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

[Stefan Mikes]

I say potato, you say pzotsko

I say kartofel (like the German do) or ziemniak (something that comes from soil)

 

[Chazmo]

I say kartofel (like the German do) or ziemniak (something that comes from soil)

Throw in butter, sour cream, and bacon bits and you've got yourself a posiłek !

 

[stompandgo]

Hmm…. Love to help, Chris, but I haven’t had that problem! That’s really weird. I've participate in another (guitar) forum that uses the same software (XenForo) as this one and I’ve never seen that happen. I downloaded one of your pictures from the site and rotated it and just uploaded it here… Let’s see what we get:

View attachment 194403

Hmm… That didn’t get re-oriented. I don’t know how to contact the admins here, but I’d try. That’s really

Hmm…. Love to help, Chris, but I haven’t had that problem! That’s really weird. I've participate in another (guitar) forum that uses the same software (XenForo) as this one and I’ve never seen that happen. I downloaded one of your pictures from the site and rotated it and just uploaded it here… Let’s see what we get:

View attachment 194403

Hmm… That didn’t get re-oriented. I don’t know how to contact the admins here, but I’d try. That’s really wacky.

It did for me. I'm going to move this issue to a help thread and do some testing.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Throw in butter, sour cream, and bacon bits and you've got yourself a posiłek !

I do absolutely agree!

There is an expensive restaurant by name "Kartoflisko" (Potato Field) in a small town of Nasielsk in Mazovia. They claim they can do anything you could imagine from potatoes. However, the restaurant owner hates cyclists, so no chance to ever try them out (I smeared them on Google Map reviews).

One of the most popular Polish meals, "pierogi ruskie" is filled mostly with potato in its purest version. I love that version!

 

[stompandgo]

I have figured out the problem and found a good workaround solution for the picture rotation problem. Thanks, all, for your patience.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

More pictures from Sudovia Gravel 2025 eSprint race

If I had my goggles on it meant it was raining. See the hills and cows

The girl behind was my only competitor. She rode a good Haibike. The girl in the front was her riding partner. Both Did Not Finish the race. (All photos: Mateusz Klimek)

 

[Chargeride]

I found another shot of Stefan on the race website.

 

[Chazmo]

I do absolutely agree!

There is an expensive restaurant by name "Kartoflisko" (Potato Field) in a small town of Nasielsk in Mazovia. They claim they can do anything you could imagine from potatoes. However, the restaurant owner hates cyclists, so no chance to ever try them out (I smeared them on Google Map reviews).

View attachment 194415
One of the most popular Polish meals, "pierogi ruskie" is filled mostly with potato in its purest version. I love that version!

pierogi is on my short list of foods I’ve never tried but want to, Stefan!

 

[Chargeride]

Having a stupendpus day out, rode the entire beach through the dunes, got to Southport to find a banging festival, cheap drinks, lots of tottie..living the dream.

 

[RabH]

A bit of an epic ride today in blustery conditions once again, not just as bad as Tuesday but enough to make me work hard on the way back! Lots of climbs and descents and twists and turns, my bread and butter and some of the best cycling roads around my area! The wind was from the SW so I enjoyed a strong tailwind on the way out and I was flying along, my plan was to head down to Biggar and head north to Dunsyre! I stopped at Harelaw for my first photos, the Pentland and Coulter hills were looking amazing today!

From there I made my way out to Carstairs and turned south towards Hyndford Bridge, then SE on the main A73 towards Symington! It can be a very busy road at times but its worth it when you have a strong tailwind pushing you on!

Even Tinto hill was clear today!

The A73 from the other side after completing the climb!

I stopped again just before Symington for more photos!

I then passed over the River Clyde near Biggar and was glad to see the water level had risen again after a few days of heavy rain, its still far from normal levels but its getting there!

Looking back at Tinto hill from the same spot!

I arrived in Biggar a short time later and turned north up the climb, reaching a fork in the road where its always hard to decide which road to take so I stopped at the top and grabbed some photos before deciding to head east for Elsrickle!

The Coulter hills near Biggar!

The road I just climbed!

I then continued towards Elsrickle and stopped for more photos before the big descent!

The start of the descent, 40.7mph down it today!

From the Elsrickle end after the climb following the descent!

I then headed north towards Dunsyre, the great roads just kept coming!

Near the village of Walston!

This was actually my first time using this road and it won't be the last, it was just amazing! I was hoping it would take me to the road to Dunsyre and thankfully it did and from there I was back on familiar roads again! From Dunsyre it was time to face the full force of the near 30mph headwind pretty much all the way home, almost 30 miles of it!

I then arrived in Newbigging and tackled the big climb up to Carnwath!

Time was getting on now so this was my last photo, at Carnwath I turned north towards Braehead but I turned on to the back road to Yieldshields before Braehead and used my usual back roads all the way home! It was a truly epic ride, one that will live long in the memory for sure thanks to some of the best cycling roads around here! Before today I was on 666 miles for the month, I just had to get out and get more miles in to put the devil to bed...I ended up with 742 miles which is close to my best ever month which was 752 way back in 2012 before my e bike days! So this was my best month on the e bike!

 

[BlackHand]

I do absolutely agree!

There is an expensive restaurant by name "Kartoflisko" (Potato Field) in a small town of Nasielsk in Mazovia. They claim they can do anything you could imagine from potatoes. However, the restaurant owner hates cyclists, so no chance to ever try them out (I smeared them on Google Map reviews).

View attachment 194415
One of the most popular Polish meals, "pierogi ruskie" is filled mostly with potato in its purest version. I love that version!

That looks like what the local dumpling restaurant calls the Razorback - bacon, chives, a side of sour cream, and a bit of red chili sauce. Theirs are called pelmeni though I'm not sure what the exact difference is other than being smaller than pierogi.

 

[dodgeman]

RabH, nice ride as usual. I still think your making up the names of places.

 

[Chazmo]

View attachment 194461

A bit of an epic ride today in blustery conditions once again, not just as bad as Tuesday but enough to make me work hard on the way back! Lots of climbs and descents and twists and turns, my bread and butter and some of the best cycling roads around my area! The wind was from the SW so I enjoyed a strong tailwind on the way out and I was flying along, my plan was to head down to Biggar and head north to Dunsyre! I stopped at Harelaw for my first photos, the Pentland and Coulter hills were looking amazing today!

View attachment 194465
View attachment 194466
View attachment 194467
From there I made my way out to Carstairs and turned south towards Hyndford Bridge, then SE on the main A73 towards Symington! It can be a very busy road at times but its worth it when you have a strong tailwind pushing you on!

View attachment 194468
Even Tinto hill was clear today!

View attachment 194469
The A73 from the other side after completing the climb!

View attachment 194470
I stopped again just before Symington for more photos!

View attachment 194471
View attachment 194472
View attachment 194473
I then passed over the River Clyde near Biggar and was glad to see the water level had risen again after a few days of heavy rain, its still far from normal levels but its getting there!

View attachment 194474
Looking back at Tinto hill from the same spot!

View attachment 194475
I arrived in Biggar a short time later and turned north up the climb, reaching a fork in the road where its always hard to decide which road to take so I stopped at the top and grabbed some photos before deciding to head east for Elsrickle!

The Coulter hills near Biggar!

View attachment 194477
View attachment 194478
The road I just climbed!

View attachment 194479
I then continued towards Elsrickle and stopped for more photos before the big descent!

View attachment 194481
View attachment 194482
View attachment 194483
View attachment 194484
View attachment 194485
The start of the descent, 40.7mph down it today!

View attachment 194486
From the Elsrickle end after the climb following the descent!

View attachment 194487
View attachment 194488
View attachment 194489
I then headed north towards Dunsyre, the great roads just kept coming!

View attachment 194490
Near the village of Walston!

View attachment 194491
This was actually my first time using this road and it won't be the last, it was just amazing! I was hoping it would take me to the road to Dunsyre and thankfully it did and from there I was back on familiar roads again! From Dunsyre it was time to face the full force of the near 30mph headwind pretty much all the way home, almost 30 miles of it!

View attachment 194492
I then arrived in Newbigging and tackled the big climb up to Carnwath!

View attachment 194493
Time was getting on now so this was my last photo, at Carnwath I turned north towards Braehead but I turned on to the back road to Yieldshields before Braehead and used my usual back roads all the way home! It was a truly epic ride, one that will live long in the memory for sure thanks to some of the best cycling roads around here! Before today I was on 666 miles for the month, I just had to get out and get more miles in to put the devil to bed...I ended up with 742 miles which is close to my best ever month which was 752 way back in 2012 before my e bike days! So this was my best month on the e bike!

Simply spectacular, Rab!!!! What are you using for camera equipment, Rab?

 

[Chazmo]

That looks like what the local dumpling restaurant calls the Razorback - bacon, chives, a side of sour cream, and a bit of red chili sauce. Theirs are called pelmeni though I'm not sure what the exact difference is other than being smaller than pierogi.

From wikipedia (had to look it up as I’ve had neither!!!!):

Pelmeni are never served with a sweet filling, which distinguishes them from vareniki and Polish pierogi, which sometimes are. Also, the fillings in pelmeni are usually raw, while the fillings of vareniki and pierogi are typically precooked.

 

[dodgeman]

I did 13 miles today. The first picture is a farm pond getting overgrown with cattails. The second picture is the same place looking down the road.

 

[Mulezen]

a beautiful 15mile interlude between storms

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Theirs are called pelmeni though I'm not sure what the exact difference is other than being smaller than pierogi.

Pelmeni is a Russian meal, and as such it is exotic in Poland. Before the last war, I could visit a Russian restaurant in Warsaw (and another one in Gdańsk many years ago). As far as I can remember, pelmeni are always served in broth. The Polish counterpart is "uszka" (little ears) which are filled with fungi paste and served in clear borscht, usually on Christmas Eve.

vareniki

It all started with pierogi in Poland. Ukraine has inherited them as varenyky (and that later went to Canada) and then Russia incorporated them as vareniki. Polish pierogi can be made with anything including spinach or fruit. The most popular variety, "pierogi ruskie", which is made with either potato or potato/curd filling has a controversial name (you may think it is "russki"). There was the Ruthenian voivodeship of the Crown of Poland including Lvov back in the history. The name was "ruskie" (Ruthenian) but not "rosyjskie" (Russian). Nowadays, many restaurants tried to rename the pierogi variety to "Ukrainian", which was met with a negative reaction of the Ukrainian people: "It is not ours!" So it is pierogi ruskie, that's it.

A word of warning. Pierogi restaurants give you a choice: cooked or baked? Never, I say never, try the baked variety. It is dry and inedible. Only cooked pierogi are the thing!

I'll try to ride to a distant restaurant for potato-only "pierogi ruskie" today The restaurant is generous with bacon! (They serve the vegan version as well, just ask),