2023 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

Chargeride said:
The way the disc is attatched to the central part, looks like a fully floating disc.
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I only know of two ways of attaching the rotor:
  • 6-bolts
  • Centerlock
If you know of any other technology, it is not something I would like to risk my life to ride with :)
 
Stefan Mikes said:
The bears had escaped from Slovakia to Polish Bieszczady Mountains as we Poles (unlike the Slovak) did not shoot those beasbeasts.
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Will you be riding with these Bieszczady bears on your mountain-touring holiday? I"m sure it's safe. Just outride 'em on the downhills and make sure someone's behind you on the uphills. Great motivation to slog faster.
 
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Jeremy McCreary said:
Will you be riding with these Bieszczady bears on your moutain-touring holiday? I"m sure it's safe. Just outride 'em on the downhills and make sure someone's behind you on the uphills. Great motivation to slog faster.
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Jeremy, you are so funny and lovely person! Only you joined the EBR rather late. I was riding solo in the Bieszczady Mts. in 2021, and it was one of the most exciting vacation I've ever had! Actually, the dustbins there are made bear-safe so the beasts cannot feed on the refuse!
 
We have those bear-resistant dustbins, too. Bears and tourists seem to be attracted to the same beautiful places. Many examples in North America alone.

The signage never gets through to many of the tourists — just like on MUPs. The rangers at Alaska's Katmai National Park know this all too well, as the grizzly bear risk there is VERY high. They meet your floatplane (the only way in) at the dock and escort you straight to "bear school", where they show vivid photos of bear encounters gone sideways. Then they tell you how to minimize your risk.

One thing they stressed quite graphically: You can't carry a container strong enough to protect your food on its own. And sure enough, we came across a 5 gallon ABS bucket (the tough ones paint comes in) shredded like tissue paper (gulp) near our already set-up campsite (double gulp). Overnight, weather came in and pinned us down there for the next 3 days. Every little rustle outside the tent....

Guessing those folks got pretty hungry. The nearest food was at least 3 days away.
 
Anyway, Im back in North Devon, and this is the garden of our airbnb.
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I planned a Gran Fondo (130 km or at least 80 mi) ride for Easter Monday. Given the weather forecast (sunny, dry, warm, weak wind from N) it should be perfectly doable. With the morning chill (@RabH!), I reluctantly drove my car with Vado inside to the next train stop to find myself in Sochaczew (Mazovia) around 10 a.m.

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The Museum of Narrow Gauge Railway, Sochaczew (Mazovia). The narrow gauge train still operates from Sochaczew in the warm season for guided tours into the Kampinos National Park West!

Several km into the ride, I realised I hadn't made any sandwiches for the trip! A Gran Fondo and a malnourished rider? Impossible! I asked a friendly villager for any food options. He said everything was closed for Easter except of service stations, and there were as many as two nearby. Those service stations were a laugh. I bought an energy bar, a chocolate bar and several cookies there (having two bottles of sports drink with me). I understood the future looked badly for me!

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Despite temperature (it was warm), the chilly wind was killing any pleasure from the ride, made my right arm cold, and it was sapping my strength. I soon realised it would be good if I could do a Metric Century, decidedly not the Gran Fondo! I started optimizing and shortening the route, taking a 20 km long stretch of the highway to reach the city of Łowicz (it was safe as there was hardly any traffic because of Easter). My face here says: "That's cold!"

Upon reaching Łowicz, I visited a premium service station there. I ate the very last hot-dog they had! No more food to be bought!

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A view of Łowicz (Land of Łódź). Both Sochaczew and Łowicz are towns on River Bzura in spite of being located in different provinces.

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One of two Łowicz bridges was under reconstruction. A wooden gangway instead. Bike ban. Do you think anyone gave a s*it about the ban? 🤣

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A beautiful triangular New Market in Łowicz. Everything was closed! Well, the churches were open!

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Łowicz is perceived as the capital city of "the quaint countryside of Central Poland". Here are the symbols of the area.
My next stop was at the "Łowicz Countryside Open Air Museum" in Maurzyce.

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An old fire-station.

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A windmill.

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A model "Łowicz country house".

Do I need to mention the Inn was closed?! As I spent perhaps 5 minutes there, was hungry and angry, I left the area without even paying the entry ticket! (Perhaps the ticket office was closed, too?) :D Yes, I was eating my cookies outside, further optimizing my future part of the trip!

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I regret I cannot translate that pun for you! Literally, it is "I-day", and a Pole can go through "U-nite", "I-nite" to come up to "U-day" (tydzień) meaning "a week". It was already as warm as 21 C (70 F) there, still the wind chilling factor was making me ride in pretty warm clothes!

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The battery swap at 50 miles sharp. The "gray" battery had the actual capacity of 517 Wh, and I rode in 35/35% assistance. I was happy with the battery range on that day!

As soon as I re-entered the Mazovian Voivodeship, I found a premium BP service station in the middle of nowhere! Yes, they had food; I had no time though. Ate the rest of my snacks and had a cup of coffee. That service station was incorporated into BP just recently, and two guys there were still learning how to make a Flat White! :) (The salesman told me they had enormous number of customers on the day, all other shops around being closed!)

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Back to Sochaczew. Ya, I discovered a popular cafe offering delicious ice-cream was already open. Only I had no time as I had to catch the return train.

I very quickly planned the next stage: If I rode to the next train stop past Sochaczew, I would make my Metric Century and could enter the platform conveniently. Which I did, and got my train soon!

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The blue line approximately divides the Land of Łódź and Mazovia.
There is a Professor in Toruń, a good friend of mine. He's actually competing with me for distance! :D When I got on the train, I inspected Strava to see his daily ride was 101 km. Hah! You know what that bastard did? He looked in my Strava, and went for another +20 km evening ride just to beat me! :D I call him Vanishing Point :)

Chargeride said:
spearsenterprises.com

What Is A Full Floating Brake Rotor Spears Enterprises/Spears Racing

A floating disc is made up of two parts. An aluminum center carrier, which is mounted on to the hub of the wheel and a stainless steel rotor.
spearsenterprises.com spearsenterprises.com
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Thank you @Chargeride! What you call "a full floating brake rotor" (motorcycles) is known as Ice Technology in cycling. Yes, the new front rotor is Ice Technology.

Jeremy McCreary said:
We have those bear-resistant dustbins, too. Bears and tourists seem to be attracted to the same beautiful places. Many examples in North America alone.

The signage never gets through to many of the tourists — just like on MUPs. The rangers at Alaska's Katmai National Park know this all too well, as the grizzly bear risk there is VERY high. They meet your floatplane (the only way in) at the dock and escort you straight to "bear school", where they show vivid photos of bear encounters gone sideways. Then they tell you how to minimize your risk.

One thing they stressed quite graphically: You can't carry a container strong enough to protect your food on its own. And sure enough, we came across a 5 gallon ABS bucket (the tough ones paint comes in) shredded like tissue paper (gulp) near our already set-up campsite (double gulp). Overnight, weather came in and pinned us down there for the next 3 days. Every little rustle outside the tent....

Guessing those folks got pretty hungry. The nearest food was at least 3 days away.
Click to expand...

Jeremy, to my luck, Poland is not to the size of the United States, Canada, or Australia. Things are "mild" here. We only get brown bears, and any accidents related to these beasts are very rare here :) If you are interested with one of my Bieszczady trips, there is a good reading, hopefully! :)
electricbikereview.com

Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

What is problematic with removing the thru-axle?! Lovely idea: it makes the rotor always precisely get between the brake pads without the need for adjusting the disc brakes. Also making the bike laterally stiffer. It's just ( or was ) a new thing to us old timers with older bikes. I agree they...
electricbikereview.com electricbikereview.com
Still, my personal best in the mountain road cycling!
 
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I treated myself to a new Castelli cycling jacket which wasn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow but I got a nice surprise when it arrived today! :D I bought it mainly due to its windproof protection and it was on sale at a 58% discount! I wasn't intending to go cycling today but I had to try out the jacket as it was a dry day with strong winds (again) so it was the ideal conditions to test it! I set off without my gps as I was only intending to do about 5 local miles, 20 miles later I arrived home...🤣 The jacket gets a big thumbs up from me👍

www.wiggle.co.uk

Alpha ROS 2 Light Jacket

Buy your Castelli Alpha ROS 2 Light Jacket - Jackets from Wiggle. SAVE 64% - RRP $289.99 now only $123.00. Free worldwide delivery available.
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Stefan Mikes said:
Jeremy, to my luck, Poland is not to the size of the United States, Canada, or Australia. Things are "mild" here. We only get brown bears, and any accidents related to these beasts are very rare here :) If you are interested with one of my Bieszczady trips, there is a good reading, hopefully! :)
electricbikereview.com

Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

What is problematic with removing the thru-axle?! Lovely idea: it makes the rotor always precisely get between the brake pads without the need for adjusting the disc brakes. Also making the bike laterally stiffer. It's just ( or was ) a new thing to us old timers with older bikes. I agree they...
electricbikereview.com electricbikereview.com
Still, my personal best in the mountain road cycling!
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Beautiful rides and interesting reports, as always. Have you ever ridden in the Tatra Mountains? I've always wanted to visit the High Tatras.
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
Have you ever ridden in the Tatra Mountains? I've always wanted to visit the High Tatras.
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As far as I know Tatra Mts are unrideable, and I think there is a bike ban in the Tatra National Park. While in Zakopane (the Polish capital for the mountains), you rather would take a minibus ride then walk to see the Morskie Oko (Sea Eye), a picturesque high mountain lake. Or, you would take a cableway then climb to the summit of Kasprowy Wierch.

There is a route around Tatra, which is taken by road or adventure cyclists (often for a multiple day trip) because of beautiful views and high elevation gain. The mountains east of Tatra, Pieniny, might be even more exciting. There is a beautiful bike trail around the Czorsztyn Lake, or people cycle to the spa of Szczawnica. It is possible to climb onto the marvellous Trzy Korony (Three Crowns) summit in Pieniny.

Bad weather made it impossible to me to do the Lake Czorsztyn ride. I had, however, an exciting ride from Piwniczna-Zdrój to Szczawnica through Slovakia to see the Three Crowns from the Slovak side (I was later told the optional mountain bike trail was pretty easy, even for me, and far shorter!)

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Here, red routes are trails for roadies. Blue and magenta for bike trails. Note: The Slovak bike trail system is far more impressive than the Polish one! (You could open RideWithGPS route planner, switch the map to "OSM Cycle", enter Zakopane for the search and explore the area).

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As seen from Slovakia.

Ride Report
 
Chargeride said:
Found a few 'no cycling' signs, I put my Zaphod Beeblebrox Peril Sensitive Sunglasses on for those.
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Very impressive sunglasses. Mine aren't peril-sensitive at all. They let me do ill-advised things all the time with nary a warning.

For the price, assuming these peril-sensitive glacier glasses have a built-in klaxxon, or maybe electrodes for little warning shocks to the temples when danger looms ahead. Could be useful for riding in traffic or on MUPs.
 
Today my daughter and I biked along the Legacy Trail that runs from our family cabin in the village of Fairmont (Hot Springs) to the town of Invermere B.C. (24km). We experienced every season of weather on our two hour trip - waking up to a few inches of fresh snow, seeing the sun peak through, we jumped on our bikes only to be met by gusty winds that seem to come from every direction, black clouds gathered and we ended the ride in a thunderstorm followed by hail. I know the West Side area well as back in the day (a way back in the day) I would run and bike the trails almost daily during holidays. The East Kootenays are about a 4 hour drive from Southern Alberta where we live. This legacy trail recently built
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for bikers and walkers is amazing to me and has some challenging hills that the e-bike keeps the fun in the experience. Yesterday on the same trail my daughter says your sure breathing hard why don't you turn up the assist a notch - well because I'm kind of stubborn that way - yeah tell me about it she says . . .
 
Twin Valley said:
Today my daughter and I biked along the Legacy Trail that runs from our family cabin in the village of Fairmont (Hot Springs) to the town of Invermere B.C. (24km). We experienced every season of weather on our two hour trip - waking up to a few inches of fresh snow, seeing the sun peak through, we jumped on our bikes only to be met by gusty winds that seem to come from every direction, black clouds gathered and we ended the ride in a thunderstorm followed by hail. I know the West Side area well as back in the day (a way back in the day) I would run and bike the trails almost daily during holidays. The East Kootenays are about a 4 hour drive from Southern Alberta where we live. This legacy trail recently built View attachment 151567for bikers and walkers is amazing to me and has some challenging hills that the e-bike keeps the fun in the experience. Yesterday on the same trail my daughter says your sure breathing hard why don't you turn up the assist a notch - well because I'm kind of stubborn that way - yeah tell me about it she says . . .
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That is such a beautiful part of the continent. Confusing to travel through the first time - is that a lake or a swamp or a river? The interplay of the Kootenay and Columbia rivers is hard to wrap your head around at first.
 
Twin Valley said:
we ended the ride in a thunderstorm followed by hail
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Which reminds me of my June 2021 demo ride on a Vado SL! The e-bike brought me through a violent thunderstorm with hail, and I was at the LBS to return the e-bike on time. That made me buy a Vado SL soon!

There's something I'd like to share with you, friends:
Yesterday, I rode to the nearest LBS to have the rear wheel of my big Vado replaced with a newly built one. As soon as I started pedalling, I could hear some rattling. "No, it cannot happen again!" -- I thought to myself. I looked down... to see the battery almost jumping off the frame! Damn! Just think of me to invent the phrase "Give the battery a good old slap after you have inserted it" already in 2019 2020! :D

It was related to Vado/Como of the era :) Notice I did not dare to speak English at that time! :D
 
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The New Wheel Day

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A custom rear wheel based on DT Swiss components for my Vado has been build by the nearest LBS, Jakoobcycles. I've added a new brake rotor myself.

I'm so happy! Only I need to make the last adjustments such as removing the excess of braking fluid from the line to the rear brake!

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The original wheel died after having the tyre removed...
 
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