Photos from your rides.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Tychom

Photo dump from a few days riding in the south of Spain.

Wow. Damn.

[XXtwindad]

I have to follow Tychom.

[Waldo62]

Palomares-->Redwood-->Sliver Pizza, not in that order.

[BryanE]

Iceman was yesterday in northern Michigan.
Kalkaska to Traverse City.
5400 mountain bikers going 30 miles on a beautiful, but chilly, day.

[NHAero]

Spectacular day on Chappaquiddick!

[hummus_aquinas]

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[Hilltopperny]

Yesterday's rides.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[bikerambler]

Mellow 50 degree fall day in the Monadnocks, perfect for a coffee ride.
mellow.jpg

[Baron Blubba]

Mondays are usually spent just piddling around town at minimal minimal effort. Today I ventured into a neighborhood where I don't often go, just a mile from my house. Saw a sign for 'Avtex' to my left, and a dirt road leading through a wide and wide-open chain link fence gate. So in I went.
I'd heard Avtex mentioned a lot in my 4ish years of living in Front Royal, VA. Your typical small town Montgomery Burns style massive fibers plant, smartly built on a 440 acre piece of land immediately adjacent to the south fork of the Shenandoah River and several residential neighborhoods and schools. The massive factory kept food on the tables and ceilings above the heads of half of the residents of Front Royal, while also providing them with very short life expectancy and very high cancer rates, as well as nearly destroying the South Fork of the Shenandoah and all places downstream.
The factory was demolished in the 90's and its grounds have since been designated a Superfund site for the clean-up and restoration of the environment. I believe this process is nearing completion.

What does this mean for cyclists? Something like a 7-8 mile network of grass pathways and smooth gravel roads, completely traffic free, with outstanding views of the Shenandoah Mountains and other rural delights in most directions, as well as abundant wildlife around every corner. It's also the flattest patch of riding I've found out here, perfect for 'off-day' fresh air recreating, and probably the best place around to ride bikes if you are not a super fit 'cyclist-type' who relishes the idea of mountains and hills around every corner, which is otherwise the case when riding around here.

For the complete Avtex story, go here: http://www.virginiaplaces.org/waste/avtex.html
A good read, kind of sad, but with an optimistic ending.

[IMG]Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG]

[ariw]

Last after work ride before the time change, still got kind of caught in the dark

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by Baron Blubba

Mondays are usually spent just piddling around town at minimal minimal effort. Today I ventured into a neighborhood where I don't often go, just a mile from my house. Saw a sign for 'Avtex' to my left, and a dirt road leading through a wide and wide-open chain link fence gate. So in I went.
I'd heard Avtex mentioned a lot in my 4ish years of living in Front Royal, VA. Your typical small town Montgomery Burns style massive fibers plant, smartly built on a 440 acre piece of land immediately adjacent to the south fork of the Shenandoah River and several residential neighborhoods and schools. The massive factory kept food on the tables and ceilings above the heads of half of the residents of Front Royal, while also providing them with very short life expectancy and very high cancer rates, as well as nearly destroying the South Fork of the Shenandoah and all places downstream.
The factory was demolished in the 90's and its grounds have since been designated a Superfund site for the clean-up and restoration of the environment. I believe this process is nearing completion.

What does this mean for cyclists? Something like a 7-8 mile network of grass pathways and smooth gravel roads, completely traffic free, with outstanding views of the Shenandoah Mountains and other rural delights in most directions, as well as abundant wildlife around every corner. It's also the flattest patch of riding I've found out here, perfect for 'off-day' fresh air recreating, and probably the best place around to ride bikes if you are not a super fit 'cyclist-type' who relishes the idea of mountains and hills around every corner, which is otherwise the case when riding around here.

For the complete Avtex story, go here: http://www.virginiaplaces.org/waste/avtex.html
A good read, kind of sad, but with an optimistic ending.

[IMG]Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]Untitled by Michael Lock, on Flickr[/IMG]

Really interesting write-up that touches on a deeper subject: to what extent are we responsible for knowing (or appreciating) the history of the areas we like to ride in (or "on" as the case may be)

I think about this frequently while cycling in the Headlands/Mt. Tam area. Worth pondering. For me, at least.

[merckxman]

Hints of color still left in trees.

[Baron Blubba]

@ XXTwindad: This is one of my favorite things to ponder, the history of where I am riding, on a major historical level and on a personal, very local historical level. There are derelict objects to be found all over the place, some of which took a lot of labor to create or expense to purchase. What is the history and what was the purpose of that decrepit shed, outbuilding, tractor, car, isolated piece of stone wall, furnace, piece of machinery, remnant of playground, enshrined rusty old bicycle, or fragment of unidentifiable artifact that might have once been part of something recreational or agricultural/utilitarian?
These things once meant something significant to someone or someones. What was that thing and when did it lose its meaning?

Pondering this increases my joy of bike riding, and discovering the answers compounds that joy with meaningfulness.

Back when I was spending more time in NJ and coincidentally got very into Revolutionary era history, finding out that a place where I often rode and walked was the rendezvous point for a critical meeting between George Washington and one of my historical heroes, the Marquis de Lafayette, wow, that made such a difference to how I experienced that place!

[Baron Blubba]

Originally Posted by merckxman

Hints of color still left in trees.

Oh wow. No offense, China, but that is a great wall!

[nalax]

Originally Posted by Tychom

Photo dump from a few days riding in the south of Spain.

Tychom, whereabouts in southern Spain were you riding?