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

[Jeremy McCreary]

Well I tried, but even at full coverage and running an ND filter it still came out completely round.
Is this some AI malarkey?

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SoCal's totally out of the path of visibility this time around, but we had a 60% solar eclipse on April 8, 2024.

The only (phone camera) photo I got that looked anything other than perfectly round was through my cheap paper eclipse glasses. Maybe your ND filter just wasn't dark enough?

 

[Chargeride]

Probably, I hear if you zoom in it works.
Well I saw a full one in 1999 and vhs videod it so no worries

 

[fooferdoggie]

Art Crows around town time to hunt them all.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Art Crows around town time to hunt them all.


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That's a beauty! Corvids are sooooo cool. Deserving art subjects. Please show us all you find.

 

[fooferdoggie]

That's a beauty! Corvids are sooooo cool. Deserving art subjects. Please show us all you find.

I could look them all up but thats no fun.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Last evening's eclipse. 95% apparently here in Devon, parts of Iceland and Spain had 100%, there was a tiny bit of the sunlight dimming when eclipse was at max and the midges came out but that was about it. Half the town climbed the local hill to have a look. Gorgeous evening, we all had drinks and snacks and passed around the glasses and kids made the reverse viewers out of cereal boxes. Great craic.

 

[Chargeride]

Fires last night in the Formby dunes and the cause is completey predictable.

Everyone descended on the beaches to watch the eclipse, stayed, got drunk and you could hear the fireworks off and on all night.

Fireworks in a pine forest during a major heatwave..humans eh.

 

[fooferdoggie]

 

[fooferdoggie]

 

[fooferdoggie]

great name for a catering company. in the heart of the brewing district in portland. I was riding around marking streets for wander and found so many big breweries.

 

[Chargeride]

I had a ride around the forest today with Dan and thankfully there is next to zero damage, the pictures posted as usual are the frame grabbed clickbait that the media delights in displaying.

But the danger is still very real, tinderbox is the perfect description

We all recieved an official emergency warning on our phones tonight, to watch out for grass mysteriously igniting by itself.
Meanwhile over a 100 people have been arrested for Arson

 

[Chargeride]

My fire damage hunt, cloudy but still stinking hot

That was very soft sand, but a small audience pushed me to the top

This is all we found, not even in Formby

I was whooping Dan on his pathetic 27.5 x 2.6 tyres

 

[JGcycle]

A pic from this morning's 24km ride:

 

[JGcycle]

A pic from where I stopped because of a thrown chain. The chain managed to get wedged between the front sprocket and the frame. What a time I had getting it out! This incident caused me to cut yesterday's ride down to 17km.

 

[DaveMatthews]

A pic from where I stopped because of a thrown chain. The chain managed to get wedged between the front sprocket and the frame. What a time I had getting it out! This incident caused me to cut yesterday's ride down to only 17km.

View attachment 214127

I recall dropping the chain on my Stance a few years back, same situation as you. It was freezing out and I was so happy that I had my tools with me in the seat bag!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Kozienice Wilderness Gravel Ride
"It doesn't tear your ass off but..."

The Polish word "puszcza" means either a "primeval forest" or "wilderness". We have many puszcza in Poland. Some are indeed very well preserved primeval forests (with big strict nature reservations) while some other rather hold the historical meaning. We also have real wilderness areas of Poland, such as West Pomerania. Let me use the name of Wilderness for the big forest near Kozienice, which is now neither a primeval forest nor a wilderness anymore

My mate Marek offered a lift to Kozienice for a gravel metric century on last Saturday. He rightly hates riding alone!

While the city of Kozienice (on the Vistula), while green and nice does not offer much, it is rich with history. Take the last King of Poland, Stanislaus August Poniatowski. What can be said about that King is he never spared money for art or his own residences! He hired an Italian architect Francesco Placidi to design a new summer retreat in 1775. In 1778, a new Baroque + Neoclassical park and palace in Kozienice were ready.

Marek starts his Garmin to begin our new adventure!

As I said Kozienice were rich with history:

• The King who first united Poland and Lithuania, Jogaila known as King Władysław II Jagiełło loved hunting in the Kozienice Wilderness on his trips between Cracow and Vilnius (he's been depicted in the wooden figure seen in the picture)
• King Sigismund I the Old was actually born in Kozienice
• King Stanislaus Poniatowski often hunted when stayed at his summer palace in Kozienice.

We got into the Wilderness at that recreation place called the Royal Spring.

SPOILER ALERT: Marek used a ride plan made by someone else, so we didn't know what to expect en route. Turned out the route was suboptimal, to say the least.

We were fooled by premium gravel met at some 12th kilometre. We both thought that it would be a fantastic ride...

It turned out to be hard, unpleasant, taxing at least to the 40th kilometre. The forest roads were not good at all. Here, a brighter moment. We had a long and fast descent in rough terrain including sand. We both were coasting out-of-saddle with a lot of joy! The adrenalin rush was a fantastic sensation!

Past Garbatka (a summer resort), somewhere far from civilisation but near to a railroad track we could find this strange memorial. It turned out to be the Polish Legionnaire Mausoleum of 1933 (recently renovated). Following the outbreak of WWI, our future leader Józef Piłsudski could form Polish Legions, a military force fighting for the future Poland's independence as a part of the Austro-Hungarian army. The 1st Regiment of the Polish Legion fought their first major battle against the Russian just in this area on October 2014. Some 250 legionnaires were killed in action. Their remnants were later collected and buried under the mausoleum seen in the picture. (The memorial is located in a desolated place because it was the actual battlefield location).

We ate in a town of Pionki then continued our ride to get in Jedlnia-Letnisko, yet another summer resort en route (for some reason the south of our trip was full of summer resorts!)

51st kilometre. I at the reservoir in Jedlnia.

As I said, we discovered the ride plan made by someone else was a rubbish at many segments. I and Marek started working on the maps (I am very good with the maps, while Marek is a great moderator of my ideas!)

"Playing with fire does not make me a hot person!" I revised the ride plan. First, we could ride for several kilometres of premium gravel, then covered yet another couple of kilometres of the acceptable segment of so-called (fake) Royal Way; more on that will come soon! This type of an organised stop has even a name: MOR (Miejsce Odpoczynku Rowerzystów) or Cyclists' Rest Area! I and Marek had some time to work on the maps there, especially comparing our findings to the public tourist map displayed at the site.

As we learned later, the whole extent of so called Royal Way might be in the area development plans. From the MOR onwards, the Royal Way was unrideable deep sand until the village of Stoki. So we found a parallel forest path for a detour.

Even if the alternative path was generally very good, you should always expect the unexpected

The Real Royal Way
Past Stoki, the Royal Way turned out to be fantastic!

• 7.5 km of a good quality fine white gravel with some potholes
• 7.5 km of premium gravel, the road recently redeveloped to the most modern standards (such as rainwater removal channels so no potholes can be formed)

Those 15 km have restored our stamina and good humour! We could now ride very fast, with tailwind and slight descend making fast riding even easier!

For an unknown reason (yet), Marek shot forward, producing 765 W peak power with his legs and hitting 45.3 km/h (28 mph)! I decided to catch up with him so went TURBO and hit 41.3 km/h (25+ mph). And he just needed a time advantage to shoot a photo of mine!

My photos of him were not really good that time!

The original route author seemed to be missing "track miles" to make a 100 km plan. The last part of the route lead via asphalt to the Vistula River embankment and was again disappointing. "Dupy nie urywa" (it doesn't tear your ass off) is a Polish idiom meaning "acceptable but absolutely unimpressive". It was the final description of the route by Marek. The full one was: "It didn't tear your ass of but those last 30 'keys' were fabulous!". OK, for me only 15 km were fabulous but can't complain, can't complain...

Ride map with POI.

 

[stompandgo]

I had planned to ride long today, but Mrs. Stomp informed me that our dinner plans had changed and I would not have the time, so I decided, if you can't ride long, ride hard. 52 miles, 3:20 ride time with dozens of stops, Eco set at 80w max. I did a bunch of intervals when the road was clear of obstacles.

I decided to ride out to the Chatham Fish Pier for lunch. then take the long way home. The pier was busy with visitors having lunch and watching the harbor seals.

A lobster boat in the harbor.

I decided on a tuna poke bowl with spicy aeoli. The tuna was caught that morning.

I found this path to the water on the other side of the parking lot. Photo only, I did not go out there. Disturbing the dunes is not a good idea.

Obligatory bike shot.

After lunch, I decided to cruise around Chatham. This is the world famous Chatham Bars Inn. In season, waterview suites are over $1,000/night.

Across the street, the CBI built a nice viewing platform with pay binoculars for tourists.

Chatham Light and the Coast Guard station. Both are still operating. Chatham shoals are very dangerous as the sand bottom changes with storms.

A modest yacht in the inlet.

Monomoy Wildlife Reserve. Home of over 50,000 seals that decimate the fish stock every year. The fish are regulated but the seals are not. Make that make sense.

One of the many summer homes on the Gold Coast. Of course, it's empty. There is a bill in state congress to tax seasonal homes over $1M. They call it the "Taylor Swift Tax". RI just passed it. I am dead set against it. Seasonal homes use no town resources. No schools. No police or fire unless there is a catastrophic event. Let them be.

Look, @PCeBiker , no hands. No throttle either.

I finished up the ride in my town, riding a section of the rail trail that is under construction, and also a wide sidewalk turned bike path that goes almost all the way to the beach.

 

[Chargeride]

Sunday ride, found a bit more fire damage.

Rode the coast, beautiful weather.
Stuffing my face in trendy Birkdale.

 

[RabH]

I was itching to get out again after a full week off the bike due to weather, once again it wasn't looking promising today but I noticed the NE of the country was looking much better so I stuck the bike in the car and headed east to Kinross where I parked the car and set off for St Andrews at 6.30am! I had a nice long downhill to start my ride into Kinross and a stunning view of the Ochil Hills to start my day!

From Kinross I headed north to Milnathort and then NE towards Gateside where I had this stunning view of the Lomond Hills!

I then headed north where I had my first big climb of the day, its followed by an amazing descent down into the village of Aberargie! I stopped for this photo at the start of the climb!

From Aberargie I made my way east to Newburgh where I stopped for this photo of the River Tay!

From Newburgh I made my way to Cupar, its such a great road with lots of ups and downs and the final descent into Cupar was just incredible! I grabbed a few photos on the way!

This was a tough climb but the descent after it sure made up for it, this was from the top looking back down!

From Cupar I took the back road to Pitscottie, a lot of climbing before a nice descent into Pitscottie! Just 6 miles to St Andrews now, starting with some big climbs and some long gradual descents! I was blessed with light winds for a nice change so it was the perfect day for a big ride!

A couple of photos at the top of the first climb!

I arrived in St Andrews and headed for the west of the town, where I stopped at the Old Course where they have been playing golf since the early 15th century!

I then cycled round the perimeter road of the west sands and stopped for some photos!

No, I didn't do a @Chargeride on the deep sand....

I then headed into the town and made my way to the harbour!

The east sands!

The town and the beaches were pretty quiet, mainly due to the schools going back after the summer holidays and the lack of sun! I headed south out of St Andrews and had some huge climbs for about 5 miles, I stopped part way up for this photo looking back at the town!

This is why I chose this road, its 5 miles of climbing but also 5 miles of descending!

I was looking forward to this descent!

At the end of the road I turned west towards Upper Largo and then SW to Leven where I stopped for lunch! I then continued down the coast road to Kirkcaldy and Kinghorn where I turned west towards Burntisland! I passed Pettycur Bay on the way and stopped for a couple of photos of the stunning beach!

From Burntisland I tackled the tough 2 part 4 mile climb up to Mossmorran, with a cracking decent in between the climbs! I walked up a huge hill for this photo looking down the hill I had just climbed, it was worth the effort!

From Mossmorran I headed west towards Crossgates, a pretty straight road but a fun one with a long gradual descent and a short gradual climb and I had the breeze at my back! From Crossgates I headed north through Hill of Beath and Kelty and enjoyed some nice fast descents! I then turned west towards Cleish, one of my favourite roads with very little traffic!

At the end of the road I headed up the climb towards Knockhill, before taking the back road to Saline a short time later! Its almost all downhill and apart from a few rough parts its mostly smooth tarmac, I was smiling all the way down! From Saline I headed NW towards Dollar to enjoy the big descent that was resurfaced not so long ago! I climbed it recently and vowed to go back and enjoy descending it and it was sure worth adding a few miles to my ride!

My final photo just before arriving in Dollar with the Ochil Hills in the background!

After all that fun descending I now had a big 4 mile climb as I headed NE towards Yetts o'Muckhart, from there I took the back road to Drum and headed back to the car with 112 miles in the bag! I passed 5000 miles today, now at 5063 for the year! What a brilliant ride and I didn't get soaked which is a real bonus, I did get caught in a couple of light showers but they were short lived!

 

[Chargeride]

Thats not riding on sand, its parting it like moses