Eternal outskirts of Moscow and beyond (LOTS of pics!)

[goatman]

your pictures remind me of paintings/art, is that a filter or program?

20s28p- 18650 battery, how many ah? that's a monster pack

 

[Skorohod]

your pictures remind me of paintings/art, is that a filter or program?

I use Darktable. I like to crank to 11 saturation and local contrast - that gives you a little surreal, but impressive look of your pics.

20s28p- 18650 battery, how many ah? that's a monster pack

It's assembled from cheap 3A*h cells, so that means 84 A*h for whole pack or about 5880 W*h. Pack was assembled to fully fill battery compartment of my new frame. It's not that much, though - with my average consumption around 35 W*h/km it gives me around 150 km mileage with 3.4-3.5 V per cell in the end of the trip.

 

[Skorohod]

After all enhancements my bike should be capable of carrying one light passenger. Me and my 8 years old daughter decided to give it a proper test. Our first destination was Bitsa forest park.

Kotlovka river on our way to Bitsa:
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II-68-3 panel-block building in Ziuzino district (yes, district name sounds funny for russian-speaking persons too):


Vodyanka river in Bitsa park:


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[Skorohod]

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My daughter exploring tracks of unknown animals in river bed:




Yet another selfie:
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Old abandoned water tower:


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Forgotten flagposts of Olympics-80:
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[Skorohod]

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Green field, kite in the sky and all summer ahead of you. That is what proper childhood should be. If only skies were clear that day:


Test ride was total success. My daughter was totally happy. Our next ride should be longer and more far from home. We chose Elk island:


A culvert of Budaika river:


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[Skorohod]

A little pitstop nearby burned tree:
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Another part of Budaika:
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Where that sandy road goes? Let's find out:


Some creepy abandoned buildings? Well, that means we on a right way:

 

[Skorohod]

Culvert of an little unnamed creek. Dry and high enough for driving through:


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Yet another abandoned buildings on the other end? Very good:


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Old tarmac under wheels. Where it lead us? Let's ride:


Total dead end. Walls and fences in every direction:






We backed up and went another way. Pathway by railroad:
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Some swamp:

 

[Skorohod]

Giant heat pipes on the right:


Path gets narrower and narrower:


And leads us into swamp:


Of course we got out successfully. Remainings of Красная сосна (Red pine) settlement:


Another pitstop on a large glade in a forest:
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Grass is green, skies are blue. Life is beautiful:


Amazing things above our heads:


And right under our noses:

 

[Skorohod]

My daughter got her hands on my camera and took this picture of me:
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We found some mud and happily drown tires in it:


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Little badass biker:




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[Skorohod]

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Playing with camera around lamp posts and trees:




We stopped by Syromyatnichesky lock on Yauza river on our way home:
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A view in a rear mirror:


That's all for this week! I wish you all a happy winter holidays!

 

[Skorohod]

Oh boy, that day was hot!

That games which children of big city plays ("МАШИНЫ НЕ СТАВИТЬ" means "no parking here"):
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That is the true northern outskirts of modern Moscow:


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Sandy path it was:






Old bridge over Skhodnya river:




Quiet yard in hot summer midday:

 

[Skorohod]

Abandoned construction site:
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That was a hot day, as i've said before:


I've been fascinated by that big powerline insulators since i was a child:
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Young but fearful hogweed:


I've accidentally collapsed some ecosystem:
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Newschool panel building of "ДОММОС" type:

 

[Skorohod]

Yet another selfie:


Bumblebee:
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Skhodnya river:
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Hobo's shack:


Narrow path alongside МКАД highway:


ПД-4 panel buildings in Mitino, a rare ones:
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[Skorohod]

Under the bridge:
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On the edge of "Tushino bowl":
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Skhodnya derivative canal:
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Abandoned gas station:
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[Skorohod]

There was a Tushino airfield:


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P-P-p-p-pppp:
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Old fence of airfield in a way to Moscow river bank:
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[Skorohod]

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Time to swim a little:


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Day started to cool down towards evening. I've lied on the grass and stared at the skies:




That's all for this week!

 

[markz]

Do they make the new buildings look Soviet era like the older ones?

 

[goatman]

markz, a lot of the buildings in Moscow remind me of the newer buildings here in Vancouver area, although I just saw a brand new 2bdrm micro apartment for rent $1350/month for rent and its 400 square feet, the beds fold up into the walls. Moscow reminds me a lot of BC but what they call Elk I call a Moose.

I really enjoy these photos. im waiting to see a picture of a Russian Bear.

Skorohod, didn't Russia just do something with the internet there? youre not using google but something else?

I remember about 7 years ago I was on Yandex or rhaekc(my phone doesn't have Russian on it but I have a yandex email address) but I could actually buy gold mining claims in BC using the Russian internet. I also liked looking at russias version of google earth. Russian satellite imagery hadn't been manipulated like google earth.

we might get 4 inches of snow tonight

 

[Skorohod]

Do they make the new buildings look Soviet era like the older ones?

That's not a simple question

If we talk strictly about "looks", then yes - some designers trying to recreate a "Stalin's Empire" style in the new buildings.
For instance, one of classic "seven sisters":
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And this is modern rip-off:


This is classic Stalin's Empire building:


And this is yet another Empire~esque apartment complex:



If we talk about construction, then yes too! П-3 and П-44 is perfect example of extremely long lasting panel building designs. They were designed in late 60's, first ones was builded in the middle of 70's and their descendants still ticking! Almoust half of century for now.

An classic П-3:


Modern П-3М-6 still produced on Kursk panel buildings plant:


Classic П-44:


Modern П-44Т:


As you see, not much of a looks passed from original ones, number of stories increased too. But construction elements and flat layouts - still there, from the end of 60's!

There so much more to tell about Moscow mass produced buildings, but that obviously exceeds boundaries of your question

 

[Skorohod]

Moscow reminds me a lot of BC but what they call Elk I call a Moose.

Biologically Eurasia Elks and American Mooses is like a different breeds of dogs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose
Since i reside on Eurasian continent - i've go with "Elks"

I really enjoy these photos. im waiting to see a picture of a Russian Bear.

Oh, i hope i'll never has that encounter in the wild. At least not that close But i've deed some googling and that is what i've found:

Skorohod, didn't Russia just do something with the internet there? youre not using google but something else?

Nah, we like babies in comparison to China with their fully autonomous Internet segment with "Great China Firewall". All we have for now is pretty lame and easy-to-override blacklisting. Google and other "big boys" are never in that blacklist, though. Telegram is on blacklist (someone's personal vendetta against Pavel Durov, i guess), but it works fine without extra proxies or other countermeasures.

I remember about 7 years ago I was on Yandex or rhaekc(my phone doesn't have Russian on it but I have a yandex email address) but I could actually buy gold mining claims in BC using the Russian internet. I also liked looking at russias version of google earth. Russian satellite imagery hadn't been manipulated like google earth.

Yep, it's "Yandex" or "Яндекс" in cyrillic. Fun fact: they launched Yandex search engine almost a year earlier than Google. They pretty strong on local market, but some people criticise them for being too big and lazy.

But google also has it's lion's share of market - there are literally millions of Android smartphones in Russia, using google services 24/7/365. And Google Docs - that's an one cool service, many people in Russia using it on everyday basis.

As for satellite images - yes, i saw that too! Google seems to much careful and blurs all, and Yandex like "What? If that place so secret, how do we know it need to be blurred?" :lol:

we might get 4 inches of snow tonight

We got little snow last night, but it almost melted. Only some patches of snow remained, but it's melting too. That a first snowless january for me as far i can recall. Snowless december - not a rare thing for us, but almost half of january without snow - that's something!

 

[goatman]

that Russian bear looks like a grizzly bear, around here if you travel in areas like yours we have a lot of black bears. I don't mind the black bears but the grizzly bear ive only come across a couple times. I think that's the only animal im scared of in Canada, theres lots of dangerous animals here but you can always shoot them and be ok but a grizzly you can shoot and they just keep coming.

 

[Skorohod]

I think that's the only animal im scared of in Canada, theres lots of dangerous animals here but you can always shoot them and be ok but a grizzly you can shoot and they just keep coming.

All potentially dangerous wildlife around Moscow has gone long ago.We only got foxes, no bears or wolves or other big carnivores. Humans became most dangerous species around

If i may ask, did you bring a firearm with you to your trips, and if yo do, which firearm it is?

 

[goatman]

in Canada things have changed, we used to have guns hanging in the back windows of our trucks. now you need to hide them or people freak out and call the cops, man with gun!!!! if its not hunting season I just have a sharp 2lb axe in my hand and a knife on my belt kill anything with a 2lb axe, people still look at you funny.
hunting season will be a 22 rifle or 30-30 and 30-06 for big game.

I wanted to buy my boys a pellet gun so they can get familiar with guns. in Vancouver and surrounding areas its against the law to have a pellet gun or slingshot in your own back yard, $2500 fine, upto 6 months in jail. you need to drive about 2 hours before you can use them.

 

[markz]

Drunken Humans are the most dangerous.
Then humans who lost money, or want money, lost drugs, want drugs, lost love, want love.

Humans became most dangerous species around

 

[Skorohod]

Drunken Humans are the most dangerous.

I'm gonna to agree with you completely!

hunting season will be a 22 rifle or 30-30 and 30-06 for big game.

I wanted to buy my boys a pellet gun so they can get familiar with guns. in Vancouver and surrounding areas its against the law to have a pellet gun or slingshot in your own back yard, $2500 fine, upto 6 months in jail. you need to drive about 2 hours before you can use them.

Pretty similar to Russian gun laws, actually. We allowed to have 5 shotguns and 5 rifles for each citizen, no short-barrel guns allowed (except for so called "traumatic" guns). Open carrying allowed on hunting ranges (most of Russia territory is hunting range) and on gun ranges. And you allowed to "haul" your guns pretty much everywhere. "Hauling" means your guns must be in designated holster, cover or bag, with no ammo in the chamber (so you can't quickly draw and fire your weapon in a public place).

If you violated gun law - you'll be fined or your gun will be confiscated.

As for pellet guns - all air guns below 7.5 Joules of muzzle energy treated like toys. Air gun above the threshold - is a hunting weapon.