MTO
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
Yep, you’re right!
2026 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos
- Thread starter RabH
- Start date
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
A Photographic Warsaw Ride (Winter)
I only had 15 km ridden on this Sunday, using two trains to shorten the time spent outdoor. Packed my small backpack with my Pentax K-1 camera and 200, 90, and 50 mm lenses as well as an 850 ml bottle of Coke
After a short ride in Warsaw downtown, I reached Royal Baths park. I was interested how the three lenses (two new, one existing) would do in the winter and total lack of sunshine...
First, I tried a 1977 SMC Pentax 200 mm f:2.5 lens. What you can see is called The Palace On The Water in the warm season Turned out the 200 mm telephoto was too narrow to fit the whole palace's width inside the frame! Meanwhile, a nice young foreign couple of undetermined nationality asked me to take a photo of them with the palace in the background using their smartphone. As a photographer, I did my best!
My buddy Tommy arrived soon on his bike. I tried the 200 mm lens on him. Despite being a totally manual lens, the focusing was very easy (the distance was just 2 m or 6 ft). Beautiful plasticity, nice colour rendering, exceptional sharpness! Just think: it was a 49 years old lens in mint condition!
Modern lenses do not render images that greatly!
A modern 50 mm lens optimised for picture accuracy (so called HD lens). As you can see, the lens had no issue to properly render my Hi-Vis jacket!
Unfortunately, we were caught by the guard who strongly explained to me you did not ride inside a Museum I could not even find a good spot to take the picture of the Palace-On-Ice from the other side! (a 90 mm lens).
"A Swordsman". (A 90 mm lens).
The 90 mm True Macro lens by Tamron is not bad, either.
Then we both climbed the Agrykola, which despite being not the steepest of Warsaw inclines is believed to be steep by most cyclists here. (No traffic except emergency is allowed here. Juśt bicycles and pedestrians).
Then we visited Rozdroże 1974 (Crossroads 1974) restaurant. It was indeed established in 1974 as a modern cafe, and I have good memories from that place related to my youth. Now, it is an excellent Polish restaurant.
I perceive the 90 mm f:2.8 1:1 Macro lens by Tamron to be very natural re the colour rendering.
It is still a real Winter, and I cannot see any chance to it become somewhat warmer in the coming days!
The time to go home! (A modern 50 mm f:1.4 Pentax HD lens).
I only had 15 km ridden on this Sunday, using two trains to shorten the time spent outdoor. Packed my small backpack with my Pentax K-1 camera and 200, 90, and 50 mm lenses as well as an 850 ml bottle of Coke
After a short ride in Warsaw downtown, I reached Royal Baths park. I was interested how the three lenses (two new, one existing) would do in the winter and total lack of sunshine...First, I tried a 1977 SMC Pentax 200 mm f:2.5 lens. What you can see is called The Palace On The Water in the warm season
Turned out the 200 mm telephoto was too narrow to fit the whole palace's width inside the frame! Meanwhile, a nice young foreign couple of undetermined nationality asked me to take a photo of them with the palace in the background using their smartphone. As a photographer, I did my best! My buddy Tommy arrived soon on his bike. I tried the 200 mm lens on him. Despite being a totally manual lens, the focusing was very easy (the distance was just 2 m or 6 ft). Beautiful plasticity, nice colour rendering, exceptional sharpness! Just think: it was a 49 years old lens in mint condition!
Modern lenses do not render images that greatly!
A modern 50 mm lens optimised for picture accuracy (so called HD lens). As you can see, the lens had no issue to properly render my Hi-Vis jacket!
Unfortunately, we were caught by the guard who strongly explained to me you did not ride inside a Museum
I could not even find a good spot to take the picture of the Palace-On-Ice from the other side! (a 90 mm lens)."A Swordsman". (A 90 mm lens).
The 90 mm True Macro lens by Tamron is not bad, either.
Then we both climbed the Agrykola, which despite being not the steepest of Warsaw inclines is believed to be steep by most cyclists here. (No traffic except emergency is allowed here. Juśt bicycles and pedestrians).
Then we visited Rozdroże 1974 (Crossroads 1974) restaurant. It was indeed established in 1974 as a modern cafe, and I have good memories from that place related to my youth. Now, it is an excellent Polish restaurant.
I perceive the 90 mm f:2.8 1:1 Macro lens by Tamron to be very natural re the colour rendering.
It is still a real Winter, and I cannot see any chance to it become somewhat warmer in the coming days!
The time to go home! (A modern 50 mm f:1.4 Pentax HD lens).
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MTO
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
Gopro hero 13 and the dji mini 4 pro. The song is San Francisco Bay from 1975 by a musician named Lee Oskar. Thanks for the kind words.
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
So the suspension bearings are getting a bit loose on the Levo, just the two coming from the shock
Bri says gary has all the tools.
Problem is he did make that cruise, second problem they got caught in Ingrid and puked all night
Bri says gary has all the tools.
Problem is he did make that cruise, second problem they got caught in Ingrid and puked all night
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
Dont be sad, we laffin cos they were mocking us for not going.
RabH
Well-Known Member
Last Thursday I braved a bitterly cold 30mph easterly wind and although I had a great 50 mile ride I lost my front light at some point and got a rear wheel puncture 2 miles from home, throw in some rain showers also and you get the picture...
Fast forward to today and we have the same 30 mph easterly wind (switched to the SE during my ride though) but a decent looking forecast, just 5 mins into my ride I could feel rain in the air...
Thankfully the rain was short lived, although I was intending to head SE to Biggar but the sky looked very threatening down that way!So I decided to stay pretty local and battled the wind for over 25 miles before turning NE towards Auchengray, I passed the Alpacas on the way there!
Near Auchengray I could see Tinto Hill now, it was shrouded in thick cloud up until now!
The Pentland Hills were starting to clear also!
I even had some dry roads for a nice change!
A nice descent before the climb up to Auchengray!
The same road veiwed from Auchengray at the top of the climb!
The back road to Wilsontown, not today for that one!
I then made my way north and noticed I had a very nice tailwind now, the temp difference was amazing and I flew up the climb before hurtling down into the valley at almost 44mph! This is from the other side of the descent looking south!
Then I had an awesome descent down to Addiewell!
I then turned east for a couple of miles before heading north towards Longridge, a big descent followed by a big climb!
After the big climb through the village I enjoyed some awesome descents down into Whitburn, where I headed east for Harthill on the cycle path! Then it was north towards Blackridge, I usually turn west for home there but decided to continue north and tackle the Heights climb!
Almost at the summit!
A couple of photos at the summit before another amazing descent down into the valley!
Then I had the amazing rollercoaster road which joins the back road to Slamannan, over 40mph on this fast descent!
Then came the climb up to Slamannan, for once I had a tailwind going up it!
At the top of the climb looking back down!
I could see the Campsie Hills from here!
I then took the back road to Longriggend, the tailwind was very welcome here also and I then enjoyed the big descenrt down to Upperton!
Another view of the Campsies before the final descent, it looks like they are building a fishery down in the valley!
From Upperton I turned west towards Greengairs and the south over the back roads to home, after the early rain I had a cracking ride! On the 12th January I had zero miles for this year, 2 weeks on and almost 425 miles in the bag! I might manage another ride this week but it sure won't be tomorrow, 45mph winds and heavy rain incoming...
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
You should have put a duck after those llama shots.
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Chargeride
Well-Known Member
Big loop with 4500 ft of climb soon, going to backpack spare battery.
Making it slightly shorter by removing the guard.
Making it slightly shorter by removing the guard.
Mulezen
Well-Known Member
My nifty heated vest does not work (on a bicycle) when there is five hundred feet of ice to traverse to the road which, in any case, is unplowed and only marked by the deer. Some wonderful birdlife stirring around my avian diner. the usual cardinals, the males a brilliant red in prep for mating season. The formal-suited nuthatches and chickadees, bluebirds, bobwhites year round regulars...moving through are groups of red-winged blackbirds, males' red and yellow epaulets sharpened for the coming spring like the cardinals' red...and I sighted my first robin(s) of spring, a tree full.
Temperature the next few days will approach 0 degrees F. And my tuned and newly-tired bike sits in the darkened barn next to my Honda Ridgeline.
Temperature the next few days will approach 0 degrees F. And my tuned and newly-tired bike sits in the darkened barn next to my Honda Ridgeline.
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
This reminds me of something, cant think of what.
edobici_forza
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- San Mateo, CA
A fairly hazy day, mid 60s. Foothills Preserve and 3 mile decent on twisty Page Mill Rd back to Arastradero Road. First time riding through Foothills - it is a very manicured park! So it was a mixed trail and road ride. Only 1 hr.
The motor was OFF from the front gate of Foothills down Page Mill! ... I forgot to turn it back on. I still have my big Vittoria knobby tires from my Point Reyes trip and they did great on on the pavement! I've been riding my other bikes since that trip.
Though Arastraderro, I had two coyotes 30 yards in front of me on the trail. I waited it out to let them get to their destination, as did a trail runner in front of me.
The motor was OFF from the front gate of Foothills down Page Mill! ... I forgot to turn it back on. I still have my big Vittoria knobby tires from my Point Reyes trip and they did great on on the pavement! I've been riding my other bikes since that trip.
Though Arastraderro, I had two coyotes 30 yards in front of me on the trail. I waited it out to let them get to their destination, as did a trail runner in front of me.
mcdenny
Active Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Nashville, TN
My wife was going to be away for a week in early January so I took that opportunity to take my bike to Florida and ride some of the many rail trails in the state. I didn't want to drive the 1000+ miles with the bike on the hitch carrier both for reasons of security and not reducing the range of my Tesla. Took a bit of trial and error but got it inside the Model Y. Only about ten minutes to unpack / repack.
First stop was the Tallahassee - St Marks trail. About a 35 mile round trip.
The tail is arrow straight for almost all of the 16 miles to St Marks.
With the tiny (pop 500) town of St. Marks at the southern end.
Charming dive bar/ restaurant for a fresh grouper sandwich. The marsh across the river goes several miles more to the Gulf ofMexico America.
My next stop was Clermont Fl, a northern suburb of Orlando, about a 5 hour drive south and east of Tallahassee. A really nice bike trail extends about 30 miles with Clermont right in the middle. Riding east from Clermont its called the West Orange Trail.
Friends from Nashville joined me for a day. We stopped for lunch near the eastern end of the trail.
A bridge over a busy highway along the way
After 44 miles of riding we packed up and drove a few miles to a lovely lakeside restaurant for dinner on Lake Minneola.
The next day I rode west on the trail, now called the South Lake Trail. There were three or four rest stations like this along the trail with shade, water and bike tools and an air pump.
The trail skirts Lake Minneola for several miles.
This was a shorter riding day - only 26 miles as an approaching cold front chased me back to Clermont. I almost made it before the rain started.
The last of my three days in Clermont was spent on the Lake Apopka North Shore Trail. This is a huge natural area that is reclaimed farmland that had been a freshwater swamp before it was drained and converted to growing vegetables in the 1940s. By the 1980s so much fertilizer had run off into the lake that it was pea green and mostly devoid of life. It was bought by the state in the 1990s, the dykes removed and allowed to go back to its natural state. Now it has 40 miles of gravel / hard packed sand roads closed to automobiles. I'd never ridden more than a few miles on unpaved roads so was curious how this would go. My bike has 2.2" tires and front shocks so it was no trouble at all. At least there weren't tree root ridges in the trail (no trees).
Flat, straight roads and almost no people on this chilly Monday morning. I bet I didn't see ten other people in the three hours I was there.
The most scenic part was along the Lake Apopka shore.
Some of the wildlife. I didn't stop to photograph any on my side of the creek!
After a great day in the relative wilderness I drove 100 miles back north to Gainesville and the Paines Prairie- Hawthorne Trail
Another rail trail almost entirely within the Paines Prairie State Park. 30 miles out and back.
Paines Prairie is a (sometimes) dry lake.
And sadly the final loading for the trip back home.
Total for the five days was 170 miles. I was a little concerned that my creaky old 78 y/o body would protest but honestly afterward I felt like my hips and knees got an oil change.
Can't wait to get my new Vado SL 2 and find some more new rail trails to ride.
First stop was the Tallahassee - St Marks trail. About a 35 mile round trip.
The tail is arrow straight for almost all of the 16 miles to St Marks.
With the tiny (pop 500) town of St. Marks at the southern end.
Charming dive bar/ restaurant for a fresh grouper sandwich. The marsh across the river goes several miles more to the Gulf of
My next stop was Clermont Fl, a northern suburb of Orlando, about a 5 hour drive south and east of Tallahassee. A really nice bike trail extends about 30 miles with Clermont right in the middle. Riding east from Clermont its called the West Orange Trail.
Friends from Nashville joined me for a day. We stopped for lunch near the eastern end of the trail.
A bridge over a busy highway along the way
After 44 miles of riding we packed up and drove a few miles to a lovely lakeside restaurant for dinner on Lake Minneola.
The next day I rode west on the trail, now called the South Lake Trail. There were three or four rest stations like this along the trail with shade, water and bike tools and an air pump.
The trail skirts Lake Minneola for several miles.
This was a shorter riding day - only 26 miles as an approaching cold front chased me back to Clermont. I almost made it before the rain started.
The last of my three days in Clermont was spent on the Lake Apopka North Shore Trail. This is a huge natural area that is reclaimed farmland that had been a freshwater swamp before it was drained and converted to growing vegetables in the 1940s. By the 1980s so much fertilizer had run off into the lake that it was pea green and mostly devoid of life. It was bought by the state in the 1990s, the dykes removed and allowed to go back to its natural state. Now it has 40 miles of gravel / hard packed sand roads closed to automobiles. I'd never ridden more than a few miles on unpaved roads so was curious how this would go. My bike has 2.2" tires and front shocks so it was no trouble at all. At least there weren't tree root ridges in the trail (no trees).
Flat, straight roads and almost no people on this chilly Monday morning. I bet I didn't see ten other people in the three hours I was there.
The most scenic part was along the Lake Apopka shore.
Some of the wildlife. I didn't stop to photograph any on my side of the creek!
After a great day in the relative wilderness I drove 100 miles back north to Gainesville and the Paines Prairie- Hawthorne Trail
Another rail trail almost entirely within the Paines Prairie State Park. 30 miles out and back.
Paines Prairie is a (sometimes) dry lake.
And sadly the final loading for the trip back home.
Total for the five days was 170 miles. I was a little concerned that my creaky old 78 y/o body would protest but honestly afterward I felt like my hips and knees got an oil change.
Can't wait to get my new Vado SL 2 and find some more new rail trails to ride.
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Jeremy McCreary
Bought it anyway
- Region
- USA
- City
- Carlsbad, CA
Totally green with envy over that adventure and those trails! Great photos and commentary.
I understand that rattlesnakes get extra street cred from their peers for landing strikes on passing cyclists. Could be the same with gators.
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mcdenny
Active Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Nashville, TN
There were a couple of dozen gators along the road near the lake shore. They all moved off when I got close.
Can't say I wasn't nervous though. Intellectually I was fine. If they ate tourists either the tourists or the gators wouldn't be here. My reptilian brain stem said "RUN".
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
That's the spirit! A totally correct action to take!I didn't want to drive the 1000+ miles with the bike on the hitch carrier both for reasons of security and not reducing the range of my Tesla. Took a bit of trial and error but got it inside the Model Y. Only about ten minutes to unpack / repack.
MTO
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
Haha nice! Looks like a great ride
dodgeman
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Macomb, Illinois
You’ve got to get about 3 feet from those gators and get a selfie.
mcdenny
Active Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Nashville, TN
Uh huh, I'll go with you.You’ve got to get about 3 feet from those gators and get a selfie.
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