On the road today....

[alienator]

So, on another forum, elsewhere, there's a thread wherein people post pics from their ride that day (or, I guess, a recent ride). It's a pretty cool way to see where people are riding, where their from, and so on. Maybe it gives forum members a better idea of who other members are, while at the same time possibly adding to a sense of community. At any rate, I think a thread like that, here, would be pretty cool. After all, we see pics of each other's bikes, but we don't typically see the important thing: the riding.

I'll start. The pics were taken with my cell phone (I'll be damned if I'm going to haul my SLR around on the bike). The ride is a weekly, sometimes twice weekly, ride up Tumamoc Hill. The hill--known also as A-Mountain--isn't terribly tall but is great for doing intervals/laps. The grade averages about 5% with ramps up to 9%. From base to the summit of the road is only 1.5 miles and elevation gain is over 400 ft. In the morning, before 8, no cars are allowed on the road. The reward for the climb is quick descent with great pavement and sweeping turns. Pedaling hard you can easily hit 45 mph....not bad for a hill that's just about 1-1.5 miles from downtown Tucson.

Alas, Tumamoc Hill is blighted by the fruits of an ugly American tendency, especially in the mountain states: to build and paint giant freakin' letters on mountains.

The pics of the road were taken just before the descent. I've even included and up close and personal self-portrait. Yes, once again my bike needs cleaning.

 

[64Paramount]

Good pics!

 

[kdelong]

So, on another forum, elsewhere, there's a thread wherein people post pics from their ride that day (or, I guess, a recent ride). It's a pretty cool way to see where people are riding, where their from, and so on. Maybe it gives forum members a better idea of who other members are, while at the same time possibly adding to a sense of community. At any rate, I think a thread like that, here, would be pretty cool. After all, we see pics of each other's bikes, but we don't typically see the important thing: the riding.

Great Idea! BTW....with all the riding, who has time to clean?

 

[serra]

I like the idea! Totally post pics tomorrow morning, I'm going to an animal shelter/refuge place.

 

[CdnRider]

great idea i think....so here goes. fresh from my ride today. I live about 5mins from farm country. about 45mins north of Toronto. great riding country even though it's mostly flat with some mild rollers.

i had to keep it below the posted speed limit as you can see.....haha.

 

[alienator]

Nice. What kind of bike is that?

 

[alienator]

On yesteday's ride, laps up and down Tumamoc hill, I passed, as always, a bike memorial for a kid killed by a car while on his bike. It's a damned fine memorial. The bike theme is borne out well, and as a piece of art, the memorial stands well on its own. It's even got a "ceiling fan", actually a bmx wheel, that turns, powered by a small solar panel on the roof.

There are also several "ghost bikes" placed around town to make the locations where other cyclists were killed. In a metro area with a population over 1,000,000 and a large cycling population, **** does sometimes happen.

 

[64Paramount]

It looks really nice where you live, Cdn.


I've never seen a bike memorial like that, Alien. Very pretty...

 

[CdnRider]

It's a 1986 Miele - chro-mo frame. Canadian made. I bet there aren't too many down there In the States. I bought her new as a gift to myself when I was 14yrs old. Originally was a 12spd, now a 16spd. Comfortably ride but damn....she's heavy!

The fulcrum racing 3's give my ride an ever so slightly modern look. I hope!?? 105 SLR levers. 20yr old Look PP66 pedals. Nothing special otherwise. It's a tank. 24lbs. My main rig.

 

[alienator]

It's a 1986 Miele - chro-mo frame. Canadian made. I bet there aren't too many down there In the States. I bought her new as a gift to myself when I was 14yrs old. Originally was a 12spd, now a 16spd. Comfortably ride but damn....she's heavy!

The fulcrum racing 3's give my ride an ever so slightly modern look. I hope!?? 105 SLR levers. 20yr old Look PP66 pedals. Nothing special otherwise. It's a tank. 24lbs. My main rig.

Ha! I've seen a few Mieles in my travels. I've found that modern components can look pretty stunning on older frames. I used to have a 1992 Schwinn Paramount OS (Back then, there were two sorts of Paramounts: the ones made in Japan and the handbuilt, custom frames built by Waterford. Mine was a Waterford.). I put 2005 Campy Record on it, and it looked great.

Have you had the Look pedals for those 20+ years?

 

[CdnRider]

So you've heard and seen other miele's eh? And yes. I've had the red and white PP66 sport for about 20yrs. I have another 2 sets of Look pedals as well on my other rides. Newer models. These still work like a charm though.

Great pics by the way. Beautiful riding country. Way too hot for my bows though I'd imagine.

Let's see others post some pics as the original thread requests.

 

[64Paramount]

Here's some from my morning ride today.

Farmland about 5 miles Southeast of my house, St. Paul Minnesota from the East, some boats on the Mississippi, St. Paul from the West, and Battle Creek Park about 3 miles North of my house.

 

[alienator]

Here's some from my morning ride today.

Farmland about 5 miles Southeast of my house, St. Paul Minnesota from the East, some boats on the Mississippi, St. Paul from the West, and Battle Creek Park about 3 miles North of my house.

Nice pics, although my grass allergies light up just lookin' at 'em. It's interesting that your rivers have water in them.

How hilly is it in your area?

 

[taniwha]

Here's some from my morning ride today.

Farmland about 5 miles Southeast of my house, St. Paul Minnesota from the East, some boats on the Mississippi, St. Paul from the West, and Battle Creek Park about 3 miles North of my house.

I'm jealous!

 

[taniwha]

Love this thread.

At the moment all my riding apart from Sundays is in the pre-dawn dark, so the photos of that would be pretty grim. And for the last month every Sunday has been wet, ranging from constant rain to heavy showers with hail, so pictures have been low on my list of priorities, but I will post some soon.

I could cheat and find some that I've taken a while ago...

 

[64Paramount]

Nice pics, although my grass allergies light up just lookin' at 'em. It's interesting that your rivers have water in them.

How hilly is it in your area?

LOL, anyone who has allergies here right now is definitely feeling it. We had 6.25 inches of rain in June, and we've got high levels of grass, tree pollen, mold, etc. My lawn is just full of mushrooms andtoadstools.

Hilly and flat, we're a mixed bag here. We don't have any mountains to climb, but we have the river valleys right around the Twin Cities to climb, and the glaciers missed the Southeast corner of Minnesota so it's very old rugged country.

I think I'm lucky in that I can go on a 25 mile ride that is nothing but hills, or I can do a 25 mile ride that is mostly flat. I've got a 60 mile ride that I really like that combines both hills and flats.

The glaciers flattened the land out to the West of the Twin Cities, it's just mostly rolling hills and prairie, but I've kept pretty much to the East side since I've lived here.

 

[64Paramount]

Love this thread.

At the moment all my riding apart from Sundays is in the pre-dawn dark, so the photos of that would be pretty grim. And for the last month every Sunday has been wet, ranging from constant rain to heavy showers with hail, so pictures have been low on my list of priorities, but I will post some soon.

I could cheat and find some that I've taken a while ago...

Yeah, just post some old ones till you have a chance to take some new pics.

 

[taniwha]

Okay here goes.
The first one was taken a couple of weeks ago, and was with the phone, (through a plastic bag hence **** quality) but shows pretty well what weather is like here at the moment, sunshine, rain, heavy rain, sunshine, rain, sunshine, hail....

The others are pretty representative of a lot of the roads I ride on. Rolling country with lots of little climbs, a few nasty pinches and very little flat. Most of the pics are taken on roads that are within an hours ride from me, and I live right in the middle of the city.

The one titled Scenic Drive is a road that runs the length of some ranges to the west of Auckland, that was taken at the highest point, 400m asl, and it's a great ride, most of it through bush with little traffic. In that photo you can see downtown Auckland which sits astride an active volcanic field, one of the harbours and some of the volcanic cones. (The most recent one, Rangitoto, erupted 600 years ago and that's the low hill right in the middle)

The last one with the very crooked horizon is out near Muriwai and that's the Tasman Sea visible.

Auckland occupies an isthmus and is the narrowest point in the North Island, at the shortest portage, the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman sea are approximately 2 kms apart.

 

[64Paramount]

Wow, Taniwha....it looks like paradise. It's easy to see why so many movies are made there. It's beautiful!

 

[taniwha]

Wow, Taniwha....it looks like paradise. It's easy to see why so many movies are made there. It's beautiful!

Thanks, I guess we are pretty spoilt, but there are a helluva a lot pretty spots than those. The ones below are near East Cape, I'd wager that it would be one of the prettiest rides anywhere with extremely quiet roads, little bays and beaches, rocky shore lines and in and out of pohutakawa trees, etc. In summer it is magic.