2026 - Our Rides in Words, Photos, Maps and Videos

[Chargeride]

My total ride from Józefów to Warsaw-Stadium was planned to 64 miles I just stopped the recording at 63.0 mi by Gdański Bridge Aren't you moved with my gesture of friendship?

View attachment 215262
As I made the 63, I decided to ride to WAW-City Centre instead of Stadium. I hoped to buy my rare R1 Slim Line cigs at a kiosk there. Turned out the guy gave up tobacco and is only selling the vapes!

Lovely ride Stefan thankyou, Im not doing one for you, maybe Magda


I have been recovering from post Birthday exuberance, and also some mortifying accidental flirting with my recently deceased friends wife.
I cant help it, its my default.
I was trying to cheer her up, Im never drinking again.
Luckily everyone thought it was hilarious, my brain thinks otherwise.

 

[Chargeride]

Anyway Dannys Bosch promotion in Norway is just stunning.

 

[stompandgo]

Aren't you moved with my gesture of friendship?

I'm sure he had a nice, long movement.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Lovely ride Stefan thankyou, Im not doing one for you, maybe Magda


I have been recovering from post Birthday exuberance, and also some mortifying accidental flirting with my recently deceased friends wife.
I cant help it, its my default.
I was trying to cheer her up, Im never drinking again.
Luckily everyone thought it was hilarious, my brain thinks otherwise.

It's hard to give a single reaction to your post Things do happen!

I need to address a stereotype. We Poles do not smile, do not engage in small talk, are direct and appear to be rude. Become a friend as you have, and you have a friend in a Polish person. Even if we have never met in real life.

 

[Base]

Bikes having a rest day in the Vosges mountain area

 

[Chargeride]

It's hard to give a single reaction to your post Things do happen!

I need to address a stereotype. We Poles do not smile, do not engage in small talk, are direct and appear to be rude. Become a friend as you have, and you have a friend in a Polish person. Even if we have never met in real life.

I appreciate that Stefan, but you do realise as an English person Im duty bound to mock your sincerity.
Its not personal, its in the owners manual.
I'll stray off map and say this forum would be a lot less without you.

'Grips teacup after showing emotion'.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I appreciate that Stefan, but you do realise as an English person Im duty bound to mock your sincerity.
Its not personal, its in the owners manual.
I'll stray off map and say this forum would be a lot less without you.

'Grips teacup after showing emotion'.

I do fully comprehend the cultural difference! Also, your urge to banter whenever you can

Love that 1977 song!

 

[JGcycle]

A couple of pics from today's 24km ride:

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Yesterday's 15 mi coast ride with neighbor DW was bittersweet.

Sweet because my !#$^&*! knees had finally calmed down enough to ride for the first time in over 2 weeks, and it was a beautiful day to be out in the saddle again.

Sweet also because I really had to avoid pissing off my knees, and my Vado SL 1 was there to help. SL with DW's gray Trek above.

Yesterday's rolling route is normally an ECO to OFF ride with some SPORT thrown in when the zoomies strike. But this time, I rode SPORT with occasional TURBO on the steeper climbs.

And though the knees were tolerably sore for a few hours afterward, they're showing no ill effects today. Thanks to a little help from my yellow friend.

The SL isn't a powerful ebike — just 240W peak mechanical. But with enough assist to keep reasonable speeds at rider powers well below the 150W limit I'd set. Also enough to keep a knee-friendly 80-100 rpm cadence at knee-friendly pedal forces without crawling along in a much lower than usual gear.

But yesterday was also a bitter ride. DW and I used the opportunity to inspect Carlsbad beaches for wave damage from Hurricane Marie, and we didn't like what we saw. Huge sand losses everywhere. Too demoralized to take pictures.

Carlsbad State Beach a year ago with a normal sand cover. Yesterday, we saw over 75% of that sand gone, leaving much of the underlying cobble exposed.

And nothing left but cobble just south of there at Tamarack State Beach. Sadly, similar sand losses all the way to our south turnaround at the Encinitas city limit.

Waves from Hurricane Genevieve started this major sand loss event a month ago, and Marie's waves took even more. Some of that sand's now stored in offshore bars with a potential to return, but meteorologists are predicting more named East Pacific storms than ever this year.

Problem is, our tropical cyclone season isn't over, a super-El Nino event is due here in October, and we have a customary winter storm season ahead. Gulp.

Make no mistake, cobble beaches are WAY better than no beaches at all. But I'll miss our beautiful sand — probably for years to come.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Yesterday's 15 mi coast ride with neighbor DW was bittersweet.

Sweet because my !#$^&*! knees had finally calmed down enough to ride for the first time in over 2 weeks, and it was a beautiful day to be out in the saddle again.

View attachment 215290
Sweet also because I knew I really had to avoid pissing off my knees, and my Vado SL 1 was there to help. SL with DW's gray Trek above.

Yesterday's rolling route is normally an ECO and OFF ride with some SPORT thrown in when the zoomies strike. But this time, I rode SPORT with occasional TURBO on the steeper climbs.

And though the knees were tolerably sore for a few hours afterward, they're showing no ill effects today. Doubt that would have been possible without a little help from my friend.

The SL isn't a powerful ebike — just 240W peak mechanical. But that was enough to let me maintain reasonable speeds while keeping rider power well below the 150W limit I'd set for myself. The added assist also helped me keep a knee-friendly 80-100 rpm cadence without knee-unfriendly pedal forces.

But yesterday was also a bitter ride. DW and I used the opportunity to inspect Carlsbad beaches for wave damage from Hurricane Marie, and we didn't like what we saw. Huge sand losses everywhere. Too demoralized to take pictures.

View attachment 215292
Carlsbad State Beach a year ago with a normal amount of sand. Yesterday, we saw over 75% of that sand gone. And just south of here at Tamarack State Beach, the sand loss was 100%. Nothing but cobbles left there. Similar sand losses at all the way south to the Encinitas city limit.

Waves from Hurricane Genevieve started this major sand loss event a month ago, and Marie's waves took even more. Some of that sand's now stored in offshore bars with a potential to return, but meteorologists are predicting more named East Pacific storms than ever this year.

And any beach damage our impending super-El Nino event and winter storm season bring will be on top of that. Cobble beaches are way better than no beaches, but I'll miss our beautiful sand — probably for years to come.

Glad you're back in the saddle mate, but bummed about the erosion...

 

[Chargeride]

Sennon cove in cornwall lost all its sand in this storm, it all came back in the next few storms within weeks..

 

[stompandgo]

Yesterday's 15 mi coast ride with neighbor DW was bittersweet.

Sweet because my !#$^&*! knees had finally calmed down enough to ride for the first time in over 2 weeks, and it was a beautiful day to be out in the saddle again.

View attachment 215290
Sweet also because I really had to avoid pissing off my knees, and my Vado SL 1 was there to help. SL with DW's gray Trek above.

Yesterday's rolling route is normally an ECO to OFF ride with some SPORT thrown in when the zoomies strike. But this time, I rode SPORT with occasional TURBO on the steeper climbs.

And though the knees were tolerably sore for a few hours afterward, they're showing no ill effects today. Thanks to a little help from my yellow friend.

The SL isn't a powerful ebike — just 240W peak mechanical. But with enough assist to keep reasonable speeds at rider powers well below the 150W limit I'd set. Also enough to keep a knee-friendly 80-100 rpm cadence at knee-friendly pedal forces without crawling along in a much lower than usual gear.

But yesterday was also a bitter ride. DW and I used the opportunity to inspect Carlsbad beaches for wave damage from Hurricane Marie, and we didn't like what we saw. Huge sand losses everywhere. Too demoralized to take pictures.

View attachment 215292
Carlsbad State Beach a year ago with a normal sand cover. Yesterday, we saw over 75% of that sand gone, leaving much of the underlying cobble exposed.

And nothing left but cobble just south of there at Tamarack State Beach. Sadly, similar sand losses all the way to our south turnaround at the Encinitas city limit.

Waves from Hurricane Genevieve started this major sand loss event a month ago, and Marie's waves took even more. Some of that sand's now stored in offshore bars with a potential to return, but meteorologists are predicting more named East Pacific storms than ever this year.

Problem is, our tropical cyclone season isn't over, a super-El Nino event is due here in October, and we have a customary winter storm season ahead. Gulp.

Make no mistake, cobble beaches are WAY better than no beaches at all. But I'll miss our beautiful sand — probably for years to come.

Do they use a suction dredge every few years to reclaim the sand?

Some of our nicest beaches, both on the bay side and the ocean side, have tons of cobbles, put there by man to help with erosion.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Preparing for Great Lakes Gravel 2026

We are riding Great Lakes Gravel the coming Saturday. "We" or I, my brother Jacek and our friend Pawel J. I hope all three of us would ride in the (e)RIDE100 format. Jacek is recovering from an illness, and I'm trying to convince Pawel riding with friends is more valuable than taking the 180 km Classic. Let us see what the old goat would decide!

It is a 110 km route. The organiser is increasing the distance with each rally (it should just be a 100 km ride, more than the 50-milers of previous years). As you can see, the ride plan encompasses the Śniardwy, which is the biggest lake of Poland. The weather forecast for Saturday is: "Fair".

Varmia and Mazuria (located in the former East Prussia) as well as Sudovia form together our beautiful Lakeland. Mazuria is described as "Great Lakes". My latest races/rallies were all held in either of those areas, as Gravel.Love is the only organiser to allow e-bikes for gravel riding in Poland.

I'm torn what e-bike I should select. The age and my ailments tell me to ride the big Vado. However, my Vado SL as slow as it is (compared) is very comfortable in rough terrain, and I would also conveniently carry my Range Extenders on the ride. Post my best ride in Sudovia (May this year), I publicly promised I would retire (stop racing) and just enjoy my rides! I think I will stick to that promise!

Bartosz P. (and three other guys plus myself) are to start in eRIDE100. Bartosz would ride his wifey's TREK e-Caliber (Fazua) again. However, he, as a devoted XC rider intends to buy a proper full power full suspension e-MTB for himself! Let us see, sounds good!

 

[stompandgo]

Ride the SL.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Do they use a suction dredge every few years to reclaim the sand?

Yes, to the tune of tens of millions of $$$ and many thousands gallons of diesel fuel for the dredges, pumps, and heavy equipment.

In the last 3 years, all the beaches from Del Mar to Oceanside have been replenished with sand, and nearly all of that's somewhere offshore now.

Moonlight Beach replenishment, March, 2026

Replenishment's no longer a sustainable strategy here. Some very interesting debates ahead.

Some of our nicest beaches, both on the bay side and the ocean side, have tons of cobbles, put there by man to help with erosion.

Here, the cobble's natural. Waves and their associated long-shore currents can move it around a bit, but it's much less mobile than the sand. So when our sand cover goes, what you see is the underlying loose cobble layer, with bedrock somewhere below that.

Sand sloshes back and forth between the beaches and offshore bars all the time here on its own weakly seasonal schedule. Every cycle involves (1) a net sand migration to the south, and (2) some permanent sand loss to our many submarine canyons just offshore.

But waves from Genevieve and Marie just took that normally rather slow migration pattern to a whole new level — far beyond anything our typical winter storms do. I fear that some of the sand they mobilized is already headed down the canyons, never to return. Really hope I'm wrong.

 

[Chargeride]

Hopefully Im off to Sadgill, theres a byway there thats a bit of a tourist event, they allow motorbikes and 4X4s to ride it only one day a month.
Ebikes can ride all year round, bit of a challenge but doable.

So I made a loop coming back on the Bridleway, I found a pic along the bridleway, bit more than I expected.