow I'll venture out into the rain.
I'm excited.
This is what we have been missing for far too long.

That Beatles song hit me in my early teens and has resonated since.

SJX426 

@zukahn1 - It wasn't cheep back in 2010. It is Cinelli tape. I was chided for the selection when I first wrapped the then new-to-me Colnago. I thought it complimented the blue and yellow of the bike. It was also a period of time between jobs. Not a great time in my life.
B_Y_DS on Flickr

I also discovered Yellow Jersey about the same time post tape wrap. They had NOS Bennotto and cables from the time period. which I purchased and installed.
1983 Colnago Superissimo on Flickr

Most of my bars are Cinelli 64-40's. This bike has 65-40 mounted for a test for comfort with tape that was rolled up in the bin and handy. This "outing" ride for this bike was the first taken with more than a couple of blocks, nearly 20 miles worth. A good opportunity to evaluate the bars. my conclusion on the comfort is positive and the tape will be removed along with some minor adjustments to the cockpit. I am now on the lookout for 65-40 bars!

BTW: The Suntour Suuperbe Pro components are absolutely great!
P1040794 on Flickr
Trek760RearDrive2 on Flickr
Treek760FD on Flickr
P1040790 on Flickr
P1040452 on Flickr

Time for this frame to be cleaned up and made respectable. This thread will have to be continued. 1984 Trek 760 Build - Finally - Bike Forums.
P1040796 on Flickr

botty kayer

Like most modern cities London can seem designed to separate you from the contents of your wallet, so its always nice to go on a freebie, and one you can walk your bike around garners extra bonus points. Double extra bonus with choc on top was after a week of wind and rain, today was chilly but back to sunshine and blue skies, which is when its your day off, is the cherry to top the week off. Today was that day as I visited the Freize sculpture fair in Regents Park.

Here's my highlights. Painted cacti, Garden of Unearthly Delights by Suhasimi Kejriwal

Like a sheet on the wind, Material by Yinka Shonibare

Turns out I parked my bike in the perfect place to protect it from record breaking hail stone. Waking Matter by Amy Stephens

Yggdrasil / Books by Yurichi Hirako

All Power to All People by Hank Willis Thomas, combining the afro pick with the Black Power salute.

UAP lands in Regents Park. The Mothership Connection by Zak Ove.

When I saw this from afar, I thought someone had escaped, or this was indeed the zombie apocalypse, turns out its Sleepwalker by Tony Matelli.


And finally Friend by Josh Smith. When the Grim Reaper asks you to get your bike off the grass, you get your bike off the grass!

jamesdak 

Went up to the top end of the valley this morning to an area called North Fork. It's a rec area with a mix of gravel and paved surfaces winding through the lower mountains. I wanted to check out the fall colors that are starting and see how the gearing changes I made on the ol' Team USA worked up there now. It's a very hill area and the direction I took today gave me a max uphill grade over 17% and downhill over 24%. With the change to the 48/34 crank my legs where much happier. Having a 34/30 combo for the steep stuff is so much better than the 38/30 I was running. Only my second real climbing ride since the knee replacement and my other bad knee wasn't too happy. It's hurting pretty good now as I type in this post. The Gravelkings did well today, only a little slipping on one really steep, loose section. Temps were pretty cold up in there as the Garmin recorded 40's and I was in summer bibs and jersey with just a lightweight merino baselayer shirt. I got pretty chilled on the downhill part out of this area, brrrr! Colors were looking great and should only get better over the next week or so.


Heading into the area, just got done with a short heart bursting hill.

Pockets of fall color

Yep, snow has already made it onto the mountain tops.

Getting ready to descend down this area. You can see a section of the road peeking out from the trees.

Reds are kicking !

Reds are kicking !

Old girl did OK but can be a bit tricky to ride over the roughest, washboard sections of the road.

Johno59

Gettimg the train i n Lyon for the Rugby World Cup

Prowler 

Actually rode this past week. As mentioned elsewhere, I not wait for Columbus Day weekend, so went on a road trip this week, bookended by tropical storm weather. Monday was just unending rain all the way to Cape Cod, getting worse the further east I went. I did stop at Battleship Cove to visit the ships which was pretty neat. Roaming around with the place to myself thinking a lot about my father and his time in the Pacific. Then on out to Dennis, MA and a tiny cabin I'd rented. It sure was wet but I awoke around 10pm to notice no more rain and clear skies. Ah!

Tuesday dawned with the perfect weather I'd hoped for. Blueberry pancakes and bacon fortified me for riding all of the CCRT, every foot (60 miles round trip). I was quite pleased with the strong tail wind on the final 6 miles. Wednesday I was moving out early to catch the MV ferry out of Woodshole and breakfast at the Scottish Bake House out on the Tisbury road. Mmmm. Then cycling mostly trails around the eastern half of the island.


Wasting time on the coast road north of Edgartown. The Nishiki International was a faithful companion and rode as nicely as any bike I have. Sitting in the sun, watching the world slide by.

I took a quick circuit thru Edgartown then up to coast road to Oak Bluffs. I've visited all these places several times so did not sight see much. Mostly just enjoyed the cycling and the weather.



Looking back at Cape Cod from the East Chop light house. People and boat watching and eating my lunch.

Back on the Cape I then drove to NH to visit my sister. Thursday (more perfect weather) we rode a good stretch of the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail together, including the section thru West Concord that I'd not ridden yet. Wasted more time sitting by a pond just sunning ourselves.

Friday I rolled out around 7am to drive to Eastview, NY and park. Cycled the Westchester North County Trail for 15 miles up then back. Nice trail, mostly thru the woods. There is about 3.5 miles that tracks along busy roads. There is a steel barrier between the trail and the traffic but those sections are still awfully boring. Otherwise excellent trail on the fourth perfect weather day. Back to the car and away to deal with the NYC weekend traffic on the Thruway and on I78 but got home at 5:00. WHAT a trip.

And today is another tropical storm dumping rain and flooding. Nice timing. 150 miles of cycling. I felt stronger as the week progressed.

zukahn1

Put some new tires I got for free from the local thrift store a nice set of Continental Touring Plus on the Specialized trainer nice tires only catch is they came on heavy cheap deep dish SS wheels with a coaster brake also free yuck. Went for a short test ride on some back roads and the bike trail to check out the aspens. The tires ride nice they do run a bit narrow for being billed as 28's actually run about 24-25 and bit tall fine on this bike which was made for 25's.


I can probably use the wheels for a horrible or clunker build.


I can't figure out how Continental came up with a 28 measure on these.

RCMoeur 

At our co-op, those wheels would probably be heading out the door rather quickly.

RCMoeur 

Today was the quarterly membership breakfast for Phoenix Metro Bicycle Club, so I swung my leg over the "Alumispeedy" and started off into the pre-dawn darkness.

The first few miles did not go smoothly. I was "just riding along" when I felt a thoonk on the front of my helmet, creepy crawly insect legs on my scalp, and then... the sting. Ow. I reacted in a calm and rational manner, braking hard and ripping off my helmet to free the venomous stowaway, which also sent my glasses flying into the middle of the street - just as a car came zooming up that street. Some wild gesticulations on my part caused enough of a veer in the car's path to not crunch my eyewear, and I gathered my wits, my glasses, my helmet, and my throbbing head and continued, hoping it wouldn't get worse.

About a mile later, a thump thump thump from the rear wheel. Grumble. Dismount and see a metal wire and attached doohickey embedded in the tread. Pull it out and wait for the Hiss of Doom. Wait - no hiss? Did fate decide I didn't need another painful hole? Apparently so - the tube was miraculously unpunctured. Whew.

The rest of the outbound trip was pleasantly uneventful- canal banks, quiet streets, more canal paths, down through downtown Tempe and on a untrafficked (at the time) arterial, then more canal paths, and a wander along streets and paths to the restaurant.

Two big plates of food and two brief announcements later, I was presumed fed and ready to start back diagonally across the Valley. An acquaintance suggested riding with him to his place and he'd give me a ride part way back. Only he was on a Class 3 e-bike, so I was in all-out Desperate Pursuit Mode trying to stay on his wheel.

Got the ride to slightly shorten the ride, and then uphill toward my part of town. This wasn't bad due to some cloud cover, full bottles, and well-spaced restroomz, but I was still surprised how fast a full belly back at the restaurant could turn into lightheaded pre-bonk. Zipped into a burger place to refuel, took a favorite bunny-laden shortcut, and made it home with 54+ miles for the day.

Since I was so thoughtless and rude to fail to take photos of all the photogenic places I passed, we'll have to do with a screenshot of the first part of the RWGPS track slashing across the landscape and a file photo of the bike. I'll try to do better next time.

jamesdak 

^ That is one awesome looking bike!