Posted on 09/01/2019 11:12:10 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Welcome to The Bicycle Thread, thread. A monthly PING List for bicycle enthusiasts to share experiences, information and ideas.
You can tap on Challenge participants and often they have nice pictures to look at.
I just joined this Challenge. I already have 96 miles counted in:
Cycle 300 with Cancer Research UK
Ride 300 miles this September to help beat cancer
https://www.strava.com/challenges/Cancer-Research-UK-Cycle-300-2019
You can tap on Challenge participants and often they have nice pictures to look at.I am going to find some Hot Bicycle Babes to follow, in the app 😉
4.6 miles, I lost 6 miles because my app glitched so really 10.6 miles but what can you do,
This car caught my eye so I found a way in,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48737697442_41533f2e82_o.jpg
Then I saw this place and squeezed between the gate and wall (ground showed signs of others doing this),
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736466296_61f2aa78a7_k.jpg
I don’t recommend doing like this but now I am urban exploring,
I entered down into a hole in the wall.
The welcome desk,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736467266_cf2c900495_k.jpg
The coatroom,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736648652_eec2ce1002_k.jpg
The more I went in the more the place invited me in,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736467681_ec4f918c6c_k.jpg
VIP only,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736140963_1d77a85470_k.jpg
Have your ticket ready,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736649527_53323eecc6_k.jpg
Looks like I found Party Central,
There were empty liquor bottles, cigarette butts and many sneaker-prints in the sand,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736138773_774ac66fb7_k.jpg
Then I went into a nearby woods for the first time,
Trail got a little rough,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736141543_553ca8282e_k.jpg
and then a little rougher,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736139573_49c69730b7_k.jpg
I made it to my usual local woods ride.
There is a giant abandoned ferris wheel in an old amusement park that is gated off.
Groups can pay for a tour of the old place and it is common to see them in the summer.
But today was like Grand Central Station!
So when I got home I checked online what is up with that.
Turned-out today the place was open to the public for free (just for today).
Also, and this incredible, they are going to make the ferris wheel work again for special events.
WOW!
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48736650762_4f8e61431e_k.jpg
I was at the ferris wheel 30 minutes before the place opened.
Otherwise I would have gone in.
Not sure what there is to see there that you can’t see from the outside but there are guided tours describing the place.
Seems a lot of old-timers like visiting because of past memories.
But there was a building that looked ready for visitors, maybe museum with drinks/food/souvenirs and stuff.
You can believe me and my daughter will be back when the wheel works!
(my wife is deathly afraid of heights)
23.6 miles today. Was riding through the woods when a stick got caught on my front tire and splintered the fender. There was a sudden jolt and skid and then explosion of pieces but I was able to stay up.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750213961_c3b2d58106_o.jpg
Bicycle was OK enough to continue riding and I used the adrenaline to gain extra mileage I need to complete Challenges.
I successfully completed one Challenge (https://www.strava.com/challenges/roka-summer-60)
and joined another (https://www.strava.com/challenges/Zwift-World-Champs-Challenge).
I posted about these houseboats before, today they were a bit closer to land:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750235061_1d858c0c91_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750240836_9b0eeada91_k.jpg
Then I noticed a small watercraft that apparently is used by the houseboat people to get to shore:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48749904068_78212bed0f_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750419722_4f963c32ea_k.jpg
There were papers taped to it. Apparently the houseboats docking-platform is an Airbnb operation someone set up.
Of course some German is not happy about that!
Believe me, if you go outside the norm (or perceived norm),
it won’t take long before a crabby German lets you know everything that is wrong about that.
I can tell you - LoL!
I like how one notice is in English,
Certainly no German would be stupid enough to think they could get away with it!
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750424417_0defa34e85_k.jpg
Next, the Graffiti Wall:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750239771_0938db0b3b_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750234331_b9f2b3b20a_k.jpg
There was a lot of construction noise on the other side of the wall,
I thought they started work on the street,
But no, it was inside the area near the wall.
Nothing about these people and their van looked official,
And it was a weird place to be working on.
Not so long ago I posted about what looked like a music video being filmed here.
But there was no filming then so I am guessing this work has something to do with that,
A decision was made, maybe a tower for lighting is needed and they are setting the anchor points... or something like that.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750423977_75ebe66083_k.jpg
They seemed sensitive to me walking around with a camera,
Maybe tomorrow I will tape notices to what they were doing there,
Informing them all about how wrong and illegal that is - LoL!
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750428127_6dfc12436a_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750236981_cdb0766a98_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750237956_e894c45485_k.jpg
There is a small botanical gardens in the park with water fountains, sundial and benches,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48749914253_c16e019cfb_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750242046_6a7d9f5dad_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48749915373_e4340cf2e3_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750420982_75067871e5_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750238666_c41bb4ad2f_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750427437_064c0a05ac_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750241231_4ed551cc88_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48749906133_9f426f4c08_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48749910178_900cfe61c7_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48750428487_40f38206e4_k.jpg
Someone posted this email he “still can’t believe”, from a STRAVA Challenge:
https://i.redd.it/nz5nv6o8s8n31.png
24.2 miles
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48755136393_c02210be03_o.jpg
Local Townhall. The fountain is newly restored.
The pool was caved in at the sides and filled with dirt.
It was really bad but now it is really good.
The woods is across the street,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48755135038_7f68219dce_o.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48755136218_29da28533f_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48755455266_9eb930abfe_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48755136908_52831c760b_k.jpg
Thank You FRiend who sent me this link in FReeper Email,
http://www.mtbtreks.com/hot-mountain-bikes-girls-on-rigs/
8.3 mile ride to the dentist. Sometimes you see buildings painted like these.
Sometimes they even look nice.
I discovered these buildings around the corner from my dentist because I arrived a little early,
so I rode around the block a few times,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48759038156_ae9a7d4025_b.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48759227232_45f01fbda2_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48758715698_4d5d60aa6a_k.jpg
The dentist pulled a front lower tooth that had become discolored (blue) in recent years.
He put in a temporary tooth till I heal and then he is putting in a gold tooth (”gold”, fake gold).
I asked how much for that and he said nothing because he filed my form as “critically urgent case”.
I told him good.
I asked how long till the gold tooth?
He said ten years.
I told him good. (I think he was joking)
The desk told me to wait for papers mailed to me then make an appointment. I guess a month.
33.6 mile swim in the lake naked ride,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48776132066_66d267233b_o.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48775801603_67f78e9c46_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48776149041_ec85c88a71_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48776337687_6254d54e1b_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48776339187_00340d2de1_k.jpg
It was a very nice sunny day, 77 degrees with a steady light breeze.
My intention was to ride around the lake,
because I need miles to complete my Cure Cancer In The UK Challenge (I had colon cancer surgically removed 8 years ago),
But when I got to the swimming area it was so nice I wanted to swim.
However I didn’t bring my bicycle saddlebags with my beach stuff.
So I decided to checkout the nude beach thinking not many people would be there.
When I turned the corner of the path around the bushes to the nude beach I saw the most naked people I ever saw in my life!
There was about 60 naked people middle age and up all with deep tans over their whole bodies and standing in groups of 5 to 10 people.
They were not sitting or laying on beach towels but just standing there talking.
There are hotels nearby so I guessed it was a convention.
So many made me feel uneasy but still I really wanted to get in the water,
So I stayed out of the nude beach boundary by about 20 yards,
Even though they could all still see me.
I locked my bike, got naked and put my clothes on the bike.
I realized how ridiculously white I was where my swimsuit should be especially compared to all those deep brown people,
But I was going in the water so I didn’t much care. (unlike they standing there talking to each other)
The water was really cold but the floor was nice sand with no rocks.
It was great! I dived under the water many times and swam a bit for 15 minutes.
When I came out of the water there was a Polish couple inflating a rubber raft right next to my bicycle,
they were busy and we didn’t exchange words. Which was then I realized...
I realized the whole place was crowded with people.
There were the nudes at the nude beach not far away, The couple inflating their raft,
But also I picked the worst spot to get naked if you don’t want people to see you naked...
right where the paved path from the non nude public beach (which was 40 yards in the other direction from the nude beach) bends to the parking lot.
So suddenly there were crowds of people walking all three directions and I was basically standing in the middle, naked.
What I learned is, when you are naked, people will ignore you (at least by the nude beach, probably not the mall) as if you are not there - LoL!
It’s true. Think about it. I had no problem. Also this is Europe.
I grabbed my T-shirt and used it as a towel then mostly got dressed while my feet dried.
But it was great! I’ll do it again except a different spot.
I took this picture of all my clothes on my bicycle while completely totally naked then went for a short swim:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48776150606_dedddf85a0_k.jpg
Here is the public beach I always went to,
There were many more people at the nude beach this day (a sign says no picture taking at the nude beach):
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48776336342_81f72ac856_k.jpg
I almost went nude swimming here but decided to get moving,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48776335757_ea70090fbb_k.jpg
Right afterwards I made it all the way up in one go.
I am going back to this place (first time I been at this area):
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48776336962_9ad4565240_k.jpg
23.9 miles ride,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48783319906_07985ebdb2_o.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48782918333_7e3bd75d64_k.jpg
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https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48782920528_2eb0e673f0_k.jpg
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https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48782917383_57faf1b326_k.jpg
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https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48783453112_e7cb9833f4_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48782919413_6685cdbe6e_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48783284641_e61c2cce84_k.jpg
16.8 mile David Hasselhoff promo ride,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48787148846_af4c6859cc_o.jpg
New record speed segment,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48786789493_f2de8be554_k.jpg
13.11 mile Prize Fish ride,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48792315692_8803b85053_o.jpg
I most always stop at the middle of the bride because it is high up with a nice view,
But lately I been keep going,
Today I decided to stop and was glad I did,
A man showed me his Prize Fish:
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48792172316_4d3627a8c0_k.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48792317972_fb9cd13f99_o.jpg
I watched him put the fish in a net he had hanging in the water,
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48792317062_3027548d0a_k.jpg
middle of the bride
bridge
psshh
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