More sun and more mountains, third day out on our little tour

On tour and sun and mountains!

I do most of my riding solo, or with my wife. Maybe once a month I’ll join a group ride with Potomac Pedalers, my local club. But, even with the club having ride speed categories, my natural riding speed is kind of a tweener – I usually end up doing a solo ride during the … Continue reading "Happiness is Group Rides Coming Back"

In addition to leaves changing color and chilly air, we know there are other signs of fall. Here is the first and only one of this kind I have seen for this season. This neither makes me happy nor sad, it is just there. But it is indeed early on the 20th day of September. … Continue reading "SOME PEOPLE JUST NEED TO BE EARLY"

Kind of cool today, could it be that the summer is really over? Do I really feel like going out for a ride today? Okay, Eddy, I’ll go for a ride, maybe just a short one, though. A short ride for Eddy Merckx was probably something like 100 km, and as far as I know … Continue reading "Happiness is … (19)"

I have said many times that riding with a group allows little to no stopping for photos. I made this one different. Riding along on the bike trail we came upon this and I just could not pass by without a photo. There are 13 of them. The others kept riding but I stopped — … Continue reading "HAPPY HIGHLIGHT OF THIS RIDE"

Much like Suzanne (and Scott) on September 15 (today) we have had 15 days of beautiful weather (plus we had a few at the end of August). Gorgeous for riding my bike. That streak will change this weekend, but we do need the rain. I have updated my blog to reflect on this half of … Continue reading "HAPPY ON MY BIKE IN SUNSHINE"

And here is some footage from our two days. Big thanks to Janos! Thursday: We meet – ride through Gauting – ride to Starnberg – arrive at the hotel Friday: Some sightseeting – ride to our beer garden – lunch

Knowing that others care about the ducks too… And Suzanne — we are having the same string of perfect weather!! ;’-).

I try to balance them out. If I am saddened by something, I keep my eyes peeled for something that can make me happy. I have, so far, been successful at doing this. Here are a few of those that I have come across over the past couple of days of riding. I am truly … Continue reading "HAPPY OR SAD, GOOD OR BAD (2)"

For some reason, putting a bike on a ferry makes me really happy. Even putting a car on a ferry is fun, but biking onto a ferry just always seems to make me smile. Recently, my wife and I spent a long weekend in Burlington VT and I rode the Island Line Trail, an awesome … Continue reading "Happiness is Putting An Old Form of Transportation on an Even Older One"

Happy or Sad, Good or Bad… ;’-) When something makes me smile, I suppose that means I am happy. So I will use that as criteria for “happiness”. What makes me smile about sunflowers, besides their bright and happy faces, is that they are so true to their name. I bet you can tell from … Continue reading "HAPPY OR SAD, GOOD OR BAD"

… when I get caught in the rain and have the right rain gear with me, the “rain legs”, rain jacket and rain cover for my cargo bag. … riding into Munich and finding new backgrounds for my bicycle portraits. I am hoping for 30 happy days on my bike in September. Let’s see how … Continue reading "Happiness is…"

I suppose you thought I forgot about my duties as Czar of the Cycle365 Challenge just because I’m out of town and I’m preparing for a bike tour. Perish the thought! In a way, the idea for this month’s challenge originated back in July. Remember when there was some discussion about seeing faces almost everywhere … Continue reading "The September Challenge"

We are on our 5 day adventure camping outing with the two grandboys: Etienne 7, Andre 4. They have their masks at the ready at all times, know when to use them, and never complain about them (good parenting). That is one sign of the times. When camping at Deception Pass State Park, we helped … Continue reading "A SIGN OF THE TIMES"

To see more of course, —- https://adventureswithnancyg.blogspot.com/ I did not think to take a photo until the food was partially gone! The photo of my bike on the bridge is to show that I had ridden there on my bike ;’-).. Sandwiches had already been selected by hungry tea drinkers, but there are a few … Continue reading "HIGH TEA TIME IN FLORENCE OREGON"

I won’t say much about it as this is almost an afterthought that I posted in my blog. But we are at a seaside fishing (and tourist) town of Bandon Oregon, so must have fish & chips ;;;’-) I had them packaged and strapped them to my bike rack — securely. Opened up at camp … Continue reading "FISH & CHIPS"

Being out on our adventures, there are few to no food related photos with my bike. You will see more photos of my ride along the Banks-Vernonia Bike Trail (near Portland Oregon) on my blog — https://adventureswithnancyg.blogspot.com/ — but here is my food photo for that day. Picnic for one… PBJ, apples, string cheese and … Continue reading "ONE LITTLE FOODIE PHOTO"

The most common non-German restaurants here are Italian. To be perfectly honest, Italian food is better than German food. They have much more than pizza and spaghetti, whereas the Germans stop at schweinebraten and sauerbraten more or less. Although as you might have noticed, we are fond of our local specialties here in Bavaria. The … Continue reading "Bella Italia"

I haven’t been on my bike much the past week – rain, jammed garage door, emergency dentist appointments with Janos. But we are back on track now. Went for a ramble in the countryside and finished up with a stop at the beer garden in Unterbrunn before we returned home. It’s a small beer garden, … Continue reading "Authentic Bavarian"

I have only a couple more days to ride around home before we will be gearing up and preparing for our next adventure. That means a few more solo rides this week. Nothing too exciting but lovely rides in the sun and warm weather as I enjoy the final weeks of summer around home. When … Continue reading "#3 FOR FOOD CHALLENGE"

You know how on a group bike ride it is not possible to stop for photos of your choice, but I did get a few on the way to and from the ride start, and one at a midway stop at the park. There is this local Ivars company — Chowder from company to shelf … Continue reading "SECOND POST FOR AUGUST FOOD"

First I will try to post a photo, if that works I will fix the blog link. OK — Looks like that worked so the 80 km little story should be here…. adventureswithnancyg@blogspot.com If that does not work I will try again. Food: Pre pie, cobble, smoothie and any other berry thing. It’s a little … Continue reading "MY FIRST FOOD ENTRY FOR AUGUST"

Let’s start with the kilometer thing. My birthday is on July 16 but I had no time anywhere near that date to try for an 80 kilometer ride. I mentioned my wish of doing that to a few of my riding buddies and they were keen to join me, but we had to do it … Continue reading "80 KILOMETERS, BARN QUILT, AND FOOD"

It is hard to tell by this photo, but the face is formed by sun dappling through the trees overhead as I roll along neighborhood roads. This next one is whatever — some kind of splatter it seems, and maybe use your imagination to see the face Smoking a pipe? Popped right out at me. … Continue reading "SUN DAPPLE AND SPLATTER FACES"

…you cannot always trust when I say it will be my last entry post for a challenge ;’-). Today’s ride brought these… Look closely — a tree face that is a little cockeyed. A face with a goatee —I in a driveway. And my favorite of this group — from the climbing wall at the … Continue reading "LIKE SUZANNE SAID…"

Feeling better about our short trip now and ready to post some more faces.

I think I have exhausted all the nearby faces, and since this will be my cycling arena for the remainder of the month, I call these my final entry. Unless they aren’t. ;’-) With the nose just out of joint… A dark face on the building… A little nose above a yawning mouth… At my … Continue reading "FACING UP TO IT — MY SWAN SONG FOR THIS CHALLENGE"

I never would have sold my recumbent to Jack if I had known he was going to allow just any-old-body to ride it! Only kidding!

I wrote this when I returned from Barbados in 1983, but didn’t see it again until 2021 when my sister discovered a long-forgotten copy while cleaning out our parents’ home after our father passed away. My brother drove from Virginia to California last week to hand-deliver the faded dot-matrix hardcopy. Read more at Bill Bikes

Now that we are back home (for a few weeks) I have begun my usual repetitive neighborhood rides. I was just bimbling along without thought really to find any faces or other things in my challenges. I feel kind of done with searching for things for the month. But, as we all know, these faces … Continue reading "ON MY WHATEVER RIDE"

That’s right, today I surpassed the stupidest stupidity of my stupid cycling career. Or maybe it was yesterday that I achieved the height of stupidity. I’m not exactly sure. Let me tell the story. The Feeshko and I drove back to Iowa yesterday. My dad had a medical appointment to keep and it was in … Continue reading "The Dumbest Thing I’ve Ever Done (and that’s sayin’ something)"

Yesterday, I drove to Elizabethtown, KY to order a tombstone for Jim. Whenever we went near that town, we’d drive past the place we had our Bike Fridays worked on. The mechanic was a BF dealer and was the best, but the last time we saw him, he was closing up shop and moving to … Continue reading "Not on one, but at least talking about bicycles"

Em is so right about faces now becoming ‘eye worms’!!! I keep looking at everything to find a face, but soon will stop dong that so to enjoy other things along my routes. Well, I most likely will not stop doing that! Dumpy… and Stumpy…

Upon saying goodbye to our camping friends, one of them had this hanging out and I just had to post it here ;’-). I will check in after we get back to Sarah’s and have normal wifi!!

We’ve had a lot of gloomy days this month and my upper GI tract is not amenable to being away from home much right now. But today was a gorgeous day – warm enough for pants and tshirt – so I forced myself out there and only ended up with one retching session. The secret … Continue reading "Trying to get on the board"

No wifi unless I catch it at a good time at the visitor Center. Even then it is very slow. I will not be able to make any comments on posts until after we return to Sarah’s in another day or two. Susan and I took a hike and I found a couple of faces. … Continue reading "AT A CALIFORNIA STATE PARK"

It looked like a stable grey and overcast day so we set out for a short ride. We reached Lake Starnberg, moseyed around a bit and then the skies opened up. What luck that we were standing outside a cafe and could grab a sheltered table. Timing is everything. When the rain more or less … Continue reading "Getting the Rain out of Our System"

Kind of grey and gloomy weather these days with lots of thunder storms and not so conducive to riding. But I have been getting out, if not as much as I would normally. As a matter of fact, we had planned a two-week tour starting today – and then canceled the whole thing. Just too … Continue reading "On the face of it"

I was granted an hour to ride while Susan would finish up at the hotel, drive Sarah home and begin packing the van. I was truly not interested in searching for anything on my short ride, but this first face was staring at me as I sat on a bench sipping some tea at this … Continue reading "I WAS NOT LOOKING FOR ANY FACES"

My disclaimer is that I have little to almost no control of what happens for the next few days. The Grands and their Dad came home with some sickness that we (Susan, Sarah and I) are trying to avoid. Thus, we three are holed up in a motel for (at least) two nights. Our camping … Continue reading "I DIDN’T MEAN TO LIE — MORE FACES"

I hope you can see the tilted face (two eyes and a nose, no mouth) and the outstretched leg and arm.

On Saturday, my wife I drove down to White Plains MD and rode one of our favorite Maryland rail trails – the Indian Head Rail Trail. We’ve done it before but not for several years. It is only 13 miles long but a beautiful surface, great views of wetlands and the Mattawoman Creek. We saw several … Continue reading "Indian Head MD Trail Trail: July 4th or Groundhog Day?"

The Feeshko, Diggity, The Reckless Mr. Bing Bong and I drove down to Iowa for the Fourth of July Weekend, which includes the birthday of American independence, and even bigger than that, the birthday of ME. It was an impromptu visit, motivated by an auto accident in which my dad was involved. He was very … Continue reading "THE NORTHEAST IOWA TOURISM BROCHURE FOR CYCLISTS: Part One"

Today was my favorite ride of all four I have done this week. Since it did take me through much the same areas as the other rides, I felt rather sure I would not find a face today. Perhaps these will pass. MAYBE A LITTLE “WALLEYED” EITHER RETRO OR FASHIONABLE SQUARE GLASSES, AND A BIT … Continue reading "FINAL ENTRIES FOR THIS WEEK (I THINK)"

I am able to get quite a few rides in here, but after tomorrow that will change as I will have little to no opportunity to ride very much for our final week away. We will be doing other activities with the Grands as we attend a planned camping outing. But today’s ride did bring … Continue reading "ABOUT (MORE) FACES"

On my Garceau on Wheels ride I did see a few faces. PERHAPS RELATED TO DARTH VADER… JOINED AT THE LIP… “DROP JAW GORGEOUS” ORIGINATOR SAW THIS PAINING AS I ARRIVED HOME… This photo is for Rich to show where that beer mug guy is located. Looks attached to some pipes. That is actually a … Continue reading "FACE 2"

Before I make a post with a few more faces, I will tell you about this experience I had. Yesterday was a warm one and the water in my camel back had warmed up quite a bit. So last night I tucked it into the garage fridge to start out with it quite cold and … Continue reading "A WHEELED GARCEAU — JUST IN TIME"

These are not nearly as good as Rich’s finds, but they are what I spied on my ride today. You may need to stretch your imagination a bit ;’-) BIG WIDE OPEN GRIN… A LITTLE CLOSE EYED AND LONG NOSED. MOUTH SAYIN OOOOOH. MAYBE WITH A COFFEE AT WORK… I think the shadow of my … Continue reading "FACES…"

I mapped out this ride from Sarah’s to specifically find what I could for the June Scavenger hunt. IV #17 STACK OF BRICKS (dubious at best ;’-)) IV #18 HOUSE WITH A TURRET IV #19 WATER TOWER Found the water tower in Old Town Elk Grove CA. I now concede to those who were successful … Continue reading "JUNE ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE"

Before I even come close to responding to some of you posts, I will post these three entries for July. And then a few duplicates. IV #14 SPORTS SCOREBOARD A CLOSER LOOK IV #15 BRICK ROAD IV #16 TEETER TOTTER That teeter totter is a lot different from the see saws we used to have, … Continue reading "JUNE #14, 15, 16"

Hi folks, Czar Greg here again. In the few short minutes since I posted “The River-Riding-Vulture-Fleeing-Eagle-Swooping Video Challenge,” I have gotten a flood of very negative feedback. I’ve been rudely reminded of my pledge not to make nearly impossible challenges. People have refused to participate in such a specific challenge. Some of them have promised … Continue reading "The NEW July Challenge"

Im certain I speak for all of us here at 365 welcoming Czar Gregory and VP Bing Bong An inspiring Inaugural Address!

Thank you for that fine introduction, Vice-Czar Bing Bong, and I thank all of you esteemed Cycle365-ers and citizens of the world for that warm welcome. I also want to thank you all for electing me to be your Czar of the Monthly Challenge. I am definitely excited to begin serving you in that capacity … Continue reading "Live From Minnesota: The Czar-Elect’s Inauguration Speech"

Just waiting for July and Greg’s new set of challenges Meanwhile just regular stuff type rides with  a few episodes worthy of note — maybe. Le Tour keeping the tote company before a ride across town to the park Did we have an ‘event’? Yes, we did After circling the park and heading back east, … Continue reading "Waitin’ for July . . . . Meanwhile. . . ."

Mini Liquor Bottle Banana??!! Electric SubstationPondFoot Bridge 80/80!  

IV #9 DOG HOUSE Susan thought this old time dog house as the best one, and I tried to get a better angle that would show it as such but feel I was not able to do that. Then I found this dog house that has no question. IV #10 ROAD HAZARD IV #11 GIANT … Continue reading "ROUND IV #9-13"

You all are way ahead of me, but I am now finally at our friends house where there is wifi and I can post some finds. I am going to do this in two posts. Knowing that I may need to ask permission to carry this month into July, I am trying to make up … Continue reading "ROUND IV #1-8"

Water Feature Just to the right of the heart is the reel lawnmower Gas Station Mail Deposit Boxes Service Truck

I am pretty sure I’ll get a foot bridge, a teeter-totter (we called them see-saws, and they have become rare) and a mini liquor bottle – but I don’t know about the darned dog house!

This morning I decided to take a ride up to Newfane. I thought my old town might be a good hunting ground for items on the list(s). I was right. Here we go! Just a quick story to kind of relate those last two photos together. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we lived in … Continue reading "Progress Is Being Made"

In the fairly recent past it was possible to go to “authors” and send a message to someone. That option seems to be gone. I am wondering if anyone has heard anything form Em. It has been months since she has posted or replied to anyone on here. That is not like her. Does anyone … Continue reading "MESSAGING PEOPLE"

III #16 ANIMAL On yesterday’s ride I thought this little cutsie needed a photo taken… Then today, as I biked into Everett to find my old weathered wall, I came across these, and was surprised to see goats so near town. Another item I was really having trouble finding was a kid’s trike. As I … Continue reading "AND NOW TO FINISH ROUND III"

I was going to post this as a place holder for ROUND I… Susan said maybe I could get by with posting this since I was on my bike when she showed it to me. But I said no, that will not do. I have been prepared to look for months on, until today happened. … Continue reading "I’M SO EXCITED, AND I JUST CAN’T FIGHT IT: REEEEEEL EXCITED"

When I decided I wasn’t going to find that reel lawn mower and stopped looking, I found it. Kind of a Zen thing. Maybe. Anyway, I rode past a large garden and home improvement center and decided to look around – for a reel lawn mower of course. Bingo!

Finally I sighted a trike. I was on the way to the supermarket and didn’t have my camera or phone with me. But as soon as I got back home and put away the groceries, I grabbed my camera, attached the best zoom I have and went out again for the picture. I was hoping … Continue reading "Do you like my trike?"

It took me forever to find this one! Phew, at least I don’t have to look at the ground all the time while riding now. While looking for the flattened can I discovered the most common jetissoned object is a face mask. In order to find a trike I think I’ll have to get off … Continue reading "III ’19"