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Took my OCC Stingray XL out for a short ride around the cul-de-sac after doing some house-cleaning today. We're supposed to be getting more showers and thunderstorms starting tomorrow, so I wanted to get at least 1 ride in this week before then.
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And yes, I'm still sitting on socks and mop heads, and I'm still riding with no brakes.
 
Another Protest Ride on the Cobblestone Rat...

Today I tried a new flagpole (fishing rod) to bring the flag as high up as possible and thought I had made a good job with it, but then there was this other guy who had also a "small" flag. But see for yourself...







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I doubted it at first, but as the flag was able to pivot, the bike rode pretty stable.
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Here's a little video a friend made:

(original video source: https://mastodon.social/@radxberg/112526008179028904)
 
😎

You my friend are a Hero as well in my book

:blush::blush:Thank you, that's very humbling! My Dad used to brag about me being a highly decorated war hero:)giggle::giggle::giggle:)& actually turned down being put in for one of the highest medals available for being one of maybe 100 Air Force personnel on the ground in Iraq during Desert Storm for "Base Denial" operations as part of our Explosive Demolition/Quarry Operation team. We blew up one of their air bases by hand so it could not be used. It was a lot of fun! I am no hero. Just a guy trying to do what's right while paying my dues for the freedoms we enjoy & protect those unable. We were just doing what we were trained and paid to do. At a very high level. Thanks for being a good friend!✌️
Thank you on behalf of all that serve & God bless the USA!🇺🇸 Here's too our past & future!
 
I had a chance to take my Redline to Berthoud Bike Park for the first time for testing yesterday! It took a while to find the sweet spot here & need to step up my skills to get the most benefit from this bike. I look forward to more sessions here to really get a good feel for how it handles & keep it under control. It's begging me to do stuff I need to get more comfortable doing. :giggle: :giggle:
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Then in the evening I rode my Felt Bandit for the first Bike Night of the 20th season with over 200 others! The theme was "Back in Black".🤓
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Forgot to take a pic of the bike during the ride so here's a blurry one going past the bank.....🤷‍♂️
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About 30 miles loop including a dead end trail (new construction).
late 1980s Diamond Back Axis. Classic early vintage mountain bike. But too short of a frame and a way too long top tube and stem. First and last ride before it goes on the block. I might have doubled it's lifetime miles today.

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Just came back from a beautiful night ride through Berlin. Tonight was again the last Friday of the month, so time for critical mass. I rode the CobblestoneRat for about 30 km give or take in the crowd and another 28 to get there and back. We were probably around 1500-2000 riders...
My ride in night ride mode

Shortly after the start, waiting for green
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Some cool cruisers
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Approaching the TV tower
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Screenshot from the tracking app CriticalMaps
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Waiting for green to enter the Grosser Stern to ride a few circles...
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This is how it looks when a few hundred cyclists circle the victory column...
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It was fun!
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32 km pavement lap around the city on Duck Norris
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Swamps and wilderness to the west, farmlands and golf course to the north, industry to the east, and the big river to the south. The usual traffic jams:
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The last group had babies. That's trouble
 
Maiden shakedown ride on FOOLIGAN. Fun solid 2 hour ride

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It is counterintuitive, but singlespeed is faster. You must push. Accelerate for the climbs or you don't make it. There is no low speed option, except getting off and walking. View attachment 267337
I had to walk out of this hole. It's basically a couple of hundred meters of rooty, rocky trail, and you're up at the top of that wall. That is another way singlespeed makes you faster, the challenge. I'll be back again and again until I can do it
One speed bikes offer 3 modes of forward progress. 1. You can actually pedal the bike. 2. You can walk/run while pushing the bike. 3. You can carry the bike as you walk/run. A good mountain bike course should always have all three modes of bicycle travel. Of course the multi speed mountain bikes would face the same challenges but this is about 1 speed bikes.
 
We've put some BMX bars on the F6, its actually transformed the ride a bit, for the better I may add! way easier on the body than the old wide custom bars I made, she's well run in now and its a really nice ride at 20-25km, she tops out at 40km and its not really heart racing at all, in fact this bike would struggle if you were to try pulling the skin off a rice pudding!!! its when ya get stuck in to the pedals where the fun is, that gets her up n moving pretty quick, so really its just an aid for the rider, it does have motorcycle characteristics, as in a clutch etc and you only need pedal under 10-15km with the clutch in but you can just ride on the throttle till it runs out of gas, if it does run out ya lock the clutch in and just pedal home, its heavy to do this but you'll get home at a slow jogging pace without tiring too bad.
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Here in West Sacramento we have a small hard core group of cyclists that mount small gas engines to cheap Walmart/Target types of bicycles. The two stroke engines are very cheap and the poorest guys use them until they start seizing, throwing rods, or whatever. They don't last long. The guys who buy the smallest Harbor Freight 4 stroke motors seem to have the most reliable bikes. One way or the other they will go through a bunch of regular use rear hubs rather rapidly until they finally break down and get a heavy duty rear hub meant for small gas engine bicycles. Generally once the 4 stroke motor and heavy duty rear hub are installed on these bikes they can be quite reliable.
 
I'm in a real bike riding streak this week. Last Thursday protest ride, Friday CriticalMass and Sunday the big "Sternfahrt" (Star Ride). Around 30'000 cyclistst rode through Berlin on different routes, some of them starting in the city center, some on the outskirts and some even starting shortly after midnight or even the day before waaaaay outside in neighbouring cities. This was my fifth time joining in and the fourth and third time for my kids. The older one invited some friends (and their fathers) to join in, so we were a nice group riding together for most of the time. My ride of the day was my BuggyTrike equipped with a flag, so our mates could find me in the large group...
The map with the different routes
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Our group getting ready to join in:
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Riding the AVUS
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My little one (orange helmet) and I riding the AVUS (the first ever built Autobahn gives a perfect cyclepath!)
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Approaching the Victory Column
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Having a rest
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Every dot represents a cyclist (I'm the blue one)
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My personal highlight were these three: The guy in the box was playing his acoustic guitar with the amp right in front of him, the girl on the left was singing some real nice upbeat jazz tunes while cycling...


All in all it was a perfect day for cycling and another 50 something kilometers on the clock...
 
And just to add as a bonus:
today was #WorldBikeDay and what better use of it than to have the (mandatory) practical bike exam at the local traffic school for my fourth graders and attest 18 of 21 students of mine that they are really fit to enter the streets on their bikes!
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I picked up a couple Retrospec 7 speed folders with 20" wheels last night (two for $200!) and test rode them around the neighborhood. Man, these things are legit. Light, fast, comfortable. I'm going to bring one to the Cape this summer. I'm tired of having to squeeze my touring bike and all the gear in the van. I'll ride this in my reg clothes and it'll fit up top on the van in the roof basket. Time will tell if I sell one or not.

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