stp passes through pdx a couple streets over from my house. walked down to the grocery store and was like what’s up with all these freds?
then i was like
[youtube]V5UOC0C0x8Q[/youtube]
Ride this weekend basically looked like this.
Grand totals: 5 different rides over 3 days. 50+ miles. 3 flats, so many spills, 6 bottles of whiskey, 5+ 30 packs, One super moon ride with no lights at midnight. Hella shenanigans and good times.
^proper bachelor party
Dema’s rolling shots always make me wish I was riding RIGHT NOW.
last Thursday was Running of The Bulls
I couldn’t find my white girl pants so I wore my white girl pants
more pics from that (film got developed)
All things fabulous by joeball, on Flickr
Western Exposure by joeball, on Flickr
[quote=NoahGenda]Ride this weekend basically looked like this.
Grand totals: 5 different rides over 3 days. 50+ miles. 3 flats, so many spills, 6 bottles of whiskey, 5+ 30 packs, One super moon ride with no lights at midnight. Hella shenanigans and good times.[/quote]
UUHHHHHG If I have any regrets about this summer, its not being there for that. SO RAD. Please tell me cole owns that Cdale. Cant wait to get down in SLC. Better practice your dance moves.
edit did not realize this was noahs bachelor party and not cole… wtf wedding bros
That looks friggin awesome
I had some friends doing a pretty slow tour from Vancouver BC to Seattle via Gulf Islands, San Juan Islands, Whidbey Island, Olympic Peninsula, Kitsap Peninsula & Bainbridge Island.
Their tour lined up pretty well with my weekend and all the car-free details fell into place. I packed up all my gear on Thursday night, on Friday evening caught the Sounder commuter train (for the first time) at a stop near my work in Tukwila. Changed over to Amtrak Cascades in downtown Seattle and the train dropped me off in Mount Vernon right around sunset. I took my time, got really stoned and wiggled my way toward Washington Park in Anacortes. The sunset was fantastic and the farm roads I took were really flat. Got a little teary eyed with the beauty + drugs + riding favorite bike loaded with gear + weekend just beginning. I found this great dirt road (Channel Dr.) that was gated on one side & ran along Swinomish Channel which separates Fidalgo Island from the mainland. The sky was on fire and my dynamo light kept the trail perfectly lit. Along the way I came across two huge owls I couldn’t identify. I also finally took Tommy Thompson Trail land bridge across Fidalgo Bay, riding this in the dark all alone was phenomenal. I forgot how much I love riding alone sometimes.
I rolled into Washington Park hiker/biker sites around midnight, set up my tent and decided to do the Washington Park Loop (gated at night) and eat a second dinner at one of the lookout points. When I reached the point I realized how incredibly bright the moon was. I made dinner without a headlamp and hit the vaporizer & whiskey a bit more. I enjoyed the quiet view, hung out with some fearless deer until I got sleepy around 1:30am.
Next morning I met up with my touring friends (10 of them!!!) as they rolled off the Anacortes Ferry. My friend had asked me to map out a route from our meeting point back to Seattle. This was my first time leading a group so it was a bit nerve-racking (would they hate my hilly, scenic route?). We stayed at Fort Ebey on Saturday night and everyone seemed very happy with my bluff trail tour before sunset and grassy-hill relaxing for the grand finale sunset behind Vancouver Island. I convinced everyone to follow me down some MTB artery trails (Kettle trail) to cut a few miles off our morning journey to the next ferry. The day was a pretty straightforward journey from Port Townsend to Seattle. I did however almost ruin the trip for one of my closest friends. As we were leaving Port Townsend I was leading the group through and unfamiliar intersection. I saw a car rapidly approaching what I thought was an uncontrolled intersection. My friend, behind me, was traveling close as I slammed on the brakes. He hit me pretty hard on one side and flipped over his bars sending his panniers across the intersection and completely taco-ing his front wheel and messing up his fenders. I felt horribly shitty but miraculously he didn’t hurt himself. I grabbed his front wheel, attached it to my handlebar bag and jetted back to Port Townsend to visit “The Broken Spoke” bike shop. Unfortunately they didn’t have a similar used front wheel so I bought my buddy a brand new wheel. We were back on the road in less than 30 minutes.
We rolled into Seattle around sunset on Sunday and witnessed the most amazing bright purple sunset I’ve ever seen.
Full Photo Set (until my camera battery died)
Well, that’s nice.
Dang, jealous of the trips Squirrel has been lining up lately. A+
Great photos!
Amazing and beautiful.
Polish/Czech border near Germany. Some of the most exquisite mountain roads I’ve been on and very little traffic, a chunk of it being awesome vintage motos out on sunday rides.
This whole page is on point. Let me bring it down a notch.
Yesterday morning on the way to work:
Last week on the way home from work:
looks pretty friggin rad for a commute though
gotta get it where you can
Andrew is really dreamin the dream lately
So I finally got out and did one of the iconic loops out in the Foothills past Auburn, known as the French Meadows loop (named for the reservoir halfway through). Start in Foresthill, you descend 9 miles into the start of the loop, ditch a bottle at the base of the bridge there for the return, and depending on which way you go you either get a LONG, gradual climb or a shorter, steep climb. We did the long and gradual way… so 18 miles at 5%. 4500 feet of gain with no breaks until you hit the top. I thought my ride partner was joking when he told me to keep an eye peeled for the 27 mile marker (after climbing for the better part of an hour and being at the 18mi mark). After you crest the climb you get a bit of a descent and roll for 8 miles or so until you hit the French Meadows reservoir, aka:
Another 10 miles or so and you come to the water stop. Good thing I was with someone who knew it, because this would be damn easy to miss: a magical pipe sticking out the side of the mountain, delivering cold and absurdly delicious agua.
Another hour of rollers and you hit the steep switchbacky descent (or the 4mi, 9% climb from the other direction): the corkscrew. Lot of tight, reducing radius switchbacks with rim-shattering potholes strewn about for good measure. Fortunately we saw 3 whole cars on the entire 55mi loop. Here’s a view of half the descent:
And here’s the full view from that spot
Finish the descent, connect the loop, grab the stashed bottle, and hope you still have something in your legs for the 9.5mi, 4% climb back to town.
awesome^^
how was the temp? went the other direction on monday (davis to east bay) and it was hot as fuck (100+) until I got to san pablo reservoir.
Temp was not too bad for most of the first half (was probably 72 or so when we started, and the climb up clockwise has a lot of trees) but once you came off that descent it spiked 10+ degrees for the rest of the way, and the climb out is pretty exposed, so the last 2 hours were in the 90s for sure. There was some serious bonking, to say the least.