Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

Yesterday I think I had the best ride so far! I programmed the BleedingEdge Hydra to realistic power levels. This saved the battery and helped melt my butt…
View attachment 108206
View attachment 108207

The Pleasanton Ride has really opened since I was last up on top. I was able to see the City (San Francisco) in the fog….
View attachment 108208
View attachment 108209

Along the way, I spotted another local kitty (Bobcat). This one didn’t seem to care I was there, but I wasn’t about to try to get closer for a better photo
View attachment 108212View attachment 108211

One battery; 100-20%. I am smiling ear to ear and look forward to explore more!!!!
-BB
NICE! Just keep those parrots away from your wheels.
 
Metric Century Winter Ride [Vado 5.0]

10,000 km ridden is my 2021 goal. With a lot of work to do Mon-Fri (and even some training to be done on the coming Sat), with short days, I see little opportunity to ride for remaining couple of hundred kilometres by the end of the year. Give me a good reason though...

And my friend Anita invited me for breakfast with she & her husband for Sunday's morning. I know the best route to the southernmost Warsaw quarter by heart (I also ride to Specialized Warsaw by that route). Getting up at 5:30 a.m. (because I am very slow in mornings), wearing a snowboarding suit, and I could start a "big" Vado ride at 8:01 a.m. The snowboarding suit turned out to be exquisite: breathing, not letting the wind, cold or water in, and even protecting the shoes! All you needed was to wear a basic layer underneath. Even if it was -3 C in the early morning, I was warm and comfortable!

Anita served delicious breakfast: nourishing and tasty sour rye soup (with sausage & bacon), marinated herring, pate with mayonnaise, tea, and a droplet of dogwood liqueur (which is a rarity and it was excellent!) Close to 11 a.m. I started worrying if I could make it to my daughter's Social Care Home on time, as the distance looked to be more than 50 km! So I was pedalling hard.

I barely made it. Say, I had to stop for a while at a petrol station to use the toilet. I mistakenly took a big cup of mocha afterwards; trust me, drinking a big cup of coffee when you really wanted a small one takes time! I swapped batteries in Brwinów, then Magda gave me a phone call, and precious minutes were flying... I pedalled as a madman to make the Social Care Home at 13:55 :D

Magda got a parcel of sweets and we spent good time together. Again, we were separated by transparent film because of the recent rise of covid...

And I had to ride back to Pruszków fast to make it before sunset.

View attachment 108215
Very short "golden hour" at 15:17. 15:30 marked the beginning of the "blue hour", and 16:10 meant the civil sunset. See the low beam headlight of my Vado activated by the darkness.

I knew I would not make the metric century if I just returned to my car in Pruszków. Being terribly hungry, I just rode to a BP petrol station in Pruszków for a Mountaineer's Casserole :) And the daily trip meter was already showing 99 km ridden! When I came back to my car, my important "e-bike related" smartphone was just at 3% of battery! (Besides, 1000 kcal burnt, not bad!)

View attachment 108216

Wow Stefan, to be close to 10,000 km in a year is an amazing accomplishment!
Before you got the ebikes, could you have imagined such a feat?
 
Sorry to be a pest folks. But last evenings ride found another kitty as I came to the hill top… (@Merle Nelson -very short tails on them all else there would have been a sizable load in my bike shorts and not sure I would have a photo!!)
-BB
83506D67-C706-43DB-A5C9-B9898393B845.jpeg
AC70F930-6DDB-43DE-8566-2FBCF4956DD9.jpeg9FE91A34-4536-427B-986B-38A382A8DF2F.jpeg1D157208-2D38-4677-BD30-1168B61C2313.jpeg
 
Didn’t go out today as had a dusting of snow overnight and the temperature with the wind chill factored in was -7 oC.

The roads and paths were quite slippy, so went for a walk into town and lunch in the local pub.

It was quite refreshing but very nice.

C1C9D9B9-B156-45F6-9054-B061F3109D62.jpeg
B532BBFF-FEFE-4CBB-9F62-8A5335577E75.jpeg
601A3474-A2EA-4E34-9DDA-088705FD743A.jpeg
 
Sorry to be a pest folks. But last evenings ride found another kitty as I came to the hill top… (@Merle Nelson -very short tails on them all else there would have been a sizable load in my bike shorts and not sure I would have a photo!!)
-BB
View attachment 108238
View attachment 108239View attachment 108240View attachment 108241
People I know like to shoot Bobkitties. For the life of me I don't know why. None of em raise chickens. :mad: Always a thrill to see one. 😍 Watched a doe WT chasing one just 20 yds in front of my truck one day. She was not happy with him stalking her little Bambi no doubt. 🤣
 
Sorry to be a pest folks. But last evenings ride found another kitty as I came to the hill top… (@Merle Nelson -very short tails on them all else there would have been a sizable load in my bike shorts and not sure I would have a photo!!)
-BB
View attachment 108238
View attachment 108239View attachment 108240View attachment 108241
Wow. I've never seen a wild bobcat. A few years ago, a cougar killed a mt bike rider in our foothills. Haven't seen one of those in the wild either. Bears, plenty. And a coyote stalks my very urban neighborhood, probably for the raccoons and squirrels and lately rabbits.
 
Im getting embarrassed, not been out on the bike, but the weather is atrocious and Ive got a nice cough.
It snowed then rained, then froze.
horrible rutty half ice and slush.

Minus 4 this morning, couldnt even get the van door open, staying in and sulking.
Masks again, only in shops and public transport...rather farcical considering you dont need them in the pub or cafe or cinema or nightclub.
I guess they have to show some reaction.
 
My third jab as of this Monday.
Took a car because of raining. By chance, parking the car next to the town's cemetery :D
I intend to do a pharmacy ride and buy some beverages with my Vado SL on Tuesday though.
 
Im getting embarrassed, not been out on the bike, but the weather is atrocious and Ive got a nice cough.
It snowed then rained, then froze.
horrible rutty half ice and slush.
That sucks. Even studded tires are practically useless in that goop. No new snowfall to report here but plenty of it 100km to the north of us in Edmonton and along the mountain corridor. Lost more studs on yesterday’s ride. :( It’s +7C here and expect it to be even warmer tomorrow. So bizarre!
 
That sucks. Even studded tires are practically useless in that goop. No new snowfall to report here but plenty of it 100km to the north of us in Edmonton and along the mountain corridor. Lost more studs on yesterday’s ride. :( It’s +7C here and expect it to be even warmer tomorrow. So bizarre!
14.4C here today. Was colder last week. But, then again, it has been raining at 5,000 and 6,000 feet. Snow? What's that? We are cooling down this weekend.
 
Heading for the sunshine…

Weather seems to be on our minds. I'm indoors now because it's pouring down outside. A wet, wet Tuesday!

Forget that: yesterday and the day before were the near-perfect break between last week's wet weather and this week's wetter still. Sunday's ride, the hilly one already reported, was a pleasant surprise, too (weatherise, that is)

On consecutive days, I took off up the bayside cycleway, starting near the Boondall Wetlands (below) which were genuinely 'wet' (aka flooded) just out of sight in the first photo – there are a few more tight twists beyond and then, suddenly, Splash!

Boondall Wetlands

6:30 am; 15 km
Boondall Wetlands, SE Queensland

Whytecliffe on Redcliffe Peninsula

7:30 am; 35 km
Whytecliffe on Redcliffe Peninsula

(Named by someone with a sense of humour?)

Blue Park, Newport, QLD

8:30 am; 45 km
The Blue Park on Redcliffe Peninsula

(Choice of name understood!)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
14.4C here today. Was colder last week. But, then again, it has been raining at 5,000 and 6,000 feet. Snow? What's that? We are cooling down this weekend.
I shouldn’t complain as the warm conditions made yesterday's ride quite pleasant although most of the trails were still covered with packed snow/ice. I had the pleasure of riding with a group that I’ve been out with before. Ian (originally from Manchester, UK) clad in the blue/orange jersey looked right at home on his standard Specialized MTB with just knobby tires. A very capable rider. We shared the trails with several fat tire bikers.

GH011289_Moment1.jpg


GH011290_Moment4.jpg
 
Last edited:
I had my 3rd (Moderna) on Friday. A strong reaction esp. Saturday night.
On my third jab (Pfizer), I had a tender and painful arm for a couple of days, plus shivers for the first night.
Mine was Pfizer in all three cases. A pain in arm after the third, no other side effects.

I wonder whether regular e-bike riding at any conditions can make some of us more hardened than less sporty types? (No answer for sure).
 
On my third jab (Pfizer), I had a tender and painful arm for a couple of days, plus shivers for the first night.

Strange, same reaction as my first jab (Astra Zeneca), but with my second jab (AZ), no reaction at all.
Provincial gov’t here is still dragging its heels on expanding booster shots to the general public so we wait. :rolleyes:
 
Back