Saturday's Ride
Akirasho
Posts: 1,892
Saturday's Ride...
I started out fairly early, with temps hovering in the mid twenties but with a promise of mid forties and clearing later on, so I decided to stop and take a pic of a train!!!
Then, I debated. Where should I go? I decided to head south where...
I took a pic of another train!!!
Then, I went down here!!!
They seemed curious enuff about me that I started thanking the property owner's for their barb'd wire and bramble fence!!!
Then, I decided to go up to this!!!
Rumors abounded about this place. Originally built back in the late 40's (because someone was smart enuff to realize that playing with this stuff in an Oakwood greenhouse might not be the best way to go) they conducted experiments with nuclear materials and built the detonators for nuclear bombs (a lot of pre computer control, one at a time hand fabrications with uber high tolerances. In it's heyday, over 2800 people worked under "the hill")!!! Later, they built nuclear power sources for such NASA probes as Voyager, Viking and Cassini to name a few (the power sources were extremely inefficient (about 3 to 5 % of the heat generated could be converted to electricity, but the things last "forever"))
This is a shadow of the original complex. Originally built to withstand an atomic blast, it extended at least 5 stories beneath this hill. That depth was made moot by the development of the hydrogen bomb (the Soviets had devices like the 'Merican "Daisy Cutter" which could burrow into an underground facility before detonation). Closed in 1988, most of the aboveground buildings are long gone. Just before the breakup of the Soviet Union, we bought a few kg of Plutonium (a little goes a long way) from them cuz we ran out... for $43M (in 1988 dollars). One of the guys who gave me the tour was in Russia for that deal.
These are the tops of the two elevator shafts into the complex. On one side of the cut, you can see an old tunnel that was built with multiple corners to deflect an atomic blast from entering. The rest of the remaining buildings have been given over to private industry (mostly high tech) and we've all been assured that all the plutonium has been cleaned up (I handled some materials and prayed that the guy that handed it to me was as old as he looked). On a bit of an aside, with this city's close proximity to Wright-Patt AFB, The Mound and the old Gentile Station (military supply depot, now closed) all of the old bomb shelters in this city were a joke. The Soviets made a point of designating more than enuff megatonage to assure our instant disintegration.
Then I decided to go up to this!!!
The largest (by height) Native American burial mound in Ohio and the namesake of the abovementioned nuclear lab. It is 65 feet tall (several decades ago, before preservation was a concept, the top 3 feet were removed for archeological studies (along with a shaft and cross tunnel)) and is estimated to have been built sometime between 1000 B.C. and 400 A.D. An aweful lot of earth moved for a people that had no draft animals and almost no metal tools. We are fortunate enuff to have a few other, smaller mounds in the area as well as a recreation/excavation of a Native American village known as "Sunwatch".
Here is my bike at the Mound!!!
IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Akirasho/Local Cyclists/Cyclist-MoundPark-IMG_4857_zpsaffa8c0e.jpg[/IMG]
Here is a view from the top (115 steps)!!!
I live near the white water tower and building on the horizon (about 14 miles)!!!
Here is the way back down!!!
Then I saw these guys!!!
I started out fairly early, with temps hovering in the mid twenties but with a promise of mid forties and clearing later on, so I decided to stop and take a pic of a train!!!
Then, I debated. Where should I go? I decided to head south where...
I took a pic of another train!!!
Then, I went down here!!!
They seemed curious enuff about me that I started thanking the property owner's for their barb'd wire and bramble fence!!!
Then, I decided to go up to this!!!
Rumors abounded about this place. Originally built back in the late 40's (because someone was smart enuff to realize that playing with this stuff in an Oakwood greenhouse might not be the best way to go) they conducted experiments with nuclear materials and built the detonators for nuclear bombs (a lot of pre computer control, one at a time hand fabrications with uber high tolerances. In it's heyday, over 2800 people worked under "the hill")!!! Later, they built nuclear power sources for such NASA probes as Voyager, Viking and Cassini to name a few (the power sources were extremely inefficient (about 3 to 5 % of the heat generated could be converted to electricity, but the things last "forever"))
This is a shadow of the original complex. Originally built to withstand an atomic blast, it extended at least 5 stories beneath this hill. That depth was made moot by the development of the hydrogen bomb (the Soviets had devices like the 'Merican "Daisy Cutter" which could burrow into an underground facility before detonation). Closed in 1988, most of the aboveground buildings are long gone. Just before the breakup of the Soviet Union, we bought a few kg of Plutonium (a little goes a long way) from them cuz we ran out... for $43M (in 1988 dollars). One of the guys who gave me the tour was in Russia for that deal.
These are the tops of the two elevator shafts into the complex. On one side of the cut, you can see an old tunnel that was built with multiple corners to deflect an atomic blast from entering. The rest of the remaining buildings have been given over to private industry (mostly high tech) and we've all been assured that all the plutonium has been cleaned up (I handled some materials and prayed that the guy that handed it to me was as old as he looked). On a bit of an aside, with this city's close proximity to Wright-Patt AFB, The Mound and the old Gentile Station (military supply depot, now closed) all of the old bomb shelters in this city were a joke. The Soviets made a point of designating more than enuff megatonage to assure our instant disintegration.
Then I decided to go up to this!!!
The largest (by height) Native American burial mound in Ohio and the namesake of the abovementioned nuclear lab. It is 65 feet tall (several decades ago, before preservation was a concept, the top 3 feet were removed for archeological studies (along with a shaft and cross tunnel)) and is estimated to have been built sometime between 1000 B.C. and 400 A.D. An aweful lot of earth moved for a people that had no draft animals and almost no metal tools. We are fortunate enuff to have a few other, smaller mounds in the area as well as a recreation/excavation of a Native American village known as "Sunwatch".
Here is my bike at the Mound!!!
IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/Akirasho/Local Cyclists/Cyclist-MoundPark-IMG_4857_zpsaffa8c0e.jpg[/IMG]
Here is a view from the top (115 steps)!!!
I live near the white water tower and building on the horizon (about 14 miles)!!!
Here is the way back down!!!
Then I saw these guys!!!
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Comments
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haha it looks as cold there as it does here. Do the trains give they great long toooots that we hear on the films.
The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns
momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.0 -
So glad you rescued this thread with those bike pics otherwise I was about to report you to the mods!
Can you tell I am a little tiny bit jealous of your great cycle route and scenery?
Scott Speedster S20 Roadie for Speed
Specialized Hardrock MTB for Lumps
Specialized Langster SS for Ease
Cinelli Mash Bolt Fixed for Pain
n+1 is well and truly on track
Strava http://app.strava.com/athletes/16088750 -
goonz wrote:So glad you rescued this thread with those bike pics otherwise I was about to report you to the mods!
Can you tell I am a little tiny bit jealous of your great cycle route and scenery?
we have a snitch!!!0 -
They went thatta way!!!
I went thissa way!!!
So, I decided to ride over to the arena...
... when I came across these folks...
... before taking pics of the media there for the NCAA!!!
Then, I decided to go ride home, but first, I took a pic of a train!!!
YAY!!!
Then, Sunday happened...
... which temporarily turned my bike into a single speed!!!
I got "caught out" before the first band of snow moved in (bone dry when I started) and by the time I was homeward bound, it was AWESOME, except for the cars that drove as if it were a sunny driy day in JOOOLIE!!! My windward side was fairly well caked with a layer of wet heavy snow and you can see what it did to my drivetrain (temps were right at freezing)!!!
As I type this up for posting, it's building up and covering surface streets. Tomorrow's commute will be a hoot, if it happens at all.
YAY!!!0 -
... by Monday...
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Awesome work AkiI'm sorry you don't believe in miracles0
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SloppySchleckonds wrote:Awesome work Aki
+1
Great work descriptions pictures all brilliant mate keep them coming0
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