So, where did you ride OUTSIDE today?!
Share your 2022 stories, photos, and accomplishments from riding in the great outdoors 
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I was thinking about a flat recovery ride Round the Forth but the thought of 42mph gales and New Year’s Day’s walkers on the Forth Road Bridge put me off. So I took a bimble up Knockhill instead. It’s a bit of an effort at first then a freewheel to Clackmannan normally. I had thought I’d get blown up and the descent would be enough to overcome the wind. Lol, I was wrong At least I’d got my choice of kit right as it was unbelievable mild again.
From Clackmannan I dropped into Kincardine and went through Culross and Torryburn to the A985 main road. I usually don’t go that way but I figured itd be quieter on NYD and it would have OK views of the Bridges. Then after cutting through Rosyth Dockyard my route took me through Inverkeithing and back up the hill to Dunfermline.
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Happy New Year!!!
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Happy New Year to you too 
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I met some mates and we decided on a trip over the Ochils to Braco. It is a Scottish holiday today so most places were shut but we managed to find a Costa in Bridge of Allan before being blown home.
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Wee bit of wind
Compared to yesterday it was 
The crazy wind has been blowing hot air up from Africa but its supposed to switch near 180deg in the night and bring in a cold rain belt from the north. From +14deg C yesterday to -1 degC tomorrow 
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really easy 1 hour spin after spending 12 hours boxing and stuffing Christmas back into the garage attic. Nothing like doing reps up and down an aluminum ladder 
Some albino turkeys!
And back home the hummingbirds were hitting the salvia flowers that won’t stop! (it was 30F / -1C this morning)
sorry the hummer flew away as I snapped the pic 
And the Butterfly bush is still feeding the hummers:
And these two little patio flowers won’t stop flowering:
Meanwhile the squirrels have taken over one of the two hummingbird feeders, hard to see but this guy is hanging upside down and mostly blocking the view of the red liquid:
a side of liquid carbs to go with the nuts, corn and sunflower seeds we leave for them.
Happy New Year!
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It was a bluebird day today - beautiful sun, but also very cold. It was -8F at the start of the ride, and warmed up to a balmy 20F by the end. 6 hrs at a whopping 7.5mph average speed. My friend had his bike loaded up to test stuff out for Alaska. Makes my bike look puny.
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Love the sky in that last pic!
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At the time, I was trying to get a pic of the steam rising from the river. That shot didn’t show it very well, but the clouds came out well. The pic at the top got the steam on the river. Not that it’s “steam” - more water vapor that condenses out because the air is so cold.
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Yeah I really liked the first one too!
Another afternoon at the ‘endurance office’
and greeted by a beautiful sunset upon my return to our neighborhood:
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Today was the last big day on Hawaii and it was truly epic!
My plan was doing Mauna Kea. I had SAG support (by Chris DeMarchi, Hawaii Epic Cycling).
He reached out to me yesterday when he planned on doing MK with another client and they had closed the Mauna Kea Access Road (that is the last 20k of the climb, that incidentally make it the world’s hardest climb).
I started out today very early, when Chris picked me up at 5:30am. A long day better has an early start!
It’s a ritual to dip the bike tires in the ocean to literally start the ride at sea level.
At 6a.m. I set off from Waikoloa Beach, with at least 88km of climbing ahead of me.
The first hour was in complete darkness, but the sun lingered behind Mauna Loa.
One hour in, I had climbed 700m, travelled 21k and had Mauna Kea in sight!
When I saw how much snow there was on MK, I had a bad feeling about them re-opening the Route in time (the last update was from the day before).
After around 20k, I turned right onto the upper (busy) highway and then onto Saddle Road.
Saddle Road connects the Hilo and Kona side of the island and goes up to almost 2100m/7000ft.
A lot of cars left and right and a lot goats, too.
I took a first break after 2.5 hours and around 1600m (1 mile) of climbing.
About an hour later I had reached MK Acess Road, and they said it might open by Noon… maybe. I didn’t want to take this chance (and wait for hours) and did a right instead of left turn.
That was a good decision, as MK access road stayed closed for the entire day:
Good thing, Hawaii has one of the most epic climbs in the world right next to the most epic climb in the world.
I turned onto Mauna Loa Access Road.
Mauna Loa is world’s largest volcano (by area) and almost as high as MK. The problem for cyclists is, that the last 2000’ of the mountain are rough trail. And that’s no comparison to MK. It’s big volcanic rocks! If anyone completed Mauna Loa to the top, that would probably be the toughest climb in the world - no one has done that so far as far as I know.
I didn’t either.
The Mauna Loa is a very special climb, in that just a narrow (but well maintained) road snakes up the climb in wavy undulations, through nothing but Lava fields. This road will take you from 2100/7000 to 3360/11300. This is the closest you can get to moonscape on Big Island.
Chris took a lot of cool pictures and I’ll just post them in somewhat correct order:
At 10’000ft, I started feeling the altitude for the first time (ever). Especially the undulating road with many pitches above 12% really got to me. The air felt thin and I felt weak. The feeling was a little uncanny and I felt lightheaded a few times.
Luckily, it wasn’t far to the top anymore.
When I finally reached the top, I was relieved (also kinda relived that MK was closed, because this was very hard already). Now I have another good reason to return to the Big Island to get the one that got away.
Chris had prepared a cool “finishers trophy” to remind me of the pain and the beauty of this climb.
PJAMM calls it the “world’s longest climb”, which doesn’t make a ton of sense in my mind, but it’s an epic adventure surely.
Many thanks to Chris for the great support along this 6 hour (+2 hours driving down again) adventure!
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Epic! Looking forward to my chance someday!
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Congratulations - an excellent effort and an interesting write up and photos. Yet again your adventures on this thread are keeping me entertained - especially during the winter months of mostly indoor riding 
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Treacherous conditions first thing so we put our ride back a bit and chose a low route on main roads round the River Forth. It was beautiful sunshine but still cold.
About 2 miles from home though I was remembered why I prefer treacherous elements as opposed to going out in nice safe conditions.
As we circled oundabout (Traffic Circle for non UK citizens) a driver came straight at me (fortunately not fast) and nudged me into the middle. He then nudged me again and again. The 3rd nudge took me down. My left rear cheek is a bit bruised an my elbow has a few annoying grazes (although bruise free). The bike’s Portland Works Fenders (front and rear both sides) were released but with a bit of force clipped back in, the reflector on one bar end plug is detached, there is a bit of scraping to the saddle and hoods and a slight buckle in the rear wheel. But after reattaching the chain the bike was good for the 2 miles up the hill to home.
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Thanks for the kind words🤙🏻
It’s really nice to get a few breaks from rainy, windy, cold and worst of all, flat Germany.
Can recommend Hawaii to any cyclist.
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Another afternoon at the ‘endurance office’
and greeted by a beautiful sunset upon my return to our neighborhood:
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Can not recommend the Big Island enough. Especially when you are on Hawaii relatively frequently, give it visit. I found it amazingly beautiful. The weather was absolutely perfect the entire time and it has 3 of the 6 hardest climbs in the United States , with another one being over on Maui.
Mauna Loa is an underrated climb in my mind as well.
The „FIETS“ system to rank climbs really proves its limitations here.
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