#bicycle
2022-08-08: Bonn -> Effelsberg -> Willerscheid by racing bike (->🇩🇪)
2022-08-08: 06:18:44 117.7 km 1371 m up, 1371 m down, 18.6 km/h
As always, I spent almost another hour riding, taking photos and taking breaks to eat and drink. Although I can do eating and drinking while riding, it's more fun this way. To avoid the heat, I set off so late that I was back home a good half hour before sunset. Consumed 2 liters of water, plus three 30 g muesli bars.
Geocoordinates with links under the photos. A 3D representation of the track created with Blender can be found at the end of the article.
The grain has been harvested everywhere
The remaining straw has been bundled. Stacking the square or round bales is quite creative!
@8.8mm 1/800s f/5 ISO 125 2022-08-08 14:25:08
GPS 🧭 50.6066,7.06142 Brouter Google Maps Sat
@8.8mm 1/640s f/5 ISO 125 2022-08-08 14:32:34
GPS 🧭 50.5824,7.06281 Brouter Google Maps Sat
Ascent to Hilberath
Alltogether very easy, but a bit more traffic than usual this time - no problem either. I neither need nor want "bicycle infrastructure", not even "god bicycle infrastructure". That's an oyxymoron.
@8.8mm 1/800s f/6.3 ISO 125 2022-08-08 14:54:01
GPS 🧭 50.5824,6.994 Brouter Google Maps Sat
Welcome to NRW, this is where the shitty mandatory cycle paths begin ...
... which are hardly any good as footpaths, too. By the way, this is a footpath and I mean "shitty" literally, not just figuratively.
@20mm 1/500s f/3.5 ISO 125 2022-08-08 16:22:34
GPS 🧭 50.5082,6.88809 Brouter Google Maps Sat
In the photo, it is hard to work out how broken these concrete slabs are. Each slab has sunk differently, many were then broken by (possibly) land vehicles, then blown up by frost and plant growth.
@26mm 1/800s f/4.5 ISO 125 2022-08-08 16:22:10
GPS 🧭 50.5082,6.88782 Brouter Google Maps Sat
For comparison, the surface of the road that I of course use. There is some damage here too, but so little that it hardly bothers you, even on an unsprung road bike. Your own strength is the limit here and not how much damage you want to risk to your bike and body, apart from the additional effort. Why do pedestrians and cyclists have to share this junk in both directions, while the road is virtually unused? Not that somewhat more motorized traffic would stop me from riding there - motorized traffic is always a nuisance for sure, but it's downright absurd to leave a good road because it is frequented by other people for paths that come with two kinds of obstacles: some you recognize early enough, some you don't.
@8.8mm 1/125s f/4 ISO 125 2022-08-08 16:24:09
GPS 🧭 50.5089,6.88511 Brouter Google Maps Sat
Another visit to the Effelsberg radio telescope
This time I drove down to the institute buildings right up to the gate and had a chat with the gatekeeper. I casually mentioned that my workplace on the other side of the Rhine was not so far away from home, but similarly structured and well guarded. :-)
When I remarked that I had come from Bonn, he looked at my racing bike from a distance and asked, somewhat uncertainly, whether it was a "real racing bike"? In response to my somewhat irritated query, he explained that he had noticed the thick frame tube and asked if the bike was motorized. I then explained to him that on bikes with an aluminum frame, the necessary bending stiffness had to be achieved by increasing the tube diameter, so you could probably hide a battery inside, but that wouldn't be the case here. I also mentioned that one of my sons was still at school when we first visited the telescope, decades ago, also on a racing bike. Afterwards we talked a bit about the technology of the telescope, but you can read more about that elsewhere.
Just looked it up, our ride there was on a Sunday about twenty years ago and went via Meckenheim, Rheinbach and Bad Münstereifel, on a fairly direct route via the L261 - we were more pain-free back then than I am today. But that's another story for another time.
@23mm 1/800s f/4 ISO 125 2022-08-08 16:35:02
GPS 🧭 50.5239,6.87896 Brouter Google Maps Sat
@8.8mm 1/800s f/4.5 ISO 125 2022-08-08 16:39:29
GPS 🧭 50.5244,6.88089 Brouter Google Maps Sat
The already mentioned beautiful route over the Liersbach
@8.8mm 1/800s f/4 ISO 125 2022-08-08 17:02:56
GPS 🧭 50.5061,6.87242 Brouter Google Maps Sat
@26mm 1/125s f/2.8 ISO 200 2022-08-08 17:07:24
GPS 🧭 50.505,6.86795 Brouter Google Maps Sat
@26mm 1/800s f/4.5 ISO 125 2022-08-08 17:22:27
GPS 🧭 50.5078,6.85905 Brouter Google Maps Sat
@26mm 1/800s f/4 ISO 125 2022-08-08 17:28:29
GPS 🧭 50.5024,6.85764 Brouter Google Maps Sat
Between Mahlberg and Michelsberg
From here it's homeward bound
@8.8mm 1/500s f/4 ISO 125 2022-08-08 18:16:11
GPS 🧭 50.5144,6.81927 Brouter Google Maps Sat
#hausrunde #bicycle #radfahren #radtour #cycling #fahrrad #musclepowered #photo
♲ The War on Cars - 2023-02-09 15:47:40 GMT
"Amplified calls for street safety could be among the most powerful legacies of e-bike rebate programs — not only in Denver, but in the many US states and cities now considering launching their own. If so, they could finally put to rest questions of whether to upgrade bike infrastructure before or only after many residents are riding, a challenge that has bedeviled US cities."https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-09/denver-s-e-bike-rebate-program-has-a-hidden-power
#Cycling in #StormIsha was fun. To work, there was a very strong #Headwind which added about 25% to the time getting there, at least the sky was blue. By the time I’d finished, the #wind had died down to a brisk #Breeze but there was quite heavy #rain. However, I always have my #WaterproofTrousers at this time of year and so I didn’t get wet.
I used the anonymous interface to #ChatGPT to write a #Haiku for the occasion (https://anonchatgpt.com/). Here it is:
Storm Isha roars strong,
Cyclists brave the wind and rain,
Pedals spin through pain.
