2024 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

Praxis Drive-Side Crankarm for Specialized SL 1.1 Motor (172.5 mm) part no S211600004

It was a fun to ride my Vado 6.0 to collect the crank-arm at Specialized Warsaw! Yes the day started and ended with a quite low temperature (4 C low, 12 C high) but it was sunny with a light wind. I rode my most standard route to Specialized Warsaw (32.0 km).

I have long wanted to share a photo of this particular place with you. I've passed this Apple store in Nowe Falenty many times and never stopped there, although I'm always tempted to visit the store and maybe convince myself that I should trade in my Samsung for an iPhone I even got an offer for the most expensive iPhone 15 from my provider that very morning. Two grands dollar? No way! Yet while I was taking this photo I thought 'Why don't I get inside the store and just have a chat?' And then I realized I had a perfectly good Samsung Ultra 5G 256 GB in my hand Why change?!

Or, you have ridden into the Kabacki Wood and wonder what the exact distance between the entry and exit point is (it's 5200 m) and then you meet a 10-km running race

My visit in the Specialized Warsaw was a pleasure, as always. @jason.flood: it has turned out the cost of the crankarm was very close to what I would pay at an independent online German store if I added the shipment cost. (I paid some 48 GBP for the crank-arm). Additionally, I had to buy the least sophisticated bike lock available (more on that later).

Now, I ate a lunch at META Bar and was free to choose my way back. First, I rode towards the WAW Chopin Airport...

Not sure how popular the "Money Heist" Netflix series (Spanish: "Casa de papel") was in your country. As one of the movie character's nickname was Berlin, I could not resist to take a photo of our local House of Paper

One of my friends on FB is an art PhD and also collects graffiti photos. His collection is called "Walls scream!" I remembered seeing an interesting caption somewhere in the Avenues so joined the traffic and...

"Paint it over again, and I'll become fucking vulgar" Note the quality of the script!

Now, my daughter asked me to bring her assorted sweets, especially ice-cream for Sunday. I had to pedal to our local store (so the way between two refrigerators would be short!) I pedalled the Aleje all the way and beyond, Hwy #719. Now, you may understand why I needed an inexpensive bicycle lock! Our neighbourhood is theft-free. Yet you must lock your bike even symbolically to mark the bike is not free to take!

Then... when the ice-cream was safe in the fridge, I realised I had no bread. So pedalled to a countryside store but forgot taking a pannier or a backpack! How do you say in English someone carries something under the coat? Yes, I had to do it! As my Helly Hansen sailor's jacket is pretty tight, I just placed the loaf on my breasts and zipped the jacket tight

What remained was checking the actual range of my Vado 6.0 on the "gray" battery at 35/35% assistance:

A tad over 50 miles. (The actual temperature: 6 C).

The last thing I had to do on Saturday was installing the crank-arm on my Vado SL:

Very easy work! The self-extracting crank-arm is a technological marvel! You only need a 20 cm (8" long) 8 mm hex wrench. Two minutes of work!

I dunno why but my knees hurt...

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Hey PD
How many critters do you see on your trail rides? Seeing that critters always take the path of resistance, that bike path would be a super Hiways for them. I know that you have Moose and Deer around there, any wolves or those big pretty kitty's, Pine Martens etc. Thanks Don

In my coastal SoCal neighborhood, we have bobcats, coyotes, roadrunners, and a zillion other birds. For the safety of all concerned, I'm asking the HOA to post these signs around our greenbelt:


Read the fine print.

 

[dodgeman]

I rode 24 miles today, cool and a bit of a breeze but not bad. A couple pictures of a hilly stretch of road, both shot from the same spot, one looking forward one back. The green field is winter wheat, it’s the first thing to turn green. I ended up having to crop my images to make them smaller, I got a new phone and it must use more memory.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The Ice-Cream Courier

My daughter Magda always makes her Wish List before we meet at her Social Care Home. This time, she asked for (among others) a box of ice-cream and a cake with nuts. 'How do I organize the trip so the ice-cream would not melt en route?' was my worry. I made an arrangement with Klimatyczna Cafe re the cake, packed the box of ice-cream into a thermoinsulating bag and then into a pannier, and was about to start the ride when... I discovered Jacek raised the seat on my Vado SL when he was diagnosing it I literally had to run back to my flat for a 4 mm wrench and a tape measure, wasting precious minutes!

For anyone interested, my Fearless is in a perfect shape now, following the crankarm replacement.

I was riding towards the Cafe propelled by a massive tailwind. No soft game: the assistance set for 80% and the e-bike derestricted so I arrived in Klimatyczna in a record short time. As I was quickly replacing a Range Extender with a fresh battery, I heard a merry 'Look at you! It seems I finally could catch up with you!' from behind.

My cycling friend Alfer was just riding through the Kampinos National Park and decided to rest at Klimatyczna exactly when I got there. A coincidence? He said: 'We are both single men of a similar professional status and habits. Such an encounter was inevitable!'

I felt I was losing time. Bought the cake, set the SL Turbo mode and sped to Bramki, fighting with cross-wind. I was almost on time, and the ice-cream was still frozen! (30 km in 1 h 4 min).

Magda happy with her new toy <3

My return was hard as the headwind was very strong. Despite riding in SL Turbo, it took me an hour to cover just 20 km! What I could notice was I was so obsessed with my future participation in gravel races that my pedalling style has greatly changed. It is long ride segments without any stopping, and very hard pedalling. Whenever I return home from my rides, my legs do hurt as expected!

Blue: 30.3 km in 1 h 4 min
Red: 20.5 km in 1 h.

 

[RabH]

Another epic ride on amazing roads for cycling, I actually forgot to top my batteries up last night and only remembered this morning! So with only 1 charger I managed to get one of the batteries up to 92% before it was time to depart, the other had 85% so I was confident it would be enough for a 70 miler or a bit more! The wind was from the ENE and around 15-20mph so it was my chance to take the epic A70 from Lanark to Muirkirk and it didn't disappoint! I started off with the amazing local descent at Gartness where I hit 44.5mph and that put me right in the mood for the day ahead! The main road was a little busy at Newhouse so I turned on to the back road to Cleland and rejoined the main road at Bogside where it was much quieter and headed down into Newmains, I decided to stick to the main road all the way down to Lanark!

Thankfully the town was pretty quiet and the recent roadworks were gone, I arrived at Lanark Loch where I stopped for a snack and some photos!

I then enjoyed the descent down to Hyndford Bridge and joined the awesome A70, it starts with a big climb but the wind was right at my back! I used the cycle path to climb the hill, its only a short one but it got me away from the trucks...

A closer view of the Hyndford Bridge!

After the climb the road rises and falls and twists and turns all the way to Rigside, its such an epic road to cycle and luckily I didn't see any more trucks for a quite a while!

At Rigside there's an awesome twisty descent down into Uddington and the road is in perfect condition so that was a real blast! Then its another climb up towards Douglas where I passed the 3 lochs which are mainly hidden by the trees!

I arrived in Douglas and after passing through the village there are more epic roads to enjoy!

I passed through the village of Glespin and soon the road runs alongside Glenbuck Loch!

It was just amazing with that wind at my back for almost 20 miles, when I reached Muirkirk it was time to turn north for Strathaven! The difference in temperature was instantly noticeable as I turned into the wind! I stopped for my lunch at Muirkirk and my first battery was now down to 24% so I switched to my second battery at 41 miles! The road from Muirkirk to Strathaven is another cracker, it starts with a big climb and a lovely descent and yet another climb and then its mostly downhill all the way to Strathaven!

My favourite part is when the road passes Glengavel Reservoir, its turn after turn and just so much fun! I used to ride it regularly on my motorbike and it was just incredible at speed!

There is another climb at the end of the road just before Strathaven, this is near the top of the climb looking back down at the bridge I crossed over!

At Strathaven I had covered 54 miles and I was feeling pretty strong, my battery was doing well also so I continued north towards Hamilton! I passed a side road where there was a road closed on left sign which was the road I was on and there were no signs about the closure all the way from Strathaven... Just after passing through Limekilnburn I saw the road closure sign which said local access only, I then remembered it was also closed last year (they were building new houses) and the diversion took me down into the centre of Hamilton!

I remembered there were lots of big descents though and I was in 2 minds about chancing the closure as it would be a risk which might end with a big climb back up again if I couldn't get through, so I took the diversion and it was an absolute blast except for a moron that almost had a head on collision with a car coming the other way! I heard him coming and saw the car approaching from the oppois te direction and couldn't believe he decided to pass me and caused the other car to brake heavily to miss him...what an absolute idiot!

Anyway just after this I had all the big descents to enjoy and boy did I enjoy them, it was sheer bliss and there wasn't much traffic at this point! I soon arrived in the town centre though and it was a whole different story here, I had no choice but to continue through the town centre but I soon joined the quieter road through Ferniegair which then joins the Clyde Valley road and it was mostly downhill and so much fun! There was a build up of traffic behind me though so I pulled in and let them all by and had a little break and a snack as I would soon be climbing Horsley Brae at Garrion Bridge at the western end of the Clyde Valley!

I started the climb with 71 miles now covered and my battery had 55% remaining, by the time I reached the top of the climb it was down to 39% as I had to use level 3 assist on the steeper parts! I passed through Overtown and decided to head for Newmains and take the back roads home! I knew I was going to be climbing a lot again and thought I might have to switch back to my first battery which had 24% left! At Newmains I headed NE for Bonkle where I then tackled the big climb up to Hareshaw, by the time I reached the top of the climb I had 25% left so I was confident my first battery would last until I got home! I enjoyed the descent down into Chapelhall but that was the last descent and the last couple of miles were all uphill, I headed up the final climb to home with 18% remaining so I pretty much judged it to perfection!

What a day that was, just incredible and I got home with a clean bike again which was a real bonus as I was expecting some rain! I did get a little rain now and then but not even enough to wet the roads so it was definitely my lucky day, the rest of the week is looking pretty woeful though so I'm glad I got a big ride in today!

 

[Chargeride]

They've been clearing the trails at the far end of the forest and I discovered a lovely new trail I've never been on before, gorgeous swooping trail that ended at a small lake, quite magical in person.

I can now use the drone on the beach as DJI have dropped the geo lockout near airports, allowing you to actually fly legally at restricted height.

I found a trail to ride around the lake, but it took me into a swamp leaving me with the only option of riding through it.

Drone shot over the big dune, theres a new gas rig positioned just off shore, its replaced the old one, never noticed it happening

Pushed the bike all the way to the top, its far too steep from this side and the sand was super soft.
Two ebikers past by, I claimed the dune and eyed them with suspicion.

Good ride, the direct drive is still gutless, but very quiet crusing around 15mph.
I'm in Devon again sorting out my dad, I might go for a ride, but got lots to do.
Weathers dry but windy, see how it goes.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I found a trail to ride around the lake, but it took me into a swamp leaving me with the only option of riding through it.

Your shoes dry?
Don't get drown in a swamp!

 

[dodgeman]

Another nice ride Rabh. Now it’s time to fess up and tell the truth. You make up the names of all the towns and places just to make them sound more British. I joke but I do find the names entertaining!

 

[Chargeride]

Your shoes dry?
Don't get drown in a swamp!

Soaked

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Soaked

I hope it was not overly cold outside? Had a similar adventure once (not a swamp) and suffered for long hours in the cold...

 

[Chargeride]

We're having really warm weather, not even wearing gloves, I overheated climbing the dune

 

[dodgeman]

My wife and I rode 16.5 mikes today. A picture of a large group of geese, there is a pond just out of the line of sight.

 

[Chargeride]

I parked the van in the Stoke Fleming National trust carpark and rode this bridleway down to Dartmouth castle

Quite a descent as you can see, obviously this is the mouth of the Dart river and the town on this side is steeped in British naval history.
37 Crusade ships left from this port, the Royal Navy Academy is here, all the Royals have trained here and on friday nights the pubs are full of upper class naval officers being drunk and obnoxious.

The castle is quite an assuming, but was always really just a gun emplacement to see off various foes like the french and the spanish.

I cheekily rode right through the ruins, there was no one there, all closed for the winter.

Quite the place for your gravestone.

These are the lower ferries, my transport across to Kingswear and an attempt to get the bike to Kingswear castle
Two quid each way

The attached tug spins around to pull then push every trip, they must do this hundreds of times a day.

during hight tides and storms the waves crash right up into the street, but the ferry still runs, pedestrians get soaked.

Bansky rip off

The hill is ludicrously steep, I pushed most of it, the direct drive has no low end power at all.

This side is full of million pound summer housed for the hedge fun set.

I just couldn't find a way to the castle and eventually tried this stupidly steep path.

I got to the bottom to find every way out blocked by no access signs, the castle is now a private house, but there was no way I was going back up that path, so I just rode through the private drives, i spoke to a tradesman who said not to worry about it, no one was here, they are all in the south of France.

Headed back to the ferry, more brake testing.

I cant work out what this means ,miles, feet..P?

This is the very dock the Mayflower and the Speed well visited to repair Speedwells leaks.

And the attached fort.

On the way back I took a close look at the road closure to find the road had collapsed onto a council van.

Great day out, bike did better than expected, nice and warm ,no punctures and I gave the seagulls half of my cheese buttie.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I parked the van in the Stoke Fleming National trust carpark and rode this bridleway down to Dartmouth castle
View attachment 172492


Quite a descent as you can see, obviously this is the mouth of the Dart river and the town on this side is steeped in British naval history.
37 Crusade ships left from this port, the Royal Navy Academy is here, all the Royals have trained here and on friday nights the pubs are full of upper class naval officers being drunk and obnoxious.
View attachment 172493


The castle is quite an assuming, but was always really just a gun emplacement to see off various foes like the french and the spanish.
View attachment 172494

I cheekily rode right through the ruins, there was no one there, all closed for the winter.
View attachment 172495


Quite the place for your gravestone.
View attachment 172497


These are the lower ferries, my transport across to Kingswear and an attempt to get the bike to Kingswear castle
Two quid each way
View attachment 172498


The attached tug spins around to pull then push every trip, they must do this hundreds of times a day.
View attachment 172499

during hight tides and storms the waves crash right up into the street, but the ferry still runs, pedestrians get soaked.
View attachment 172500


Bansky rip off
View attachment 172501

The hill is ludicrously steep, I pushed most of it, the direct drive has no low end power at all.
View attachment 172502


This side is full of million pound summer housed for the hedge fun set.
View attachment 172503


I just couldn't find a way to the castle and eventually tried this stupidly steep path.
View attachment 172504


I got to the bottom to find every way out blocked by no access signs, the castle is now a private house, but there was no way I was going back up that path, so I just rode through the private drives, i spoke to a tradesman who said not to worry about it, no one was here, they are all in the south of France.
View attachment 172505


Headed back to the ferry, more brake testing.
View attachment 172506


I cant work out what this means ,miles, feet..P?
View attachment 172507


This is the very dock the Mayflower and the Speed well visited to repair Speedwells leaks.
View attachment 172509


And the attached fort.
View attachment 172510

On the way back I took a close look at the road closure to find the road had collapsed onto a council van.

Great day out, bike did better than expected, nice and warm ,no punctures and I gave the seagulls half of my cheese buttie.


View attachment 172511

Wonderful outing, fun report!

M F P = Miles Feet Pinkies?

 

[BlackHand]

cant work out what this means ,miles, feet..P?

I was going to make fun of you for not recognizing Paces until I realized the F couldn't possibly be feet if P was paces.

Google set me straight in a jiffy.
Miles
Furlongs
Perches / Poles

COLUMN: The measure of things

Following my column about milestones a couple of weeks back, I received a fascinating message from reader Mark Dodsworth who kindly sent me a…

www.gazetteherald.co.uk

 

[Stefan Mikes]

New Drivetrain Day

A 69 km ride at temperature around +4 C. It felt very cold! 40 km ridden on a new Shimano M5100 11-speed drivetrain, Vado SL.

 

[JGcycle]

A few pics from today's 20km ride:

 

[Saratoga Dave]

What’s that blue building? Very attractive!

 

[JGcycle]

What’s that blue building? Very attractive!

It's the Brundage Point River Centre. It's an information centre, and also hosts various workshops, and a farmer's market.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

@Chargeride is with his another video on YT!
Will not spoil his pleasure of publishing it himself on EBR