Well, if even Lednar is going to post a last day of the year ride, I guess I’d better too. First though, I’d like to offer my apology for backing out of active involvement in the community. Somewhere along the middle of our nine month tour of Europe I realized that maintaining that journal every day … Continue reading "Happy New Year from Tucson!"
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No, the surprise isn’t that I’m finally getting around to contributing something here again, though that’s surprising enough. Here we’ve been in England over a week now and I haven’t posted anything about it. And I haven’t even expressed my thanks to Greg for curating the challenge for the last year, or for Rich for … Continue reading "A Summer Solstice Surprise"
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Yeah, yeah, I know I’ve been doing a terrible job at offering up some birds for this month’s challenge. It’s not like I don’t have a few stored up, but I’m just getting behind. It’s not so easy being a vagabond cyclist, don’t you know? Eat, bike, blog, eat, sleep, repeat. It all takes time, … Continue reading "A meet-up in Burgundy"
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At least I think it’s a back kite, up there in the upper left soaring above the mountains. To be honest though I’m not really sure. I didn’t even notice it was in the picture at the time or I’d have zoomed in to be sure. No matter. It’s just an excuse to show you … Continue reading "A black kite in Annecy"
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Finally we’re done with graffiti and ready to move on to the May challenge. I’m sure Greg thought I’d never get with the program and will be forgiving, not noticing that this great white bird shot was taken on the last day in April, not May, on our ride to Chambéry.
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After all this time I’m still terrible with the French language. I’m still struggling with the basics, like simple pronunciation. So I thought Claix was pronounced to rhyme with checks, and was pleased with the cleverness of my rhyming title for this post, something Greg would undoubtedly be proud of me for. But no, Claix … Continue reading "Claix collects graffiti too"
Read MoreI see another problem cropped up, I think yesterday, from a new version of the enhanced comment plugin. It looks like there is a version compatibility issue with this plug-in and the version of PHP the site runs on. I’m not sure, but I suspect this has prevented you all from commenting on posts. I … Continue reading "No Comment?"
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What a promising title for a pop song! I did the hard part; now all we need is a composer/lyricist team. This is two days late for the April wall art/graffiti challenge, but under the extenuating circumstances (namely, the lack of a functioning website) I’m confident that our current Challenge Czar will grant a waiver … Continue reading "They’ve got an awful lot of Graffiti in Grenoble"
Read MoreIt works!
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First, to clear up some possible confusion, since some of you may have had high school physics or chemistry and already be familiar with valence. We’re talking today about Valence, not Valence. It’s a small city in France on the Rhone river; and being French, it has a French pronunciation. Something like Vahlawnce, maybe. Anyway … Continue reading ""
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So I’m not doing so hot on this month’s challenge. I totally failed on the four elements, although I did have my eyes open for it. I saw smoke a few times, but apparently it’s not always the case that where there’s smoke there’s fire. I’m finally on track with this graffiti thing though. Here’s … Continue reading "On not rising to the challenge"
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That fiendish Czar, he’s gone too far. I’m not a bard, it’s just too hard! Until this Causse I’m at a loss-a But this grand Cirque drives me berserk. I’ve found my rhyme, and just in time! That isn’t dull, men; it’s a dolmen! There are no men here, just this Menhir!
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Well, probably not the last fence in France, since we’ve still got a few more months ahead of us in this country before hopping the English Channel to the UK. But it is the last fence we’ll see in France in March, and hence the last for this month’s challenge. So we might as well … Continue reading "The last fence in France"
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I’m not sure this qualifies, but we’re running out of days in this challenge so I’m working with what I’ve got. We crossed over into France today through a minor pass in the Pyrenees. It’s an odd crossing – on the Catalonian side, a well maintained road leading right to the summit; and on the … Continue reading "A gateway to France"
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Some of you may have heard of Cadaqués, or even been there. It’s a coastal town on the Costa Brava (the wild coast), not far from the French border. A bit out of the way, but very scenic. It’s probably best known for its history as an artists community in the last century, and especially … Continue reading "A fence in Cadaqués"
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So this one is definitely a fence; unless it’s really just a safety barrier. If it’s not a fence though, it’s still a pretty darned nice view as we look back at Tossa de Mar one last time on our ride to Palamós. And, it’s solstice; though you wouldn’t know it from the conditions which … Continue reading "A fence on solstice"
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Now that I think about it again I’m not sure that an 800 year old stone wall actually counts as a fence. It certainly seems like a barrier though, which is also included in the scope of the challenge. The featured photo is of the walls of the fortress at Tossa de Mar on the Catalonian … Continue reading "The Great Fence of Tossa de Mar"
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Well, we’re only a day late; but we’re still unpacking here in Barcelona after our short hop, skip and jump across the Atlantic. We weren’t ready to get the bikes out on the day itself, but the day after found me out with one – walking Rachael’s bike down to the nearest LBS to replace … Continue reading "The Late Saint Patrick"
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Another day, another outbuilding – this one near Irish Bend down south of Corvallis, where we’re hiding out for a few days. Frustratingly though there’s still no bike in the picture so I’m still technically scoreless in this month’s challenge. There were extenuating circumstances though: I was intimidated by a snarling German Shepard that seemed … Continue reading "Blame it on the dog"
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Well, I’ve failed again. I found a few outbuildings yesterday on Sauvie Island, but could I remember to pose a bicycle or a foot or a kayak in front of even one of them? Is that too much to ask, really? But NOO. Sorry, Challenge Czar. I’ve failed you again, and I feel terrible about … Continue reading "Out(buildings) on Sauvie Island"
Read MoreThis unpleasant post has been a long time coming. We haven’t mentioned it before, but for the past month we’ve been working with the vendors that support the site trying to resolve failures in backing it up. These failures began perhaps two months ago. After successfully running scheduled backups nightly for about a year, they … Continue reading "Announcement: backup failures"
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This challenge was two easy! The hardest part was getting myself out the door on this two cold day. Looking around the country though, I’m not sure I have much to complain about. At least it was sunny here in Portland today and just above freezing, though the 15 mph wind did have a bite … Continue reading "Super Twosday"
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I don’t know. I’m just not getting this STUVW thing, or JKLMN, or whatever. It’s a pretty simple rule, I admit – take a letter and progress through the alphabet for four more. I’m actually quite good on the alphabet but I seem to have trouble remembering where to start. M? Mmm, close; but no, … Continue reading "Still stuck in the past"
Read More(I have no idea what this means, but it came to me in a dream last night. Maybe someone can explain.) It’s Saturday afternoon and Aaron, Bobby, Chico, Dodd and Ernie meet up on the Big Green. The air is tense as they wait for their rivals to appear. They’re late in coming, but finally … Continue reading "Game day"
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I’m always behind, it seems. January’s long gone now, and finally along comes a short but interesting chimney worth writing home about. Where were you last month when I needed you I call up to it, but there’s no answer. And how could there be? It’s just a pile of bricks, mortar and lichen. No … Continue reading "A week late, a chimney short"
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Finally! I thought the new challenge would never arrive. Now that it’s here, let me be the first and present you with this impressive proboscis from a sea elephant we observed on our ride up the coast to Ragged Point yesterday.
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Frustrating that we’re several hours into a new month already and still don’t know what the new challenge is. Where’s the leadership? C’mon, Challenge Czar! I’m sure everyone else is as impatient about this as I am. In the meantime, while we all wait for Mr. Tough Guy to get to work, here are some … Continue reading "Where’s the challenge?????"
Read MoreAs you all know of course, we lost the use of Cycle365 for several days. Rocky has been working with our host provider to resolve the situation, and fortunately they have been very responsive and helpful. It’s entirely due to them that we’re up and running again so quickly. They’re still working with us to … Continue reading "Security breach"
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We’re shacked up in Borrego Springs now, surrounded by sand and creosote but precious phew chimneys. I thought I’d spotted an odd one of the horizontal ilk on our ride east to the Salton Sea, but now that I look again I think I was wrong. Phap.
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We’ve only got a few days left of our stay here in Tucson before we start working our way back to Portland. I’d about given up on finding anything new for this month’s challenge until stumbling across this chimney in the Barrio Anita on my return, just a few blocks from home.
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For some reason I thought the chimney challenge would be a snap, imagining that Tucson would be crammed with colorful and interesting chimneys. I’d never actually looked around with that in mind though, and once I did I was in for a deep disappointment. Nearly every home here has some short, blah stub that barely … Continue reading "Chimney, chairs, & cheer"
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No? Oh, Scheisse! Gneiss then? Nice! I’ve spent an unproductive few days watching for another interesting chimney here in Tucson without success, so I’ll have to move on to a different subject. There’s actually not much to satisfy the challenge in this post other than the shadows, shelter, sharp objects and cholla that you see everywhere … Continue reading "Is it schist?"
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Actually, those aren’t cholla – they’re some variety of prickly pear – but I like cholla because it starts with ch-, one of the magic digraphs for the month. Also I like it because it allows me to raise an important point, with apologies if it’s already been raised before but I haven’t been reading … Continue reading ""
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We’ve had a good run of interesting wildlife viewings here in Tucson – a six pack of peccaries, stilts in triplicate – but I don’t think anything will top yesterday’s experience when I biked my age in miles. We stopped on the trail to admire the roadrunner jerkily working his way through the cholla and … Continue reading "Quietly Persistent Roadrunner"
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Are uncannily and triplicated even real words? We’ll see what the reigning Challenge Czar has to say about it. More importantly, have I lost track and used STU already in an Alphabet Quest submission? I hope not, because I think you’ll like this photo of a black stilt, his reflection and his shadow that I … Continue reading "Uncannily Triplicated Stilt"
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It’s serendipitous when the dictates of the reigning Challenge Czar coincidentally coincide with my own interests of the moment; such as today, when I’m happy to see that my latest Alphabet Quest entry begins with Q, the hot letter de jour. I’ve had this sequence in mind for awhile, and finally found what I was … Continue reading "Quaint Religious Structure"
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I love setting my own rules for how to interpret the alphabet game. My primary self-imposed rule is to describe a photo with three words beginning with consecutive letters of the alphabet. But I’m quite certain that I didn’t stipulate that the three words needed to be in any order. It’s a good thing, too. … Continue reading "Keen Javalina Lineup!"
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Such a mortification. My latest solution to the Alphabet Quest felt like a stretch – Sleek Transport Vessel, for the ferry back from Coronado after circling San Diego Bay? I wasn’t that sold on ‘sleek’ for this ferry, but nothing better came to mind. If I hadn’t been focused so much on that, I wouldn’t … Continue reading "Scooter Trips Up!"
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(A note from the management: the site isn’t going away, and if it seems to work properly as long as you use the https// access, Tuere’s no imminent need to change anything. We just want to step back from responsibility for repairing what’s broken). We’re in hog heaven, biking up Hog Canyon on one of … Continue reading "Failed Grape Harvest?"
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By now, any of you that have attempted to use the site within the last 48 hours are aware that it’s experiencing significant technical difficulties. We’ve heard from most of the active users either directly or through Bill, and we’ve experienced them ourselves. And actually, at least one of these issues has been apparent to … Continue reading "Cycle365, its issues, and Team Anderson’s issues"
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No bicycling here, but I’ve been assured that hikes are now welcomed so this should qualify. We stopped off at Point Lobos on the drive from Petaluma to San Luis Obispo, making our way to Tucson in five easy pieces. Point Lobos is a beautiful place for a walk, with plenty of interest no matter … Continue reading "Neatly Ordered Pelicans"
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Today is our last day in Portland for awhile – we’re moving south in the morning – and I was hopeful that I could bet one more challenge entry in before we leave town. I set off in the cold to Kelly Point, confident that I’d find the fencepost I’d imagined would be there. As … Continue reading "Deeply Etched Fencepost"
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Portland definitely is struggling through some negatives lately, but if you admire trees it’s still a fine place to hang out. For some reason the great, majestic elm in Overlook Park has become my favorite tree in town. Why this specific tree? No obvious reason I suppose, other than the fact that it stands so … Continue reading "Completely Defoliated Elm"
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I have to give the creative Mr. Garceau a lot of credit and respect. Month after month he’s coming up with new ideas that keep us motivated and moving. Doesn’t Ever Fail! Really Strange Though. Absolutely Bonkers Character, I think sometimes. He has one Great Honkin’ Imagination, that’s for sure. So I don’t know if this … Continue reading "Ball-Chasing Dogs"
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I can see that this is going to be an addictive challenge. I’m finding myself biking along with a series of letters running through my head trying to think up a plausible combination I might actually see. ABC is easy enough though, as I quickly discovered on my Metric Birthday Ride. We’ll see how hard … Continue reading "Assertive Black Chicken"
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I know, I know. I’m a fair weather cyclist, and quite happily so. At 75 (or nearly anyway), I feel entitled to pick my days. We’ve already got one Storm Chaser on the website after all, and who needs another? So, pretty uninteresting weather to report here, but it makes up for it by being … Continue reading "Sauvie Sunday, again"
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For us there have been many wonderful benefits from selling our home and going vagabond almost four years ago. One negative though is that there are some excellent rides near home that we used to enjoy often and in all seasons but now may experience only once or twice a year. Sauvie Island is like … Continue reading "Foggy Sauvie Sunday"
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After a few days of dense jet-lag induced fog, I’m happy to report that more interesting weather has finally returned. There’ll plenty of more interesting weather ahead in the coming days back here in Portland, but we got a break from the rain today wide enough for a cruise out Marine Drive.
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The day surprises us when we wake up in Rome this morning. Weather again! The streak continues! Even better, the weather is fair. We’d come to the Eternal City as the best place to sit out an expected string of rainy days, but instead there’s all of this sun streaming in our window. Monuments and … Continue reading "The streak continues"
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Well, this is good news! When we open up Weather.com today it shows that there will be weather on a daily basis for the next two weeks! It’s too soon to say what will occur beyond that, but if things go well we can expect weather for the rest of the month. So, odds are … Continue reading ""
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Nope, it’s not November yet. You must have set your clocks ahead by a day when you meant to set it back an hour. Easy to do, a rookie mistake. So here, still back in Octoberland, we have one final offering in the Dress Up Your Bike Challenge: a Jolly Roger in Portoferraio, Napoleon’s home … Continue reading ""
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OK,Greg. Now I feel really bad. Here’s one last post for the October challenge, to help bring the team up to quota. PLEASE DON’t GO! Today’s post is from a ride from two weeks ago, our ride to Acqui Terme, an interesting hot spring spa in the Italian Piedmont region. The decorated bike shot is … Continue reading "Guide bikes"
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So, good so far. Our challengemaster is grudgingly cool with posts about someone else’s bike, and with toon bikes. How about implied bikes? This submission of a brown marmorated stink bug that hopped on the back of my bike during our lunch break on our ride to Bassano del Grappa surely will be greeted with … Continue reading "An implied bike?"
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So let’s test this slippery slope a bit further and see how far we can slide. A decorated bike but not your own squeaked past the judge’s table without getting the hook. How about toon bikes? You’d think this particular judge would look approvingly on this, but one never knows. Who knows why these fish … Continue reading "Fish on bikes!"
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Thanks to Suzanne for slapping me beside the head and pointing out that I could post submissions for this month without decorating my own bike, something that’s not quite in my comfort zone for some reason. So today, from the Italian Piedmont region, I can offer up this wonderful vegetable stand we passed by on a … Continue reading "Vegetable stand"
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So what’s the most uplifting thing we saw today? So much to choose from: cows, a pigeon, sheep, a lovely young lady on her bike taking her pony for a walk? The thirteenth straight day of fine cycling weather? Maybe seeing a Bixnmacherie, which of course we all know is a Bavarian ritual to shower … Continue reading "Spoiled for choice"
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Well, you already knew what a fine visit we had with Suzanne and Janos. That was old news yesterday, so it’s really old news today. You’ve even seen video for the second day already, because Suzanne has been so hot to post first and hog all the attention. if you’ve still got any attention left … Continue reading "Gals and gulls"
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By now you know that at long last we met up with Suzanne and Janos yesterday and again today. I feel remiss in seeing that Suzanne has already posted three times about our visit these last two days, and we’re finally getting around to our first one. We have our excuses though: the WiFi in … Continue reading "Some old news"
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Two storks in the field, naturally. We know they’re around the region in the summer but had about concluded they’d all flown south for the winter when we found these two on the way to Dinkelsbuhl. The highlight of the day.
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Happiness is finding yourself in Rothenburg ob der Tauber with your perfectly matched partner.
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If we don’t count the political arena and that forty percent of our country has gone stone cold crazy I don’t get sad or angry that often; but I’ll be on the watch for the next time and let you know about it. In the meantime though we have so many things to be happy … Continue reading "Lunch buddies"
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If being in Bacharach doesn’t pop at least a few ear worms into your head, you don’t know your Bacharach. Biking down the Rhine as we left Bacharach I had three of his infectious tunes rotating through my head as we hoped the rain would hold off until we reached our next hotel. We did … Continue reading "Leaving Bacharach"
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We’ve heard from the best authorities that wallabies make a great snack, so we were excited to spot one on our ride to Hasselt. Unfortunately it was safe behind a chain link fence, and we couldn’t find any on the menu when we cruised the restaurants for dinner. We’ll keep watching though.
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We’re staying in Belgium for the first few days of our tour, but it’s close enough to the border that we were able to bike to Hulst in the Netherlands on a day ride. I’d wondered how we’d find food in the Netherlands, but an Italian pannenkoek (pancake) for lunch was quite nice. There’s a … Continue reading "Pannenkoek: our Dutch word of the day"
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You’ve seen by now that there’s been another Cycle355 meetup, so this is very old news. Still, as BobinVT pointed out, we tend to take more photos so here are a few more to throw in the hopper, if you check out our ride to Lakeville. As a bonus, there’s food for the monthly challenge, … Continue reading "Meeting BobinVT in NY"
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I just want to see if I get the same error Nancy has been frustrated by. We took a great hike from Middlebury to Otter Creek Gorge yesterday. We saw thousands of mushrooms, some of which probably count as food if you’re educated about such things. I’m not though, and don’t care to test my … Continue reading ""
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Somehow I always find Greg’s challenges confusing. Inspired, but confusing. But then, I get confused easily – that’s a problem with having a fossilized brain, I guess. So are we supposed to complete three posts this month to get a passing grade? And are they supposed to be spaced out with one in each ten … Continue reading "Preliminary practice picnic post"
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Yes, I know that this was last month’s challenge and that I’m three weeks late. I was so excited to come across a push mower in Ithaca with its pushee attached that I had to post it. Ithaca, btw, is a wonderful place in case you didn’t know that already. Rocky and I have spent … Continue reading "A late scavenger hunt entry"
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We’re seeing entirely too many cheerful, grinning faces here. This character here brings some balance, looking like his wallet is about to be fleeced as he reaches for the sky in Buffalo. Look at those big eyes! He looks terrified.
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The Erie triangle is a virtual pareidolia hotbed, now that I know what I’m looking for. I like today’s discovery after our ride to Presque Isle (Pennsylvania’s version – it turns out Michigan and Maine also have their own Presque Isle). He looks so cheerful, his mug brimming with hydrangeas. Or maybe he’s crazed, with … Continue reading "Still eerie in Erie"
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We’ll, maybe not so eerie. Definitely strange though, seeing this dude with a butch haircut looking sly with his downcast, hooded eyes. But that’s to be expected in the Erie Triangle. Definitely a wierd place.
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Yes, I know I’ve been a pretty faithless participant last month. Planning our tour, biking our tour and blogging our tour is pretty time consuming, especially when you factor in time for eatin’ and drinkin’. I’m trying to get my head around the idea of seeing faces in strange places, but I don’t think I’m … Continue reading "With a little help from my friends"
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I have to admit that it gripes me just a bit that Greg rushed to get his post out first and claimed the silo that —> I <— spotted first (regardless of what he claims) as a scavenger hunt trophy. Not exactly playing the good host. On the plus side, I think I’m entitled to … Continue reading "An interesting roadside find"
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How nice to end the month with a few firsts for the passing Challenge, on my hike to experience Barbara Walker Crossing, the colorful new bridge across Burnside that joins two sections of the Wildwood Trail. I know it’s a new subject because I’ve never seen it before. Likewise Flanders Crossing, the other new bridge … Continue reading "A few last firsts"
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I’ve been keeping a pretty low profile for awhile – partly because I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t figured out how to restore the missing sign-in function that mysteriously disappeared awhile ago. Mostly though it’s because our calendar has been pretty full making the most of our remaining days in Portland before we hit the … Continue reading "Catching up"
Read MoreMaybe you’ve noticed that the sign-in block is missing from the post, so it isn’t obvious how you can sign in now. If you’re not signed in, you can’t comment or add new posts, so this is important. I have no idea what happened here, but it looks like some sort of automatic update was … Continue reading "A new feature: the missing sign-in function"
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An old subject: an old brick silo, and a pretty old dump truck parked in its window. Old, but new to me – I’m pretty sure I’ve never taken a photo of this or any dump truck parked in a silo window before. also, maybe this qualifies: I’ve photographed lambs before, but not THIS lamb. … Continue reading "Something old, something new"
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It’s still April! Just time enough to squeak in a final submission for the sound challenge. My mother was for many years an advisor for the Art Department at the University of Washington. She was (still is!) artistic and interested in art. One of her favorite modern artists when I was growing up was the … Continue reading "Twittering Machines"
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Rich pointed out a problem I had noticed myself but had been to lazy to do anything about – the function that allows you to edit your own comments no longer works. It looks like it’s working – it opens up the edit box, you can modify and save your comment, but the comment isn’t … Continue reading "Simple Comment Editing"
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Well, the jury has returned with the verdict that the April challenge theme is the worst idea I’ve presented here since proposing that we all go take photographs of children two years ago. In spite of Greg’s heroic efforts to breathe life into it, I think we can agree that this was an unsound proposal. … Continue reading "Sounds like it’s time for a change!"
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We’re back home again, waiting out a couple of months until it’s time to head east on our next tour. Two months is too long to shut down completely, so I invented a quest to ride many of the hills around town and take videos of the descents as an excuse to keep the blog … Continue reading "The Greater Portland hill Quest"
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We returned to Portland a few nights ago, and are settling into our new home of the moment: a condo unit in our old neighborhood, just a short walk from many of our favorite old familiar places. I was happy with it already, but really became sold on it when I realized that the crows … Continue reading "Our noisy neighbors"
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Who knows why grebes dance? Just because it’s spring, I suppose. Or maybe they finally got vaccinated and can feel the lure of the open road. There’s sound in here, but it’s pretty faint – mostly just the wind, the nearby blackbirds, and the grinding of a zoom lens that’s starting to give out on … Continue reading "The dance of the grebes"
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And now for something completely different, let’s bring a new sense into the challenge: sound. My apologies for those who are hard of hearing or are unable to create an audio file, but it’s only fair – we didn’t make special provisions for the color blind amongst us when we announced the Kodachrome challenge or … Continue reading "April 2021 Challenge of the month: colorful sounds"
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It’s hard to feel let down on the first day of spring, but here we are. It’s all the fault of Rich-Illinois – if he didn’t make such a big thing about seeing your shadow on the equinox, I wouldn’t have minded that it was overcast today in Moab for probably the first time in … Continue reading "An equinoctial letdown"
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We’re out of Color Country now and have moved on to the southeast corner of Utah – Canyon Country – which, surprise surprise, is still pretty darn colorful. We’ll get back on the bikes again soon but for now we’re still on foot when we’re not driving. Today’s hike through Natural Bridges National Monument is … Continue reading "Natural Bridges"
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We’ve finally moved on from our stay in Saint George. We had other plans for where to wander next, but a late winter cold front dropped snow to the valley and convinced us that we should avoid the high routes east. Instead we booked two nights in Springdale, the small town at the entrance to … Continue reading "Back to Zion"
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It seems odd to find a bike route in Utah called simply ‘Utah Hill’. Why this hill specifically, when there are thousands to choose from? Maybe it’s because it’s near the Arizona border and it’s the first ridge you would cross climbing out of the Mojave Basin before they blasted a blasted freeway through the … Continue reading "Utah Hill"
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I’m feeling badly about this month’s challenge, and owe an apology to my compatriots to the north and down under. Pretty thoughtless and self centered to declare this Kodochrome month while we’re in Color Country and most folks are still stuck with a pallet of grey, white and brown. Oh well. What’s done is done. … Continue reading "Zion in black and white"
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For a change of pace from biking through the endless colorful panorama of southwest Utah, we decided to take a walk today. Rocky found a fine hike for us, one close enough at hand that we could just start from our front door: The Zen Trail. We were still surrounded by spectacular views everywhere … Continue reading "On the Zen Trail"
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The BLM (Bureau of Land Management) is a major stakeholder in Utah, having responsibility for over 23 million acres of public lands. They divide the state up into five districts: We’re in Color Country for the next ten days, and then will move on to stays in the Paria River, Canyon Country and Green River … Continue reading "In Color Country"
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As Suzanne tactfully noted, we’ve been tardy in posting the challenge for the new month. Those of you down under have been in March for several hours already and are undoubtedly champing at the bit, impatient for your marching orders. Well, your long wait is over. Champ no longer, champs. In our defense, we’ve been … Continue reading "Challenge of the month, March 2021: Kodachrome"
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You’ll of course remember Old Grumbleface’s excellent adventure nearly two years ago, when he carried his Ogre up four miles of sand to Fonts Point. It’s definitely well worth the effort to get thee to Fonts Point, with its stupefying views of the Borrego Badlands. But by bicycle? Rereading his post, we realized we had to … Continue reading "Fonts Point, another way"
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The Borrego Badlands! That certainly sounds hazardous enough, doesn’t it? It conjures up images of contorted, sandy draws where you could lose your way in a maze and die a lonely death, sun-baked and parched under the hot desert sun; or be attacked by bandits holed up just around the next bend who would torture … Continue reading "The Borrego Badlands"
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Today’s post comes to us thanks to Bill, who posed this question to me yesterday: What do you think about merging Cycle365 and CycleBlaze? It seems like there’s an awful lot of cross-over between the two. If Jeff is amenable to having day rides at what I think was intended to be a touring site, … Continue reading "CycleBlaze/Cycle365?"
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I feel so full of sympathy for the northerners right now, with harsh, brutal conditions holding reign over most of the country. If I were living in Vermont or Illinois or Minnesota or Washington (or even Kentucky, amazingly enough), I certainly wouldn’t be out biking right now either, and probably wouldn’t be out walking any … Continue reading "Organ Pipe National Monument"
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I’m sure I’ve pointed out that the desert is rife with hazards. Yesterday’s hike in the Mule Mountains outside of Bisbee is a good case in point. It’s pretty rugged terrain, with risks everywhere you look: treacherous footing, rockfalls, getting lost, getting punctured, you name it. You can’t let your guard down for a minute.
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Who dreamed up this month’s challenge, anyway? Suddenly I’m seeing risks everywhere that I never gave much thought to before, and starting to feel paranoid. Our climb up Mount Lemmon yesterday was just one hazard after another: precipitous cliffs, falling rocks, goblins, ice, heart attack? Terrible. Awesome descent though. For additional photos of this climb, … Continue reading "A mountain of hazards"
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Mine fields, dinosaurs, ice picks and giant scorpions are all terrifying reminders of what a scary world we live in. This ghost bike on a straight stretch on an open road in Madera Canyon is a sobering reminder though of where the real threats lie. As if any of us needed reminding.
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This is too funny. It seems like just yesterday (well actually, it was just yesterday) that I was bemoaning the lack of interesting hazards down here and speculated that we might be seeing rattlers or Gila monsters roaming the earth soon. Be careful what you wish for, as we found on our ride to Colossal … Continue reading "Desert hazards, continued"
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