2026 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Chargeride]

Glasgow Central Station
Burned to the ground, reports of the vape shop blowing up...no official statements.

 

[Chargeride]

View attachment 206999

With rain forecast pretty much all next week and today looking very nice I just had to make the most of it, I noticed St Andrews was looking really inviting so it was time for my first foray to the NE this year! I travelled 50 miles in the car and parked in a layby between Crook of Devon and Balado, with a temp of 2C it was a bit chilly but there was very little wind thankfullly! I started with a nice big descent, making my way east to Kinross where I turned north for Milnathort! Then it was NE to Gateside on the A91, a very busy road during the week but not too bad on a Sunday morning!

View attachment 207000
At Gateside I left the A91 and headed north on the A912 towards Abernethy, the first big climb of the day! After the climb I had a cracking descent down into Aberargie and Abernethy and on to Newburgh where I stopped for a couple of photos of the River Tay!

View attachment 207001
View attachment 207002
From Newburgh I headed east for Cupar passing through many small and picturesque villages, its such a nice road to ride!

View attachment 207003
View attachment 207004
View attachment 207005
Then it was time for this big climb which is followed by a really fast descent, strangely my Wahoo didn't pick up the climb until near the top!

View attachment 207006
This is from the top of the climb looking west back down the hill!

View attachment 207007
The descent down into Cupar was just incredible but I was now facing some big climbs from Cupar to Pitscottie and on to St Andrews, the final descent into St Andrews was amazing though! I headed to the harbour cafe for lunch and grabbed a couple of photos!

View attachment 207008
View attachment 207009
I then had a big climb out of St Andrews and stopped near the top for this photo of the town!

View attachment 207011
I was now hugging the coast road, heading SE towards Crail and the wind had really picked up with the sea breeze blowing hard at times! Its a great road though and in mostly good condition! Just before Crail I swapped out my battery at the 50 mile mark, not bad going for a battery that's almost 8 years old now!

View attachment 207012The tiny harbour at Crail!

View attachment 207013
From Crail I continued on the coast road passing through Anstruther, Pittenweem and St Monans before arriving in Elie where I stopped at the harbour for a couple of photos!

View attachment 207015
View attachment 207016
The coast road ends at Elie so it was time to turn inland and I was now heading for Upper Largo, where I stopped for this photo of Largo Bay!

View attachment 207017
I then passed through Lower Largo and Lundin Links before arriving in Leven, I stopped for this photo of the beach!

View attachment 207018
I continued hugging the coast passing through many small villages before arriving in the busy seaside town of Kirkcaldy, the descent down into the town is pretty epic! People were making the most of the nice weather and the esplanade was very busy! I took some photos as I made my way along the sea wall on the esplanade!

View attachment 207019
View attachment 207020
View attachment 207021
From Kirkcaldy I made my way south to Kinghorn, some big climbs but what a road!

View attachment 207022
View attachment 207023
I joined the cycle path from Kinghorn to Pettycur Bay and stopped for this photo of the amazing beach, the bridges over the Forth can be seen in the distance!

View attachment 207024
I was now heading for Burntisland where I would turn inland and face the biggest climb of the day from Burntilsland up to Mossmorran! I stopped for a couple of photos at the top of the first climb, its some descent if you are going the other way and usually well over 40mph!

View attachment 207025
View attachment 207026
From Mossmorran I headed west to Crossgates and then due north through Hill of Beath and had a blast flying down this descent at over 42mph on my way to Kelty!

View attachment 207027
I was hoping to turn west towards Knockhill at Kelty but time was against me so I decided to continue north towards Kinross, if I had turned west it would have added another 15 miles or so and over 1000ft of climbing so I made the right decision despite having enough battery juice! I would have had enough daylight but it would have been marginal so best to play it safe, there will be more chances to do bigger rides with the clock change coming later this month!

The road to Kinross was pretty amazing with some big descents and twists and turns, I turned west for Cleish a couple of miles before Kinross as its a much quieter road and I know it well! Its a very quiet road but a bit rough here and there but nothing really bad, I was making my way along a straight part of the road when I heard a noise on my left as I passed a forest and a young deer sprinted across the road right in front of me! Thankfully I was going slow and managed to avoid it with some sharp braking, my heart did skip a beat!

Just after I passed through Cleish the 100 miles appeared on my gps, I then turned north for Balado and had this view of the hills for my final photo before turning west and arriving at the car just before 5pm!

View attachment 207030
What a fantastic day, it was just amazing from start to finish!

View attachment 207033
View attachment 207034

St Andrews is beautiful.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

marma lala lades?

And ... jams.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

View attachment 206999

With rain forecast pretty much all next week and today looking very nice I just had to make the most of it, I noticed St Andrews was looking really inviting so it was time for my first foray to the NE this year! I travelled 50 miles in the car and parked in a layby between Crook of Devon and Balado, with a temp of 2C it was a bit chilly but there was very little wind thankfullly! I started with a nice big descent, making my way east to Kinross where I turned north for Milnathort! Then it was NE to Gateside on the A91, a very busy road during the week but not too bad on a Sunday morning!

View attachment 207000
At Gateside I left the A91 and headed north on the A912 towards Abernethy, the first big climb of the day! After the climb I had a cracking descent down into Aberargie and Abernethy and on to Newburgh where I stopped for a couple of photos of the River Tay!

View attachment 207001
View attachment 207002
From Newburgh I headed east for Cupar passing through many small and picturesque villages, its such a nice road to ride!

View attachment 207003
View attachment 207004
View attachment 207005
Then it was time for this big climb which is followed by a really fast descent, strangely my Wahoo didn't pick up the climb until near the top!

View attachment 207006
This is from the top of the climb looking west back down the hill!

View attachment 207007
The descent down into Cupar was just incredible but I was now facing some big climbs from Cupar to Pitscottie and on to St Andrews, the final descent into St Andrews was amazing though! I headed to the harbour cafe for lunch and grabbed a couple of photos!

View attachment 207008
View attachment 207009
I then had a big climb out of St Andrews and stopped near the top for this photo of the town!

View attachment 207011
I was now hugging the coast road, heading SE towards Crail and the wind had really picked up with the sea breeze blowing hard at times! Its a great road though and in mostly good condition! Just before Crail I swapped out my battery at the 50 mile mark, not bad going for a battery that's almost 8 years old now!

View attachment 207012The tiny harbour at Crail!

View attachment 207013
From Crail I continued on the coast road passing through Anstruther, Pittenweem and St Monans before arriving in Elie where I stopped at the harbour for a couple of photos!

View attachment 207015
View attachment 207016
The coast road ends at Elie so it was time to turn inland and I was now heading for Upper Largo, where I stopped for this photo of Largo Bay!

View attachment 207017
I then passed through Lower Largo and Lundin Links before arriving in Leven, I stopped for this photo of the beach!

View attachment 207018
I continued hugging the coast passing through many small villages before arriving in the busy seaside town of Kirkcaldy, the descent down into the town is pretty epic! People were making the most of the nice weather and the esplanade was very busy! I took some photos as I made my way along the sea wall on the esplanade!

View attachment 207019
View attachment 207020
View attachment 207021
From Kirkcaldy I made my way south to Kinghorn, some big climbs but what a road!

View attachment 207022
View attachment 207023
I joined the cycle path from Kinghorn to Pettycur Bay and stopped for this photo of the amazing beach, the bridges over the Forth can be seen in the distance!

View attachment 207024
I was now heading for Burntisland where I would turn inland and face the biggest climb of the day from Burntilsland up to Mossmorran! I stopped for a couple of photos at the top of the first climb, its some descent if you are going the other way and usually well over 40mph!

View attachment 207025
View attachment 207026
From Mossmorran I headed west to Crossgates and then due north through Hill of Beath and had a blast flying down this descent at over 42mph on my way to Kelty!

View attachment 207027
I was hoping to turn west towards Knockhill at Kelty but time was against me so I decided to continue north towards Kinross, if I had turned west it would have added another 15 miles or so and over 1000ft of climbing so I made the right decision despite having enough battery juice! I would have had enough daylight but it would have been marginal so best to play it safe, there will be more chances to do bigger rides with the clock change coming later this month!

The road to Kinross was pretty amazing with some big descents and twists and turns, I turned west for Cleish a couple of miles before Kinross as its a much quieter road and I know it well! Its a very quiet road but a bit rough here and there but nothing really bad, I was making my way along a straight part of the road when I heard a noise on my left as I passed a forest and a young deer sprinted across the road right in front of me! Thankfully I was going slow and managed to avoid it with some sharp braking, my heart did skip a beat!

Just after I passed through Cleish the 100 miles appeared on my gps, I then turned north for Balado and had this view of the hills for my final photo before turning west and arriving at the car just before 5pm!

View attachment 207030
What a fantastic day, it was just amazing from start to finish!

View attachment 207033
View attachment 207034

Amazing the difference in weather on same island!

Was watching Scotland completely tear apart France at Murrayfield yesterday and the sun blazing so they couldn't even use the standard "ambushed by Celtic nation in a quagmire of mud and rain" excuse!!!

 

[Chargeride]

They have many other excuses.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

A General Aviation Ride with Tommy

Tommy had some chores to do on Saturday and could not join our Mt Calvary ride. He regretted missing the airstrip visit, so I suggested we could both just ride there again on Sunday.

We passed the Combined Power & Heat Plant Siekierki, one of the two feeding Warsaw with the energy.

'TURN BACK!' Tommy yelled but it was too late for me. My camera was totally unset for the scene!

There is a long Vistula embankment by name of Wał Zawadowski. We had to ride a long unpaved segment of it to avoid mud and sand that had built on the road below during the Winter.

We were met with a very positive reception at the JB Aviation this time. We already knew the rules (take photos with a permission). The pilot of this ultralightweight AEROAT AT-3 airplane was ready to take either of us for a sightseeing flight but we kindly refused that nice offer as both I and Tommy were decidedly overweight

Would I even fit the cockpit?

The little aeroplane taxiing towards the airstrip. While crossing the road, all the traffic (cars, motorcycles, bikes) is stopped by an airfield employee.

The main cycling route Warsaw - Góra Kalwaria runs between the airstrip and the aeroclub.

This young boy knew everything about the general aviation! "See, he's not landing! He will do a low-pass overflight manoeuvre right now!' (Such boys become airline pilots later).

See the quality of my DSLR and the Tamron lens: This is a crop from the previous photo. (Yes, I liked the registration sign, haha!)

'Wait for our friend; he would be landing his Harvard soon!' -- the pilot's friends said. So we waited. Unfortunately, the man landed from the opposite end of the airstrip (he could have done that because of totally windless conditions).

SPICY landing, too

After an uneventful ride back to Warsaw we said our good-byes with Tommy.

I think I deserved that "Rich META Pizza" at META Bar. The bar had opened its vast outdoor sitting area and all the tables were occupied! (I had to ask a family if I could join them at a table).

52 km for the day.

 

[Chargeride]

Does ebiking keep you fit Stefan.
Yes, but your plane is too small for my belly.
...oh.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Does ebiking keep you fit Stefan.
Yes, but your plane is too small for my belly.
...oh.

E-biking is to keep my legs alive with no other reason
As I was leaving the Pruszków station on evening yesterday, I could spot a Ferrari ready to leave the parking lot.
"You own a Ferrari so now it's the time to get yourself an aeroplane!" I remarked loudly into the air

As we were pedalling towards the airstrip, we were taken over by many pelotons and solo riders. I and Tommy have no pretences so that didn't hurt us. However, we saw something at a distance that made our blood boil. It was a big family riding as many as five "Chinese shite" Oh, we had to overtake them not to watch that abomination!

 

[Chargeride]

They are perfectly fine for lighter riders.

 

[Chargeride]

Anyway Glasgow central station is ok, every media outlet got the wrong building...good news.

 

[Twin Valley]

Spending a month in southern Portugal (Algarve) to get a break from the snow and do some bike riding. Rented Bosch e-bikes with upright stem/handles which are great for sight seeing but sure easy to over steer quickly. Oh and a lot of debates going on with the better half as to avoiding so many hills (impossible). Board walks go for miles in the Lagos area but bikes are prohibited but like no dogs on the beaches the rules are not for everyone. The bikes are like tanks and I have to haul them up two flights of stairs to our hotel room to charge (the bike shop said we can't take out the battery which seems strange to me) anyways can't wait for the sun to crack through and soak up some sunshine and continue exploring the coast and cliffs of a beautiful countryside.

• 
  
  

 

[Mulezen]

Took a short ride so as to answer in the affirmative when the oral surgeon I see this afternoon asks. He founded a local riding group called 'Spin Doctors' ten years ago. He will also grill me on Shakespeare, specifically "The Turning of the Shrew" which I agreed to read at the last visit. I only read the first act...I'm afraid of what he might do to me when I sit in the chair."

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Oh and a lot of debates going on with the better half as to avoiding so many hills (impossible).

Sounds like a fabulous trip! I know those hill debates all too well.

You're kinda stuck there in the EU, but there's a fix for this problem back in the US: Make sure your balking partner has way more power than you do.

Used to get in big trouble with the missus for taking her on her idea of hilly rides on her 1st ebike, a 70 lb 500W hub-drive commuter. Then got her into a 750W hub-drive cruiser weighing 20 lb less.

Now she delights in leaving me and my 240W mid-drive in the dust on our biggest hills. She'll gladly go anywhere now, and I get my exercise trying to keep up. Win-win.