2020 : Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[RabH]

The weird thing is I used the same tyre levers to fit the tyres in Feb 2019 and never had a problem, you would think the tyres would be easier to remove and refit after covering 6,200 miles...I guess not...

I bet the tractor tyre was easier to fix!

I now have the proper tools for the job, just did a practise run at home and it took me less than 5 minutes to remove the wheel, remove the tyre and tube and reinstall, the tool to install the tyre is awesome! I just need the thunderstorms and heavy rain to go away now! At the moment its looking like Tuesday before I will ride again...maybe a damp trip tomorrow morning!

 

[Mulezen]

A better man than me. I had to take the tractor tire to service station

 

[Stefan Mikes]

On a off-road/on-road combined trip now!

 

[Anna]

Haha! What's your ride, Anna?

Stephan, new ride is a 2020 Liv Intrigue. It is a fun beast!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Stephan, new ride is a 2020 Liv Intrigue. It is a fun beast!
View attachment 56806

Gorgeous!

Her brother...

I got downwind at a tarmac segment Honestly! Only 150% Basic mode. The full Basic mode is 175%.
(@Browneye, I could get into high cadence anyway).

 

[Anna]

Gorgeous!

View attachment 56807
Her brother...

View attachment 56808
I got downwind at a tarmac segment Honestly! Only 150% Basic mode. The full Basic mode is 175%

Her stronger brother! When I top out at at about 32kmh, it is seamless. I use Ride Control with my disconnected iPhone. Only issue is the speed lags behind nearly a whole minute on fast downhills! So far, no problem with updates.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Oh,

Her stronger brother! When I top out at at about 32kmh, it is seamless. I use Ride Control with my disconnected iPhone. Only issue is the speed lags behind nearly a whole minute on fast downhills! So far, no problem with updates.

Oh, both are equally strong! I set the limiter to 40 km/h (25 mph), and when the opportunity happened (20 mph downwind) I pushed hard on the pedals. I actually overran the limiter

 

[PatriciaK]

Another gorgeous day on Whidbey Island!

Drove the bikes down to Coupeville High School, and set out on our ride. Took a side road heading south from town to connect with the Rhododendron Trail - a paved trail running alongside SR 20 down to Rhododendron Park. Continued through the beautifully wooded park (lots of rhodies, but too late in season for blooms) west along Rhodie Road.

Out the other side of the park, connected to Patmore and then Fort Casey Road to... Fort Casey State Park.

Parade ground and gun batteries (no longer used) . A good number of folks out enjoying the views from the battery, and flying kites - a very popular activity at this park - on the parade field. Enjoyed a snack and a rest in the sun before continuing up the hill to the lighthouse.

Olympic Mountains across Admiralty Inlet, with Port Townsend at their feet.

Admiralty Head lighthouse, closed for renovations . There's a little museum in the former lightkeeper's quarters, and you can climb up into the lighthouse for a great view (when it reopens).

Made our way back out of the park, then along via Engle and Hill roads to Ebey's Landing Historical Reserve, and skirted the edge of the reserve along Ebey's Landing road back to town.

Beautiful day, beautiful ride!

 

[fooferdoggie]

some great views fro0m the top of Powell butte and looking at mount hood. it always looks so close.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

More interested in fishing boats than ebikes …

Noosa River​

A gentle ride along the Noosa River and the Sunshine Coast beaches north of Brisbane.

• Top of map : 10º south.
• Bottom of map : 40º south.
• Noosa River : 26º S (similar to southern Florida).
• Photo taken from the cycle track alongside the Noosa River — the start/end point of the ride (green arrow).

 

[Mr. Coffee]

On Lopez Island, the bicycle isle.

 

[byunbee]

A morning of long climbs, long views, screaming descents, and hot brakes:

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The Salish Sea and Cascades from the summit:

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The first five miles of the descent averaged about 29mph. Then I had to stop to let my brakes cool.

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I love this sign. I'd love it better if it had a dinosaur and a spider on it too. Or maybe a geoduck.

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Is that your helmet at the bottom for these pictures and so are you using GoPro attached to your helmet?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I Rode Right Into A Thunderstorm...

It was a warm and sunny Summer day until I rode out after work. With the thunderstorm approaching, I consulted a digital tourist map to find an object named "tourist shelter" a mile or so downwind. I made a U-turn and started escaping the storm. My e-Trance's speed limiter was set to 32 km/h (20 mph). e-Trance is an enormously powerful bike when you ask it for, that is, when you pedal hard So I hit the limiter and only wished I had set it to something more like 40 km/h (25 mph)... (It turned out later that e-Trance can ride faster than 40 km/h if you really want it, haha).

The shelter was not really a "tourist shelter". It was a large concrete gazebo in a hotel grounds, pretending to be Antique.

The hotel is mostly a wedding-party hall with several "antique" structures to make the place look nicer.

I laid my Monster on the floor (on the non-drive side, of course!) and enjoyed a sandwich, waiting for the storm to pass.

Nobody minded me sitting there. (The bike in the background was of the gardener.) As you can see, I wore a windbreaker on a bare torso

The rest of the ride was just a nice off-road/on-road combined ride, where I was testing how my de-restricted e-MTB would behave and whether I could maintain the range. All positive!

Forest, puddles, dirt, gravel and tarmac roads. I am in love with the full-suspension and the SyncDrive Pro motor! My Monster was as happy (read: dirty) as never before! Me, too.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Is that your helmet at the bottom for these pictures and so are you using GoPro attached to your helmet?

Yes.

 

[PDXzap]

Is it well balanced?

Yes and still tracks well even when the load isn't equally balanced. It's easy to forget about it until you hit a big bump or go off a curb... then I wish it had some kind of suspension.

 

[RabH]

@Stefan Mikes I took a chance with the thunderstorms also, thankfully I won (only just)

I decided to take a chance today, had a good look at the sky and it was looking very dark to the south but the problem was the wind was coming from the south also so which way to head? Initially I thought I would head just a little south and hopefully outrun the weather with the southerly breeze behind me! For the most part it worked for me, it did catch me eventually though!

It was really strange as I could feel the rain in my face but for the most part the roads were dry until the last 5 miles of course when the rain really did start to lash down but not quite a thunderstorm, that came 10 mins after I got home! I was very lucky indeed!

This made me laugh, I think they were making fun of me!

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Spot the cyclists (on a freeway of their own) …

Looking downstream from Kurilpa Bridge.​

How different from RabH's ride. For me: winter sunshine and a ride through the city, fortunately without entering its traffic, and no chance of rain. There were a few scattered clouds over the 'mountains' (below) and the usual bank out to sea (above).

I was taking a lunch break on one of the Kurilpa Bridge's rest platforms when the CityCat ferry – there's almost always one in sight – passed below on its way upstream. Maroon is Queensland's sporting colour which, apparently, unites us.

CLooking downstream from Kurilpa Bridge.
Cycleways visible on both sides of Brisbane River.​

 

[FlatSix911]

I love this time of year for a ride at dusk.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The First Giant E-Ride Together

Remember Ania of Warsaw who now owns a Giant Explore E+ 0 Pro? I wanted to make a nice ride in Warsaw on Saturday and I thought I could go on a ride together with her. So I messaged Ania:
-- Ania, will you ride with me today?
-- The weather is better than forecast. I'm free from my chores at 14:00 hours!
-- It's settled! I'm taking my Giant with me then!
-- I'm taking my Giant, too! --She merrily replied.

We met near to Ania's place at 14:02 and immediately rode out from the quarter of Ochota (a nice, residential area in SW Warsaw) northwards, via a set of excellent bike paths we enjoy in our capital city now. "Ania, did you charge the battery?" -- I demanded -- "Oops! No, I didn't!" -- "What's the charge left?" -- "Fifty percent!" -- "Oh. I'm afraid we might not make it on battery then!" -- "No worries! I'm riding in the Eco mode, almost no battery is used!" Oh no? Another strong and fit cyclist? You better bet! We reached the Marie Curie Bridge, the northernmost of Warsaw bridges in no time.

Ania, I, and our steeds at the Curie (a.k.a. the Northern) Bridge in Warsaw. We both ride Giant E+ (2020) bikes with SyncDrive Pro motor.

Within just several days the level of River Vistula changed from alarmingly low to alarmingly high...

The Unexpected Meeting

As Ania and I easily conquered a step climb on the Curie Bridge and stopped to take some photos, a handsome gentleman approached us with a Giant mechanical bike. "Hi, Mikes!" -- He addressed me and since I had no idea who he was, he even took his sunglasses off, no help -- "Who are you?! I seem to recognize your face!" -- "Oh, come on! I'm Martines, your Facebook friend!" -- "You?! Here?! You're expected to live in Białystok!" -- "Right, sir! But I am in Warsaw now on a bike ride with my gf Agata! She's just approaching us!" -- "Pure coincidence then?" -- "There are no coincidences! We were destined to meet each other!"

It is how Martines saw the situation. He and Agata were standing still before the bridge when Martines heard my voice, which sounded familiar to him (because of my FB Go Live! broadcasts). He noticed a madman who rode up the steep climb at 29 km/h! "It must be Mikes!" he decided and he rode up the bridge himself to make sure...

River Vistula at her high level by the Gdański Bridge. Very soon, the bike path was broken by the river. I took a look and just rode through it with my Monster. Then two other cyclists and eventually Ania did the same. The motors of our e-bikes got covered by the water. Don't worry: These motors are waterproof!

The Vistula Bike Trail turned out to be completely broken by the river after we passed under the Railway Bridge while heading southwards. We took the bike path at the top of the Wał Miedzeszyński, which is a flood embankment at the eastern bank of Vistula.

At the lunch break near to the MOSiR Restaurant. Ania is a vegetarian, and she offered delicious and nourishing French beans to me. I ate with gratitude.

Me tawkin', tawkin', tawkin'... The National Stadium in the background.

The sales of e-bikes have just taken off in Poland. Still, these are too expensive for most of the Poles. A decent e-bike costs as much as a used car here. Here, a known LBS carrying Merida and Marin bikes on Wał Miedzeszyński south of the Łazienkowski Bridge.

"Ania, ever been to the Warsaw Uprising Mound? No? Your Explore has got an e-MTB motor. You'll get onto the top in no time!"

Honestly, our e-bikes are so strong we could have just taken a direct climb by the stairway...

A monument at the top of the Mound.

Ania "admiring how beautiful our country was" (one of my personal sayings)

I must confess I (quite unusually) had as many as two unpleasant falls with my Trance on that trip, both related to the powerful action of the 203 mm disk brakes. Some damage to the Trance: My brother had to repair the dropper seat-post post-ride... No real harm to me. Remember: Wear the helmet! My Abus Pedelec+ saved my head that time! I can recommend the helmet to anyone: It has been tested!

I have to praise Ania. She is so strong an athlete, she completed the (almost) 50 km (30 mi) ride using only 30% of the 500 Wh battery. At times, she was speeding at 30.5 km (19 mph) on pedals only, as the speed limiter was cutting the power at 25 km/h (15.5 mph). She was actually laughing while doing that! An ideal partner for future rides, after she's able to find more time! I have also achieved my personal best: Now I can maintain the cadence of 90+ rpm for prolonged periods of time!

Ah! We have no hills in Mazovia, really. There is a "steep" climb at the Agrykola Str, with maximum gradient of 11%. It seemed so flat to me... Ania overtook some cyclists climbing, and I overtook Ania on the climb

We enjoyed excellent, warm and sunny weather during the whole ride. We even rode some off-road segments!

 

[FlatSix911]

The First Giant E-Ride Together

Remember Ania of Warsaw who now owns a Giant Explore E+ 0 Pro? I wanted to make a nice ride in Warsaw on Saturday and I thought I could go on a ride together with her. So I messaged Ania:
-- Ania, will you ride with me today?
-- The weather is better than forecast. I'm free from my chores at 14:00 hours!
-- It's settled! I'm taking my Giant with me then!
-- I'm taking my Giant, too! --She merrily replied.

We met near to Ania's place at 14:02 and immediately rode out from the quarter of Ochota (a nice, residential area in SW Warsaw) northwards, via a set of excellent bike paths we enjoy in our capital city now. "Ania, did you charge the battery?" -- I demanded -- "Oops! No, I didn't!" -- "What's the charge left?" -- "Fifty percent!" -- "Oh. I'm afraid we might not make it on battery then!" -- 'No worries! I'm riding in the Eco mode, almost no battery is used!" Oh no? Another strong and fit cyclist? You better bet! We reached the Marie Curie Bridge, the northernmost of Warsaw bridges in no time.

View attachment 56932
Ania, I, and our steeds at the Curie (a.k.a. the Northern) Bridge in Warsaw. We both ride Giant E+ (2020) bikes with SyncDrive Pro motor.

View attachment 56933
Within just several days the level of River Vistula changed from alarmingly low to alarmingly high...

The Unexpected Meeting

View attachment 56934
As Ania and I easily conquered a step climb on the Curie Bridge and stopped to take some photos, a handsome gentleman approached us with a Giant mechanical bike. "Hi, Mikes!" -- He addressed me and since I had no idea who he was, he even took his sunglasses of, no help -- "Who are you?! I seem to recognize your face!" -- "Oh, come on! I'm Martines, your Facebook friend!" -- "You?! Here?! You're expected to live in Białystok!" -- "Right, sir! But I am in Warsaw now on a bike ride with my gf Agata! She's just approaching us!" -- "Pure coincidence then?" -- "There are no coincidences! We were destined to meet each other!"

It is how Martines saw the situation. He and Agata were standing still before the bridge when Martines heard my voice, who sounded familiar to him (because of my FB Go Live! broadcasts). He noticed a madman who rode up the steep climb at 29 km/h! "It must be Mikes!" he decided and he rode up the bridge himself to make sure...

View attachment 56935
River Vistula at her high level by the Gdański Bridge. Very soon, the bike path was broken at the river. I took a look and just rode through it with my Monster. Then two other cyclistw and eventually Ania dod the same. The motors of our e-bikes got covered by the water. Don't worry: These motors are waterproof!

View attachment 56936
The Vistula Bike Trail turned out to be completely broken by the river after we passed under the Railway Bridge while heading southwards. We took the bike path at the top of the Wał Miedzeszyński, which is a flood embankment at the eastern bank of Vistula.

View attachment 56937
At the lunch break near to the MOSiR Restaurant. Ania is a vegetarian, and she offered delicious and nourishing French beans to me. I ate with gratitude.

View attachment 56940
Me tawkin', tawkin', tawkin'... The National Stadium in the background.

View attachment 56939
The sales of e-bikes have just taken off in Poland. Still, these are too expensive for most of the Poles. A decent e-bike costs as much as a used car here. Here, a known LBS carrying Merida and Marin bikes on Wał Miedzeszyński south of the Łazienkowski Bridge.

View attachment 56941
"Ania, ever been to the Warsaw Uprising Mound? No? Your Explore has got an e-MTB motor. You'll get onto the top in no time!"

View attachment 56942
Honestly, our e-bikes are so strong we could have just taken a direct climb by the stairway...

View attachment 56947
A monument at the top of the Mound.

View attachment 56948
Ania "admiring how beautiful our country was" (one of my personal sayings)

View attachment 56949
I must confess I (quite unusually) had as many as two unpleasant falls with my Trance on that trip, both related to the powerful action of the 203 mm disk brakes. Some damage to the Trance: My brother had to repair the dropper seat-post post-ride... No real harm to me. Remember: Wear the helmet! My Abus Pedelec+ saved my head that time! I can recommend the helmet to anyone: It has been tested!

I have to praise Ania. She is so strong an athlete, she completed the (almost) 50 km (30 mi) ride using only 30% of the 500 Wh battery. At times, she was speeding at 30.5 km (19 mph) on pedals only, as the speed limiter was cutting the power at 25 km/h (15.5 mph). She was actually laughing while doing that! An ideal partner for future rides, after she's able to find more time! I have also achieved my personal best: Now I can maintain the cadence of 90+ rpm for prolonged periods of time!

Ah! We have no hills in Mazovia, really. There is a "steep" climb at the Agrykola Str, with maximum gradient of 11%. It seemed so flat to me... Ania overtook some cyclists climbing, and I overtook Ania on the climb

View attachment 56956
We enjoyed excellent, warm and sunny weather during the whole ride. We even rode some off-road segments!

Great photos... looks like a fun adventure!