Ride Lugged

So a couple of week-ends ago we took an adventure to the Czech “Arches” national park. It was our first anniversary, and we got married in the US Arches N.P., so it seemed appropriate.
It actually is the largest natural arch in Europe, about 90 minutes north of Prague, in a national park in an area called Czech Switzerland (no lie.) Strangely it is a similar sandstone, but not quite as dry.

Anyway, I hear its pretty!
I wouldn’t know. It rained as hard as it could, while we were there, with fog and cold to boot.
We had a nice long hike in the rain because we (read, my wife) are stubborn, and were going to see something pretty, damn it. In the end the fog lifted enough for us to see the arch. Plus being an old country, there has been a sizable lodge built at the base of the arch for about 250 years. And being in the Czech Republic, it houses a fairly nice cafe-pub in the backcountry. The only way up is a solid 90 min hike up an old rocky road. You could probably make it on a nice all wheel drive 4 wheeler, but it would be some pretty sketchy scrambling along the cliff side. I’m sure horse was the preferred means of travel until the last 20 or so years. There is also a sketchy freight cable car to haul goods up, (read, kegs of beer) that an occasional lazy beermaid may have snuck up in.

So we stopped for a beer, some hot tea and chocolate and some almost warm fruit dumplings. It was nice to warm up and dry off before setting back into the rain for another couple hours hiking in the rain. Plus the moisture and sand did my boots (already nearing the end of their life) in, and I got to render a trailside repair on them with some pallet staples that I pillaged from the lodge.

good times!
-c&v

Ok, I wanna come down for this, (John, thanks for the tip):

From thebikesite.org:

September 30th, 9am. Harder than the last time, but just as much fun.

Details:
In 1903 the first Tour de France was held. The roads were rough and unpaved. For this ride we’ll seek out the same conditions. We’ll head north through rolling hills and countryside before turning west and up the mountain where you can expect gravel, ruts, bumps and plenty of climbing. From there we’ll work our way south along the ridge in search of more unpaved roads before working our way back through the city of Frederick. Fixed gear bikes not required but since that’s all they rode in the first TdF we encourage you to suffer like those early pioneers. Heck, fill your water bottles with wine just like those guys did and make it a party. There will be one place to refill water or food before we hit the mountain portion. This ride will be tougher than the version 1 1903 ride. Pace of the ride will be moderate, cue sheets will be provided in case you aren’t able to keep up. Recommended tires of 28mm or larger for the rough stuff. The route is being finalized but should be approximately 60 - 65 miles.   From a recent email from Joe:  I’m hoping to tweak the route and finalize today.  This is it so far, but I will alter it slightly to trim the fat.  I did this a few weeks ago. All I can say is Debold rode hurt bad
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/1903-v2

Currently the route has 4400+ ft. of climbing, that should be reduced slightly, when I make changes, but it’s pretty close.

We’ll be starting at The Bicycle Escape / Five Guys parking lot on Monocacy and Rt. 26.

The Octoberfest is at the fairgrounds that day so I’m going to try and get people to head over there afterwards for post ride recovery food and drink.

Sounds like an unhomicidal version of the D2R2. I hear Starmer is tentatively down. Gary? Rob? Mark? Christine? John claims to know the shortcuts/bailouts.

so riding home from work the first week of August, a guy in a vw golf was double parked then decided to whip a u-turn when i was about to pass him.

anyway i decided to pull a superman. with a nice tuck and roll, i walked away. scrapes and bruises and as i later found out a broken rib. still waiting for the results of the police investigation to determine if he made a turn without looking or signaling, or if passed a turning vehicle.

i think i side with the former.
it didn’t really shake me up too bad. but killed my atmos (which did its job and cracked up well) and the poor bike.

Lugged steel bends, not breaks. I haven’t ridden it since, but got a longer axle to crown cross fork to make up for the steepened head angle (look at those nicely deformed top and down tubes.) I’ll give you a heads up on the new ride quality when I put it back on the road.

I was kinda waiting for a settlement, but we’ll see. I’ve been back on the moots for 4 weeks or so, but have yet to get back into riding everyday or so.

OK, all is well here now.
Hopefully the same wherever you are riding.

remember, keep the rubber side down!
-cory

i spent a week in the alps based in Torino and all i brought you is this one lousy teaser photo!

ok, so i have tons more pics. and i’ll post them eventually, i swear.

so it begins.  another season of stupid quotes, from the minds of our future leaders, scientists and hotel clerks.

‘My taste in music is very lucrative.’

i wish my cd collection made me fist fulls of cash.

“Throughout the years, he has accumulated several antique cameras dating back to the early 1970’s”

the 70s? antique?

‘To take a trip back in time when I was a small child all of eight years of age,’

that’s akward.

‘What a pressing interrogation for a child of such adolescence! I never was a being of simple thought.‘

as is that.

“ I consider myself a well rounded girl.”

hmm…

‘In the past, junior year of high school, I was able to grow an afro large enough to fit 33 pens in my hair without any of them falling out. ‘

no comment

So I finally got the Redline out and my bunnyhop measuring thingy to see how high I could get that tank. Check it out.

This is over the 19 inch measurement on the posts…I think with some refinement to my technique I could clear quite a bit more. The bike isn’t even tucked up into my chest yet. I think though that I need some more arm strength to really pull that thing up into a tucked position to clear say, maybe 6 more inches. I’ll play around with this and post some more pics if I get any higher.
Here’s the video of my hop.
Bunnyhop