Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

Burned some calories today!


Young Praying Mantis, wanted to come in for the air conditioning!



Christmas in July

And to all a good night.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

And to all a good night.

Good morning!

 

[Deleted member 18083]

 

[Stefan Mikes]

G'arvo to you David!

 

[Dallant]

15 miles of Rail 5 greatness! Lovin this brake-silent ebike! Just a little loss of traction rounding a tight right turn to an uphill rocky path.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Just To Take A Swim In River Wkra, Or Renata's Debut E-Bike Ride

-- I know Renata you're a keen cyclist riding your lightweight Marin bike. -- I said to my brother Jacek's wife-- I'd love to go on a ride with you. Give me the ride goal, and we'll ride!
-- Well, we could ride to a place where I own a recreation plot... -- Where is it? -- The village of Sobieski, borough of Joniec, on the Wkra.
-- That would mean a metric century Renata. How far have you already ridden? -- Warsaw Boulevards... -- Oh. Would you mind riding my lightweight e-bike? -- I'd love to do it! -- Deal

I carried two of my e-bikes, Grizzle (Speed Vado 5.0) and The Bike (Vado SL 4.0 EQ) -- both in strongly disassembled form -- to Jacek & Renata's place early in the Saturday morning. Jacek greatly helped re-assembling the e-bikes, and Renata & me set off at 9:16 am. I left a Strava Beacon link to my brother just in case (he was busy in his garage and could not go with us). (Early on the ride, I tuned motors of both e-bikes the way we could ride in natural styles of each of us at the same speed; I don't want to make owners of other e-bike systems upset but Specialized is the king of e-bike motor tuning)

Top: It was a very warm Summer day. Upon reaching Czosnów, Renata found a public water-curtain, so we could cool down a little, and wash salt off our faces.
Bottom: Renata is the only Hollander (a descendant of Dutch and German settlers on River Vistula) I have personally known. Here, an old Hollander wooden house found on our route.

Just several seconds after making this very short video, I could feel something erratic about my Grizzle. We stopped. Renata identified a snapped spoke in the rear wheel instantly. Ouch. I need to mention we were on a multi-kilometre sandy & washboard gravel road...

Sobieski! The name of our most successful king, Jan The Third, the victor of the Battle of Vienna (1683) against Turks. A legend tells us our valiant King had a piss there on one of his trips, hence the name I haven't ever heard of that place before. Now it turns out everybody in Poland except me heard of that village (that is a great recreation centre focused on kayaking).

Sobieski and the neighbouring Joniec sport twin steel & wood, blue painted rail bridges over River Wkra. (I have never been on the Wkra before!) We rode up the Renata's plot, hid the e-bikes in a shed and walked back to the village centre.

We had a lunch at Kaja kayaking centre. Kielbasa was very good, the mustard excellent, the "low-salt" shortly fermented cucumbers delicious. The "beer" was a disgrace. I call it "festival beer". It is only allowed to sell 3.5% lager (always in plastic cups) at Polish mass events. Breweries dilute lager with water... Good thing was you could not even get tipsy with that "beer" (I think the bar could sell the "festival beer" without the license). @Chargeride I know you would feel "unsettled" with the ice-cream photo!

Kayaking is the hot thing in Sobieski.

Renata is an avid kayaker, too. She promised to me to take me in a kayak on some day, and I wouldn't even need to touch the paddle!

Wkra is a fast flowing river. Nobody sane tries to swim in it. (Enjoying water in a little bay is safe even for little kids). Again, we could wash salt off our bodies! And the effect of "festival beer" was cancelled, too. We both had fresh energy. Renata even suggested making the Imperial Century (a poor thing...)

I suggested making a loop through Warsaw.
Top: Excellent bike path between Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki and Jabłonna.
Centre: Tarchomin, the most northern quarter of Warsaw.
Bottom: A wild animal spotted in Młociny Forest.

Renata was very afraid of any thunderstorm (her weather forecast promised thunderstorms all the day). I only say: Whoever joins a ride that I organize can feel totally secure. No single rain droplet. No thunder nearby!

Renata told me post-ride she would have never completed such a long (and fast) ride without electric bike assistance. Seems we have another convert (Renata is a strong person but with no experience with long bike rides).

 

[RabH]

I cycled to the motor racing and was disappointed to discover the racing wasn't even starting until 13.40, this is the sight that greeted me! A beautiful day and nothing on the track, normally the racing starts around 11am and I hadn't looked at the timetable for the day which was a stupid mistake!

I was over 2 hours early so I decided to just go for a ride instead, why not do another 100 miler? It was much more windy today which meant I had a 20mph headwind to contend with, my first battery was down to 25% after 57 miles so I changed to my second battery and made it home with 19% remaining! The 20 mph tailwind was fun though!

Earlier on in my ride I passed the famous Kelpies!

Most of my rides are on the other side of the River Forth, totally different perspective from this side! This is about 5 miles from the racing circuit which is 38 miles from my home!

There are some lovely views when you leave the racing circuit!

If I'm going by car I cross the Clackmannan Bridge, pictured here! I have cycled over it a few times but its not the safest with lots of cars and trucks at times!

2 years ago I cycled this road on the way to the racing circuit and the road was in a really poor state, quite a difference today!

Despite my disappointment about missing the racing my 100 mile ride sure made up for it and in week or so I will be able to watch the racing online so all is good! I think I will sleep well tonight and I'm sure my legs will be hurting tomorrow but no pain no gain! A couple of rest days are in order now and the weather is hotting up, 27C on Thursday! Certainly not hot compared to some of you but I'm used to cold weather!

 

[reed scott]

View attachment 93593

I cycled to the motor racing and was disappointed to discover the racing wasn't even starting until 13.40, this is the sight that greeted me! A beautiful day and nothing on the track, normally the racing starts around 11am and I hadn't looked at the timetable for the day which was a stupid mistake!

View attachment 93594
View attachment 93595

I was over 2 hours early so I decided to just go for a ride instead, why not do another 100 miler? It was much more windy today which meant I had a 20mph headwind to contend with, my first battery was down to 25% after 57 miles so I changed to my second battery and made it home with 19% remaining! The 20 mph tailwind was fun though!

Earlier on in my ride I passed the famous Kelpies!

View attachment 93600

Most of my rides are on the other side of the River Forth, totally different perspective from this side! This is about 5 miles from the racing circuit which is 38 miles from my home!

View attachment 93601

There are some lovely views when you leave the racing circuit!

View attachment 93602
View attachment 93603

If I'm going by car I cross the Clackmannan Bridge, pictured here! I have cycled over it a few times but its not the safest with lots of cars and trucks at times!

View attachment 93604

2 years ago I cycled this road on the way to the racing circuit and the road was in a really poor state, quite a difference today!

View attachment 93605

Despite my disappointment about missing the racing my 100 mile ride sure made up for it and in week or so I will be able to watch the racing online so all is good! I think I will sleep well tonight and I'm sure my legs will be hurting tomorrow but no pain no gain! A couple of rest days are in order now and the weather is hotting up, 27C on Thursday! Certainly not hot compared to some of you but I'm used to cold weather!

Can you tell us more about the horse sculptures?

EDIT: Couldn't wait: Very cool!

The Kelpies - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[RabH]

Can you tell us more about the horse sculptures?

EDIT: Couldn't wait: Very cool!

The Kelpies - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

More info here and some nice night time pictures!

The Helix: Home of The Kelpies, Falkirk – Parks

Discover more details about The Helix: Home of The Kelpies including opening times, photos and more.

www.visitscotland.com

 

[Prairie Dog]

View attachment 93593

I cycled to the motor racing and was disappointed to discover the racing wasn't even starting until 13.40, this is the sight that greeted me! A beautiful day and nothing on the track, normally the racing starts around 11am and I hadn't looked at the timetable for the day which was a stupid mistake!

View attachment 93594
View attachment 93595

I was over 2 hours early so I decided to just go for a ride instead, why not do another 100 miler? It was much more windy today which meant I had a 20mph headwind to contend with, my first battery was down to 25% after 57 miles so I changed to my second battery and made it home with 19% remaining! The 20 mph tailwind was fun though!

Earlier on in my ride I passed the famous Kelpies!

View attachment 93600

Most of my rides are on the other side of the River Forth, totally different perspective from this side! This is about 5 miles from the racing circuit which is 38 miles from my home!

View attachment 93601

There are some lovely views when you leave the racing circuit!

View attachment 93602
View attachment 93603

If I'm going by car I cross the Clackmannan Bridge, pictured here! I have cycled over it a few times but its not the safest with lots of cars and trucks at times!

View attachment 93604

2 years ago I cycled this road on the way to the racing circuit and the road was in a really poor state, quite a difference today!

View attachment 93605

Despite my disappointment about missing the racing my 100 mile ride sure made up for it and in week or so I will be able to watch the racing online so all is good! I think I will sleep well tonight and I'm sure my legs will be hurting tomorrow but no pain no gain! A couple of rest days are in order now and the weather is hotting up, 27C on Thursday! Certainly not hot compared to some of you but I'm used to cold weather!

Nice! We need to swap places for a week but then I might be hard pressed to leave.

 

[RabH]

Nice! We need to swap places for a week but then I might be hard pressed to leave.

Deal and likewise!

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

Well I've got a bit of catching up to do, eventful last couple of days...

Reggae concert motorhomes


Inner Harbor canal


At Federal Hill Park reading, snoozing, eating



Rained like this for over 30 minutes

ugly headwind, grrrrr

Finally got power back on this afternoon! Making a big ol' pot of spaghetti and garlic bread, mmm, mmmmm


That's the culprit, hanging down on left side

 

[ActionJackson]

First proper spin on the new bike! Man I love this thing!! I was in Eco mode about 55%, Off about 35%, and Sport or Turbo about 10%. Riding in Off is very similar to my old 8 speed manual City bike. For several parts of the ride I didn’t notice that I was in Off even on slight hills, just shifted to keep my pace and all went well. This can be a great work out. I could never have achieved this ride before with the steep rail overpasses on that road. Only turned back at 13km when the no mask zombie joggers started coming out in droves.

 

[Prairie Dog]

First proper spin on the new bike! Man I love this thing!! I was in Eco mode about 55%, Off about 35%, and Sport or Turbo about 10%. Riding in Off is very similar to my old 8 speed manual City bike. For several parts of the ride I didn’t notice that I was in Off even on slight hills, just shifted to keep my pace and all went well. This can be a great work out. I could never have achieved this ride before with the steep rail overpasses on that road. Only turned back at 13km when the no mask zombie joggers started coming out in droves.
View attachment 93671

Cool. My wife is Nikkejin and still has family there. Wow, you were really moving along at a good clip.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Time to slow down…

Glamorgan Vale Road
Near Lowood, SE Queensland​

Not so long ago my new year's resolution was to stop acting my age: no more going downhill at a speed (km/h) exceeding my age (years). The Glamogan Vale Road, about an hour from home, is one place to exercise such restrain. No pedalling downhill, even if the road (out of the picture to the right) does incline skyward again in just a few hundred metres! Who knows when a pothole – there's one in the photo! – might show up.

Today I was riding Homage #2 with two 625 Wh batteries, but a couple of years ago I tackled this stretch of undulations towards the end of a really long ride… and did so, somewhat unwisely, on the Trek Powerfly. What goes down has to come up again; or is it the other way round? Whatever! Let's just say that it was a tough ride home that day.

 

[Chargeride]

@Chargeride I know you would feel "unsettled" with the ice-cream photo

Thats even worse!!
My teeth!!
Ive got the most cold sensitive gnashers on the planet !

 

[Chargeride]

So I nipped out to 'isolate' outside, the wife us feeling fine and Im OK, so chanced a ride around my nearby seaside resort...kept moving, plenty of breeze, social.
distance and all.
Quick vid of the classic British fish and chips victorian holiday resort.
Elvis impersonators, lovely motorbikes, mod scooters and just a really great atmosphere.

No music..just the mic audio.

 

[Dallant]

Time to slow down…

View attachment 93677

Glamorgan Vale Road
Near Lowood, SE Queensland​

Not so long ago my new year's resolution was to stop acting my age: no more going downhill at a speed (km/h) exceeding my age (years). The Glamogan Vale Road, about an hour from home, is one place to exercise such restrain. No pedalling downhill, even if the road (out of the picture to the right) does incline skyward again in just a few hundred metres! Who knows when a pothole – there's one in the photo! – might show up.

Today I was riding Homage #2 with two 625 Wh batteries, but a couple of years ago I tackled this stretch of undulations towards the end of a really long ride… and did so, somewhat unwisely, on the Trek Powerfly. What goes down has to come up again; or is it the other way round? Whatever! Let's just say that it was a tough ride home that day.

Very nasty pothole! I rarely pedal downhill as 35-40 mph is more than plenty. In my youth I would have bombed down at max speed and likely without a helmet. Now I’m always bit on edge for a tire blowout at speed.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Very nasty pothole! I rarely pedal downhill as 35-40 mph is more than plenty. In my youth I would have bombed down at max speed and likely without a helmet. Now I’m always bit on edge for a tire blowout at speed.

Ditto. Speed demon memories from the 1960s; however, I learned my lesson on the ski slopes rather than whilst cycle racing.

Here's a Ride with GPS screenshot. 62 km/h down that hill. Quite fast enough. The blue dot is at 0 km/h so that must be where the photo was taken – right next to a farm driveway, the only place to pull off the road with any degree of safety!

• Ride direction was from top left (NW) to bottom right (SE).
• VAM, Watts, Calories on the metrics table are nonsense (I think) because RwGPS doesn't 'know' that I ride an ebike!

 

[Dallant]

Ditto. Speed demon memories from the 1960s; however, I learned my lesson on the ski slopes rather than whilst cycle racing.

Here's a Ride with GPS screenshot. 62 km/h down that hill. Quite fast enough. The blue dot is at 0 km/h so that must be where the photo was taken – right next to farmstead driveway, the only place to pull of the road with any degree of safety!

• Ride direction was from top left (NW) to bottom right (SE).
• VAM, Watts, Calories on the metrics table are nonsense (I think) because RwGPS doesn't 'know' that I was riding an ebike!

View attachment 93678

Yeah, I was a bomber on the slopes too! I’ve been very fortunate to avoid serious injury through the years and now, with the addition of my new Rail 5 EMTB, I need to be even more cautious.