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

[Prairie Dog]

I set out this evening for a 35 km ride a couple of hours before the rains arrived. It was serenely quiet with the exception of the melodious trill of red winged blackbirds and an army of croaking frogs to keep me entertained.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The Family Day Picnic at Social Care Home of Bramki

Poland celebrates Mother's Day on 26 May. Many of residents of the Social Care Home (a nursing house) in Bramki have lost their Mothers or Fathers but there is always the Family present. Hence, the Family Day was organised there, and I quickly rode for 16.7 km to spend the day with my daughter Magda on Sunday.

Magda dreamed of meeting her Daddy on that day!

It was an open-air picnic for several hundred people. The spacious decorated area was filled with tables with cake, sweets and cold beverages. Anyone could help themselves to get fruit jelly, fruit or hot beverages but that was not the end of it! Works of the residents were shown as one of the many attractions of the day.

The SCH owns a huge, beautifully maintained park (they even have a small brine graduation tower!) and many buildings. There, the stage for the event was prepared.

During the artistic part, the residents were singing (Magda is barely visible on the left). The lady in yellow had prepared the whole show, that included singing and dancing (of the families). The carer came from Ukraine (the Black Sea part), and mastered spoken Polish to the level she could nicely sing in our language with only traces of accent! I was especially moved when she sang a beautiful song in her own language!

We won a gift in a lottery!

There were many attractions. For instance, Magda got her arm painted...

With a unicorn! And her face...

Was decorated with flowers! She even got a colourful ponytail!

Fried sausage or black pudding were available, too! We were so full Magda didn't need to go for lunch!

My total distance ridden was only 33 km as I took the shortest way. I rode at high assistance to complete each leg trip in a record time! There is a nasty bike path for some 5 km; it was my nightmare in the past, so I used to take long detours to avoid riding it. Now, with my fully "gravelized" Vado SL, I could ride that short route at a pretty high speed and totally comfortably!

Saska Kępa Days (Saturday)

The day before, I rode my Vado SL to Fregata restaurant bar in Warsaw for lunch. I was not aware that was the time when the most beautiful of Warsaw neighbourhoods, Saska Kępa (Saxon Meadow), had her holiday!

Saska Kępa street monikers are mostly geographical names. The quaint avenue there, Francuska (French St.) was made a pedestrian zone for the holiday. French St. is only five (short) blocks long, yet it has given the flavour to the whole area, being the most artistic street of Warsaw!

Yes, we do have the United States Avenue and the Canadian Street in the quarter! While the U.S. Avenue is the southern border of Old Saska Kępa, the George Washington Avenue forms her northern border! (I used to live in the African Street, New Saska Kępa for 17 years).

There were several stages around. While slowly riding my Vado SL I saw something I was unable to understand at the first sight! It was a rideable even if weird tandem hosting a drumset, keyboard, saxophone and other instruments as well as a huge umbrella. The man was singing and playing instruments as he was riding the thing! I could not miss seeing what happened next!

The man on the wheels was one Sambor Dudziński, a jazz singer and multi-instrumentalist. He was using a looper to perform his songs to a great applause!

Saska Kępa has a sizable North African community that has nicely blended into the artistic character of the area.

Enjoy Sambor singing, and also see the holiday life in Warsaw! Can you notice how many bicycles can be seen there?

Ladies and gentlemen, that's the high school in Saska Kępa I attended 1976-1980. 35th Lyceum (Bolesław Prus). The street belongs to the triad of the "combatant" ones: Fighters', Defenders', and Victors' Streets.

Funnily enough, there's the Ireland Str. but no British, English, Scottish or Welsh streets in Warsaw

I hope you could stand this overly long post!

 

[Chargeride]

Lovely, our mothers day is often on my mothers birthhday, so I get away with the one present .
We never have anything so public or wholesome, or maybe I just havent the situation to experience it.
Its nice of Eurovision to lend one of its stars to entertain you all

 

[JGcycle]

A few pics from today's 26km ride:

 

[Chargeride]

Landed at Skaithos airport this morning, Ive landed in some dodgy airports before, but I have never experienced a landing like that, I swear we landed with the wheels locked, I slide out under my seatbelt, full reverse thrust until standstill, the whole plane cheered and even the Steward admitted he got the fright of his life.

No ebike hire on the Island!
They have some medieval contraptions you have to pedal yourself.
Hiring a quad

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hiring a quad

What a lazy bastard HAVE YOU MEASURED YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE RECENTLY?

 

[Watana Bob]

I set out this evening for a 35 km ride a couple of hours before the rains arrived. It was serenely quiet with the exception of the melodious trill of red winged blackbirds and an army of croaking frogs to keep me entertained.

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PD what do you use for a camera, your photo quality and color contrast is just stunning.

 

[Watana Bob]

PD what do you use for a camera, your photo quality and color contrast is just stunning.

Actually, all of you that are frequent posters have excellent quality. I never post because my crappy phone camera doesn't do justice for the scenery.

 

[Prairie Dog]

PD what do you use for a camera, your photo quality and color contrast is just stunning.

I shoot using a Google Pixel 6a. It’s a pretty decent and affordable phone camera in its price range. No doubt that there are others who will swear by their high-end iPhones but being an avid Android enthusiast for many years, I’ll stick with what has worked for me for the time being.

..and taking a cue from @Chargeride, a sunrise ride at a slightly higher altitude.

Extracting single frames from GoPro footage can be just as effective and far more convenient than stopping by the side of the road and pulling out my camera. From this morning's ride.

 

[chunk]

In the SoCal high desert mountains today overlooking Lake Isabella, California.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I shoot using a Google Pixel 6a. It’s a pretty decent and affordable phone camera in its price range. No doubt that there are others who will swear by their high-end iPhones but being an avid Android enthusiast for many years, I’ll stick with what has worked for me for the time being.

Let's put this whole "iPhone = best photo quality" myth to rest. For going on 10 years now, my iPhone wife has been very jealous of the photos produced by my Androids — most recently, my Samsung Note5 and Note20 vs. her iPhone 11 and 13 Pros. The difference in image quality isn't subtle.

 

[Watana Bob]

Let's put this whole "iPhone = best photo quality" myth to rest. For going on 10 years now, my iPhone wife has been very jealous of the photos produced by my Androids — most recently, my Samsung Note5 and Note20 vs. her iPhone 11 and 13 Pros. The difference in image quality isn't subtle.

Thank you, Prairie Dog and Jeremy M. It’s looking like I might need to upgrade to an android. Beautiful shots from the go-pro P.D. , which model / generation go-pro do you use? Do you fully record every ride?

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Just my 2 cents.
I gave up taking ride photos with a DSLR quite a long time ago as the camera was too heavy. Currently, taking photos with a Samsung S21 Ultra, which produces adequate photos per se. However, I love colour and tonal balance in my photos, so I often process them in Adobe Lightroom and the ON1 photographic software: they are properly cropped and tonally corrected.

An interesting example: a world-class cycling photographer was asked -- as a friend -- to cover a gravel race in Poland. He had to shoot several thousand of takes, select good ones, then at least develop the RAW files while adding watermarks. He had to work very fast and produced around 2,000 impressive photos in a record short time. (When he covers the UCI World Tour, he spends far more time on photo processing!)

The top photo is the original. It is absolutely good! However, having a chance to re-process that photo, I came with the bottom one. The original hides a lot of unnecessary details. My processing shows these details. For instance, anyone can see now my butt was stained (as I had crashed on a singletrack). I would not actually process the original as the photo belongs to the author and it is fantastic. I'm just demonstrating my personal photo taste here.

 

[Chargeride]

The belief in the superiority of iphones amuses me, spend billions on convincing people they are in advertising and marketing, pass those costs on to the consumer and the final trick, convince them that extra cost means they are better.

Of course Samsung arent daft, now their phones are the same price.

 

[Chargeride]

What a lazy bastard HAVE YOU MEASURED YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE RECENTLY?

I might actually hire a bike, but every way is up, Im going the hire centre today for info on the trails, the Island is tiny, only 7X4 miles.
We are just off the tourist season, it must be a tourist hell hole in August.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The belief in the superiority of iphones amuses me, spend billions on convincing people they are in advertising and marketing, pass those costs on to the consumer and the final trick, convince them that extra cost means they are better.

Of course Samsung arent daft, now their phones are the same price.

I might believe the iPhones of the top-end can take impressive photos. Cheaper iPhones are photographically a junk.

 

[Chargeride]

All my photos that are not gopro screenshots are taken on a £100 Motorola G10.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Thank you, Prairie Dog and Jeremy M. It’s looking like I might need to upgrade to an android. Beautiful shots from the go-pro P.D. , which model / generation go-pro do you use? Do you fully record every ride?

I use a GP 9 which has been my go-to cam on most of my rides. I also have an Insta360 X3 which is a versatile tool for capturing 4K 360 footage/frames or for shooting 3rd person views. Editing with InstaStudio couldn’t be much easier.

On my road bike, the Hero is attached by default to the Cannondale Systembar mount using a Garmin ¼ turn to friction flange adapter. I can also attach a light in its place and place the camera on top if I so choose to.

Just my 2 cents.
I gave up taking ride photos with a DSLR quite a long time ago as the camera was too heavy.

We are aware of a few cyclists who carry SLRs on their backs using special 3-point harnesses. Seems very stable and secure and no heavier than a backpack. I’m no photog but there have been numerous occasions when I wish that I could have captured images in locations where a phone cam wouldn’t do justice and having it on me would be an added bonus.

 

[Chargeride]

I do miss the ability to zoom in, but then again, Ive got an ebike so I can just get closer .
In bright sunlight, cheap cameras are fine, but it soon goes downhill in high contrast shots, but much like the human eye, all the work is done in the algorithms.
Heres the view from our room, but if you zoom in, you can see the limitations, but Im sure this forum compresses the images as well.

 

[RabH]

After a full week off the bike due to the weather I spotted a chance to get a decent ride in today, if I left around 6am and with the rain due to arrive between 10-11am! I decided to head for the Campsie Hills and get a good workout, my plan was to head for Lennoxtown and climb Crow road from there with the 15-20mph SE wind helping me up the climb but as I was heading down the back roads towards Cumbernauld I changed my mind and turned for Bonnybridge instead to take on the big climb up through Stoneywood!

The weather was lovely at 6am, I stopped for this photo with the Campsies in the background!

As I was making my way along the back roads I remembered I hadn't used the road down to Abronhill for a very long time, so I put that right and what a road it is as it starts with this big descent!

A mile or so further I stopped for this photo of the Fannyside Lochs!

The road flattens for another mile or so before plunging downhill once again, at the end of the road I turned on to the main road to Wardpark but at this early hour there was very little traffic so I had the dual carriageway pretty much to myself and it was mostly downhill and a real blast! At Wardpark I turned NE for Bonnybridge, passing through Allandale before stopping for a couple of photos of the canal in Bonnybridge!

I then turned north for Denny and started the 3.5 mile climb up through Stoneywood and Fankerton, I reached the top of the climb and stopped for more photos with the River Carron down in the valley below!

I headed over the bridge and continued towards the Carron Valley Reservoir, grabbing more photos as I continued along the valley!

Then the Carron Valley Reservoir came into view!

The dam was closed today!

I set off again and spotted 3 young goslings in the field to my right walking between their parents, I was a bit slow getting my phone out but managed to capture them before they were too far away!

I was enjoying the very smooth road but I knew it was going to end soon, if only it was like this all the way!

I then had another nice view of the reservoir between the trees!

The last of the smooth road before it becomes very rutted for a couple of miles!

I loved this puffy cloud formation hanging over the hills!

Then I had this lovely descent and the smooth road had now returned and it was pretty much like this all the way to the foothills of the Campsies!

I shot down the next descent at just over 40mph, this was the reason I chose to tackle the Campsies from this side as the road is mostly downhill and in excellent condition!

It was almost time to start the climb, this is from across the valley just before the climb begins!

I stopped for a snack before heading up Crow road and just as I started the climb it clouded over and was threatening to rain, it was only around 8.30am and the rain was suppose to be 2 hours away! Normally I stop for photos on the way up but I decided to just keep going with the rain hanging in the air, I reached the top of the climb and was looking forward to the awesome descent down into Lennoxtown! The first part of the descent was sheltered from the wind and I hit 44.4mph before turning the 90 degree bend and heading right into the wind again but I was still flying along due the steep gradient! At Lennoxtown I turned south towards Torrance before heading SE for Kirkintilloch where I then turned east for Twechar where I stopped for another couple of photos of the canal!

I then headed south up the big climb towards Cumbernauld and back on to my local back roads to home, arriving around 10.15am and still dry thankfully! I went for my shower and looked out to see the rain pouring down, I had timed it perfectly! What a cracking ride it was, it was so good to get out again and enjoy some incredible roads! For the record my photos were taken with my Samsung Galaxy S23 phone, no complaints about the quality from me!