Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
To Otwock Wielki and Beyond With Tomek
Tomek (who has been my riding buddy since some time) and I met at Warsaw Stadium train station at 8:36 am on Saturday. Tomek wanted to show me the park and palace in Otwock Wielki, which I have never had a chance to visit before.
After riding 34 km (mostly on excellent bike infrastructure), we indeed reached Otwock Wielki. (I was on a similar trip together with Jerzy (RIP) several years ago but then the park was closed because of the pandemics).
The palace is fairly big, and there is not a lot of space behind the photographer to back off for getting a proper angle!
Tomek is a big man of adequate strength to ride together with me on long rides. His hearing is impaired and he has no GPS navigation, so he follows me on our rides. For that reason, I had to monitor Tomek at all times in my Mirrycle (it works perfectly, @Jeremy McCreary!) I and Tomek can talk on our stops with the help of his hearing aid (Tomek cannot wear the aid when he wears a helmet).
Here, we went in a cafe, and had cheesecake and coffee!
We continued our ride over Nadwiślańskie Urzecze (translated: Vistula Riverside) area with many gravel roads and the first apple orchards of the big fruit area south of Warsaw. We could see many little tractors towing carts full of apple boxes! And yes, we stole an apple each (I carried the apple all the way back home in my jacket rear pocket!)
Then we climbed the Vistula Riverside Bridge near Góra Kalwaria (Mt Calvary, and rode very fast with traffic there! That bridge was extremely dangerous in the past; it was reconstructed not a long time ago, and riding there felt a way safer now!
We have very few hills in Mazovia: these are the left bank Warsaw, right bank Płock, and two true hills: Góra Kalwaria and neighbouring Czersk.
My true Mazovian fave: St. Anthony Street in Góra Kalwaria, which is the summit of any Mazovian Gravel race It is a raw cobblestone 10% incline winding road Let us be honest: I am scared to death to descend there, while climbing the hill is easy-peasy even for my Vado SL SL Turbo mode, a low gear and I get up the hill with joy! (I could see a cyclist descending on his brakes there, and he looked terrified! Tomek had to walk his bike up the hill, and explicitly forbid posting his photo while doing so)
Many thousands of cyclists visit the Góra Kawiarnia (Mt Cafe) in Góra Kawiarnia annually but hardly any of them know this exquisite Italian restaurant just behind the corner!
Homemade pasta!
We left Góra Kalwaria via the usual trail towards Warsaw, only we took a gravel segment instead of asphalt near Gassy. As I said, Tomek is a big man. I told him: 'Tomek, you must descent the hill in front of me as I know you would be riding a way faster than I there!' Tomek grabbed his aerobars and...
40 mph was not a bad speed! (I braked a little and rode at 50.9 km/h there).
We have never had the wind on our side on that day... We said our good-byes near to Specialized Warsaw, and I returned home "on the wheels" by my South Of Airport route
In the Kabacki Wood. I was constantly thinking of Jerzy and our rides... I miss him so much!
'Beware, BOARS!'
I was riding my Vado SL at SL 55/55% assistance until we parted our ways with Tomek, and at SL 70/70% upwind on my way back home. The range for the Main Battery + Range Extender was 94 km (58 mi). You can see the Main Battery at 3% (no assistance available anymore, only the lights and the system being supported) and the cut off Range Extender. The Range Extender cut-off might already occur at its 10% charge level!) I installed a fresh RE and rode home in Turbo!
Pruszków train station, 8:05 am. My Fearless has over 10k miles on its odometer now!
It was the first cold day this Autumn!
Mt. Calvary: a cycling Mecca for Warsawers
Tomek (who has been my riding buddy since some time) and I met at Warsaw Stadium train station at 8:36 am on Saturday. Tomek wanted to show me the park and palace in Otwock Wielki, which I have never had a chance to visit before.
After riding 34 km (mostly on excellent bike infrastructure), we indeed reached Otwock Wielki. (I was on a similar trip together with Jerzy (RIP) several years ago but then the park was closed because of the pandemics).
The palace is fairly big, and there is not a lot of space behind the photographer to back off for getting a proper angle!
Tomek is a big man of adequate strength to ride together with me on long rides. His hearing is impaired and he has no GPS navigation, so he follows me on our rides. For that reason, I had to monitor Tomek at all times in my Mirrycle (it works perfectly, @Jeremy McCreary!) I and Tomek can talk on our stops with the help of his hearing aid (Tomek cannot wear the aid when he wears a helmet).
Here, we went in a cafe, and had cheesecake and coffee!
We continued our ride over Nadwiślańskie Urzecze (translated: Vistula Riverside) area with many gravel roads and the first apple orchards of the big fruit area south of Warsaw. We could see many little tractors towing carts full of apple boxes! And yes, we stole an apple each (I carried the apple all the way back home in my jacket rear pocket!)
Then we climbed the Vistula Riverside Bridge near Góra Kalwaria (Mt Calvary, and rode very fast with traffic there! That bridge was extremely dangerous in the past; it was reconstructed not a long time ago, and riding there felt a way safer now!
We have very few hills in Mazovia: these are the left bank Warsaw, right bank Płock, and two true hills: Góra Kalwaria and neighbouring Czersk.
My true Mazovian fave: St. Anthony Street in Góra Kalwaria, which is the summit of any Mazovian Gravel race
It is a raw cobblestone 10% incline winding road Let us be honest: I am scared to death to descend there, while climbing the hill is easy-peasy even for my Vado SL SL Turbo mode, a low gear and I get up the hill with joy! (I could see a cyclist descending on his brakes there, and he looked terrified! Tomek had to walk his bike up the hill, and explicitly forbid posting his photo while doing so) Many thousands of cyclists visit the Góra Kawiarnia (Mt Cafe) in Góra Kawiarnia annually but hardly any of them know this exquisite Italian restaurant just behind the corner!
Homemade pasta!
We left Góra Kalwaria via the usual trail towards Warsaw, only we took a gravel segment instead of asphalt near Gassy. As I said, Tomek is a big man. I told him: 'Tomek, you must descent the hill in front of me as I know you would be riding a way faster than I there!' Tomek grabbed his aerobars and...
40 mph was not a bad speed! (I braked a little and rode at 50.9 km/h there).
We have never had the wind on our side on that day... We said our good-byes near to Specialized Warsaw, and I returned home "on the wheels" by my South Of Airport route
In the Kabacki Wood. I was constantly thinking of Jerzy and our rides... I miss him so much!
'Beware, BOARS!'
I was riding my Vado SL at SL 55/55% assistance until we parted our ways with Tomek, and at SL 70/70% upwind on my way back home. The range for the Main Battery + Range Extender was 94 km (58 mi). You can see the Main Battery at 3% (no assistance available anymore, only the lights and the system being supported) and the cut off Range Extender. The Range Extender cut-off might already occur at its 10% charge level!) I installed a fresh RE and rode home in Turbo!
Pruszków train station, 8:05 am. My Fearless has over 10k miles on its odometer now!
It was the first cold day this Autumn!
Mt. Calvary: a cycling Mecca for Warsawers
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It was a tough ride with the wind and all the climbing but hopefully I didn't overdo it and end up struggling on Thursday...the descents sure made it a brilliant day on the bike anyway!
I might take 3 batteries on Thursday just to be safe...
