Did a loop and ended up at a LBS for a coffee and new cables. Minter day today. I noticed a heap of these little traps along the trails. Damn effective.
Pancake life
Went for small 50km spirited historical reenactment try-hard ride with disc brakes. (The settings on the G9x got switched to portrait mode )
That bike looks fuckin sweet. Got any more pictures of it?
That’s a beaut!
Finally getting around to this write-up. A big shoutout to @dotMR for the bin-bike loan that survived ~300 miles of road, forest, and festival roving!
Boarded a plane after proctoring day 1/2 of finals for my public speaking course (had day 2 covered with videos uploaded for future grading). Alas, found out my laptop was basically out of power, so I wasn’t able to spend the ~11 hour flight grading (but I was sure I’d find time to do it at camp…). Had a brief layover in Iceland and noticed a friend from Seattle who happened to have lounge status. After hitting the bar for some “enhanced” coffee and food, I boarded for the final leg.
Arrived in Berlin and made my way to @dotMR’s house to pickup the bike. Found someone on the CCCamp wiki who was willing to delay their ride and join me. We rode a train to pass the city miles before hopping on the Berlin-Copenhagen cycle route. This was such a beautiful, smooth, flat, traffic/building/infrastructure-free path that went through a forest and then along a canal directly to camp! Wishing that I had taken more pictures.
Upon arrival at camp, well after dark with less than ideal lighting, I entered the fray and found myself partying on top of a pirate ship.
After ~40 hours of wakefulness, I finally found a hammock and zonked out briefly before rinsing and repeating over the next week.
Once camp had been cleaned up and cleared out, I joined a group of six for the return trip. Just a few minutes in, we turned off for some fantastic #nudebeach lake swimming.
We made it quite a few more miles before noticing that one bike’s (not @dotMR’s) front wheel was way out of true. After ~2 hours of dithering, drinking, and cursing, we got back on the road with the still out-of-true wheel.
Made it back to Berlin just in time for a massive thunderstorm that included a few minutes of basically blind riding and all of my gear being absolutely drenched.
Was offered some floor space and crashed hard. Spent the next morning grading all of those finals which needed to be submitted that night. Before finishing, I met up with a group from camp at a swanky spa with a 90° C sauna. Ended up spending 6.5 hours there, the last hour or so was spent lounging while wrapping up the final grades.
Rode to two more late night post-camp gatherings, a beer-up and party at one of the first hackerspaces, c-base.
Finally had dinner at 4 or 5am after some more urban exploration and crashed out on another offered bed south of the city.
My alarm was set for noon, with the understanding that my flight was at 4pm rather than 14:00… Luckily I was up at 10am and able to peddle like a mad person to return the bike and catch transit to the airport.
Got there with enough time to grab some of the worst type of wurst, which was still great, and cool down with a tall beer before boarding. Really reminds one how bad US security theater is.
Landed back in Seattle and hopped in a vehicle for a six hour ride into Oregon for four more days of festival life, this time adult-only and pirate themed.
Arrived home after fraying myself for a pretty fabulous 2 week summer break!
@Salt I can’t believe that bike handled that much riding. You’ve officially ridden it more than I have. Can confirm those routes up through the forest are fantastic!
I’m picking up an our holy mother of spin UN-55 from the shop today in preparation for winter commute duty
Oh, that’s a lovely road. Is that up above the Nehalem or closer to Astoria?
20 miles or so east of Astoria. Shingle Mill Road.
this is why i avoid this thread. i try to forget that such amazing adventures are possible for some. kids are cool tho.
Explored more of the riverside trails about 15 min ride from my door. Found a bunch of woodsy singletrack, a nice overlook, and a spur to a bouldering area.
Been very unmotivated/depressed past few weeks. I’ve been making excuses even when I have time but I finally got my ass out for a ride yesterday
Short and slow but it’s nice to be reminded that riding bikes still feels good
you know what else is a great mood elevator? Cutting your goddamn steerer
but seriously yes sometimes a slow ride is great. I’ve taken my Crosscheck to the local bmx park a few times, nothing takes your mind off your problems like trying to send it on a fendered commuter bike. Nothing contuses the insides of your thighs and knees the same way, either.