Sixty Fiver

Every now and then I have an overwhelming need to escape the confines of the city and most of the time I head south and come and spend a few days with my family... the babies (my great nephews and nieces) grow way too fast.

Was pondering what bike to ride and decided to leave the touring bike at home, almost took my vintage UO8, and then thought that my folder needed a shakedown ride.

Yesterday was 100 km of never ending hill climbs and wind so bad I had to pedal downhill and tomorrow is looking better for the next leg which will take me home before I head out for another week.

Since I have accommodation at both ends I did not need camping gear but figure the low riders will have to go on and that we will do that too.

Here's the little guy all dressed for the road...



Had to stop for some provisions here...



And then we got to see the countryside.



Used to ride down to this little river when I was a boy, before the pavement went in, and before they drained a lot of the marshes. The beavers have been busy and the deer was unconcerned with my presence. There were great blue herons and I could hear the chirp of amorous frogs and toads.





Bicycles need no rest stops... their riders do.



to be continued...

randya

what is it with canadians and their flags?

Sixty Fiver

It was Canada Day...

snafu21

Cubans sit on the American one:





Great pix by the way, thank you for posting.

stevegor

Very nice SixtyFiver,

Any who doubts the ability of the venerable R20 to be a great tourer, should perhaps also check out Jur's link to his R20 tours. They've lasted for four decades and are still going strong.... not sure if those Dahons would last that long?

Here's a few pics of one of my, (I am also bobibex), lowly R20 tours and some other bits n pieces.

www.flickr.com/photos/stevegor/

Sixty Fiver

steve - beautiful shots there.

Decided to lay over one more day and enjoy some Alberta BBQ and more time with the wee bairns and tomorrow is looking like it will be a wonderful day to lay down another 100.

ddez

Its often been my complaint that we Canadians dont wave the flag enough.
Something i always liked about our southern friends. So if your noticing it,great, thats good as far as im concerned.
Canada day is a few days before your July 4th Independance day.

Sixty Fiver

ddez - randy is one of my southern friends and think he was just having me on.

But we are usually a quietly patriotic bunch.

stevegor

One day SixtyFiver I just gotta come to Canada with one of my R20s and we'll go for a tour.....one day.



With those great pics of Canada, I'm really itchin' to go for a tour right now.

Sixty Fiver

Will be heading out pretty soon... had some awesome BBQ last night and then stayed up until dawn sipping Drambuie and sitting around the fire.

Temp is about 20 degrees and there is nary a breeze so should make for some nice riding weather... my sister offered to give me a lift back (she always does) and don't think she'll ever get it.

Looking forward to getting back into the great wide open.

gnome

looks like a fun ride.

jur

For some reason I always thought you were a Brit... no idea what gave me that idea. Nice tour.

Sixty Fiver

So much for the weather forecast...

Almost home... decided to duck in and dodge another storm cell that is passing through as the last one almost blew me off the road.

I am now at the top of that far hill... a little wet but warm and knoshing on lasagna.

Sixty Fiver

It is always fun going down...

Sixty Fiver

The last leg of my little adventure was really nice as the wind stopped and the sun came out... will have to say the little guy performed admirably and would give him high marks for comfort and ride, could have used a taller gear on a few descents, and will really need to install that double if I am going to tackle longer steeper grades and carry a little more gear.

stevegor

So would you agree that a R20 or your P20 is as stable if not more than a full size loaded tourer?

When I first started riding these SWBs I was amazed at how stable they are when fully loaded and bombing down long steep hills,
I love the way you sit above the load, it just feels right.

Sixty Fiver

The Twenty is a really stable bicycle under any circumstances... have been riding this bike for three years now and have always been impressed at the design and it handles large loads better than most bicycles.

puppypilgrim

So we are not mistaken for Americans....

EM42

nice photos of the country and wide open spaces what part of Canada is this Beaumont is a resort or a town?

.

I too find the Raleigh Twenty impressive at its durability and load handling..I like the idea of the load being lower to the ground[because of small wheels] makes the bike more stable than let say a full size bike with load on top of a racks