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2 weeks of clouds — warm clouds — but clouds. I am usually in desert southern places right now, and exception only broken once in 13 years … that whole 2020 thing you might remember. still headed down to Arizona, but not for another week or so. I plan on laying down naked and sizzling on some rocks somewhere until I am suitably par baked and crispy around the edges. will need a spatula to scrape me off these rocks. I sweat olive oil.

but first some photos from the clouds of last week.

as you can see above, Joe is on his new (first ride) Alumalith with Sram AXS. thats electric for those of you who only skim when they see the word “Sram”. I will admit that I don’t know what AXS is an acronym for — or if it is at all. I did pedal it around the parking lot though — its impressively easy to shift and you can’t even feel it shifting. its just push a button and without any bumping and grinding, you have a shift. while not at all necessary, it is a novel experience that I can see folks really enjoying. Joe proclaimed that he needed it on all of his bikes now. slippery slopes there! all this being said, both Weigle and Chapman have been using the electric stuff for well over 5 years now powered off their dynamo hubs …. so I guess its okay to slip down that slope into such elegant and trusting arms.

I will be sure to take more photos of joe’s bike after he paints it.

great duck and dive up some dirty roads after being stalked by a beast dog (do we need dogs bigger than mini poodles in 2023???) and along a new to me ridge that eddy frequents on the reg. there is even an interesting new cabin built along this ridge. wow what a spot.

down dow down that ridge — a lot higher up than I thought, but I guess we really took our time getting up there.

a picnic at the lake — tea and chocolate –several PB&J’s –then time to ride further south on the nearly unbroken 8 mile dirt strip of carriage roads and back into cedar swamp via a new connector after they shut down our hobby airport trespass a few years back before curling through Chester to an Ince cream shoppe that was not open. oh well. a good ride, even without the sugar reward.

then it was Sunday. troy opted for the 700×33 set up, and I went with the 650bx47 lightning bolt. fast times on the 8 mile river.

following the 8 mile river as much as possible is the only way to get a flattish ride in this area away from the shoreline. but ya gotta get back up and over the glacial ripple one way or another. a nice Sunday on the road.

have a nice week

R.R.