Tuesday, May 11, 2010

If Seven Riders Go on a Nice Ride, and At Least Five Don't Blog About It, Did the Ride Really Happen?

On May 1 I joined a group organized by fellow Rough Rider Dustin Sharp for a 42-mile adventure in eastern San Diego County (near Mount Laguna, of course) with 5600 feet of elevation gain. Officially, it was a ride of the "Southern California Rivendell Appreciation Society." We spent six hours out there, four of them actually riding (with a route this unusual and in the back-country, you have to regroup often so that some riders don't end up as vulture dinner.) The route was a version of the ride we did out there on July 5, 2009, except this version had even more dirt: about 80% of the May 1 ride was off-pavement, some of it on true "mountain bike trails" with rock gardens, mud, single-track, portages, and more. But of course, I cycled 99.7% of it. I want to thank Dustin for putting together this fine route and organizing and promoting the ride. It's nice to not be in charge! It's also nice to not have to write up a comprehensive blog report and post tons of photos, since Dustin, along with Esteban Del Rio, Sky Boyer, and David Estes already did such a fine job of it!

Here's my favorite shot, taken by Dustin Sharp: Yours truly (L) with Sky Boyer, the proprietor of Velo Cult and a bike racer since the age of 9. He rode his first century at the age of ten and competed on the track, plus mountain bike, cyclocross, and road. We had lots to talk about. (I rode my Rivendell Roadeo with 700x33.3mm Jack Brown tyres, while Sky rode his Mark Nobilette demountable - it breaks in half for travel - with 650Bx40mm Grand Bois Hetre tyres. Wool jerseys by Woolistic.):
For Dustin's Garmin download (map, stats, and more), click here.
For Dustin's report on his Paleo Velo blog, click here.
For Dustin's Flickr page of photos from this ride, click here.
For Esteban's report on his Velo Flaneur blog, click here.
For Esteban's Flickr page of photos from this ride, click here.
For Sky's report (all images) on the Velo Cult blog, click here.
For David Estes AKA "Cyclotourist's" Flickr page of photos from this ride, click here.
For the Rivendell List discussion of this ride, click here.
For the S
outhern California Rivendell Appreciation Society Flickr group, click here.

Here are the only shots I took, since I was there purely to enjoy the ride:


Monday, May 3, 2010

Rough Riders Photo Group on Flickr

Please join, and become active with, the Rough Riders: Any Bike, Anywhere group which we have set up over at Flickr. It's a great place to post photos of your Rough Riding experiences, meet fellow Rough Riders, and help move our movement forward!

Here's the link, and above is a sneak peak of what it looks like. Please submit photos and comments, and help spread the word! Like anything, this will only be as good as we make it!