Great weekend ride!
10-14-13, 01:16 PM
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Great weekend ride!
This weekend I went to my daughter’s house to work on her husband’s pickup. I had my wife drop me off and took my bike. My front wheel was being finally rebuilt after too many broken spokes so the timing was right to pick that up from the shop. The plan was to spend the weekend there and ride home (about 90 miles) from my kid’s house. It worked!
My first several miles were a combination of city streets (they live in Des Moines) and bike trails. The Clive Greenbelt trail in the city is fantastically pretty and reminded me of the Cherohala Skyway in N. Carolina. It’s lush and very winding. Yesterday morning that was, at times, problematic. There were a LOT of people out there in the very fall-like cool temps and most were walking or running. I’d come around a blind corner to find a mom or 3 pushing a stroller or walking along with unpredictable toddlers. I just slowed down after a couple of times of that and enjoyed the experience.
However, around one corner I found this!
We grow these things big in Iowa and she stood about to my armpits at her shoulder. She let me take this picture and I slowly walked around her with her just watching me and not moving. Very cool.
Then I came upon this:
It was actually sort of fun to use 23C tires and a BOB trailer through that. It was well packed and relatively dry so it worked. It was short too.
The rest of my ride was another 30 miles of more open trail and then onto the highways. The only other “interesting” thing that happened to me was an SUV that passed me slowly with oncoming traffic giving me about 2 feet of space and then honking at me when he was right beside me. I blasted him with my air horn and he hit the brakes. I was hoping he'd actually stop to discuss the situation. It amazes me how many people are ignorant of the law! He moved on, though, and the ride was uneventful.
It was cool enough that I never got the long sleeved jersey off and made it home after dark. I’m glad my headlight was fully charged.
My first several miles were a combination of city streets (they live in Des Moines) and bike trails. The Clive Greenbelt trail in the city is fantastically pretty and reminded me of the Cherohala Skyway in N. Carolina. It’s lush and very winding. Yesterday morning that was, at times, problematic. There were a LOT of people out there in the very fall-like cool temps and most were walking or running. I’d come around a blind corner to find a mom or 3 pushing a stroller or walking along with unpredictable toddlers. I just slowed down after a couple of times of that and enjoyed the experience.
However, around one corner I found this!
We grow these things big in Iowa and she stood about to my armpits at her shoulder. She let me take this picture and I slowly walked around her with her just watching me and not moving. Very cool.
Then I came upon this:
It was actually sort of fun to use 23C tires and a BOB trailer through that. It was well packed and relatively dry so it worked. It was short too.
The rest of my ride was another 30 miles of more open trail and then onto the highways. The only other “interesting” thing that happened to me was an SUV that passed me slowly with oncoming traffic giving me about 2 feet of space and then honking at me when he was right beside me. I blasted him with my air horn and he hit the brakes. I was hoping he'd actually stop to discuss the situation. It amazes me how many people are ignorant of the law! He moved on, though, and the ride was uneventful.
It was cool enough that I never got the long sleeved jersey off and made it home after dark. I’m glad my headlight was fully charged.
Last edited by one_beatnik; 10-14-13 at 01:20 PM.
10-14-13, 01:36 PM
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Damn ... that's sweet.
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10-14-13, 02:31 PM
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I am so envy of you guys who can ride on the weekend . I am retired and the wife still working . She told me many times I can always ride on the weekdays so leave the weekends for her .
10-14-13, 03:00 PM
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One of my favorite rides is the High Trestle Trail NW of Des Moines. If you start at the Woodward end, all of the cool sights are in the first 6 miles. The last 19 miles are basically just putting miles on your bike. My avatar picture was taken there. I'm still going to ride the whole thing again, it's only a question of when.
10-14-13, 03:37 PM
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My wife is out of town for a few days so not an issue. She rides.....some, but we don't really do a lot together. We have a totally different approach to riding and it causes us more problems riding together. I'm passionate about it and she's not. We do ride motorcycle together!
10-14-13, 03:44 PM
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One of my favorite rides is the High Trestle Trail NW of Des Moines. If you start at the Woodward end, all of the cool sights are in the first 6 miles. The last 19 miles are basically just putting miles on your bike. My avatar picture was taken there. I'm still going to ride the whole thing again, it's only a question of when.
My wife went off the pavement and tried immediately to get back on and went down with me right on her tail. She got 5 stitches on her chin, lost several layers of skin on her knee and my collar bone is a bit weird now!
Beautiful trail though!
10-14-13, 04:57 PM
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I've ridden part of that and really enjoyed it until.....
My wife went off the pavement and tried immediately to get back on and went down with me right on her tail. She got 5 stitches on her chin, lost several layers of skin on her knee and my collar bone is a bit weird now!
Beautiful trail though!
My wife went off the pavement and tried immediately to get back on and went down with me right on her tail. She got 5 stitches on her chin, lost several layers of skin on her knee and my collar bone is a bit weird now!
Beautiful trail though!
That's actually a fairly common bike accident. I've done it and I even knew better - I just wasn't thinking at the moment. That's how I came to have 3 screws implanted in my femur.
10-14-13, 05:34 PM
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Great report, nice pics, and even from fly-over country.
I've wanted to do a trek like that, from Cincinnati to Dayton to visit family via the Scenic Little Miami River trail. Love those rails to trails.
I've wanted to do a trek like that, from Cincinnati to Dayton to visit family via the Scenic Little Miami River trail. Love those rails to trails.
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10-14-13, 07:00 PM
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10-14-13, 07:27 PM
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Not sure I've ever heard of the spokes on the front wheel breaking. Unless something got caught in between the spokes how does that happen?
10-14-13, 10:04 PM
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It happens when the nipples fatigue from 20,000 miles of riding. This was the original wheel on the bike and I've put over 13,000 miles on it in just the last 3 years. The spokes didn't actually break. The nipples came through the wheel. I broke 2 of them in August on a 2 week trip to OK City and back.
10-14-13, 10:59 PM
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It happens when the nipples fatigue from 20,000 miles of riding. This was the original wheel on the bike and I've put over 13,000 miles on it in just the last 3 years. The spokes didn't actually break. The nipples came through the wheel. I broke 2 of them in August on a 2 week trip to OK City and back.
10-15-13, 06:03 AM
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I think this is my 3rd or 4th rear wheel. I've crashed a few times and ruined those! I did wear out the rear hub so changed it to 36 spoke since I do all my touring pulling a BOB. My Waterford frame has no place to put racks. I've been pulling the Beast for about 11 years. I bought the Waterford used and it had 500 miles on it then. It was quite an upgrade with Campy Chorus group set from a 1978 Motobecane Mirage with Suntour stem shifters!!
Yes it was the Mavic Open Pro. The rim shows it's wear at the spoke holes too. It's now aluminum scrap!
Yes it was the Mavic Open Pro. The rim shows it's wear at the spoke holes too. It's now aluminum scrap!
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