I feel like I’m in a messy REI ad. Despite the fact that we’re totally surrounded by people and got yelled at last night for having a conversation after 11pm (granted, it was probably a little louder than it needed to be), this is about the most relaxed I’ve ever woken up when camping.
Went on a nice downtown cruise today. Found 11 cars parked in the bike lane. Took appropriate action.
Took Ada on her first-ever bike camping trip. We had to haul a lot of balloons:
Got silly in the brewery:
Unfortunately I lost traction on a section of rutted mud and biffed it. Ada’s first real bike crash and her first road rash:
She was a trooper and we kept going and rode home today.
Bonus fun: it was both 90+ AND rainy as fuck. And all the effort I spent keeping Ada alive meant I let myself get very dehydrated. Hauling an extra 80 lbs. of stuff didn’t help that.
Doug that ride sounds 90% awesome and 10% terrible. The perfect mixture for memories of an epic weekend.
How does Ada feel about doing it again?
She wants to go again. I guess she had fun. Probably more than I did!
Ada is such a tough kid. Goes down hard and gets up looking for more. Glad no one was hurt badly.
Ada’s the best. What’s her helmet-brero made from?
Um excuse you
I think you mean “sombrelmet”
My wife made it out of old cereal boxes and duct tape. Worked great until it got rained on quite a lot and the adhesive failed.
Already planning trip number two with her. Might even try driving to the ride.
Was catsitting in Forest Knoll in Marin for a couple of days this week and put together a route on Google Maps that I thought would be a tough but doable ride up Mt Barnaby from the roads on the back side and then down the Ridge Trail back down to Sir Francis Drake. Ended up trespassing on a bunch of steep private roads (mix of pavement and dirt) and getting my ass kicked on the way up, then realizing that the Ridge Trail on the other side was really a bit much for the Coffee Grinder on 32mm slicks and getting my ass kicked on the way down as well. Good times. Someday I’ll go back and bomb the shit out of the Ridge Trail on my Ibis, for redemption’s sake.
Did get some sweet photos of the fog burning off at the top of the mountain, by the fire lookout and cell tower.
Rewarded myself with some mellow cruising in Samuel P Taylor on the Cross Marin trail, which is smooth dirt. The CG + Roubaix Pro tires were hella nice on that stretch. Steeper and looser stuff just had me wishing for a lot more tire.
Buddy and I did a 200k loop last weekend from Berlin out to Poland, along the Oder river border, and then back towards Berlin through the hills and along the canals. It’s just so damn pretty.
Crossed the river at one point just so I could say I rode my bike to another country.
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We planned the route home to go past the “ship lift” in Niederfinow. Turns out they’re building another one next to it!
Yeah, but I’ve been in a smaller city in Bavaria and had a few young-ish people refuse to speak English before.
More of a ‘I can’t be bothered now’ vibe than an ‘I resent you’ vibe.
Looks shitty. You probably hated it.
Hated all of it. Especially the mountain lake. But especially all the rest.
Totally brought the wrong bike. My rigid 29er would have been perfect. I always thought that it would be terrible for bike packing because it has zero braze-ons. But seeing all the gear that ortleib sent Marley, I realized that all of it just straps on. Maybe I’ll hose-clamp on a few bottle cages, but other than that, I just need frame and handlebar bags and I’ll be in business.
Definitely. Is that my old buttrocket you’re using? Aside from being heavy, it’s a pretty great design. I only had to get rid of it because it’s not ideal for small riders, and rubbed my tires when I have knobbies on. Between that, an Ortlieb frame bag and something for the handlebars, you should be able to carry everything you need on your hardtail.
Yeah, I’m gonna take it off Marley’s hands.
Currently looking for cast-off gear from other folks who have moved on the the coolest new stuff. Also interested in tire reccomendations.