2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

Important Friends on My 2020 Rides

I have already told you about my riding buddy -- brother Jacek, and of girlfriend Brix. Now, let me introduce some other riding friends.

Jerzy (@Jerzy Bańkowski)

My hardcore traditional bike riding friend. Jerzy made almost the same 2020 distance on his trad bike as I did. He's cycling on almost every day except strict Winter season.

We had several nice rides together: here's one of them. (Jerzy has a single flaw: He thinks "post-ride beer" should be "mid-ride beer")

Kalon & Banshee

Both live in Kraków (Cracow) as a couple. Kalon is riding my traditional bike that I gave to him, and he is using that bike well not to say he's abusing the bike His gf Banshee is his steady riding companion: they already made metric centuries on their trad bikes.

On our hilly ride around Cracow (Ojców as the ride midpoint).

Dick Jagger
I met Piotr in 2013 as the drummer of the famous Polish punk-rock band ZWŁOKI. He is an all-style capable drummer and also can play guitar and bass perfectly. We had an e-bike ride in the Land of Lublin in 2020.

Jacek the Mechanic
My brother revisited in another role: as a bike mechanic. Without him, my three e-bikes would be a ruin by now...
Jacek the Mechanic Story

The Giant Explore+ Anna
Once in 2020, @Archie appeared on EBR Forums, asking for an e-bike choice for his wife. Archie appeared to be Artur from Warsaw. I gave him advices, the married couple ordered a Giant E+ Explore 1 Pro from Germany, and after some time I could go together with Anna on a ride together!

@Archie, Anna, Explore, and I

Agata

Agata, the Warsaw architect is an avid traditional cyclist, loving off-road rides and secrets to discover on her trips.

Ride with Agata.

Page 200: Are we there yet?

 

[Art Deco]

Important Friends on My 2020 Rides

I have already told you about my riding buddy -- brother Jacek, and of girlfriend Brix. Now, let me introduce some other riding friends.

Jerzy (@Jerzy Bańkowski)

My hardcore traditional bike riding friend. Jerzy made almost the same 2020 distance on his trad bike as I did. He's cycling on almost every day except strict Winter season.
View attachment 75562
We had several nice rides together: here's one of them. (Jerzy has a single flaw: He thinks "post-ride beer" should be "mid-ride beer")

Kalon & Banshee

Both live in Kraków (Cracow) as a couple. Kalon is riding my traditional bike that I gave to him, and he is using that bike well not to say he's abusing the bike His gf Banshee is his steady riding companion: they already made metric centuries on their trad bikes.

View attachment 75563
On our hilly ride around Cracow (Ojców as the ride midpoint).

Jacek the Mechanic
My brother revisited in another role: as a bike mechanic. Without him, my three e-bikes would be a ruin by now...
Jacek the Mechanic Story

The Giant Explore+ Anna
Once in 2020, @Archie appeared on EBR Forums, asking for an e-bike choice for his wife. Archie appeared to be Artur from Warsaw. I gave him advices, the married couple ordered a Giant E+ Explore 1 Pro from Germany, and after some time I could go together with Anna on a ride together!

View attachment 75564
@Archie, Anna, Explore, and I

Agata

Agata, the Warsaw architect is an avid traditional cyclist, loving off-road rides and secrets to discover on her trips.
View attachment 75566
Ride with Agata.

Page 200: Are we there yet?

I have to agree with Jerzy on the midride beer. After all, he is an experienced cyclist.
Midride ice cream stop also works for many people . ..

 

[Art Deco]

A picture of the midride ice cream stop on the only group ride I had this year. A really nice day arranged by @J.R. through Mt. Gretna PA. Link https://electricbikereview.com/forums/attachments/20200816_181232-jpg.62621/
That didn't work. Retry link.

Pennsylvania Rides | Meetups | Pennsylvania Riders

I went for a bike ride today with a good friend on the Cumberland Valley Rail Trail starting in Newville PA. We managed to ride 18 miles total, but took it slow for his sake, averaging about 9 miles per hour. My battery stayed on 5 bars, except whenever my friend borrowed my e bike and went at...

electricbikereview.com

 

[ChezCheese:)]

God, how I miss traveling.
I vote for a new thread for 2021. 2020 is probably the worst year in my lifetime. Not for me personally, but for the world. So let us be done with it and start afresh. 2021 has to be better, right?

 

[RandallS]

Last ride of 2020 to start in about 3 hours. I've given in to the fact that our winters here demand studded tires so rather than riding yesterday, I prepped for today.

Before


After


Now to go try them out...

 

[PatriciaK]

My Most Memorable Rides of Year 2020

Thanks to mild winter, I started riding as early as on January 11th, 2020.

View attachment 75524
2020 meant for me exploring local roads of my neighbourhood in the first place. Here, at a famous junkyard in Pruszków that also hosts the Museum of Steel Figures (30th of January). My winter clothing has not much changed since; I've only added new elements to make it more waterproof and even better visible. At that time, my Vado still had ill behaving and little configurable BLOKS display. At that time, my Vado had a single battery (I got a spare after March 17th). For those reasons, I rode my Lovelec (with two batteries) more frequently.

View attachment 75525
March 17th, 2020. My first metric century (with Lovelec e-bike). Exploring my neighbourhood westwards as far as Sochaczew. (I made the second metric century on April 8th)

March 20th meant the first lockdown for Poland. I never stopped riding though; on contrary, I had more time and more incentive to be riding! I only started wearing a thin, breathable balaclava, good for any season.

View attachment 75526
My winter "spacesuit". No balaclava worn yet. March 21st, 2020. On the Palmiry ride.

View attachment 75527
Thanks to this Forum, I got attracted to expressing my ride distances in miles. Major distances for me are: 50 miles, the metric century (100 km), 70, and 75 miles. I have never ridden the imperial century though. Here, on a 50-miler around the eastern part of the Kampinos National Park, March 30th, 2020. "April Is a Weaver" ride.

My 2020 longest rides:

• Two 75-milers
• Two 70-milers
• Five metric centuries
• Twenty-three 50-milers

May 2020: The turning point
The month was marked with three major events:

1. Specialized overhauled my older EU Vado 5.0 electronics to the modern (TCD-W based) EU Vado 6.0 electronics. It created the E-Bike of My Dreams (a.k.a. Grizzle).
2. I bought a Giant Trance E+ 2 Pro, a full-suspension e-MTB (dubbed Monster). It opened new riding capabilities for me
3. I made my first cousin (a.k.a. brother) Jacek an e-biker. I started sharing my e-bikes with him. He taught me riding long rides, endurance, and how to achieve higher average trip speed.

Owning an e-MTB taught me a sad lesson: These bikes are made for off-road only. If you don't live close to the Nature then, well, you need to carry your e-MTB with a car to suitable terrain.

View attachment 75528
May 17th, 2020. On a hilly ride with friends near Kraków. My First True MTB Ride Ever.

View attachment 75529
Summer months meant too many exciting rides to show all of them here. One of memorable ones was a metric century around River Vistula (as far as to Płock, the former capital city of our Mazovia) and it was the first time I learned about the Hollanders, Dutch and German settlers, folk similar by origin to American Amish people. July 17th, 2020.

View attachment 75530
Even earlier, on June 17th, I visited my friends in Kraków again to make a 70-mile ride over Lesser Poland province with my Vado.

View attachment 75533
On 25th & 26th of July, I had an exciting trip to Kłodzko Basin in Lower Silesia. There's far more to see than just mountains there, as that part of the formerly German province is fully packed with tourist attractions. Enough to say I brought as many as 45 good photos from a single day's trip to Polish Table Mountains. My life in that National Park was in danger, as I rode with the Monster onto hiking-only trail! Seriously, that could end up badly for me...

View attachment 75535
The next day meant another exciting trip: Climbing onto Great Owl Mountain with sight-seeing from the top of historical observation tower. I destroyed my Pentax DSLR camera on that trip (repaired at high cost after many months...) The descent from Great Owl was marked with the highest speed I ever rode on a bike

View attachment 75531
The 2020 best of the best trip was one taken with Jacek: Around Jizera Mountains in Czech Republic and Poland, Lower Silesia province. It was a 50 mile trip with over 1500 m elevation gain (close to 5000 ft). Some descents of ours were just epic there! 8th of August 2020.

View attachment 75536
The next day (August 9th) was marked with our "Karpacz Quickie, Quickie!" trip to see the Vang temple in Karpacz (Karkonosze Mts in Sudety Mts, Lower Silesia). Our goal was to make the mountain ride as fast as possible to be able to return home (by car) on the same day. We were flying uphill while competing with a young roadie -- all on a segment of the Road Cycling Championship of Poland We were beating the guy uphill, and he was winning on descents We averaged some 20 mph. In mountains! Haha!

View attachment 75538
Another "best of the best" was a month-long stay with my gf @Brix. We drove to the Tuczno area in West Pomerania province to see her Grandma there. The area is one of few true wilderness areas left in Poland. Again, exciting trip. We were riding e-bikes with Brix, and I'll never forget our night return to the pension over dark, wild forest, with total lighting power of 3300 lumen: We were so happy, we lost our way in the wilderness... The next day meant my long lone trip off-road with the tubeless tyre puncture... All ended up well!

It is impossible to describe the whole year but my rides started on January 11th and continued by December 30th, 2020.

View attachment 75540

I want to thank you, all members of EBR Forums participating in this thread for the year together. You have been an inspiration and motivation for me! KUDOS to you! I wish all of us the "pest" finally ended and also many exciting & happy miles/kilometres in 2021!

What a FABulous e-bike year you've had, Stefan! Congratulations!

 

[reed scott]

What a FABulous e-bike year you've had, Stefan! Congratulations!

Yes. And he managed to avoid frost bitten toes. I think.

 

[reed scott]

Doing my part to get this thread to 200:

Stefan, ever tried these things? ( courtesy of @Tom@WashDC ):

 

[Chargeride]

Important Friends on My 2020 Rides

I have already told you about my riding buddy -- brother Jacek, and of girlfriend Brix. Now, let me introduce some other riding friends.

Jerzy (@Jerzy Bańkowski)

My hardcore traditional bike riding friend. Jerzy made almost the same 2020 distance on his trad bike as I did. He's cycling on almost every day except strict Winter season.
View attachment 75562
We had several nice rides together: here's one of them. (Jerzy has a single flaw: He thinks "post-ride beer" should be "mid-ride beer")

Kalon & Banshee

Both live in Kraków (Cracow) as a couple. Kalon is riding my traditional bike that I gave to him, and he is using that bike well not to say he's abusing the bike His gf Banshee is his steady riding companion: they already made metric centuries on their trad bikes.

View attachment 75563
On our hilly ride around Cracow (Ojców as the ride midpoint).

Jacek the Mechanic
My brother revisited in another role: as a bike mechanic. Without him, my three e-bikes would be a ruin by now...
Jacek the Mechanic Story

The Giant Explore+ Anna
Once in 2020, @Archie appeared on EBR Forums, asking for an e-bike choice for his wife. Archie appeared to be Artur from Warsaw. I gave him advices, the married couple ordered a Giant E+ Explore 1 Pro from Germany, and after some time I could go together with Anna on a ride together!

View attachment 75564
@Archie, Anna, Explore, and I

Agata

Agata, the Warsaw architect is an avid traditional cyclist, loving off-road rides and secrets to discover on her trips.
View attachment 75566
Ride with Agata.

Page 200: Are we there yet?

Those shins have tales to tell.

 

[reed scott]

DANG! Missed it by THAT much!

 

[RandallS]

Success!

200 achieved!

 

[JeffC57]

Congrats on an interesting thread.

I vote for a new one in 2021.

Happy, healthy and safe new year to all!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Last Ride of 2020

Legend:
Las Wielki - my own name for my homestead (lit. Great Forest)
Księgarnia (remanent) - Bookstore (closed, stock taking)
Sklepy (gówno nocuje) - Stores (nothing to avail there)
Apteka (czynna) - Pharmacy (working)
Wyrób garmażu (zamknięte) - Here paszteciki for @Prairie Dog are being made (closed)
CH Brwinów (kolejki) - Brwinów Shopping Mall (long queues) - but I could buy paszteciki there

You won't sit me on e-bike this year anymore!

 

[FlatSix911]

More opinions, please.

Art, I suggest that this thread keeps going without being considered 2020-specific. Put simply, no new thread for 2021. What do others think?

Reviewing our 2020 rides is a good idea. For example, our storyteller extraordinaire R2R could provide a dozen or so links to her favourite rides… mine is the recent crossing-the-flooded-stream saga when the intrepid leader (herself!) was upstaged by the hesitant novice. Rab, who has posted the most photos, could make a selection. Stefan, of course, will be in charge of New Year's Eve catering. Many of us love our data summaries. Let's share! And so on… reminiscences of what happened in the year that few foresaw.

Another vote for a new 2021 thread. We can post our 2020 ride data summaries here to close out the year!

 

[FlatSix911]

One more day left this year to reach 100 rides and 125,000 feet of mountain climbing.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Another vote for a new 2021 thread. We can post our 2020 ride data summaries here to close out the year!

Agreed! Keep posting summaries and reminiscences of 2020. I'll fix a table of contents for this thread and append it to post #1. That's a lot easier said than done!

Queensland is several hours into 2021, so I'll be off on a quick ride to get the first photo for the 2021 thread.

 

[PatriciaK]

Not looking good for one last 2020 ride for me .

Hoping I get a good start on 2021 tomorrow!

Happy New Year, all!

 

[PatriciaK]

Agreed! Keep posting summaries and reminiscences of 2020. I'll fix a table of contents for this thread and append it to post #1. That's a lot easier said than done!

Queensland is more than five hours into 2021, so I'll be off on a quick ride to get the first photo for the 2021 thread.

Thanks for a wonderful thread, David! Keeps me inspired, seeing all the terrific (and, even not so terrific) rides!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

My Personal Heatmaps

Mazovia & Land of Łódź

North Mazovia

Masuria (Strava robbed me of many kilometres there...)

Mazovia, Cuyavia-Pomoria, Central Poland

Land of Lublin (again, robbed of kms by Strava)

West Pomerania

Lesser Poland

Table Mountains (Lower Silesia)

Owl Mountains (Lower Silesia)

Jizera & Karkonosze Mountains (Lower Silesia).

Holy Cross Voivodship

In the map of Poland. (I forgot to put a name for the Cuyavian-Pomorian Voivodeship here).

Strava is good...

 

[Art Deco]

The last ride of 2020 went well (for 2020) that means I didn't get run over by a truck or drop the bike in the river, I guess. Temps right above freezing at high noon 33F and little wind, but damp.
Wanted to try out the Christmas gift balacava in the first picture, so I wore it with thinsulate gloves and a heavy vest and did my usual loop past campus and through town, then down along the river where it's a bit windy and colder. Result: the balacava is too warm for such moderate temperatures, my ears were actually hot when I got back, even without a real coat on. The pictures are as bad as my pictures always are, but I'll thumbnail them in just to push the page count a bit.


The second picture is an old sleigh on a front porch which is hard to see unless you blow it up, and the last two are just typical riverside shots of a hill across the river.
Saw only one other person on the trail, a runner not a biker. The trail is a part of a project called the Susquehanna Greenway ... a fancy name for what is really just a couple of old rutted farm roads with maybe an inch of asphalt smeared on top.