Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
Mt. Calvary Low Power Gravel Ride
Or, How The Off-Road Trauma Left Me
'The pannier is the liability on your gravel rides, brother' -- lazily said Jacek on the phone -- 'Learn riding light. Use a single battery set (I let you use the Range Extender on the bike) but get rid of the pannier!' We agreed to further convert my Vado SL to become a true "flat handlebars gravel e-bike" for the next Spring. As I try to listen to my wise first cousin, I planned a "Mt. Calvary Loop", instructing Komoot to chose the route for a gravel e-bike (Komoot is a very smart bike route planner indeed!) Intentionally, I took no extra Range Extenders with me, and set my Vado SL ECO mode to ridiculously low 30/60% assistance (following my bad unpowered Diverge EVO experience, now I know any assistance would save me)
So gravel it was! I set off for the ride with a new drivetrain. (In another thread, I explained why the new chainring selection was totally wrong...)
The first part of the ride was actually slightly boring. Komoot directed me to ride in the Kabacki Forest, and also told me to take the classic gravel/MTB route towards Konstancin-Jeziorna. It was a cold day initially, so I was wearing my most advanced Bioracer cycling jacket with detachable sleeves.
Sunshine appeared at 1 p.m. I could finally remove my sleeves! See the Mullermilch protein drink: the commercial is the cow MOOOO! (I was careful about the nutrition and hydration on that ride).
The Instant Karma
As I was pedalling through an exceptionally boring asphalt segment of the Mt. Calvary Classic Route, I could hear very loud talking behind my back. A look in the mirror and I knew it were two female roadies, apparently on their coffee ride While I was pedalling at some 23 km/h (I am now respecting the Euro speed restrictor of 25 km/h), the girls were a tad faster than I. The inevitable had come, and both overtook me and started slowly disappearing at the distance. No way could I catch up with them without increasing the assistance and derestricting my e-bike. Well, what to do? Only there was a barrier across the road informing about construction works and a detour. I got quite curious...
The girls took the detour, and yet another fast roadie respected the sign, so did I. (Later, it turned out the detour was all asphalt and it was pretty long!) After perhaps a kilometre or two pedalled, with the girls barely visible in front of me, my Wahoo told me to turn left soon. The girls took that left turn as well. To my surprise, the road was... all gravel! Within 30 seconds I overtook the girls at my 23 km/h while they were riding hysterically slowly on their skinny tyres... No idea what they did next; were I them, I would go back and continue the asphalt ride, as the gravel road was not even good for cars!
Mt. Calvary and Mt. Cafe Being Empty!
I should have known better. The Sunday 1st of October this year was the day of a rally of one million people organised by the opposition political parties prior to the general election to be held on 15th this month. The march called "One Million Hearts" has been hugely successful. Even if I fully support the opposition, I cannot walk or stand for a longer time, so I completely forgot about the rally happening in Warsaw during my ride!
Mt. Cafe was almost deserted, which never happens on sunny Sundays!
Mt. Cafe can brew excellent coffee, and the cake is good there but they should employ a good cook. The food was not good but expensive instead... I regret to not have ridden to the nearby Delizza restaurant!
Now, Komoot did it best! My return ride was full of premium gravel roads or forest trails!
Top: "The gravel cyclists are the people who ride across the road" How true! The forest barrier as seen across the main road is a typical view to us, adventure riders!
Centre: "Stephan's Sacred Spot" nature reservation Many of you spell my first name wrongly. Is the sacred spot mine then?
Bottom: "Always Wear A Helmet!" (Literally: "The helmet is your basic thing"). Although all gravel cyclist wear helmets, there are still many cyclists that are hostile to wearing a helmet here.
I was not avoiding riding gravel. I was not avoiding forest paths involving tree roots or sand. The off-road trauma seems to have left me! I even rode the forest paths at the sunset with my path lit by the headlight! The secret? Just ride slower...
A Metric Century. I was using the main battery and a single Range Extender, with the estimated maximum range of 165 km (100+ miles). Totally doable if you are ready to ride slower and get tired during the ride! @Creo rider: for your attention; I do not ride big hills and have to be assisted during my rides but you know the SL potential very well!
There are many darker green areas on the map: It meant gravel or forest roads/singletrack. Several areas in white or pale green meant gravel, too.
Or, How The Off-Road Trauma Left Me
'The pannier is the liability on your gravel rides, brother' -- lazily said Jacek on the phone -- 'Learn riding light. Use a single battery set (I let you use the Range Extender on the bike) but get rid of the pannier!' We agreed to further convert my Vado SL to become a true "flat handlebars gravel e-bike" for the next Spring. As I try to listen to my wise first cousin, I planned a "Mt. Calvary Loop", instructing Komoot to chose the route for a gravel e-bike (Komoot is a very smart bike route planner indeed!) Intentionally, I took no extra Range Extenders with me, and set my Vado SL ECO mode to ridiculously low 30/60% assistance (following my bad unpowered Diverge EVO experience, now I know any assistance would save me)
So gravel it was!
I set off for the ride with a new drivetrain. (In another thread, I explained why the new chainring selection was totally wrong...)The first part of the ride was actually slightly boring. Komoot directed me to ride in the Kabacki Forest, and also told me to take the classic gravel/MTB route towards Konstancin-Jeziorna. It was a cold day initially, so I was wearing my most advanced Bioracer cycling jacket with detachable sleeves.
Sunshine appeared at 1 p.m. I could finally remove my sleeves! See the Mullermilch protein drink: the commercial is the cow MOOOO!
(I was careful about the nutrition and hydration on that ride).The Instant Karma
As I was pedalling through an exceptionally boring asphalt segment of the Mt. Calvary Classic Route, I could hear very loud talking behind my back. A look in the mirror and I knew it were two female roadies, apparently on their coffee ride
While I was pedalling at some 23 km/h (I am now respecting the Euro speed restrictor of 25 km/h), the girls were a tad faster than I. The inevitable had come, and both overtook me and started slowly disappearing at the distance. No way could I catch up with them without increasing the assistance and derestricting my e-bike. Well, what to do? Only there was a barrier across the road informing about construction works and a detour. I got quite curious...The girls took the detour, and yet another fast roadie respected the sign, so did I. (Later, it turned out the detour was all asphalt and it was pretty long!) After perhaps a kilometre or two pedalled, with the girls barely visible in front of me, my Wahoo told me to turn left soon. The girls took that left turn as well. To my surprise, the road was... all gravel! Within 30 seconds I overtook the girls at my 23 km/h while they were riding hysterically slowly on their skinny tyres...
No idea what they did next; were I them, I would go back and continue the asphalt ride, as the gravel road was not even good for cars! Mt. Calvary and Mt. Cafe Being Empty!
I should have known better. The Sunday 1st of October this year was the day of a rally of one million people organised by the opposition political parties prior to the general election to be held on 15th this month. The march called "One Million Hearts" has been hugely successful. Even if I fully support the opposition, I cannot walk or stand for a longer time, so I completely forgot about the rally happening in Warsaw during my ride!
Mt. Cafe was almost deserted, which never happens on sunny Sundays!
Mt. Cafe can brew excellent coffee, and the cake is good there but they should employ a good cook. The food was not good but expensive instead... I regret to not have ridden to the nearby Delizza restaurant!
Now, Komoot did it best! My return ride was full of premium gravel roads or forest trails!
Top: "The gravel cyclists are the people who ride across the road"
How true! The forest barrier as seen across the main road is a typical view to us, adventure riders! Centre: "Stephan's Sacred Spot" nature reservation
Many of you spell my first name wrongly. Is the sacred spot mine then? Bottom: "Always Wear A Helmet!" (Literally: "The helmet is your basic thing"). Although all gravel cyclist wear helmets, there are still many cyclists that are hostile to wearing a helmet here.
I was not avoiding riding gravel. I was not avoiding forest paths involving tree roots or sand. The off-road trauma seems to have left me! I even rode the forest paths at the sunset with my path lit by the headlight! The secret? Just ride slower...
A Metric Century. I was using the main battery and a single Range Extender, with the estimated maximum range of 165 km (100+ miles). Totally doable if you are ready to ride slower and get tired during the ride! @Creo rider: for your attention; I do not ride big hills and have to be assisted during my rides but you know the SL potential very well!
There are many darker green areas on the map: It meant gravel or forest roads/singletrack. Several areas in white or pale green meant gravel, too.
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I was climbing the last hill to home and my gps was showing just over 6000ft of elevation gain, but Ridewithgps only shows 5512ft...
