Ned profile

Posted by: skooks

Posted by: Ned

Takes a saint to drive bus, particularly with some of the customer base.

Knocked out a few good ones this week, about 250km worth. This morning's 80+km stretchy pants loop of the city (with mtb shorts) was top qual.

Always loved those shaped Colnago frame tubes.

Pure secks as some would say, this bike is known as Bad Grandpa. I had a steel one with similar shaped tubes painted with their map of the world scheme that made one's eyes bug out when looking at it... that is, if it's your thing. The carbon tubing on this model was apparently mfg'd quietly by Giant and shipped back to Italy for assembly and paint so they could apply the made in Italy sticker on it. LOL, such mystique.

This one is 17 years old, ordered in 2004 from the factory in Italy by original owner who waited for it for 6mo and shelled out a princely sum of ~$7500US to take it home when it arrived.... where it sat barely ridden that whole time of ownership... and eventually got flushed to CL where it again sat for 5mo while I patiently waited for the price to come down. I'm still in awe how this all happened.

It gets pulled out on special occasions when I'm feeling like a bike perv. Ya, old guys who ride and type too much.

Mud does that to you, it's the best mind clearer there is.  The puritan pavement rides are good and mind numbing and all but end of the day, it's not unlike watching paint dry.  I've knocked out a couple pure pavement loops in the last week and while they're great for caloric incineration and reaching a state of Ommmmm, I can hear my ride psyche begging for more variety in surface, route locale and elevation.   Motorcycle scale bicycle dual sport is THE answer, at least for me.

PS, Strava is a tool in the same way money is a tool.   It can consume you and take you down some dark pathways... just use it for what it is and decouple from the racer-boi misnomer it represents and keep it in the background simply as something useful

70km pre-work road loop this AM down to the big sh!tty and back.  Slept in, was only the 36th carcass over the 520 bridge bike/ped lane this morning.

Mmmmm muy bueno, been a long time since I've been up there.

Riding a bike isn't the only way to go about it, it's a much bigger picture than that.  So, changed thread title accordingly.

Another 50+km loop before work this morning to mark MLK day in 'Merka. C'mon old dogs, hop on your bikes and get after it, you can lie on the couch and lick yourself afterwards

Takes a saint to drive bus, particularly with some of the customer base.

Knocked out a few good ones this week, about  250km worth. This morning's 80+km stretchy pants loop of the city (with mtb shorts) was top qual.

Knocked out a 5hr loop today using a pile of secret shortcuts and back door passageways to yield a line I know for sure hasn't ever been ridden in its entirety.  Full house mix of rural pavement, thick pigsh!t mud, rough rocky road, absolute chunder, greasy dirt road, cupcake gravel paths and more.  Could've used a road bike in a few spots and a mountain bike in most of the rest... enter the compromise drop bar fat tire logging truck bike.

This was snapped looking south down the Snoqualmie Valley from here.   Came from the western treed higher ground on the right, crossed the valley eastward via the Tualco farmlands and up 'n over 1000ft vertical to the treeline on the left, popped back out of the trees quite a ways south where the sunlight is to cross the valley westward again and grind the way back home.  A good season opener... for an old guy.

Zedbra!!!

Glad you are back on the horse, congrats.

Knocked out a number of good ones this week, and a fun dirt moto ride.  January is delivering...

Today I had a rather interesting new-to-me line laid out, like an 80km road+ mostly dirt loop, woke up at 5am with everything packed and ready for a departure in darkness.  Problem is it was damned cold and frozen at my house with black ice on the roads and for one who was going to be riding outward into the treeline and elevation east of SeaTown, it'd only get worse.  January death march rides are always a gamble.... grumble.  Gonna try again tomorrow, supposed to be significantly warmer and still dry... ride smarter and bitch even less... has taken a few years and a lot of burned calories to achieve ;-)

A diverse mix of riding keeps it fun... skinny tire road ripper, dual sport drop bar, pure fat tire trail, large format fat tire... the broader the mix the better IMO, you just don't get bored that way.  Glad you knocked out the rapha thing and I do see many people getting carried away with those challenges. All the power to 'em, they're riding more and bitching less :-)

... and take the time out of your day(s) for the benefit of others and the overall scene.  and the vision to do it.  cuz not everyone has that trait