2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

Is that typical Poland or sort of your version of Englands idyllic countryside.
It looks gorgeous....you must have grimy city parts as well.

Thank you for your kind words! There are certainly more or less attractive regions in Poland. The land along the River Narew is picturesque and it attracts holidaymakers; It is not that far from Warsaw, which is a bonus.

In general, Polish countryside has become especially nice since the accession to the European Union. The greatest progress was made on the road system; it was the ambition of one of the government ministers to build thousands of kilometres of new local roads even in very small villages. Small cities got funds to improve and so on. Also, the level of security improved dramatically. You have to try hard to be attacked or robbed in Poland today. Even the winos are friendly. (The only social group I'm really afraid of are football fans).

There are for sure "more grim parts" here but you need to look for to find them. The area I live in (Central Poland) is a flatland and it is uninspiring. Still, it benefits from many woods and forests, to which the access is free (the most of wooded areas are public).

The one factor that contributes to the beauty of the Polish countryside is the fact most of the farmland is not fenced. The Polish know what the private property is and respect that completely intuitively.

Some pictures from my near neighbourhood:

Somewhere in the Łódź voivodship (Central Poland). No fences.

The market square of the village of Wiskitki, Żyrardów county, Mazovian voivodship, Central Poland. (The place-name is Yiddish).

A grim city part, village of Bolimów, Skierniewice county, Łódź voivodship (Central Poland).

Real backwoods in the Mazovian voivodship, only 30 miles SW of Warsaw, Central Poland.

The very same place several minutes later.

 

[Chargeride]

Thank you for your kind words! There are certainly more or less attractive regions in Poland. The land along the River Narew is picturesque and it attracts holidaymakers; It is not that far from Warsaw, which is a bonus.

In general, Polish countryside has become especially nice since the accession to the European Union. The greatest progress was made on the road system; it was the ambition of one of the government ministers to build thousands of kilometres of new local roads even in very small villages. Small cities got funds to improve and so on. Also, the level of security improved dramatically. You have to try hard to be attacked or robbed in Poland today. Even the winos are friendly. (The only social group I'm really afraid of are football fans).

There are for sure "more grim parts" here but you need to look for to find them. The area I live in (Central Poland) is a flatland and it is uninspiring. Still, it benefits from many woods and forests, to which the access is free (the most of wooded areas are public).

The one factor that contributes to the beauty of the Polish countryside is the fact most of the farmland is not fenced. The Polish know what the private property is and respect that completely intuitively.

Some pictures from my near neighbourhood:

View attachment 54100
Somewhere in the Łódź voivodship (Central Poland). No fences.

View attachment 54101
The market square of the village of Wiskitki, Żyrardów county, Mazovian voivodship, Central Poland. (The place-name is Yiddish).

View attachment 54106
A grim city part, village of Bolimów, Skierniewice county, Łódź voivodship (Central Poland).

View attachment 54104
Real backwoods in the Mazovian voivodship, only 30 miles SW of Warsaw, Central Poland.

View attachment 54105
The very same place several minutes later.

Im lucky enough to live in a very picturesque part of Northern England but it generally does not have that reputation, its very monoculture with a non white pop below 1%. I'd say we easily have more Polish.
I have a Polish friend called Darak, he works for my work partner and he lives in quite a run down area with his family.
I always ask him why he left Poland to come to England.
Money..thats it..he can earn so much more hes prepared to downgrade his surroundings.
We rib him because its been ten years and his English is still terrible.
His son has to translate a lot of the time.
From your 'grim' pic that would be quaint to us

 

[Cowlitz]

Today I took a ride that I wondered about. I wondered if I could make it. It was only 9 miles to Salmon Meadows but that was 9 miles of some pretty steep UP. I drove up to Conconully and parked and unloaded my bike. Then I took off up the hill.

I did not take pictures of the fornicating cat group. Yup, there were a couple of kitties doing what kitties do to make new kitties amid a group of onlooker kitties. Strange. More stunted looking kitties hanging around in a few months too. Just what we need. Oh well. Food for coyotes. On up the road I went.

The first couple of miles had some short downhills so you'd have some short uphills to hit on the way down. Then it was up. I had to pick places to stop where it was flattened out a bit so I could get going again. I took a banana break here by a bridge and took a picture of the well behaved North Fork of Salmon Creek. It had poured rain yesterday and I was expecting the water to be high and muddy. Nope.

I ate ate ate a banana here. No apples. (thinking of the song) A red car with a white haired lady in it came down and she said that the road was open all the way, and that I should have a gas engine.

The last bit to the meadows was granny gear with turbo assist. I have never used turbo as much as I did before. Two bars disappeared from the readout in 9 miles. Then I was at the lower meadow. It was windy but there were no bugs. I had to put on a sweater at this point as the climb, except for a short 100 foot one, was over. This meadow is above 4000 feet in elevation. I'll have to look that up.

Then it was time to pretend the Gazelle was a mountain bike and go up the short but rocky road to the upper meadow. We made it without any excitement. I rode around and found a pickanick table in the sun (when clouds weren't blocking it). I broke out my peanut butter sandwich for a pickanick in the woods. Neither Yogi or BooBoo showed up. Nor Ranger Smith.

Be Prepared!

Some history about Salmon Meadows--In the 1930s, a lodge was built and a rope tow for skiing was put in. There was a ski club from Okanogan and Omak that would run it. There were plans to develop the meadows for year round recreation. The second world war erupted and the plans were scrapped. A ski area was developed, but in a different location off Hwy 20 at Loup Loup Pass. That area is still going. The lodge at Salmon Meadows burned down in the 1990s? and we could find no trace of where it was at. The Forest Service put in some gravel, signs, and another toilet and turned what was a nice, undeveloped area into fewer places to camp. Plus there is a huge fee of $8.00 to camp there. They blocked off part of the meadow with a fence--I'm not sure why as it was undisturbed. Progress I guess. Here are more pictures. Oh, in a few weeks, the meadow gets colorful with wildflowers. Lupine and Indian Paintbrush light it up. Today was too early for that.

Well, then it was a chilly 9 miles back down. I almost put on my down jacket, but figured it was good to be chilly. Sex was in the air, the wind was blowing clouds of pollen off the Ponderosa Pines in the lower elevations. Benadryl is my friend. I survived the potholes and chip seal patches and made it back unharmed. Life is good in Salmon Meadows.

 

[Cowlitz]

I looked it up and the elevation of Salmon Meadows is 4500 feet. It is in the mountains that separate the valley (Methow) where Mr. Coffee lives from the valley (Okanogan spelled Okanagan in Canadian) where I live.

 

[steve mercier]

View west from North Burnaby

 

[steve mercier]

view South from Lonsdale Quay North Van

 

[steve mercier]

view North West from Prospect point.

 

[steve mercier]

View West from Ferguson point

 

[steve mercier]

UBC. View of lunch strained through my moustache. The Klickfix box is ugly but it works well with the Topeak rack to securely hold two spare powerpack 500s when touring,

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Im lucky enough to live in a very picturesque part of Northern England but it generally does not have that reputation, its very monoculture with a non white pop below 1%. I'd say we easily have more Polish.
I have a Polish friend called Darak, he works for my work partner and he lives in quite a run down area with his family.
I always ask him why he left Poland to come to England.
Money..thats it..he can earn so much more hes prepared to downgrade his surroundings.
We rib him because its been ten years and his English is still terrible.
His son has to translate a lot of the time.
From your 'grim' pic that would be quaint to us

I've been to Northern England together with my family as a part of our English vacation (we've been to most of England with our car and even paid a short visit to the southernmost part of Scotland). We liked The Holy Island and Durham the most. My old "aunt", a Polish immigrant used to live in Middlesbrough, and I had some business matters there as well. We liked England, especially Liverpool and Yorkshire as well as Teesside very much.

My gf (I am a widower) is a Polish immigrant to London. She and her brothers say living in the UK is easy as long as you are willing to work. They perceive Poland as an expensive country now (by comparison of prices to wages). The economic level of the UK is probably fivefold compared to the Polish one but I don't want to elaborate on this now.

"No one is a prophet in own country". We get bored with out native land and look for exotic views abroad. There is my favourite quote from a Polish book: "If you think deeper on that, how exotic the marketplace of the town of Grójec must seem to an Arab!" I've been to a not small number of countries and found interesting places everywhere (except of a single European country I don't want to name here but even they make good beer, famous laces and potato chips; the country is stale and boring though) I rediscover Poland because I can see it with the eyes of a foreigner. I like staying here.

Good to talk to you @Chargeride!

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Time to start thinking of a fat-tyre ebike?

South East Queensland​

 

[MechaNut]

Time to start thinking of a fat-tyre ebike?
View attachment 54108

South East Queensland​

My main ride has been a fat bike for 2 years now. Electric assist negates all of the down sides of the fat tires from a pedaling perspective. I'm very fond of the cushy ride and the incredible amount of grip the 4 inch wide tires give in turns and when stopping.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Time to start thinking of a fat-tyre ebike?

I assure you David that an e-MTB with 2.6" tyres would make it

Besides, greetings from my ride of today!

 

[christob]

If you are wondering about the hour and a quarter "stopped time" , it was to meet and chat with a couple that had recently purchased an abandoned 1820s house in Bluemont that they were going to restore.

Your recent posts in and around Bluemont motivated me to (carefully) break with the stay-at-home guidance, a week ago, and drive my S.O. out to Bluemont to see the old family home of my earliest childhood memories... (it had appeared in one of your older posts here, in a vintage photograph of the general store.)
We packed a picnic, diverted through Purcellville and Round Hill to visit elements from my childhood (my elementary school, plus a hardware store where I got a vividly memorable lesson about shoplifting -- at about age 5, I grabbed a tiny handful of sunflower seeds from an open barrel in the hardware store while my dad was shopping, and I walked out with them -- upon showing my dad my "treasure" in the car, he made me go back in, apologize to the guy running the store, and return all the seeds... I cried my eyes out as I did it, I suppose experiencing shame, humiliation and mortification for the first time; but then, never stole anything again, either!)
We came into the village deliberately via the hairpin/switchback route "up at the top" (passing by the house being renovated, in your post!) Grabbed some add-ons at the Bluemont store, and sat out on one of their picnic tables. I played tour guide of my old house (but from the street) and didn't work up the nerve to knock on the door (though we could see people were at home.) I may yet knock, on a return visit -- the house has undergone some noticeable changes. Chatted with some residents across from the store -- one now living in a house which, back then, was the home of another playmate; I remember playing in the deep shade under their raised porch. They confirmed the big old stone house (Clayton Hall) was still occupied by Ms. Johnson (who sadly now has dementia) and her youngest daughter (who was also my playmate in childhood.) Again -- decided not to knock on the door.
The very old barn on the Clayton Hall land featured in the poster for the 1973 annual Bluemont Fair; my dad created that year's poster actually (I still have one, attached) drawing himself in, as well as others we knew -- he's the seated banjo player -- dig those groovy bell-bottoms the guys are wearing!) We drove the turnpike all the way down to Aldie to catch Rt 50 home.
A really delightful day out (even if not a single pedal stroke was involved

 

[Bobsiii]

Getting hot in Denver, riding in the am. Yesterday was a short 25 miler to Cherry Creek State Park/Reservoir. It's so peaceful there, especially with the virus restrictions holding down crowds. Stopped by the (closed) swim beach to eat brunch.

 

[jabberwocky]

Did another trade-off ride with the SO where she rode the ebike and I rode my normal gravel rig. I love the ebike but its nice to ride the normal one too. The ebike makes fitness/masochism differences between us sorta irrelevent. I suffer, and she plays with assist levels to adjust how much of a workout she feels like having while watching me suffer.

Map. The spur was us checking out a house for sale.

SO wanted to explore hound heaven, but unfortunately it was a private road. I told the hounds at home they better start pulling their weight, because I'm sure hound heaven is expensive real estate.

My view of her most of the day was like this. She was over the hill ahead of me. I'm still faster downhill (I raced DH mountainbikes for a while and don't like using brakes unless I have to).

It was a great day to be out.

Lovely barn conversion on a likely gigantic piece of land right at the foot of the ridge.

 

[Readytoride]

@jabberwocky - You went right past my house today. If you had looked up while biking along and saw two ladies out riding horses - a gray and a bay - that was me and my neighbor (who also has a Vado). We decided our horses needed some attention so went out and enjoyed 6 miles cross county while you and your SO were spending quality time with your bikes. My neighbor lives at the other end of Hound Heaven Lane.

Fun fact - in your 2nd picture, the one with the stone wall - the woodec lands to the left are owned by Lloyd Ross, owner the apparel store chain "Ross (Dress for Less)". Super, super nice individual. A true conservationist. The lands to your right (with the stone wall and where you have the bikes poised) - that was owned by the late Dottie Veer, one of a pair of wonderful, dedicated local ladies that worked tirelessly for several years to have the county declare the gravel roads in southwestern Loudoun County a "historic district" so that they wouldn't be paved or developed. Anna Dees was the second lady. We all - everyone who rides and loves the gravel roads - collectively owe Dottie and Anna a HUGE debt of gratitude for what they accomplished. Anna's farm is right near the other end of Hound Heaven Lane as well.

So many people out in this area do their best to help preserve what we have to pass down intact, with all its beauty and history, to the following generations.

The final shot - that "barn" is actually a brand new state of the art music sound studio. It is part of the 800 acre Ayshire Farm which is owned by Sandy Learner, the original owner of the California start up Cisco Corporation. Sandy built the "barn" a few years ago for the interior to be commercial recording of music, while the exterior looks like a classic barn. Pretty cool!

 

[jabberwocky]

@jabberwocky - You went right past my house today. If you had looked up while biking along and saw two ladies out riding horses - a gray and a bay - that was me and my neighbor (who also has a Vado). We decided our horses needed some attention so went out and enjoyed 6 miles cross county while you and your SO were spending quality time with your bikes. My neighbor lives at the other end of Hound Heaven Lane.

Fun fact - in your 2nd picture, the one with the stone wall - the woodec lands to the left are owned by Lloyd Ross, owner the apparel store chain "Ross (Dress for Less)". Super, super nice individual. A true conservationist. The lands to your right (with the stone wall and where you have the bikes poised) - that was owned by the late Dottie Veer, one of a pair of wonderful, dedicated local ladies that worked tirelessly for several years to have the county declare the gravel roads in southwestern Loudoun County a "historic district" so that they wouldn't be paved or developed. Anna Dees was the second lady. We all - everyone who rides and loves the gravel roads - collectively owe Dottie and Anna a HUGE debt of gratitude for what they accomplished. Anna's farm is right near the other end of Hound Heaven Lane as well.

So many people out in this area do their best to help preserve what we have to pass down intact, with all its beauty and history, to the following generations.

The final shot - that "barn" is actually a brand new state of the art music sound studio. It is part of the 800 acre Ayshire Farm which is owned by Sandy Learner, the original owner of the California start up Cisco Corporation. Sandy built the "barn" a few years ago for the interior to be commercial recording of music, while the exterior looks like a classic barn. Pretty cool!

To be clear, our ride was Sunday. I just posted today because its been a busy week. When we were cruising down Bloomfield I told her that someone on the forum lived around there and posted lots of nice pics and stories about Loudoun.

Sincere thanks for putting some context to the pics! I really hope we run into you someday, because we (she especially) would love to chat about Loudoun history. Honestly, if she had the chance to sit with someone whos been out there for a while and talk Loudoun history for a good 4 hours or so I think she would be in heaven. Shes a NoVA native, but mostly grew up inside the beltway. I'm a PA transplant who moved to NoVA after college and moved out to Leesburg a few years ago. Both definitely newcomers, though we really love it here. Doug and Dawn at Revolutions here in Leesburg (where I bought my Giant) are very involved with Americas Routes, which is one of the groups trying to keep the gravel network alive and as intact as possible. Its a gem. I often wonder what it will look like in 20 years.

I actually ran into an old mountainbiking friend out near Trapp and chatted for a bit, and had to relay the news that Greggsville between Telegraph Springs and North Fork had been paved a few years ago (he hadn't been out in a while). A section of Telegraph springs was paved 3ish years ago as well, though at least the southern part running into Philomont is still gravel. Every year a little piece here or there seems to be lost.

 

[Mulezen]

Thanks to the both of you for the in-depth history...eventually I’ll haul my bike up to your beautiful roads

 

[PaD]

Today I managed to cover 80km (50 miles) and that’s more than I’ve done in one day since sometime last summer. I would say it was three different rides today.
First a morning ride to the bike shop to drop off my Vado for check up and adjustments. And back home again in the afternoon. Thats about 23-24km round-trip.


An early evening ride to the office to scan some documents. 12km round-trip.


The fun part was the 45km ride in-between.

While they were working on my Vado in the bike shop they lended me a Creo SL Comp Carbon Evo.
From bottom left on last map I rode up to top right to meet a friend who was out exercising. Showed him the Creo and he liked the idea of a lighter ebike but didn’t like the price He rides a Giant Expedition from 1994 I think.
We went for lunch and then I rode to the park area in mid right of map.
Took a picture of the blue Creo on bridge over a canal.

And then a picture of something really blue and the Creo.

Then on to the west part of town to try the Creo up a bridge in a headwind. That was fun. Even if this EU version of Creo cuts out assist at 25kph (15.5mph) the Creo was the winner up the bridge today.
Then back to the bike shop to collect my Vado. I was a bit worried my bike would feel lika a truck compared to the Creo. The Vado is of course heavier and very different from the Creo but fotunately the power ( torque) from Vado motor ”saves” it for me. I would like to have a Creo as well but I have nowhere to keep it and it’s too much money. The Creo is really fun to ride but I think I would like to have a little bit more power if it was my only ebike.