2025 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Chargeride]

Sudovia Gravel 2025
17th May 2025

Sudovia (Suwalszczyzna) occupies the most northeastern corner of Poland, and is an area of outstanding natural beauty. It is low mountains where you would not expect them, and the elevation gain for a ride is similar to one experienced in high mountains.

Regarding my "victory" in a gravel eSprint race let's keep it simple: I was the first e-biker who crossed the finish line. My direct competitor, young female Anna (who rode a good Haibike with Bosch system and was accompanied by a female friend riding a traditional gravel bike) simply had no chance against my experience, and big KUDOS to her for completing the most difficult race I have ever taken part in! The third e-biker contestant had chickened out and didn't show up at the event (even if he had paid all participation fees!) Taking my performance in the absolute terms, I finished 48th of 54 who finished Sprint/eSprint. Additional 25 paying riders even Did Not Start (DNS). Guess why

Last year's Sudovia Gravel was a delightful excursion. Sunshine, very warm, dry. You could enjoy views of low mountains, gorgeous lakes, and ride premium gravel; even steep climbs felt easy!

Last weekend, a weather anomaly hit Poland. The conditions turned into "mild winter" with maximum day temperature of 7 C dropping to 3 C, strong SE wind, and continuous heavy raining. All gravel roads turned into mud. All dirt roads turned into bog. Gravel climbs became a way more difficult than they would normally be as one had additionally counter the increased rolling resistance! Good brakes were a must! The extreme conditions made a record number of paying contestants in all formats either DNS or DNF. I was prepared: I wore my mild winter/raining attire; reached the finish line in dry shoes!

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My brother Jacek brought us to the guest-house in Szurpiły with his car. My friend Paweł (yellow jacket) agreed to try his new Marin carbon gravel bike on the Sprint distance, as it was to be his first gravel race ever.

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The starting group of Jacek (and his mate Krzysiek - brown clothes) as well as my colleague Tadek (on an MTB) consisted of 12 riders for 9:06. Only four riders of that group finished the Classic (170 km) race! (The rest DNF).

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Group 2 for Sprint gathering for 10:10. (Paweł has not joined the starting group yet). See my clothing!

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My competitor Anna started 10 minutes before me. Here, at 29.7 km, the first serious climb. The rider emerging from the right is her companion Joanna, who usually had to walk her gravel bike up a steep hill!


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My Wahoo had detected as many as 20 serious climbs, that is, at least 3% average grade and at least 300 m long. Some ascents were over 14% grade, asphalt or gravel/mud. There was a countless number of very steep climbs, only shorter than 300 m!

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A merry flock of sheep! The sheep were extremely interested about the race, and running this or that way to see more! I also could see happy cows! It was the first time I could see a herd of cattle merrily running around a steep pasture!

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Woo-hoo! Then it started!

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Elevation and grade profile.

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44 km into the ride. I took this photo atop Marianka, the highest and very steep (but by no means the steepest!) hill of the ride. The wind was blowing as strongly as my gas-lighter would not light! As I started riding from Marianka, the rest of the trail was a long and dangerous muddy adventure... with many steep climbs and scary descents!

Adventures

• 23 km into the ride, I stopped for a short while at a general pitstop. A young boy ran towards me: 'What do you want, sir?' -- 'Any cake?' -- the boy sprinted out and brought me a piece. I was so hungry I almost swallowed the cake! Meanwhile, a big Lithuanian SUV driving in the reverse broke a road-sign pole just a few metres away...
• 60 km into the ride, I made my second navigational mistake. As I turned my Vado around, I found I 'bonked' and my legs would not cooperate with me. I ate two "energy gels", drank a lot of an isotonic drink and rested for 10 minutes, helplessly observing riders taking me over. Then the power returned to my legs and I could continue the ride.
• 66 km into the ride, I could notice something very strange. A cyclist was slowly riding his bike on the right, while another rider was running very fast with his bike on the left. As I approached them and asked what went wrong, the running cyclist didn't react. The rider explained that the Lithuanian guy lost his drivetrain and needed help. But there was no network coverage there! I spoke with the Lithuanian Ernestas in English and as soon as I could I sent the distress message to the organizer.
• I knew in advance I would find a swamp 76.5 km into the ride. As I reached the location, I stopped and watched how other riders were crossing it. Now, a fast & furious rider overtook me and went the full speed into the marsh in the hope of flying over it! How wrong he was... As he rode into muddy water, he picturesquely crashed onto his left side, straight into the water! He rose very quickly and made a sprint onto the other side with the bike on his arm! He was lucky not to get stuck in!

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My new friend Marek. We rode together for some good kilometres and were actually racing against each other! I hit the GPS virtual "finish line" before him but he overtook me just before the physical finish line! So my friend Paweł was 47th, I 48th, and Marek 49th.

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A nice raining, innit.

Decoration I regret Anna must have been as tired as she didn't attend the ceremony!

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"Due to extreme weather, the race is finished at 130th km, and all Classic riders are asked to proceed to the finish line the shortest and easiest way!" My brother and Krzysiek shrugged: 'We are only 26 km to the finish line! Let's complete the whole race!' I'm sure their effort will be taken into account in the final result list! (That format ended in an unprecedented number of DNF, and many riders who took the suggested shortcut).

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The joy of racing!

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On the next morning...

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Ride Map with terrain features.

I may show some official photos within several coming weeks!

Well done Stefan, I was worried the podium was going to take you out there, I know those legs.
Poland will now have to import more gravel to satisfy this man.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Poland will now have to import more gravel to satisfy this man.

Guess Chris what they did to that very good gravel road after a year?
They paved it
I achieved 60.3 km/h max speed downhill there

 

[Stefan Mikes]

66 km into the ride, I could notice something very strange. A cyclist was slowly riding his bike on the right, while another rider was running very fast with his bike on the left. As I approached them and asked what went wrong, the running cyclist didn't react. The rider explained that the Lithuanian guy lost his drivetrain and needed help. But there was no network coverage there! I spoke with the Lithuanian Ernestas in English and as soon as I could I sent the distress message to the organizer.

News Update:
I talked to the Lithuanian riders. They told me young Ernestas did a real feat: After he rode for many kilometres on his gravel bike (and the drivetrain failed), he was running together with his bike for 12 km, and he swam in the rain for the whole day: triathlon Ernestas is in one piece and sound!

Unfortunately, the organizers were unable to provide any assistance to the wretch. That is the nature of gravel cycling: you are either self-supported or can count on your own external help in case of trouble. This is why it is good to either ride together with a mate (as my brother did) or have family/friend with a car waiting in the area under the phone. In the worst case scenario, dial 112.

The actual temperature on the ride was 2 to 5 C. Poland fell to the low pressure anomaly known as #Lorenz on last weekend.

 

[Chargeride]

Im not made like that, bike fails...
Straight home for tea and kippers

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Im not made like that, bike fails...
Straight home for tea and kippers

After I was brought by Jacek home, I first recharged the Vado battery to 46% and then rode to the local Election Commission to cast my vote in Poland's Presidential Election. Here: a local kindergarten.

I wore fresh clothes but my Roadrunner was very dirty!

After the bike-wash

I made an inspection of my Vado after the bike wash. Hard to believe but the brake pads I installed before the race were as new! (That's the power of high quality MTB brakes and semi-metallic pads. Many riders had their brake pads "eaten" after a single racing day in the mud!) The only part requiring replacement is the cassette; it lived through two chain replacements and for over 9,000 km. I was considering replacing all 6 serviceable sprockets but it turned out the cost would approach 2/3 of a new cassette.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Varmia Gravel!

As a Sudovia Gravel "winner", I got a free voucher to any of the next Gravel.Love races. I chose riding in Varmia Gravel e-Sprint... no competitors so far! It's getting depressing!

A Historical Note
In the Golden Age of Poland, Varmia was called Royal Prussia and belonged to the Crown of Poland (that's where your Nicolaus Copernicus lived, observed the stars, and wrote his breakthrough astronomical book). While Mazuria was named Ducal Prussia, was ruled by a German Duke, a vassal of the Crown (in fact, Dukes there were doing as they pleased). Later, all was annexed by the German and named East Prussia (the pretext for WW2). Nowadays, northern East Prussia is the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the southern part is Mazuria (Great Lakes), and the western part is Varmia again. Both Varmia and Mazuria reside now in a single "Volvo dealership" with the capital city of Olsztyn (formerly Allenstein). Interestingly, Podlachia with its small sub-part Sudovia was a strong part of the Russian Empire (think of all the wars waged on that borderland!)

Preparations
I'm taking a train to Olsztyn on June 27th, then it is 15 km of cycling. Booked a room at the race base guesthouse. Oh man, that will be a tough trip...

I consider riding a Vado SL this time. A lot of climbs but I hope not that steep as they were in Sudovia!

 

[Chargeride]

That reminds me to check that date you mentioned, sidetracked by drinking and bike problems.
Good to see you stoked for these events, interest in life is such a precious thing and so easy to lose.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

On the podium. eSprint at Sudovia Gravel 2025, 17 May 2025, Szelment. Photo: Mateusz Klimek.

Some photos from a very steep climb by Mateusz Klimek. It was not raining very much yet at that time... (Ultra riders started on Friday).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Turned out, my female competitor DNF the race. I'm not surprised. The race conditions were harsh.

An official photo from the race by Anna Kuśmierczyk. As you can see, it was heavily raining. At that stage, I rode with my jacket partly unzipped because I felt too warm! (Can you see the outer of the jacket is soaked with rainwater?)

A photo taken before the start by a man who cannot really photograph but he loves doing it (I had to digitally increase the exposure by +1.50 EV).

 

[Base]

Reminds me of

 

[Chargeride]

Turned out, my female competitor DNF the race. I'm not surprised. The race conditions were harsh.

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An official photo from the race by Anna Kuśmierczyk. As you can see, it was heavily raining. At that stage, I rode with my jacket partly unzipped because I felt too warm! (Can you see the outer of the jacket is soaked with rainwater?)

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A photo taken before the start by a man who cannot really photograph but he loves doing it (I had to digitally increase the exposure by +1.50 EV).

I presume that goggle strap says 100% not 0%

 

[Chargeride]

Im repairing the rear hub, pulled it out and the bearing collapsed completely, left with an outside race and no way to bang it out from the otherside.
A 20 quid blind bearing puller kit sorted it.

Riding the peak district on Friday

 

[stompandgo]

Been there. Good job.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I presume that goggle strap says 100% not 0%

Quite interesting goggles. I found that European brand when I was looking for good MTB Over-The-Glasses goggles. Later, I found one Kilian Bron, the multiple champion of Megavalanche and Mountain of Hell wore them, too (you absolutely should watch these videos on YT!) Yet later, I found them on sale in Specialized Warsaw. I'm really tired of explaining people these are MTB goggles!

Someone in a group chat showed those pictures and asked "Is it you, Stefan?" to which the organizer Kufel (who is friendly to me) answered: "Full face helmet and goggles, gravel goggles? It must be Stefan! " The other man said "Sorry for having asked that question but after having DNF-ed from the Classic Race, I only managed to see Stefan's decoration!"

Another man wrote privately to me; we discussed how the Classic Race classification should be properly done (it is a confusing matter this year) and finally he wrote: "It was me to ask you 'What gearing?' during your decoration!"

The man in the front is my brother Jacek. His results are amazing taking into account he's 61!

A 20 quid blind bearing puller kit sorted it.

I think a similar puller is required to remove the spider from a Vado.

 

[Base]

I think a similar puller is required to remove the spider from a Vado.

What is on the photo is an inner bearing puller. The outer race had been stuck inside the hub without the rest of the bearing (balls, seals and inner race) so there is nothing to bang on to get the bearing parts out. One would use an inner bearing puller to lock a spreader into the race and pull it out.

the 2 arm (bearing) puller you are referring to is a rather common workshop tool,

the "problem" with such a puller is that you need to press it againts a solid structure in the middle, where the actual crankshaft is located. So you could either thread in a crank bolt and press against the axle, but this could potentially damage the sensors attachet to the axle of displace the bearings.

So we use in general a spark plug socket, goes around the axle onto the threaded part of the spider-carrier and the end of the puller rests in the 1/8 connector so it will not fall out.

or you could buy one of the "special" milled bushings to pres against:

its just some sord of barrel with a hole where the spindle rests into.

Spark plug socket works just fine. Usually already in the workshop and a 2 arm puller also. so easy does it

 

[JGcycle]

A few pics from today's 24km ride:

 

[RabH]

Our amazing weather is set to come to an end at the weekend so I wanted to get a big ride done before the much needed rain returns! It was a chilly start at 7.30am, the forecast said the wind would be from the NE and around 15mph at first and increasing in strength as the day progressed! Right away I found the wind was going to be a factor and I thought I might need to make my ride a shorter one, luckily the forecasters got it wrong and it actually decreased in strength as the day progressed! My plan was to head to Ayrshire, starting out heading SE over the back roads to Carluke where I turned east to Carstairs and had amazing views of the Tinto and the Pentland Hills!

I then made my way south to Hyndford Bridge with almost 30 miles covered and my first battery was down to 45% due to the strong wind and almost 3000ft of climbing!

A few photos at Hyndford Bridge!

I continued south to Rigside on the main A70, thankfully it wasn't too busy and with roads like this to enjoy what's not to like?

The views along this road are superb!

The wind was helping now so my first battery was hanging in there, I ended up getting 50 miles out of it so I knew a big ride was now possible! I passed through Uddington and Douglas and turned west at Glespin where I was enjoying the 25-30mph tailwind! I then arrived at Glenbuck Reservoir, another photo opportunity!

I continued west to Muirkirk and the roads were like this all the way!

Just after passing through Muirkirk at 50 miles I switched to my second battery and continued west to the village of Sorn, where I turned NW into the wind again!

The view to the south with the Leadhills way in the distance!

The road from Sorn is a real rollercoaster, the downhills were just incredible but always followed by a big climb!

The descent at Sornhill was the highlight, I was really looking forward to this one!

At the bottom of the descent I arrived at my destination which was Galston, for a fleeting moment I considered heading north through Moscow and Waterside and over the Eaglesham Moors which would have been a monster climb but I came to my senses and turned east for Newmilns instead! It was still quite a climb and directly into the wind but the wind had reduced significantly now which was quite a relief! I passed the Loudoun Golf Club and stopped for a photo, the people of Ayrshire have their own name for golf...they call it gowf and have even named it gowf on the sign!

I continued east and passed through Newmilns where I stopped for this photo!

A short time later Loudoun Hill came into view!

The awesome roads just continued!

I then passed through Darvel and Priestland and continued towards Drumclog, where I turned off the main road and joined the back roads to avoid Strathaven! I was making my way towards Sandford on one of my favourite back roads, you can see why!

I then noticed a back road and decided to explore a bit, this one was pretty awesome also!

I came to a t junction and decided to turn right and after almost 3 miles I realised it was taking me back to where I came from oops! So I had to about turn and found my way back to the road to Kirkmuirhill, as I was riding along I spotted this sign on a farm road!

I guess Nancy likes to drive slowly... I was just about to turn back on to the main road and almost missed this very pretty scene!

At Kirkmuirhill I took the back road which eventually leads down into the Clyde Valley, the first descent is a real cracker and also very scenic!

I then had a big climb before the awesome descent down into the valley where I turned NW towards Crossford before crossing the bridge over the River Clyde, I think this is the lowest I have ever seen the river in the Clyde Valley!

We had a heavy rain shower last night, the first rain for over 5 weeks! We really need a spell of heavy rain now to replenish our reservoirs and rivers, Saturday is looking like a wet one but it will take weeks to get things back on track again!

I then had the big climb up to Braidwood and then turned west to Carluke and headed over my usual back roads to home! Thankfully I had lots of juice left in my third battery and cranked the assist up to level 3 on the steep climbs! I arrived home pretty tired but totally buzzing after another fantastic day on the bike! I'm only 55 miles short of 3000 miles now which blows my mind as we are still a month away from the first half of the year, my average is actually over 77 miles at this point!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

If anybody's interested:

My brother Jacek was classified as 27th of 28 men who completed the whole 170 km Classic Race, of 103 men who were classified, and of 150 men who started in the race. 120 people in total either had declared DNF or Did Not Start in that race. Jacek's riding mate was that 28th "finisher" Taking into account any participant had to pay admission fees (not small!), it should tell you something about the race conditions.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Better Race Pictures: Mountain Bonus

How do you call a climb segment on which road racers earn bonus points? We had such a segment called Wiedźma (Witch or rather Old Hag) on a race: it was a long climb with max grade exceeding 14%. Of course, photographers were waiting atop

Such steep climbs required using TURBO and the 36-46T granny gear. One thing was clear to me: under no circumstance could I allow myself to stop pedalling (whatever my hurting legs were telling me!)

At least it was not raining, so I could ride with my "visor" up See a glimpse of majestic lakes in the background.

While many traditional cyclist could not make the hill!

The other e-biker Anna had no issue to climb with her Bosch (or Yamaha?) powered Haibike!

My new mate Marek. We were walking our bikes through a marsh together later on the ride, and he crossed the physical finish line a second before me!

The KOM segment.

End of the KOM.

 

[stompandgo]

A bonus sprint at the end of a climbing section is called a KOM/QOM (King/Queen of the Mountain). The prize can be points, time off the finisher's time or time off GC (General Classification, i.e. overall time), or a physical prize such as merchandise or cash.