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

[Stefan Mikes]

My diets surviving, I can read Stefans posts, though the way Magda was looking at the chocs tested me

Oh, so I won't be able to post a photo of another alcohol free beer WITH a cake from the ongoing ride!

 

[Chargeride]

I dont want to be the obvious one, but Ive been dieting, pretty drastically for two weeks now, around 800 calories.

All sweets, cakes, bread ,fried rice cut out.
Ive never had so much energy and lack of tiredness in the past five years.
Its quite an incredible transformation in such a short time.

 

[kahn]

@Stefan Mikes

"I really cannot understand you Kahn! The sign is in Polish. At least I could understand it at the first sight! Translated to English, it reads: "Only legal e-bikes allowed. Chargeride stay out!" "

Finally, I understand. Thanks for the translation.

Keep on riding and riding and EATING

 

[PatriciaK]

Pretty much the same ride as last time, but this time meeting the grandkiddos at The Battleground for the loop to Country Park. Returned the way we came today - it was about 1.5 miles longer, but saved us riding with traffic!

 

[RabH]

An almost identical ride to last Sunday, this time it was car racing at Knockhill Racing Circuit! Conditions were also identical so I didn't bother taking any photos on the ride, I will add more from my Arran trip though and some from the track! My trip home was my fastest ever from the circuit, just over 2 hours for 40 miles with a strengthening easterly breeze behind me most of the way and lots of downhill for the first 22 miles or so! The last 18 miles were uphill of course....

These are all classics dating back to the 70's and possibly earlier for some, really beautiful cars and its great to see them still racing!

Usually the best races of the day, the little legend cars which run Yamaha 1250cc motorcycle engines!

Probably the fastest car of the day in a straight line, the amazing Ariel Atom!

Another very fast car in a straight line, a stunning 2005 Ford Falcon!

The fastest car of the day overall, lapping the track in just over 49 seconds! Its a Nemesis kit car which is a bit unreliable but not today, nobody could get near it as you can see in this photo!

Right at the start of the race it was already pulling away from the pack...

You wouldn't believe the speed it makes through this tight twisty section of the track, its just an out and out race car!

Its a little closer racing when the legends are on track as the cars are almost identical!

Now the Arran photos as promised!

I had such a brilliant day combining both of my passions in perfect weather, it was a long day but so worth it and I will sure sleep well tonight!

@Prairie Dog Sorry to hear about your wifes unfortunate spill, I'm glad she is still able to ride and hope the pain will ease in the coming weeks to allow you both to enjoy your long awaited trip!

 

[Prairie Dog]

@Prairie Dog Sorry to hear about your wifes unfortunate spill, I'm glad she is still able to ride and hope the pain will ease in the coming weeks to allow you both to enjoy your long awaited trip!

Thanks Rab. She feels like she's improving each day and I'm sure it won't be long before she is back to full health. You and @Stefan Mikes have really been racking up the miles recently. Good on the both of you. Loving the trip reports, guys.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

A "Half Kampinos" Road Workout Ride

I felt unwell after returning from my Saturday ride. Sore butt and some pain in my better leg made me worry: "Will I be able to perform in the upcoming gravel race?" Worried, I packed Roadrunner into my station wagon and drove to Zaborów, which is a popular cycling meeting point just south of the Kampinos National Park.

I promised taking part in a Big Kampinos road bike workout. The "Big Kampinos" is a road bike ride around the Kampinos National Park of a typical distance of 130-150 km. You cannot take shortcuts by riding through the forest. The "Half Kampinos" ride is basically riding roads around the East KPN from Warsaw. As you will soon find out, my ride turned out to be pretty untypical!

I was so glad to meet Staszek the Roadie in Zaborów! We've been friends since 2021 when he was one of people to induct me into group riding but we had not been riding together since. He has been, however, a great friend I could ask anything: how to prepare to an ultramarathon, how you ride in a peloton, what the intricacies of a bike geometry are, and like. He has been always offering advice regarding the route choice for my escapades in the unexplored area... A golden man! (He currently rides a Specialized Diverge bike with road and gravel wheelsets).

As two other members of Szosza CC joined us, the fast ride started without much talking! Staszek was the navigator for the first part of the ride. Unfortunately, he has developed a medical condition to be treated yet, so he had to leave the group far west into the ride. Now, even faster ride began! I was patiently spinning the cranks, giving the change in the lead as necessary and... dreaming of taking a stop! As you know, roadies are the last people to take stops on their rides! 61 km into the ride, I parted my ways with the group, especially as I did not intend to pedal to Warsaw!

Chargeride please skip this section! Just close your eyes and scroll down!

I chose to take a longer rest at the "Marta's". I needed a meal! I also bought two different bottles of beer for the future tasting, both from the Błonie Brewery.

There are two craft beer breweries in Błonie: "Artezan" and "Błonie". Artezan is a high-profile brewery focused on IPA and Imperial Stout. Their competitors "Błonie" chose an unusual way as for a craft brewery: they only brew high quality Lagers and other traditional beer styles (that sells!) That's why you'll find Błonie beer at a small village store while Marta would not even try selling Artezan! My choice was "Kampinoskie Alcohol Free" (with the mandatory moose on the label; there is one moose per a square kilometre in the KPN!), and a hemp infused Lager. (Don't laugh: it is THC free, only altering the taste!)

Chargeride, you can continue reading here!

Now, I entered the Hauländer Land along the Vistula embankment.

By a horse farm in Secyminek.

As I was taking the horse photos while straddling my Vado, the e-bike fell below me! BANG! It slightly hurt my leg. The kickstand broke, and I had to fix the handlebars and the seat! Oh, I should've dismounted my e-bike before taking the photos! It has no high top tube!

Following an online advice from Staszek, I entered the "Secy za Wałem" (Secymin Behind The Embankment), which is a family run picnic ground and warm season restaurant.

In the kitchen, "Secy za Wałem". Many of the figures have German inscriptions.

As I got coffee (from the waiter, who turned out to be the Family Father), I walked inside as I thought it was a regular restaurant. To my surprise, I entered the kitchen! The Son and his Wife (acting as cooks) engaged in a small-talk with me. I told them I could not find simple enough food for my plebeian taste in their menu (which they rightly took for a compliment!), and the Son told me I could watch the collection of figures of his Mother.

Now I could understand where I was: It was a Hauländer descendant family! The village was German before WW2. Not all Hauländers were exiled to Germany; some of them opted for Poland at the right time and were allowed to stay. I enjoyed my short stay in that paradiso!

The Wilków Road proper is a 5-km long stretch of the most exquisite asphalt laid inside the KPN. A picturesque, undulating and virtually traffic tree road is one of my favourite shortcuts through the woods! As I could see a very good average speed on my Wahoo, I continued my solo workout vigorously!

At the "Pothole Road" My "blue" battery of the effective capacity of 532 Wh was good for 50 miles of intensive ride at 55% average assistance (Boost Factor of 175%). The battery charge consumed was exactly 510 Wh, making it 6.3 Wh/km or 10.2 Wh/mi (@BlackHand: interesting comparison with your data: hardly any hills here!) After inserting the "black" battery, I continued spinning at 60% assistance (192% Boost Factor) to improve the ride average speed! The wind totally relented, so I was often riding over 40 km/h (25 mph) on the 579 and 580!

Well, 28.1 km/h average speed was not bad at all! Nothing wrong with my health! I just need more workout!

 

[mata2maui]

made me worry: "Will I be able to perform

Mark Twain once said words to effect, that "most of the things I worried about never came true". The future is an illusion until it occurs...then it's the present.

 

[BlackHand]

After Tuesday's 70 miler, I wanted a different kind of ride - less jousting with traffic, and somewhere I could just grind for a few hours with minimal worry about cars and intersections.

Took the bike in the car over to Duvall where I could hop onto the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. Such a pleasant trail, nice and level you can just cruise on low assist on the gravel as long as you want.

The Tokul Trestle is pretty cool. Curved wooden trestle from 1911.

You can't really go through Snoqualmie without stopping at the falls. Even though it eas crowded, I didn't have to hunt for a parking spot!

After that I headed around behind the town on Mill Pond road and down to nearby North Bend. I considered stopping at Twedes for a slice of cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee (any Twin Peaks fans out there?) but really wanted to keep moving.

North Bend is dominated by Mount Si - here it is on my way out of town

And crossing over the river a few miles layer

After that, it was onto Forest Service and logging roads for the next 25 miles or so.

I swapped out the battery at 43 miles and took a break listening to the silence.

Eventually I got up to the Tolt pipeline which provides 30% of the drinking water for the Seattle area. Ironically, this is where I drank the last of my water.

After about 10 miles it turned into a narrow rolling paved road that felt fast after hours of gravel.

Eventually the road gives way to the pipeline trail for the final 4+ miles back into Duvall. This is looking back at the end of the road I just came down and the start of the trail below.

Had a bit of a surprise when I was going down the gravel grade at about 25mph. I was concentrating on keeping upright when suddenly I noticed a buck standing in a shadow just 10 ft off my line going down the hill. I think he was as surprised as me and just stood and watched as a blew by him!

Pulled back into Duvall at 68 miles only 17 of which were paved. And my battery still showed a 32 mi range! Topped the day off at a mexican restaurant patio with a big glass of water, a bigger burrito, and a pint of Manny's.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

How to add you on RWGPS Blackhand? (You can write me a PM).

 

[kahn]

@BlackHand

Quite the excursion. Well done and great highlight pictures of the area.

 

[PatriciaK]

After Tuesday's 70 miler, I wanted a different kind of ride - less jousting with traffic, and somewhere I could just grind for a few hours with minimal worry about cars and intersections.

Took the bike in the car over to Duvall where I could hop onto the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. Such a pleasant trail, nice and level you can just cruise on low assist on the gravel as long as you want.
View attachment 155279

The Tokul Trestle is pretty cool. Curved wooden trestle from 1911.
View attachment 155275

You can't really go through Snoqualmie without stopping at the falls. Even though it eas crowded, I didn't have to hunt for a parking spot!
View attachment 155277

After that I headed around behind the town on Mill Pond road and down to nearby North Bend. I considered stopping at Twedes for a slice of cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee (any Twin Peaks fans out there?) but really wanted to keep moving.

North Bend is dominated by Mount Si - here it is on my way out of town
View attachment 155270
And crossing over the river a few miles layer
View attachment 155271
After that, it was onto Forest Service and logging roads for the next 25 miles or so.
View attachment 155283
I swapped out the battery at 43 miles and took a break listening to the silence.
View attachment 155274
Eventually I got up to the Tolt pipeline which provides 30% of the drinking water for the Seattle area. Ironically, this is where I drank the last of my water.
View attachment 155278
After about 10 miles it turned into a narrow rolling paved road that felt fast after hours of gravel.
View attachment 155272
Eventually the road gives way to the pipeline trail for the final 4+ miles back into Duvall. This is looking back at the end of the road I just came down and the start of the trail below.
View attachment 155273
Had a bit of a surprise when I was going down the gravel grade at about 25mph. I was concentrating on keeping upright when suddenly I noticed a buck standing in a shadow just 10 ft off my line going down the hill. I think he was as surprised as me and just stood and watched as a blew by him!

Pulled back into Duvall at 68 miles only 17 of which were paved. And my battery still showed a 32 mi range! Topped the day off at a mexican restaurant patio with a big glass of water, a bigger burrito, and a pint of Manny's.

Beautiful ride! Can't wait to get home and add this one to my list!

 

[BlackHand]

How to add you on RWGPS Blackhand? (You can write me a PM).

All my rides are on Strava since RWGPS doesnt capture power or cadence. I just use it for route planning and occasionally I'll navigate with it instead of the nyon.

When I do use it, I've noticed it is inconsistent with recording everything. On this ride my phones power saver mode turned on for a while and RWGPS didn't capture elevation changes.

Strava completely messes with power numbers from the nyon, but at least it's consistent with distance and elevation.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Yesterday, my roadie friend and neighbor D rode my ebike while I circled on his gorgeous all-Campy Torino, trying to localize an odd new noise synced with my crank. (Seems to be coming from the bottom bracket. Bad bearing?)

First time I'd been on a really nice road bike in over 20 years. And I immediately accused him of cheating. I mean, c'mon — a bike with no weight and no rolling resistance?? No fair!

Then we went for a short impromptu ride. I got to pick the route, so I chose a new one (for him) with only a few steep hills.

Elevation profile with blue grade overlay.

Posting this mainly to brag about the cycling strength I've regained in just 7 months back in the saddle. To my great surprise, I was able to do all but the steepest parts WITHOUT assist, and the rest at PAS 1/9. Without falling behind. My gearing mods really paid off here.

No photos on this ride, but here's a recent shot from our stop overlooking the now-brown Carlsbad Flower Fields.

Looked a lot different here back in early April. (More photos here.)

I like riding with D, but the Torino is the only bike he keeps here. He can't go offroad, and his taste for slogging up steep hills is rapidly fading. That really restricts the places we can ride together, so I keep working on him to get a hybrid ebike.

My evil scheme appears to be working. He test-rode several ebikes last month and is thinking about an Aventon Aventure from an LBS as a toe in the water. I think yesterday's hills got him a little closer to pulling the trigger.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

All my rides are on Strava since RWGPS doesnt capture power or cadence. I just use it for route planning and occasionally I'll navigate with it instead of the nyon.

When I do use it, I've noticed it is inconsistent with recording everything. On this ride my phones power saver mode turned on for a while and RWGPS didn't capture elevation changes.

Strava completely messes with power numbers from the nyon, but at least it's consistent with distance and elevation.

No issues with Specialized -> Wahoo ELEMNT -> Strava. Just sayin'!
(That is, Strava reports less rider power than Wahoo but I do not really care).

I mean, c'mon — a bike with no weight and no rolling resistance?? No fair!

Drop your Surface with the handlebar end hitting your foot, and you will reconsider your "no weight" statement! (Wearing Adidas Five Ten Freerider Pro shoes might absorb the greater part of the impact!)

 

[dodgeman]

It was a flat tire day instead of a fat tire day. When I went to ride the rear was flat. I had to change out of my bike cloths because if I get within 10 feet of a tool I’ll get grease on me. The tire had a shard of needle like metal in it which I felt luck to find easily. I rode about 20 miles to the new John Deere dealership which now appears to be open. A pic of my bike about to get the tire fixed and the new JD dealership.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

It was a flat tire day instead of a fat tire day. When I went to ride the rear was flat. I had to change out of my bike cloths because if I get within 10 feet of a tool I’ll get grease on me. The tire had a shard of needle like metal in it which I felt luck to find easily. I rode about 20 miles to the new John Deere dealership which now appears to be open. A pic of my bike about to get the tire fixed and the new JD dealership.
View attachment 155302View attachment 155303View attachment 155304

The 10 year-old in me totally wants that closest badass tractor in the last photo.

Which folding workstand is that? Looking for one for my step-thru, but not much of a seat tube to grab.

 

[dodgeman]

It’s called a Bikestand. I’ve also got a pulley system that you can see hooked to the handle bars and seat. It’s almost impossible to get the bike in the stand without it. My son got me that stuff for Christmas a couple years ago.

 

[Readytoride]

Bike time has dropped to zero lately, no thanks to the Canadian fires smoke overlaying the eastern seaboard of the US courtesy of the prevailing winds. We're under a health alert for poor air quality (in some cases bordering on dangerous) with no end in sight as yet.

We are in the the thick of it near Washington DC. The blue dot is us.

All of this has completely screwed up my plans for being in the upcoming charity ride this coming weekend - a gravel road ride centered in our area, all three routes (80, 60, and 40 miles) going directly past our farm. I'm super healthy overall, well prepared for the distance, but when yesterday arrived with a blood moon overhead, zero stars visible, and a dense haze that was discernable within a half mile, and the Blue Ridge just a few miles to our west a vague white outline, almost erased in the white haze blanketing the viewshed of which there was arguably none left, not to mention giving me a headache and a sore throat, rare for me - well, all these signs irrefutably announced that a bike ride wasn't advisable and staying indoors, despite the lovely temps outside, was suggested.

I had been signed up for the 60 mile ride, but decided to drop to the 40 mile ride, all of which centers right around our location. The ride meet and parking is just 3 miles down the road.

However, if the 11th arrives under the current Code Orange cloud of particulates from the northern fires 600 miles away, I'm staying home. Bummer.

 

[Frank/Delaware]

Bike time has dropped to zero lately, no thanks to the Canadian fires smoke overlaying the eastern seaboard of the US courtesy of the prevailing winds. We're under a health alert for poor air quality (in some cases bordering on dangerous) with no end in sight as yet.
View attachment 155404


We are in the the thick of it near Washington DC. The blue dot is us.

View attachment 155405

All of this has completely screwed up my plans for being in the upcoming charity ride this coming weekend - a gravel road ride centered in our area, all three routes (80, 60, and 40 miles) going directly past our farm. I'm super healthy overall, well prepared for the distance, but when yesterday arrived with a blood moon overhead, zero stars visible, and a dense haze that was discernable within a half mile, and the Blue Ridge just a few miles to our west a vague white outline, almost erased in the white haze blanketing the viewshed of which there was arguably none left, not to mention giving me a headache and a sore throat, rare for me - well, all these signs irrefutably announced that a bike ride wasn't advisable and staying indoors, despite the lovely temps outside, was suggested.

I had been signed up for the 60 mile ride, but decided to drop to the 40 mile ride, all of which centers right around our location. The ride meet and parking is just 3 miles down the road.

However, if the 11th arrives under the current Code Orange cloud of particulates from the northern fires 600 miles away, I'm staying home. Bummer.

so good to hear your voice again