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

[DaveMatthews]

I know male peacocks have to put up with them to get the girls during mating season, but those huge tails must be a real drag the rest of the year.
;^}

Gauntlet thrown, @DaveMatthews .

I rarely write about peacocks, but when I do it's under my nom de plume...

 

[DaveMatthews]

C'mon man... volley returned...

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

C'mon man... volley returned...

Ha, afraid I'm at the end of the line on clean peacock puns. But you haven't seen the last of me!

 

[stompandgo]

With rain and more cold in the forecast, I decided to take a late afternoon ride on the Pinarello. This would be the shakedown ride for the new brakes, stem, saddle, and the Praxis carbon 165mm crankarms. Everything worked very well, except my rear brake started dragging on the way back. Easy fix. Once they were bedded in, they stopped well. It was also the first use of my new rack, a Rocky Mounts High Noon FC. FC stands for Fender Clearance. It's made for bikes with fenders. I have it set up for one bike, so it's very light.

I got in 30 miles out and back (44 degrees, wind 10-12 from the north, headwind/cross out, tailwind/cross back) to the Chatham (pronounced "cha-dum") Fish Pier. This is where many local fishing boats dock and sell their catch. You can buy fish right off of the boat. You can also join a co-op for however much you want to spend every month, and have your catch reserved for pickup. There is also a fish market that makes meals to go. The building that has the diesel pumps and the ice machines has a second story observation deck, but bikes are not allowed up there. I did not want to tempt the local gendarmes so I stayed down below for these shots. I rode a bit in off, and spent most of the time in level 1. No speed records today. Halfway back, I was cold, my feet were freezing, my hammies and quads were starting to bark at me, so I flipped it up to Mid. By the time I got back to the truck, I was, as @Chargeride would say, "bloody knackered". I am very out of shape, but it will come with time.

Two lobster boats.

The boat in the distance is a dredger. You can see the spuds sticking up.

Looking straight north, into the wind. It was really cold by the water. I believe the grey boat is with NOAA. The Coast Guard has their docks about a mile away.

Sorry for the lighting. It was a tough place to take a picture, and I wanted to get going again. You can see my custom made Garmin Varia mount on the rack.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Chatham (pronounced "cha-dum")

The pronunciation is so obvious if you have ever been to Cheltenham, England (a joke!)
Chel-num.

Anyone here being a fan of The Stranglers?

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

With rain and more cold in the forecast, I decided to take a late afternoon ride on the Pinarello. This would be the shakedown ride for the new brakes, stem, saddle, and the Praxis carbon 165mm crankarms. Everything worked very well, except my rear brake started dragging on the way back. Easy fix. Once they were bedded in, they stopped well. It was also the first use of my new rack, a Rocky Mounts High Noon FC. FC stands for Fender Clearance. It's made for bikes with fenders. I have it set up for one bike, so it's very light.

I got in 30 miles out and back (44 degrees, wind 10-12 from the north, headwind/cross out, tailwind/cross back) to the Chatham (pronounced "cha-dum") Fish Pier. This is where many local fishing boats dock and sell their catch. You can buy fish right off of the boat. You can also join a co-op for however much you want to spend every month, and have your catch reserved for pickup. There is also a fish market that makes meals to go. The building that has the diesel pumps and the ice machines has a second story observation deck, but bikes are not allowed up there. I did not want to tempt the local gendarmes so I stayed down below for these shots. I rode a bit in off, and spent most of the time in level 1. No speed records today. Halfway back, I was cold, my feet were freezing, my hammies and quads were starting to bark at me, so I flipped it up to Mid. By the time I got back to the truck, I was, as @Chargeride would say, "bloody knackered". I am very out of shape, but it will come with time.

View attachment 207526

Two lobster boats.

View attachment 207528

The boat in the distance is a dredger. You can see the spuds sticking up.

View attachment 207529

Looking straight north, into the wind. It was really cold by the water. I believe the grey boat is with NOAA. The Coast Guard has their docks about a mile away.

View attachment 207530

Sorry for the lighting. It was a tough place to take a picture, and I wanted to get going again. You can see my custom made Garmin Varia mount on the rack.

Bike's looking sharp! Love knocking around harbors on a bike.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Especially for @Chargeride

I instructed my mates to smile whenever a photo was taken. This is the maximum smile you can get from the Poles Showing teeth is illegal!

 

[RabH]

With the weather going downhill after today I decided I was sufficiently recovered from Thursdays epic ride to do another 100 miler, no battery anxiety this time thankfully! I set off just before 8am in overcast skies, they said it would improve as the day progressed and they got it right for once... The temp was 7C with a feels like temp of 2C, the wind was from the SW and around 20-25mph so it was a no brainer to head NE! I made it to Knockhill Racing Circuit in 2 hours 10 minutes which I'm pretty sure is a record for the 38 mile ride!

I crossed the Kincardine Bridge and was planning to use the main road to Forestmill but the traffic was strangely heavy for a Sunday morning, I found out later it was due to closed roads for a half marathon! Anyway I chose to take the A907 and use the back road to Forestmill, I have used this road only a handful of times but always in the other direction! I was pleasantly surprised to find some lovely new tarmac had been laid!

I knew there was a big climb coming and that also had new tarmac!

At the end of the road I turned east towards Saline, all uphill but I had a very nice tailwind pushing me up the climbs! The road eventually joins the main road into Saline and its such a great road and with very little traffic it was even better today! I didn't have to wait for the cars to pass for this photo, Dave.... @DaveMatthews

The road up through Saline is a steep one and I could see a bike ahead of me but he was flying up the climb and left me for dead, almost certainly an e bike or a very fit rider! The road flattens at Steelend before ramping up again, I did have to wait for a couple of cars to pass here...

At the top of the climb the road flattens and I was doing almost 30mph thanks to the tailwind! After another couple of miles it was time to turn NW towards Knockhill, it was so cold here as I battled a headwind up the climb! I would soon be descending again past the entry road to the circuit!

You can see the Scottish flag showing a strong crosswind from the west, the wind had moved from the SW now! I had to fight the wind for a mile or so before the big descent down into Powmill, its treelined all the way down so I was well protected and it was such a blast! From Powmill I headed north towards Rumbling Bridge, another great road to ride! I usually get a very nice view of the Ochil Hills here but they were well hidden at this time!

I passed these Shetland ponies and tried to catch their attention but I think the grass was more interesting than me...

I finally got a misty view of the Ochils!

I then reached my turning point at the wonderfully named village of Yetts O' Muckhurt, a proper Scots name!

I turned SW here to join the A91 which is mostly downhill for a good few miles, passing through many scenic villages! This road is in great condition and a real joy to ride when the traffic is light like today!

The sky eventually started to clear and I got some nice views of the Ochils!

I passed 50 miles and stopped to change batteries, my 8 year old battery performed very well once again and I had only charged it to 90% as it was a late decision to go for the 100 miler! I arrived in Tillicoultry where I stopped for lunch and there were road closure signs everywhere, Google maps actually showed all the closures and I had to change my plans and leave the A91! I turned SE and passed through Sauchie and was heading for Alloa, I was planning to head back to Kincardine Bridge! Things were going well until I came across a big line of cars just after Alloa, it turned out to be 2 miles of wall to wall traffic! My luck was in though as there was a narrow verge that was completely safe to use and I passed at least 100 cars on their inside, I'm sure they were all fuming...

I arrived in Kincardine and decided to take the cycle path which leads to the Clackmannshire Bridge, to grab a few photos of the Firth of Forth and the Ochils!

I then took the cycle path which runs from the Kincardine Bridge to Grangemouth and turned SW for Carronshore, then west to Bonnybridge where I passed over the canal!

I decided to use the main road which runs alongside the canal as the traffic was very light!

I was now heading for Castlecary, not the best road but I knew I would soon be on the quiet back roads again and I had a particular road in mind which I haven't ridden for a while! It starts with this climb, its a pretty gradual 2 mile climb!

Its rough in places but super smooth in others and such a great road, I was glad I decided to use it today and I only saw 1 car which was actually blocking the road until he saw me coming and moved out of the way! There are some amazing descents after the climb amd its very twisty also, its my kind of road! I reached 82 miles at the end of the road and changed to battery 3, I knew if I turned west for home I would be well short of my 100 miles! So I chose to head east towards Slamannan and had a lovely tailwind again! I continued east and headed up the back road towards Avonbridge, then turned south to enjoy the amazing rollercoaster road to Blackridge!

Its like this all the way until the big climb over Heights where its a bit rough in places! The final descent into Blackridge is just superb!

I arrived in Blackridge with 92 miles covered and around 10 to go, turned west for home into a now 30mph headwind! With only 10 miles on battery 3 I had tons of juice remaining so I cranked the assist up to level 3 and laughed at the headwind all the way home! It was a far cry from Thursdays beautiful Trossachs ride but still very enjoyable and I have now covered 45065 miles on my fantastic bike! It has been a long time since I did back to back 100 milers, I once did 4 in 2024 and that wasn't long after my longest ever ride of 170 miles to St Andrews! I don't think I will ever beat that one...

 

[Chargeride]

combustibiale

Especially for @Chargeride

View attachment 207543
I instructed my mates to smile whenever a photo was taken. This is the maximum smile you can get from the Poles Showing teeth is illegal!

Splendid, tell them my neighbours dog died to get them back to normal.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Korboloza Poligonoza (A Gravel Group Ride)

A new quality in my life. Following advice of several EBR members, I bought a camera harness to carry my Pentax K-1 DSLR on the rides. (It is a French product by the brand Cotton).

The Sunday weather was fair. Three of us were able to meet at a Warsaw train station and escape the city paralysed by Warsaw Half Marathon

Upon arriving in Mińsk Mazowiecki, I lost the contact with my mates (they met the fourth person to join the ride at the station). I had to summon the guys to the official starting line!

A mysterious tunnel...

I didn't expect Komoot would plan the first part of the ride as perfectly! We mostly rode gravel or dirt! (I was afraid riding a lot of paved surfaces but fortunately that was not the fact).

We soon arrived at the first point of interest: Rysie Airstrip. Alas no aeroplane preparing for the flight, all of them hidden in a small hangar.

Then we came to the second point of interest: a high and steep sand dune officially called the White Hill (I always name the place the Big Dune) We had to walk our bikes atop. (Technically, an MTB climb was possible).

Tommy atop the Big Dune.

I was unable to picture how high and steep the dune was.

I could, however, take a nice photo of my mates (L to R): Paweł, Krzysiek, Tommy.

Paweł took a photo of me I am very fond of. It was easy to crash in the sand while walking, so I was LAUGHING (See also the camera harness on my chest).

We were able to return to the civilisation for a short while: the village Pustelnik (Hermit).

Any gravel cyclist has to visit a convenience store on a trip We could find such a store (open on Sundays) as well!

Kicking up clouds of dust by our fast ride I had to go Turbo and full leg force to win enough distance to turn back and shoot that photo.

Poligon means a military range. I would say it is a former military range, and at least there are two approved public routes through the area. The main issue is Warsawers always start the Poligon ride from the city, or from west take Trail A, then make a boring loop and eventually re-enter Poligon via Trail B. We did it differently and rode the Trail A from east to west.

Turned out the Earth rotation and the sunlight direction make the route look totally differently depending on the ride direction and time of day. We made a perfect choice: the trip was just wonderful!

We did stops from time to time...

And we crossed River Długa. The issue here is the reinforced concrete blocks dilapidate very very quickly! The crossing (technically one year old) was already partly damaged!

Find a Tank Road and you are sure it is Poligon

The whole trip from Mińsk Mazowiecki to Warsaw Stadium station. As usually, add 8 km for my commutes.

A very short movie by Pawel Jonca with the essence of the ride (no need to understand Polish). Pawel has reminded me it was doable to ride gravel/forest paths for kilometres in Warsaw (what we did, too!)
YOUR CHAIN IS STRETCHED LIKE THAT! LIKE THAT! (showing with both arms). I have never seen a chain stretched for above 1%...

 

[Chargeride]

Day one of Stefan trying to make the Polish look wacky.

Looks like a good day out.
Im not sure about Gozuziejewskie, its sounds like something you shouldnt say.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Im not sure about Gozuziejewskie, its sounds like something you shouldnt say.

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!