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

[Chargeride]

Finds out theres a lesser Poland.

Getting a bit off topic here, but in that clip the younger man talking with a strong accent sounds very much like certain southern US states and I think some of the Apollo astronauts had that twang.

 

[Mulezen]

The original.locals in these areas are undoubtedly the source of your hillbillies, the accent is simply gorgeous and you are swamped with friendliness at every meeting.
'Allright my lovely' gets repeated ten times just paying in a shop.

I wish I had a recording of the gab in the scalehouse at Orange Livestock in Virginia in the 90s when I worked there on market day. Hillbillies, rednecks, plain hill folk coming to the sale for the entertainment. Some Amish in the mix to add a bit of the old world

 

[RabH]

Here's my Devon coastal ride, I did this on the botched rotor repair, but I was happy it was bullet proof, and no one to hurt but myself.
I just love the fact that I can ride these paths and not meet a single person to moan at me for riding on them .

It mostly about Hallsands, the village that the sea wiped out, when I was a little kid and living near there, I remember the huge twin steer trucks carrying 15ft wide boulders from the quarries to protect the villages along the coast.
It's only s matter of time though, the road got washed away again a few years back.

That reminds me of the day my freehub packed in less than 500 yards from home after a 51 mile ride, I sure got lucky that day...

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

The original.locals in these areas are undoubtedly the source of your hillbillies, the accent is simply gorgeous and you are swamped with friendliness at every meeting.
'Allright my lovely' gets repeated ten times just paying in a shop.

"Keep your corners right" — always good advice. Love the accent and sayings but didn't understand half of what was said.

Wife and I are now watching "Endeavor", a superbly done British crime drama set in 1960s Oxford — more the town and countryside than the university. Love all the accents and sayings there, too.

But we're wearing out the remote.
"Wait, that sounded important. What the heck did she say??"
"No clue. I'll back it up."
"Dang, still can't make it out. Back it up again."
"She didn't say that the wife ate the gun, did she?"
"Back it up again. When will these Brits learn to talk right??"

 

[harryS]

Haven't gone anywhere all year. Managed to put on 110 miles last month in N. Illinois, riding on the local bike path. I'd wait til the snow melted to get outside. Too old to risk a broken hip.

Weather turned frigid on the 13th, like -20C but back to above freezing by the end of the month, My wife joined me again.

 

[Chargeride]

"Keep your corners right" — always good advice. Love the accent and sayings but didn't understand half of what was said.

Wife and I are now watching "Endeavor", a superbly done British crime drama set in 1960s Oxford — more the town and countryside than the university. Love all the accents and sayings there, too.

But we're wearing out the remote.
"Wait, that sounded important. What the heck did she say??"
"No clue. I'll back it up."
"Dang, still can't make it out. Back it up again."
"She didn't say that the wife ate the gun, did she?"
"Back it up again. When will these Brits learn to talk right??"

I can understand it because I used to have the accent, its completely gone now, its such a gentle way to talk with the tip of your tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Exploring The Northern Border Of Pruszków County (and other stories)

The Pruszków County I have lived in for 34 years now is the smallest and the most densely populated "countryside county" of Poland. The population is over 166,000. It only involves three bigger cities. Of the boroughs of the area, Michałowice is one of the richest places in Poland while the "town" of Raszyn is the home of Iga Świątek, the female tennis champion. Warsaw borders Pruszków Country from her south-west. I've had an idea to circumride the Pruszków county. The distance would be 129 km (80 mi), so I keep that idea for a warmer season!

This Sunday, I decided to explore the part of the northern edge of the county towards Warsaw. The temperature was up to +6 C but the wind from SWW was up to 58 km/h in gusts! (I returned home somewhat chilled).

Possibly the single place of Warsaw where you can practice short 10% climbs Warsaw is on the right, the sound-barrier is for the Southern Beltway of Warsaw, and Pruszków County is behind the motorway to the left.

My smartphone camera is sadly out of order (often producing unsharp images). Here, a private Tram Cemetery in Warsaw just outside Pruszków county. The history of that place is unknown to me but the place has existed for many years there, with the trams gradually rotting.

With its premiere in 1927, the Warsaw Commuter Train (that was the first electric railroad in Poland) was the best transportation means for me for many years when I lived in my Old Home and had no e-bike Here, WKD Salomea train stop inside Warsaw's city limits.

An aviation ground radar some two nautical miles off the Warsaw Chopin Airport.

A very well known shelter for homeless pets, Paluch, Warsaw. There was a big number of cars in the parking lot. Many people must have visited the shelter to choose a pet! (The street behind my back was named On The Edge; I made a route planning error and rode into Warsaw instead of following the county border).

Because of my route planning error, I had to ride through the Family Allotment Gardens in Paluch Warsaw. Fortunately, both pedestrian gates were open!

A Lufthansa airliner approaching Chopin Airport. Photo taken from the Kinetic Street (more on that soon). The route I rode involved as many as three "plane-spotter hills" for photographers interested in aviation photos.

Warsaw Chopin Airport WAW (EPWA) to the left, and Pruszków County to the right. The damaged road (perhaps ironically named Kinetic Street) divides both administrative entities.


Later, I left Pruszków county and rode in Warsaw, especially into Kabacki Wood (which is administratively the southermost part of Warsaw). Then I rode into the Warsaw quarter of Ursynów.

Sucré Pâtisserie, KEN 49, Natolin, Ursynów, Warsaw. This place is important to me, as we usually stay with @Brix at an apartment in the same building on her visits to Warsaw.

Although the cake was good, it was far too sweet for me! I complemented my "lunch" with Chocolate Mocha, and then with Raspberry Black Tea with Rosemary and Orange I hated the idea to ride home against very strong wind!

I made my way home overly complicated. Here, some gravel just to make the ride more interesting

68 km of a good workout!

 

[BlackHand]

I lost most of January to work and family obligations, but things started to clear up this week and I've been able to ride about 115 miles(and 10,000 ft of elevation gain) already in February - mostly squeezing in some random extra miles between work and home riding back in the evening.

The weather has been so warm the past 2 weeks that the frogs have all woken up VERY early and started singing. There is a pond about 100 meters off this road through Woodway and I could hear them over the wind noise at 20mph. Nothing to see in the video but you can sure hear them going at it.

 

[None]

Beautiful winter day, 41 miles ridden.

 

[jason.flood]

It is totally irrelevant to the e-bike you are riding,Jason.

Id like to think so - but I bet the big motor is a lot of fun. When I drive my 37 year old rusty VW camper about (rarely as it is always going wrong) I’m always amazed by the number of “high quality” vehicles broken down at the sides of the roads.

So far I’ve been to the LBS 3 times to have the headset preload retightened. The mechanic was really apologetic, took the screws apart and applied new thread lock and said if it happens again he will order a new headset from specialized under warranty.

We have many cobbled streets in Edinburgh so the headset (and probably every other bolt/electrical connection on the bike) is getting well tested!!

 

[RabH]

I spotted an opportunity to get out this afternoon with a 30mph tailwind which was very inviting, as the wind was set to get calmer as the day progressed...when I say calmer I'm talking 20mph which is a mere breeze given the weather we have been enduring! I had an 8 mile climb to start with followed by a lovely 13 mile descent with the tailwind all the way to Dechmont. Then it was the rollercoaster Burnhouse road which starts at Dechmont and joins the road to Beecraigs Country Park, this is the start of the climb which is fairly gradual before it really ramps up!

This is near the top of the climb now looking back down towards Dechmont!

The view to the SE with the Pentland hills in the background!

Then its this cracking descent, although I had to take it easy due to the gusty crosswind!

This is quickly followed by another big climb and then the very steep descent which leads to the road to the country park, the brakes were feathered all the way down it due to the crosswind...then I had this lovely view of the country park way up the hill in the distance!

Looking back at Burnhouse road, I can't wait to enjoy this road in less windy conditions...

Now I had the descent where a big gust of wind caught me last time and caused my bike to shake like crazy, thankfully it was a direct headwind this time so no problems... Now it was time for yet more climbing up past the country park, stopping part way up for a couple of photos. The first one is looking down over the Firth of Forth and the second the stunning Ochil Hills shrouded in lovely sunshine!

I reached the end of the road and had the choice of turning left which would involve another big climb or turn right and it was downhill all the way into Linlithgow, after all that climbing it was a no brainer to turn right... Another view of the Ochills and the mountains beyond, with the oil refinery and the Linlithgow viaduct in view also!

The road down into Linlithgow passes over the union canal so another photo opportunity!

As soon as I arrived in the town I took my favourite back road towards Standburn, which is a gradual climb but straight into the headwind which wasn't as strong now thankfully! I had a much better view of the Linlithgow viaduct here!

I reached the roundabout at the top of the back road and decided to take the main road through Maddiston and Brightons before tackling the tough climb up to Shieldhill, right into the headwind again which was probably around 20mph now. At the top of the climb in Shieldhill I had this amazing view of the Ochill hills!

After the climb I fancied another descent and there aren't many better than the very fast one down into the valley here, this one is tree lined so no crosswinds to slow me down...42 mph today and what a blast it was! I grabbed another couple of photos at the bottom of the descent, the geese were still hogging the fields here but a little further away than the last time!

Time to climb again, this is the awesome undulating back road to Slamannan which is very twisty also!

Looking back down from the top of the climb!

From Slamannan I took the back road to Longriggend and then down the big descent into Upperton which is very fast and the wind had really dropped now, probably less than 15mph which was a blessing as the road is prone to westerly crosswinds! At the end of the road I made a left turn for Greengairs and then used the back road to my home town where I had this lovely view of the setting sun!

I arrived home a short time later and noticed my odometer had now passed the 30000 mile mark, my actual mileage is now 30166...

What a brilliant ride that was, for once the weather forecast was pretty spot on and I picked the perfect route for the conditions!

 

[Mulezen]

@Chargeride perhaps you can clarify (a bit) the. Usage and meaning of a word I ran across from Devon farmer and poet Ted Hughes. from his ‘The Formal Auctioneer’ the word “Moots” as in “A snaggle of faces/Like pulled-out and heaped up old moots.”

a Washington Post article on the roads @Readytoride traverses https://wapo.st/3HQGrFJ

 

[Chargeride]

I spoke to my cousin, he's too young to know that, and I've never heard it, but we didn't hang around with farmers, mostly fishermen.
My research concludes its the pulled out stump of a tree

Anyone from devon way use the word 'moot' as in an ash moot, a stump of an ash tree

Treecreeper​

Member​

Livestock Farmer
Yes, not only ash stumps, could be oak or chestnut, any large broadleaf for that matter

 

[Mulezen]

I looked it up several ways and couldn’t get past ‘moot point’. Hughes’ poem is full of short ’rooty’ sounds, Anglo-Saxon blunt words…nothing in the way of Romance language. The poem is a perfect description of the participants I used to see. “Watch and hide inside themselves/Absorbing the figures like weather.” His devastating portrait is deepened by the addition of himself in the bidding.
Thanks…@Chargeride

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I can understand it because I used to have the accent, its completely gone now, its such a gentle way to talk with the tip of your tongue pressed against the roof of your mouth.

How would you characterize your current accent? Really enjoy the lilt of it in your videos.

I characterize mine as a cross between western Pennsylvania and central North Carolina. But since moving to SoCal, I'm starting to pick up alarming tinges of Valley girl and surfer dude.

 

[Chargeride]

My accent is light Scouse, as in the beatles, you hear it more when I'm talking in real time, because the camera is in my mouth and accentuates the kckkkkkkk and tsssss noise we sound out.
It's a mixture of Irish and Norwegian.

This is the one accent,dialect most people in the UK struggle with, strong Geordie, again influenced by Scandinavians.
I don't even know if he is swearing, it sounds like he might be.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Geordie

I spent a short time among the people of Middlesbrough and their accent was something I could understand quite well. They "coot" their finger, they ride a "boos", and a "caht" is their pet

 

[Saratoga Dave]

Finally, a decent day and an opportunity to use it. Got out for the first time in a month to a sunny 45 degrees and a very happy 30 miles. The next two days are more of the same, and then the cold and more snow come back again. It’s been either frigid, snow covered or both for four weeks around here.

No great visuals, just an extremely pleasant couple of hours out in the countryside and some of the nice neighborhoods around here. The Creo certainly seemed to be enjoying itself!

 

[Prairie Dog]

Finally, a decent day and an opportunity to use it. Got out for the first time in a month to a sunny 45 degrees and a very happy 30 miles. The next two days are more of the same, and then the cold and more snow come back again. It’s been either frigid, snow covered or both for four weeks around here.

No great visuals, just an extremely pleasant couple of hours out in the countryside and some of the nice neighborhoods around here. The Creo certainly seemed to be enjoying itself!

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From where I sit, that’s a pretty decent visual and glad to see you get out during a window of fair weather. I would do almost anything for road ride but I’m afraid we won’t see dry tarmac here for another two months.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Two Ambituous Types and An Unexpected Challenge

As I returned from my Fat Thursday ride (I will report it later) and saw 63.07 km ridden for the day, I discovered that my friend Prof. "Vanishing Point" made exactly 63.1 km! Just 30 metres more! I wrote a banter post about that on my Facebook, and the guy replied: 'Let me be mischievous to say I'm setting off for another 14 km ride after the supper'. Oh you!

I fortunately did not remove my cycling clothes yet. Swapped the battery on my Vado and went outside. It was a cold night (-3 C) but the wind was very weak. It was a great pleasure to be riding at night among the fields and observing aeroplanes (taking off from or approaching Chopin Airport).

My buddy could have won with a 30 m advantage but he lost by 18.46 km for the day We both are ambituous types. I hate being challenged! The word 'mischievous' was the challenge and I had to accept it!