Show your 2013 summer adventures (picture thread)

[rebeccaC]

Thanks Emily!! When I clicked on your links they took me to a password protected photobucket page

Shootingstar, those murals are so excellent!!!!

mzone, that looks like a great tour especially with the wonderful water views!!!

[emily_in_nc]

Thanks Emily!! When I clicked on your links they took me to a password protected photobucket page

Password is TeamEstrogen

I put this in the original post, but you must have missed it.

[indysteel]

Emily, so glad you enjoyed your trip. I need to remember to look at your pictures on my home computer. Photobucket is an off-limits site at work.

Rebecca, again, your photos are outstanding!

@mzone, tell me more about the Northwest Tour. I've looked at the TCBA site, but there's not a ton of info available on the routes? It sounds like the rides are hilly? How hilly would you say? How was the support and the camping? Are most of the riders members of TCBA or are there some outsiders as well?

Before getting married, I did a couple of weeklong tours in Tennessee similar to the Northwest Tour and would really like to do something like that again if I can talk my husband into it. I love how little you have to actually worry about on a tour like that. It was surprisingly relaxing.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

[mzone]

Indy, the NW tour has some good climbs on each route. I don't consider myself a good climber by any means, but I was able to struggle up the big ones without getting off and walking (even if i was going 4mph at some points!). If I remember correctly, there were 3 route length options each day, so you could choose your experience.

The campground is nice - they have a pool and a small store and keep things clean. The food was fine. The TCBA folks were great. It's the same club which puts on the DALMAC, so they know what works. I'm not sure what the ratio was of their membership vs other riders, but me and and my friends are not members.

This was my first multi-day tour, and it was nice to have that experience without having to pack up gear each morning and set up camp each night. The ride was opened up to 300 riders this year, and it sold out in 2 days!

[indysteel]

Thanks, mzone. I really like that there are multiple routes each day. We'll have to give it some serious thought!

[cosc]

My husband and I finished up our fourth and last segment of the transamerica this summer. We started in Florence Oregon and ended in Yorktown Virginia. So many wonderful and beautiful experiences. The tough times are quickly dissipating and I'm looking forward to our next tour. We were unsupported so I depended on my dh when the going got rough. I'll try to load a few pics of our trip.Attachment 16562Attachment 16563

First pic in Kansas

Victory Monument pics in Yorktown, Virginia

Bottom pictures: Missouri over the bridge into Kentucky after a small section of Illinois

Rolling Missouri hills

I tried to get these few pics orderly but as you can tell I didn't succeed.

[cosc]

My son and I had a great time on Ragbrai this year. Last year I did it by myself so it was fun to have DS along!

Weather was very nice -mostly in the 80's after last year's 100's.

The day before Des Moines stop it was estimated to have 35,000 bikers on the road.

Ragbrai is indeed a spectacle, to see and experience.

Milage was much lower than last year, so I enjoyed Iowa hills, corn, soybeans, food, bicyclists and Iowa folks more than ever.

Amazing how that many bicyclist can coexist on one road.

Here is a handful of my pictures:

Left to right pictures:

Racks of bikes filled both sides of the street

3 blocks solid with bicyclist as they came into my favorite town -Pella

We took our pictures with the Dutch girls in Pella

Dutch windmill in Pella

Giant bike in Fairfield

[rebeccaC]

thanks indy!! and thanks emily for the password (i should really learn to read the post instead of first going for the photos )

cosc....your transamerica must have been an incredible journey!! I'm so envious!! Did you by chance do a blog of the ride that you want to share?

and you and goldfinch are making me want to do ragbrai again!

[cosc]

We started a journal but I was unable to keep it updated. Finding time, energy and internet access just proved too much. We might finish it later. Of course we have many pics and a diary for each day. Some days are written, while other days we just voice recorded about our day.
The beginning of our journey is on Crazyguyonabike. The journal name is "Celebrate 40 tour." We rode 2 to 3 weeks for 4 summer segments to complete this tour.
My husband is a farmer so he would have to come home and combine wheat each summer.
The tour would of been easier and cheaper to accomplish in a solid block of time, but sometimes you have to do it the hard way.
Training was mostly done on the tour since SD winter and early spring is not outdoor training weather. I don't have a lot of time to train in the school year anyway.
Anyone can accomplish a cross-country tour if I can.
The next one I'm hoping we'll be able to finish in one block of time.
Your California pics were amazing, Rebecca.

[DebSP]

We are on a week of holidays right now. But because of this:

We are only able to do some day trips! So On Tuesday we went to Collingwood (about an hour and a half away) to ride an old rail trail.




This little park is about halfway and it has public washrooms!

[DebSP]

Collingwood is also a ski town! The Georgian Trail is 34 km long and you can cross country ski on it in winter as well!

[DebSP]

And today I checked out another rail trail not too far from home. I didn't have as much time today because of rain, so I only rode as far as the "Kissing Bridge" (about 15 km one way)! I knew some on on here liked covered bridges so I had to go and get the picture!

[Eden]

Well... technically this wasn't a bike ride... but we wanted to get out of Dodge as it were, because yesterday there was a big parade that goes down one street away from us. The parade itself is not the issue, but they don't adequately divert traffic, so everyone that usually uses the 4 lane arterial tries to divert down our little essentially one lane residential street... Over the years we've seen lots of stupid stuff (like the person who drove down the sidewalk...) and had our car hit. As long as we were going to drive somewhere we decided to take a hike. We went to Mount Defiance, in the Alpine Lakes region (Snoqualamie Pass)

[indysteel]

So pretty, Eden. It reminds of our trip to Oregon. I loved the hiking there.

[rebeccaC]

Cosc, your ‘Celebrate 40 tour’ journal ended tooooo soon!!!! I enjoyed reading it!!!

Eden, it must be wonderful to live close to the Cascades and such great hiking. Fir trees can make images so peaceful and your images are so that!!