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

[edobici_forza]

Yeah, I noticed. While I haven't been there in a few decades I knew it wasn't Portolah Valley.
Thanks for clearing up the incongruity.

Haha, @gromike. I just wanted the link to disappear...so I added a letter. I have ridden through Portolah Valley for a dozen years. Today I made a different route. and saw some beautiful properties that I never expected. such a beautiful day, Mike where are you currently?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Deer on the zebra! Hahaha!

 

[gromike]

Mike where are you currently?

The Quimper Peninsula, NW Washington State.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

an old Panasonic GX-7

Ed, I have read about your gear. The camera comes from the golden era of the digital photography (that is, when the photography enthusiasts were using cameras not smartphones). A lightweight mirrorless camera with the optical sensor stabilization from the times Canon or Nikon still thought it was the lens that should be stabilized! I encourage you taking that camera on your rides!

The Long Market, Gdańsk, Poland

Besides, Panasonic was a strong photography company then. My gf @Brix (in London) owns a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000, which is a compact camera with an impressive Leica zoom lens. A fun fact is Panasonic was packing exactly the same camera into a body with the famous red dot, which was sold as a Leica at a way higher price While Ewa now prefers using her Samsung S24 Ultra for photos, she carries her Lumix for our vacation trips to a good effect.

A Pentax photographer taken with a Panasonic camera Cieszyn, South Poland

That was a memorable vacation! We did a trip in Poland, Czech Republic, East Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and back to Poland. I had my Pentax on the trip. However -- shame on me -- I lost the memory card when we were by the end of the trip! Meaning, all photos we had were taken with the Lumix!

Falcons in the park of Lednice, Czech Republic

A restaurant, East Austria

Craft beer in Tihany, Hungary

Aerobatics over the Balaton, Hungary

Rose Wine Festival "marathon" in Villány, South Hungary

The most famous places of the Hungarian winemaking, Villány, Hungary

Keleti, the Eastern Station of Budapest, Hungary. I could get an improbable wide angle with that camera!

A close-up on Pest from the Gellert Hill, Budapest

A parrot, Slovakia

Meeting a friend, Mielec, South Poland

 

[JGcycle]

I swapped my winter Vittoria Terreno knobby tires for the smoother Conti Terra Speeds. so this was my first ride. They roll so well. not as fast as my Conti GP5000s but very nice. And I tried a new neighborhood in Portolah Valley today, I expected it as I plotted the route, but a crazy steep descent around a a curve, brakes on from the very top.
Funny to have some deer crossing in the crosswalk on Alpine Road! (Video of deer) I had time to stop at the popular The Village Hub - Coffee Bar ... also my first time. I will be back. As I was leaving the Village Hub, I saw a group ride fly by me on Woodside.

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Those are very urban deer--they even use the crosswalk.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Those are very urban deer--they even use the crosswalk.

The Deers - Abbey Road

 

[RabH]

Back on my local roads today on a very cold but sunny morning, we had sleet and snow yesterday so the sun was very welcome! The forecast was showing rain arriving around midday, unsurprisingly it came earlier but at least it wasn't heavy! All the floods on my back roads had gone at last and thanks to yesterdays strong winds the roads had dried up so no ice to speak of! The temp was hovering around 0-1C when I set off at 8.20am and the wind was a direct westerly and around 20-25mph so I decided to head SE for Carnwath! The back road to Hareshaw has been flooded for a few weeks but it was completely dry today!

I made my way down into Allanton and then over the back roads to Carluke where I turned east on the A721 and started up the climb to Kilncadzow, where I stopped for some photos!

The climb continued for another half a mile before the awesome descent down to Harelaw!

I had a nice view of the Pentland Hills on the way down so just had to stop!

Looking back up the hill I had just descended!

The road from Harelaw to Carnwath is undulating but no big climbs or descents and with a 25mph tailwind I was flying along and enjoying life! At Carnwath I turned north and joined the amazing A70, its a gem of a road and luckily it was very quiet today! Sadly the sun had already disappeared but with the wind at my back it wasn't that cold...for now!

I grabbed a few photos along the way!

Its a very up and down road also, mostly up in the easterly direction and it peaks at just over 1100ft!

This was at the summit so I enjoyed a very nice descent for a mile or so!

I could see a road closure sign in the distance here and I was hoping it was the A70 because I was turning off at the junction at the bottom of the hill to take the West Calder road, if the road to West Calder was closed it would have been a nightmare for me but my luck was in! The road ramps up at first before descending through Harburn and downhill all the way to West Calder, 38 miles of mostly tailwind was about to change! As I turned west the temp difference was a shock to the system, most unusual for a westerly wind! At the 40 mile mark I switched batteries so I had tons of juice left for the final 20 miles home into the headwind! I made the most of it with level 2 and 3 pretty much all the way home, I just wanted to get out of that bitingly cold wind as quickly as possible!

I turned north for Blackburn and then west towards Whitburn where I took the cycle path north to Armadale, I had to look twice as I saw a cyclist joining the cycle path in Armadale wearing shorts and a short sleeved jersey! Less than a minute later the rain started, I bet he loved that! I took the the back road to Blackridge from here, where I spotted some lambs in the field and I couldn't believe how big they are already!

I just love this road, super smooth tarmac and I didn't meet a single car all the way to Blackridge!

50 miles came up as I passed through the village so just 10 miles more and I would be out of that chilly wind! I was sure glad to get home and enjoyed a lovely hot shower, I had 5 layers on and still felt the chill battling that headwind so that crazy cyclist must have been chilled to the bone...

What a great day though despite the cold, the amazing roads more than made up for it!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

We are riding Poligon again!

So what we were there last Sunday? Gravel.Love (one of the biggest cycling groups in Warsaw) together with Centrala Gravelowa (a gravel cycling specific LBS) organise a big classic Poligon group ride for today. There may be some route restrictions, so the decision is to either ride the Trail A eastwards and return on asphalt or do everything on asphalt. Let us see. The weather forecast is "cold with a possible drizzle". So what? If at least half the riders who have signed up arrives, I'll have the opportunity to see many familiar faces I haven't seen for years!

There is a little sensation in the cycling community of Poland: Strava has come in the Polish language version for the first time! Some (like my brother) love it but it is generally a laugh Everybody has got used to the word kudos and we are fond of it. However, translated it has become praise It carries some ecclesial meaning and hardly anybody likes it! So, now it is a general trend of resetting Strava back to English (something I would not even expect!) I'm so glad Wahoo has never translated the interface of their products into Polish! Garmin did, and the translation is a garbage in my opinion... Still, there are many people who are even unable to memorise a bunch of English words, and these are the people who would buy a Garmin instead of Wahoo!

 

[DiggyGun]

Goździejewskie*
My buddy Paul, a Welsh raised in Liverpool has lived in Poland for over 30 years, now he's married to a Pole for the second time. His Polish is impressive but he still has some foreign accent and mismatches words such as an "oppressor" with a "torturer" Good effort but Polish is for Poles only, I think A bid deal of Poles (especially the younger generation) speak English, making the life of a foreigner easier Interestingly, two or more Poles, all of them able to speak English cannot force themselves to speak English in a Polish group; which is so natural to Swedes!

I am so struggling to learn Polish at my age, even though Mrs DG is trying to help. I was never good with languages when I was at school in the 60s and 70s.

Decided it’s easier to get the family to improve their English.

DG…

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Decided it’s easier to get the family to improve their English

It will be beneficial to them. You need just a couple of polite words such as "Dzień dobry", "Dziękuję, do widzenia", "Przepraszam" or "Można kartą?" yourself

Never address strangers by "Cześć!" though. Impolite.

 

[Chargeride]

Gary got his bike back, they fitted a new battery cable on warranty.
First ride battery goes into death mode, unfixable.

 

[Chargeride]

Atherton is at it again in Nepal, apart from the deathwish descents its actually very entertaining, less corporate fazazz and more crew and locals.
This guy is unhinged.

 

[JGcycle]

Atherton is at it again in Nepal, apart from the deathwish descents its actually very entertaining, less corporate fazazz and more crew and locals.
This guy is unhinged.

Absolutely insane!

 

[DiggyGun]

Absolutely insane!

Watched it on a 65” TV.

Three words; Wow, Mad, Respect

DG…

 

[edobici_forza]

I tried a new route yesterday. I knew there would be some climbing but this was intense! up to 16% grade. I used the micro tune setting to go to 90%, since my Turbo is set to 70%. I returned using a familiar trail but since I did not air down my tires at 40psi, I almost crashed in the rutted gravel section. but did not.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Gravel Poligon v3 2028, Or, Too Few Range Extenders!

As Gravel.Love is a very popular gravel group ride organiser in Warsaw (and the weather was fair), around 100 riders showed up in Warsaw Mokry Ług (Wet Lye)

I instantly made friends with Piotr, an enthusiast photographer. He brought in a mirrorless Nikon designed as a vintage analog camera. A beauty! If there will be any group photos from the event, these will be his!

A weird but eventually funny story

• As soon as the riders disappeared in the forest, my mate Tommy sped up and joined a fast cycling group. In Poland, we say: "I can't recognise my colleague!" as Tommy is not a very fast rider! OK, if he wants to impress me?
• Several kilometres into the ride (which started with an unusual Trail A2), we encountered sand. I've learned riding sand and swore to myself the sand wouldn't stop me. I got tunnel vision and only focused on the survival I didn't notice Tommy, who stopped in the sand!
  • I thought he was far ahead and was chasing him
  • He thought I wanted to race and make an impression on him
• I'm joining one of many groups. Now, I can notice my "fortified ECO" (SL 50/100%) is too slow, I switch to "powerful SPORT" (SL 80/80%) and follow the group
• After some 10 km ridden, my legs are warmed up. I feel I could do more. I make a violent sprint, and from that moment I pedal at all my might so the group disappears behind me "I won't ever let them catch up with me!"
• After 30 km into the ride, I realise I took too few Range Extenders with me, so I'm unable to reach the finish line on the batteries I had!
• 33 km into the ride I stop to decrease the assistance to SL 50/50. Within 5 minutes, the group I had ridden with takes me over. Then the next, next, next, and next!
• I crawl in loose gravel at speed sometimes as low as 16 km/h (10 mph), mostly on my bad legs' power.

The next stop afoot The Big Dune (which we visited only 6 days before!) More and more cycling groups overtaking me!

• As I reached the crossing with Hwy 637, I bonked. Had enough and considered several options to shorten the ride,,,

Then Tommy rode up from behind He had a Metric Century on Friday, a very cold day, so the gravel group ride exhausted him soon! Now, we sat at an edge of a ditch and could talk like close friends do! "We're not in hurry, Tommy? I know a restaurant nearby!"

So we rode up to the Gościniec Goździejewski (an inn) in Kąty Goździejewskie Drugie (@Chargeride and @DiggyGun, I'm sure you love that name! Haha!)

As the inn is on a popular trail, I tried to get lunch there for many times in recent years to no avail! It could be the pandemics, a private banquet, just name it! Now... "Sir, I need to ask the kitchen if you can get some food, as we are -- you see -- in some little renovation, and also there are big groups who booked the lunch here..." I was persistent and determined but polite. We needed lunch!

Tommy enjoying chicken broth, which is the most popular Polish Sunday soup (it is not for me!)

Pork neck, potato, Coleslaw. Delicious!

A horse in Okuniew. If I make a close-up to the animal's eye, it looks alive. However, that horse remained totally stationary as it were a statue! Ill, perhaps?

Because of the military range restrictions (a new thing), we were instructed to continue to the finish line by asphalt. "What is this in for us?" asked Tommy. So we just rode to the nearest train station, and so our Saturday adventure ended. 69 km for the day!

As I reached home, I fell onto the bed and slept for several hours, so tired I was!

A little reward: a Course Record/King of Mountain (e-bike) on a 13 km Poligon segment