On Monday, April 23, 2018 at 9:52:51 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Sunday, April 22, 2018 at 11:04:58 PM UTC+2, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, April 22, 2018 at 9:57:29 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-04-22 09:05, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, April 22, 2018 at 8:01:12 AM UTC-7, Joerg wrote:
On 2018-04-20 17:56, jbeattie wrote:


[...]


I ride through Willamette Park, and it has a gazebo-like thing in
it, but I this drone video misses it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUZxC_3gK_8 Take my word for
it, we have gazebos up the butt here in PDX.

If I go home on the east side, I can stop at an amusement park.
Top that! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoNyeMgVVtI Portland's
own Pismo Beach.


Ours is nicer 8-)

http://access.parks.ca.gov/parkpictu...omBealsPic.jpg

It is, but mine is on the way home from work.


So is Folsom Lake for me. My office is less than 100ft from our living
area so going to work won't require a bicycle for me. Beals Point is a
place I often go to on errand rides or training rides into the valley..
It costs a total of 2mi detour which is a drop in the bucket during a
40mi trip.


... If I want to go to a river destination, I go he
http://crimdom.net/photos/2017/colum...e/#montage.mp4


That is indeed pristine. We have to go up into the mountains or to
Yosemite to see waterfalls like that. Than can be achieved via bicycle
but it'll take a while.




... It definitely has a gazebo -- and a skating rink with a
mighty Wurlitzer! Cameron Park would die to have this kind of
action! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe3N39p8uSE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYsvZESoAuQ Couples to the
right!


Cool, he is playing while watch the pretty girls, doesn't even need
the sheet music.

Cameron Park also has its attractions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_sd0yoHsM8

No skating rink though but there is an open air one in Folsom
during winter, in the middle of old town where I regularly cycle
through.

And airplanes. What is has is a warm, dry climate and the Sierra up
the road. I'd be riding up there.


I generally don't unless it is singletrack. Most roads are narrow and
once in a while there is some expression censored blowing through at
breakneck speed in a lowered sports car or on a motorcycle. As if
nothing slow could ever be in the road. Like ... a climbing cyclist.
After the last comeuppance where a helmet with attached rider and
motorcycle flew by under my left elbow I had enough of that.


... Actually, riding through the area
years ago coming back from Tahoe, one of the worst climbs was on HWY
49 near Coulterville.
https://i.pinimg.com/600x315/7a/56/6...e3487b6377.jpg
Long and totally exposed -- after lunch, on a fully loaded touring
bike. I wasn't into it.


I never was. Long climbs are something I have always dreaded and just do
them when I have to. I never understood people like one of the guys I
sometimes ride with. He participated in the Death Ride several times and
actually enjoyed it. When we rode together he'd sometimes say "Oh, that
is a nice climb!" while I'd rather turn on some reggae on my MP3 player
and get it over with. The other sound I found helps with climbs is the
chouff-chouff of a steam locomotive which I also have on the player.

Why not just listen to the crickets or your tire on the pavement or the thoughts in your head. Blaring music in the wilderness should be a crime -- like littering.

Climbing is as miserable as you make it -- but the scenery can be spectacular, particularly in the Sierra. I've done the Death Ride a few times and most of the same passes on tours, and I never found the traffic to be that bad -- but that was years ago (and the roads are closed for the Death Ride). I was riding with my wife, doing a loop through Yosemite up to Tahoe and back, and at the top of Monitor Pass, some guy in a truck pulled over and gave me two cold cans of Coke. My wife was about five minutes back, and when she got to the top, I wowed her by producing two cold cans of Coke. That's a positive traffic memory. It was fortunate, too, because you're a long way from any water.

Climbing with my son today was miserable because I tried to keep him in sight and then blew-up. You do not get faster with age.

-- Jay Beattie.

Count your blessings. I have to fly 2-3 hours or drive 10 hours to enjoy the real climbing accompanied with spectacular scenery you have in your back yarden.
Picture during one of my rides during spring ahum trainingcamp last week in Spain:
https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1Q...LWZbFfcnE5St89
I suffered sometimes when it got steeper than 15% but the was forgotten fast.

Lou, the link doesn't work. I want to see the pictures!

My backyard has short-ish climbs in the 1-4 mile range, so you can do a lot of hill repeats. The Columbia River Gorge is 30-40 miles away -- it's great scenery with some longer climbs, but nothing epic. Way out at the dry end of the Gorge (well past my maximum bike-only cruising distance) the Rowena loops are cool -- but still not a lot of elevation gain. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6FeQqm_swo You can probably get that much elevation in Belgium.

There is good climbing up Mt. Hood -- which is long out and back mileage (beyond my old-age cruising distance now), and I usually drive for 20-30 miles and park. Great gravel, if you're into gravel. https://9c6b53ca9328df2f48cf-63062a4...t-Object-1.jpg

http://www.oregongravelgrinder.com/w...ull-36copy.jpg


The nearest climbing that is anything like the Alps, though, is north-east of Joergville in the California Sierra. Even the descents can be tough climbs. The back side of Ebbetts Pass is Pacific Grade which has some 20% sections and a really pretty alpine lake at the top. http://cyclepass.com/t_pca_Pacific_Grade_Summit.html

So. Cal has some top-10 US climbs, but the moon has prettier landscape. https://www.outsideonline.com/sites/...ey_0329212.jpg Go kill yourself on Onion Valley Road. Yechh. These days, I don't really like climbing for the sake of climbing. I do it for the scenery and often because its where there are the fewest cars.

-- Jay Beattie.