2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

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Halfway through a very relaxing, psych soothing 20 mile local gravel road ride loop where my neighbor G had said (when we started out) that she would just follow me whereever I wanted to ride - taking any and all pressure off her to make any direction decisions which was fine by me - that, by design because I'm always looking for some sort of adventure, even in my own backyard, we found ourselves facing this:
IMG_20201228_152209_0_copy_612x816.jpg

Deep enough to give pause, bubbling and running with a flooded creek's implied malevolent level of swiftness that gave my less adventurous neighbor pause, enough for her to say with very real concern, as we both looked at the logs someone had thrown into the floodwaters to show that it was indeed deep, that she thought we'd better retrace our route backwards and go another way. I took this shot and assured her it was both possible and passible, and that it would be an adventure. What's a ride without adventure? She gave me a look that clearly implied I was certifiably off my rocker, and said "Fine. You go first."

I stood for a moment, studying the glimpses of road bed I could discern under the rapid overflow to tell me where the shallower parts were, and out loud charted the best course for crossing the small flood, that being alongside the road edge. Then, as I launched my bike into the flood I had a change of mind and tried to thread a line right through the middle over what looked (under water) to be a swale. I would have (notice the past tense, please) been successful had my tires not bogged down in the deep silt and gravel, bringing me to an abrupt standstill several pedal rotations from dry land on the other side. It was a moment when you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the water had won and your feet were about to get soaked. I surrendered as my feet found the road under the flooded water, and turned around, laughing, to G.

"Don't go this way!" I called over my shoulder to her, still laughing as I slogged my way through the remaining creek overflow to the far side before turning to watch her tackle the flood. Bless her heart, she took the exact course I had suggested at the onset, and sailed through the rushing creek without missing a beat, water rising up in an impressively high splashing wave around her tires as she made it from shore to shore without putting a toe in the water. She landed on the other side, her bike drenched in spray, her feet wet from her pedals going into the water, the biggest grin on her face. Fear had been conquered. Elation had taken its place.

That'll show me next time to listen to my own advice now, won't it? Of course not.

We rode the rest of the way home, our feet wet, our hearts light, our conversation animated, and our bikes, somewhat splashed clean from the waters, back to gathering mud and grime from the wet roads.

Surprisingly, for a weekday and a relatively short mid afternoon ride, enroute we had encountered 7 other cyclists out enjoying our gravel roads, 2 of which were arriving in their car with bikes on the car rack to start riding even though the afternoon was already an hour away from becoming late afternoon. I'm guessing the unusual balmy temperature (55°F/12°c) and sunny skies had called to area cyclists, including three other neighbors, to come out for a ride before the cold weather once again put a stranglehold on our region. We were the only ebikes, but in our neck of the woods that invokes simply curiosity and admiration, not scorn. Gravel roads level the playing field for cyclists without the prejudice found on the paved road.

Tomorrow that flooded road will be rimmed in ice, the cold winter winds will commence to blow subfreezing temps, and the bikes will return to patiently waiting in the warm garage for the next balmy, sunny day to ride in seek of another adventure.

Gratuitous photo of the late afternoon sky on my way back to my farm after saying goodbye to G at her driveway a mile up the road.
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@Stefan Mikes Knowing how determined you are, you will make 5,000 miles! Good luck my friend! :)
@Readytoride Can you send that 12 degree weather over here please:p No danger of getting your feet wet here;)

I was hopeful of getting out today but this happened overnight and then it froze solid!

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Nice view from my upstairs window!

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The windfarm in the far distance is around 30 miles away by bike, it will be a while before I go near it! ;)

Nice sunset from just before Christmas!

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A little cold 'outside' …

View attachment 75355
Earlier today over New South Wales.
Cold outside? It didn't stop me.
.....me either.
A Vivaldi Winter_Moment (2).jpg

Alberta winters can be cold and daunting at times and I try my best to embrace it rather than push it away. Cycling is a way for me to escape the shackles of Old Man Winter and find the beauty in it by simply stepping out my front door and heading to the trails just minutes away on my bike.

I’ve dedicated this video to celebrate winter here in the great white north and to accept it for what it is. I can't speak for RandallS and Twin Valley as they have received more snow than their neighbors to the north. That being said, we somehow are always consistently colder by several degrees. ;)

 
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Halfway through a very relaxing, psych soothing 20 mile local gravel road ride loop where my neighbor G had said (when we started out) that she would just follow me whereever I wanted to ride - taking any and all pressure off her to make any direction decisions which was fine by me - that, by design because I'm always looking for some sort of adventure, even in my own backyard, we found ourselves facing this:
View attachment 75348
Deep enough to give pause, bubbling and running with a flooded creek's implied malevolent level of swiftness that gave my less adventurous neighbor pause, enough for her to say with very real concern, as we both looked at the logs someone had thrown into the floodwaters to show that it was indeed deep, that she thought we'd better retrace our route backwards and go another way. I took this shot and assured her it was both possible and passible, and that it would be an adventure. What's a ride without adventure? She gave me a look that clearly implied I was certifiably off my rocker, and said "Fine. You go first."

I stood for a moment, studying the glimpses of road bed I could discern under the rapid overflow to tell me where the shallower parts were, and out loud charted the best course for crossing the small flood, that being alongside the road edge. Then, as I launched my bike into the flood I had a change of mind and tried to thread a line right through the middle over what looked (under water) to be a swale. I would have (notice the past tense, please) been successful had my tires not bogged down in the deep silt and gravel, bringing me to an abrupt standstill several pedal rotations from dry land on the other side. It was a moment when you know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the water had won and your feet were about to get soaked. I surrendered as my feet found the road under the flooded water, and turned around, laughing, to G.

"Don't go this way!" I called over my shoulder to her, still laughing as I slogged my way through the remaining creek overflow to the far side before turning to watch her tackle the flood. Bless her heart, she took the exact course I had suggested at the onset, and sailed through the rushing creek without missing a beat, water rising up in an impressively high splashing wave around her tires as she made it from shore to shore without putting a toe in the water. She landed on the other side, her bike drenched in spray, her feet wet from her pedals going into the water, the biggest grin on her face. Fear had been conquered. Elation had taken its place.

That'll show me next time to listen to my own advice now, won't it? Of course not.

We rode the rest of the way home, our feet wet, our hearts light, our conversation animated, and our bikes, somewhat splashed clean from the waters, back to gathering mud and grime from the wet roads.

Surprisingly, for a weekday and a relatively short mid afternoon ride, enroute we had encountered 7 other cyclists out enjoying our gravel roads, 2 of which were arriving in their car with bikes on the car rack to start riding even though the afternoon was already an hour away from becoming late afternoon. I'm guessing the unusual balmy temperature (55°F/12°c) and sunny skies had called to area cyclists, including three other neighbors, to come out for a ride before the cold weather once again put a stranglehold on our region. We were the only ebikes, but in our neck of the woods that invokes simply curiosity and admiration, not scorn. Gravel roads level the playing field for cyclists without the prejudice found on the paved road.

Tomorrow that flooded road will be rimmed in ice, the cold winter winds will commence to blow subfreezing temps, and the bikes will return to patiently waiting in the warm garage for the next balmy, sunny day to ride in seek of another adventure.

Gratuitous photo of the late afternoon sky on my way back to my farm after saying goodbye to G at her driveway a mile up the road.
View attachment 75350

View attachment 75349
That creek would have been no problem with a throttle. Just sayin. :p
 
.....me either.
View attachment 75362
Alberta winters can be cold and daunting at times and I try my best to embrace it rather than push it away. Cycling is a way for me to escape the shackles of Old Man Winter and find the beauty in it by simply stepping out my front door and heading to the trails just minutes away on my bike.

I’ve dedicated this video to celebrate winter here in the great white north and to accept it for what it is. I can't speak for RandallS and TwinFalls as they have received more snow than their neighbors to the north. That being said, we somehow are always consistently colder by several degrees. ;)

Great video... love the music!
 
Pursuing the Yearly 5000 Mile Target - The Day 2 of 4 (Wonderful 50 miles via Puszcza Mariańska)

In short:
  • 31.6 km to go to reach the yearly 8000 km goal
  • 48.7 mi to go to achieve the yearly 5000 mi target
  • Two days to go.
It was raining. Sunshine was forecast to 2 p.m. (too late). I took the manly decision to ride out at noon, being perfectly aware my return would occur at night. I put my clothes on in an order so sophisticated a NASA astronaut would be proud of! Don't wanna bore you with the details: suffice to say I was warm and stayed dry for the entire trip, making it a wonderful 50 miles (true miles) :) I set out at 12:09 p.m. Raining stopped after 40 minutes. Soon, I could ride in the sunshine, with roads drying up fast.

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (1 of 10).jpg

I bought two pączki at the 14th kilometre (as my favourite cake shop). I ate one pączek for lunch, and the other one for the dinner :) Rose marmalade inside, delicious!

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (2 of 10).jpg

Bosch Service by Hwy 719. Regretfully, not the Bosch E-Bike Service :D There's heavy traffic on 719 except the night time. I didn't care really. "The road is my girlfriend when I ride by so quick..." I had to negotiate strong headwind riding all the way to Puszcza Mariańska (some 32 km). It made me ride at steady 24 km/h (15 mph) on the outbound trip segment. With 50/50 assistance (as Specialized call it), that is "It's 1.6 x You!" and not more than 260 W of motor assist.

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (3 of 10).jpg

The intersection of the 719 with Hwy 50 (which goes through an overpass). There are two nice roundabouts on each side of the 50. I was exploring the forests seen in the picture on my "
Benenard not Bernard" trip earlier this year. In heavy rainfall and with flat Trance E+ battery :D

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (4 of 10).jpg

Puszcza Mariańska ("The Primeval Forest that Once Belonged to the Marian Fathers"), or the turning point of my travel. After turning to the East, I had to fight with the side-wind. Puszcza Mariańska is one of my favourite places. It is a cosy and nice village. Still, it was hard to wait for the moment, in which I could take a "car free" photo, so heavy traffic was on the 719 on this day.

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (5 of 10).jpg

It is really difficult to find a bad road in Central Mazovia nowadays. For example, the Puszcza Mariańska - Wola Polska road segment was perfect. The Wola Polska -> Mszczonów one was really tragic though...

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (6 of 10).jpg

An old-school bus shelter. You can still find ones if you really look for them (again, Mazovian bus shelters are modern and nice in their majority). I love taking stops at bus shelters! You can take a rest from the wind...

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (7 of 10).jpg

There, I had an early dinner: the second pączek :)

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (8 of 10).jpg

Moonrise. A smartphone cannot render the beauty of the scene.
A kilometre before (at 48th km), I swapped the Vado battery and had a small latte at a gas station.

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (9 of 10).jpg

Some funny place-names:
The top: "Timber Mill - Little Birches"
The bottom: "Weakomir" ("mir" like in Vladimir) - it could be a funny Slavonic male name :D

Wonderful 50 Miles (via Puszcza Marianska) s (10 of 10).jpg

Just 3800 metres from home. Our Warsaw Commuter Railway (WKD) train. The trains itself are Swiss, delivered here by Switzerland as part of the country's EU participation budget (Switzerland -- like Norway -- is a EU associated country, not a member).


Guess what I did after returning home? Went riding for grocery shopping to make 4 km more :D

Ride Map POI.jpg

Ride map with Points Of Interest.

Ride Metrics.jpg

Ride metrics.
 
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Pursuing the Yearly 5000 Mile Target - The Day 2 of 4 (Wonderful 50 miles via Puszcza Mariańska)

In short:
  • 31.6 km to go to reach the yearly 8000 km goal
  • 48.7 mi to go to achieve the yearly 5000 mi target
  • Two days to go.
It was raining. Sunshine was forecast to 2 p.m. (too late). I took the manly decision to ride out at noon, being perfectly aware my return would occur at night. I put my clothes on in an order so sophisticated a NASA astronaut would be proud of! Don't wanna bore you with the details: suffice to say I was warm and stayed dry for the entire trip, making it a wonderful 50 miles (true miles) :) I set out at 12:09 p.m. Raining stopped after 40 minutes. Soon, I could ride in the sunshine, with roads drying up fast.

View attachment 75380
I bought two pączki at the 14th kilometre (as my favourite cake shop). I ate one pączek for lunch, and the other one for the dinner :) Rose marmalade inside, delicious!

View attachment 75381
Bosch Service by Hwy 719. Regretfully, not the Bosch E-Bike Service :D There's heavy traffic on 719 except the night time. I didn't care really. "The road is my girlfriend when I ride by so quick..." I had to negotiate strong headwind riding all the way to Puszcza Mariańska (some 32 km). It made me ride at steady 24 km/h (15 mph) on the outbound trip segment. With 50/50 assistance (as Specialized call it), that is "It's 1.6 x You!" and not more than 260 W of motor assist.

View attachment 75382
The intersection of the 719 with Hwy 50 (which goes through an overpass). There are two nice roundabouts on each side of the 50. I was exploring the forests seen in the picture on my "Benenard not Bernard" trip earlier this year. In heavy rainfall and with flat Trance E+ battery :D

View attachment 75383
Puszcza Mariańska ("The Primeval Forest that Once Belonged to the Marian Fathers"), or the turning point of my travel. After turning to the East, I had to fight with the side-wind. Puszcza Mariańska is one of my favourite places. It is a cosy and nice village. Still, it was hard to wait for the moment, in which I could take a "car free" photo, so heavy traffic was on the 719 on this day.

View attachment 75384

NOT OVER YET!
Nicely done! I would go on a ride with you any day of the week just for the pqczki! Do they make a savory version? 🤤
 
.....me either.
View attachment 75362
Alberta winters can be cold and daunting at times and I try my best to embrace it rather than push it away. Cycling is a way for me to escape the shackles of Old Man Winter and find the beauty in it by simply stepping out my front door and heading to the trails just minutes away on my bike.

I’ve dedicated this video to celebrate winter here in the great white north and to accept it for what it is. I can't speak for RandallS and TwinFalls as they have received more snow than their neighbors to the north. That being said, we somehow are always consistently colder by several degrees. ;)

The tune matches the speed perfectly.
Totally jealous of that much snow.
 
Back home …

Brisbane Valley Rail Trail : Fairney View

Fairney View
6.55 am; 11 km
Back home again and I grabbed the first opportunity to take the Homage for a spin in its favoured territory. This gently curving stretch of the old rail line is about thirty minutes' ride from home. It's fairly typical of the rail trail, this section falling short of acceptable but nowhere near as rough as it is in places; and, of course, it's never covered in snow.
 
Oh no. Pączek must be sweet. I, a diabetic, am telling you! However, you'd love our paszteciki (singular: pasztecik) which is a savoury roll with, for example, cooked fungi, or with fungi and cooked cabbage (like in bigos) :)
Okay. I just googled Pączek. It didn’t help that I misspelled it in my original post.

“Fill with your favorite fruit preserve and roll in sugar, then serve on Paczki Day (i.e. Fat Tuesday). ... The difference between these and a basic doughnut is that paczki are made with a very rich, sweet yeast dough consisting of eggs, butter and milk. Sort of like a brioche doughnut, only better, if you can imagine!”

It had me at Brioche. I’ll take two of each!! Better yet, another quick Googly search pulled up a few Polish bakeries in my home province. This one looks pretty authentic. 👍

https://www.baltykbakery.com/
 
Okay. I just googled Pączek. It didn’t help that I misspelled it in my original post.

“Fill with your favorite fruit preserve and roll in sugar, then serve on Paczki Day (i.e. Fat Tuesday). ... The difference between these and a basic doughnut is that paczki are made with a very rich, sweet yeast dough consisting of eggs, butter and milk. Sort of like a brioche doughnut, only better, if you can imagine!”

It had me at Brioche. I’ll take two of each!! Better yet, another quick Googly search pulled up a few Polish bakeries in my home province. This one looks pretty authentic. 👍

https://www.baltykbakery.com/
This stuff all sounds delicious and just what my considerable sweet tooth ordered, except for that nagging little voice of my doc saying, no, No, NO! He wins most every time...😖
 
The tune matches the speed perfectly.
Totally jealous of that much snow.
That would be Vivaldi's orchestral work, ‘The Four Seasons’ and the first movement of 'Winter'. I agree, it's a pretty sweet piece.

Parts of Southern AB received record amounts of snow (70cm) just before the holidays. Calgary was hit with 40cm and we received a measly 10cm but at least it made riding tolerable.

 
Shoe covers, gaiter, thermals, googles and winter outerwear were a great asset to duel with the big wind and drizzly cold (42 degrees). Balmy to some of you 🤣. Even these elk were pasted against the side of the mountain taking shelter.
I admire all of you could weather warriors! 😬🚴‍♀️
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I was fortunate to meet up with a few friends from this forum to ride the 17-mile drive from Pacific Grove through Pebble Beach to Carmel.

One couple had a pair of powerful Luna Cycle Apollo bikes and the other had a custom electric Tandem Recumband Quetzal Nazca bike. ;)

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I was fortunate to meet up with a few friends from this forum to ride the 17-mile drive from Pacific Grove through Pebble Beach to Carmel.

One couple had a pair of powerful Luna Cycle Apollo bikes and the other had a custom electric Tandem Recumband Quetzal Nazca bike. ;)

View attachment 75408 View attachment 75409
View attachment 75412 View attachment 75411
That tandem recumbent looks so comfy. I would be afraid of falling asleep at the wheel 🥱 …er I mean handlebars. - lol!
 
Better yet, another quick Googly search pulled up a few Polish bakeries in my home province. This one looks pretty authentic. 👍

https://www.baltykbakery.com/
The photo I could see at the Baltyk bakery shows a quite authentic variety of pączki:
1609305924843.png

Actually, you can get something similar to that in Poland, especially in supermarkets. Our classic variety is a little different though: ours is made from even heavier dough, flatter, and covered with sugar glaze (not powdered sugar). It should be topped with candied orange peel.

1609306840359.png

The ones at the left are of the classic variety. Brioche at the top right, modern variety at the bottom right. My friend who lives in NYC tells me she cannot get the classics in America. You could come to Poland post-covid! :)
 
The photo I could see at the Baltyk bakery shows a quite authentic variety of pączki:
View attachment 75429
Actually, you can get something similar to that in Poland, especially in supermarkets. Our classic variety is a little different though: ours is made from even heavier dough, flatter, and covered with sugar glaze (not powdered sugar). It should be topped with candied orange peel.

View attachment 75430
The ones at the left are of the classic variety. Brioche at the top right, modern variety at the bottom right. My friend who lives in NYC tells me she cannot get the classics in America. You could come to Poland post-covid! :)
I have to be up front with you Stefan. I only respond because of all the delicious morsels you so blatantly show off in your posts! I may now be forced to view your trip submissions closer to meal times as I'm bound to raid the fridge beforehand. Now that I’ve said my peace, could you please post a closeup of those scrumptious sausages and sauerkraut.😋
 
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