Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

So the snow is like mayonnaise?

S(n)ow mayonnaise, reap the (flame) war

Mayonnaise War :D

Hellmann's. Best Foods. Kewpie. Duke's. Kielecki. Winiary. Let's make a mayonnaise war here! :) What Mayonnaise is the Australia's fave? New Zealand? UK? Elsewhere? Poland's split into these two camps: Sour. Full of character. A traditional post war taste in Poland copied by many former...

electricbikereview.com

 

[PatriciaK]

Hellman's. Best Foods. Kewpie. Nobody's mentioned Duke's?

Duke's is very popular in North Carolina! Perhaps it's a southeast US thing?

I use the old giant corporate food option... Kraft.

 

[Mulezen]

Yeah…Duke’s is a southern thang

 

[PatriciaK]

Back to riding ...I am anxiously awaiting my maiden shopping expedition with my new trailer! It arrived on Wednesday and popped together in less than 5 minutes, and the connection to the bike was also easy and straightforward. Took it for a quick spin around the block in between rain showers and it seemed quiet and stable.

It's all hooked up and ready to go in my garage, but continuing bands of rain and wind gusts up to 45mph have kept me inside so far today . Winds are dying down and rain letting up around 3 this afternoon, so !

 

[Taylor57]

First bike ride in awhile. Sport drove perfectly and I didn't even need a sweater. Only rode for about 45 minutes as Palm Springs is crazy busy with bikers, cars and pedestrians. Here is a shot east towards the PS Airport.

 

[PatriciaK]

Back to riding ...I am anxiously awaiting my maiden shopping expedition with my new trailer! It arrived on Wednesday and popped together in less than 5 minutes, and the connection to the bike was also easy and straightforward. Took it for a quick spin around the block in between rain showers and it seemed quiet and stable.

It's all hooked up and ready to go in my garage, but continuing bands of rain and wind gusts up to 45mph have kept me inside so far today . Wings are dying down and rain letting up around 3 this afternoon, so !

No dice today - still very blustery and it will be dark soon . Which reminds me ...I need a good headlight! At least I'm all hooked up for tomorrow

 

[kahn]

Why haven't I been bike riding:

"At 11 pm Sea-Tac airport at 1.94 inches of rain for the day and it is still raining. In 77 years of records there have only been 6 days in January with 2 inches or more of rain. The 1.94 inches is 34 percent of the Seattle monthly January normal"

"Hoquiam got 5.78 inches of rain on Thursday and had about 6.21 inches by Friday morning, making it the coastal city’s wettest day ever on record"

"Shelton got 4.5 inches of rain on Thursday, and Olympia had a total through Friday morning of about 4.64. inches"

"The tiny city of Rainier, southeast of Olympia in Thurston County, got a record 10 inches of rain in 24 hours."

"On Thursday, Leavenworth was hit with 36 inches of snow in less than 24 hours." Leavenworth is our faux Bavarian Village on the east side of the Cascades. All four major mountain passes have been closed due to snow, tree falling and avalanches since Thurs and will remain closed till Sunday, they report.

"Snoqualmie Pass, the lowest of the four passes at 3,022 feet (910m) above sea level, received 236 inches this season as of Jan. 3, the most in 20 years."

 

[PatriciaK]

Why haven't I been bike riding:

"At 11 pm Sea-Tac airport at 1.94 inches of rain for the day and it is still raining. In 77 years of records there have only been 6 days in January with 2 inches or more of rain. The 1.94 inches is 34 percent of the Seattle monthly January normal"

"Hoquiam got 5.78 inches of rain on Thursday and had about 6.21 inches by Friday morning, making it the coastal city’s wettest day ever on record"

"Shelton got 4.5 inches of rain on Thursday, and Olympia had a total through Friday morning of about 4.64. inches"

"The tiny city of Rainier, southeast of Olympia in Thurston County, got a record 10 inches of rain in 24 hours."

"On Thursday, Leavenworth was hit with 36 inches of snow in less than 24 hours." Leavenworth is our faux Bavarian Village on the east side of the Cascades. All four major mountain passes have been closed due to snow, tree falling and avalanches since Thurs and will remain closed till Sunday, they report.

"Snoqualmie Pass, the lowest of the four passes at 3,022 feet (910m) above sea level, received 236 inches this season as of Jan. 3, the most in 20 years."

Yep, that's our winter so far in the great PNW... Fortunate up here on Whidbey that we only get about half Seattle's rain!

 

[kahn]

Yep, that's our winter so far in the great PNW... Fortunate up here on Whidbey that we only get about half Seattle's rain!

My rain gauge showed 1.1 inches since midnight. Okay, if I'm honest it shows 1.09 inches since midnight. It had about an inch when I headed to bed from yesterday.

 

[Taylor57]

My son and granddaughter live in Kent and by the look of things I wouldn't want to be riding a bike up there!!

 

[DiggyGun]

Why haven't I been bike riding:

"At 11 pm Sea-Tac airport at 1.94 inches of rain for the day and it is still raining. In 77 years of records there have only been 6 days in January with 2 inches or more of rain. The 1.94 inches is 34 percent of the Seattle monthly January normal"

"Hoquiam got 5.78 inches of rain on Thursday and had about 6.21 inches by Friday morning, making it the coastal city’s wettest day ever on record"

"Shelton got 4.5 inches of rain on Thursday, and Olympia had a total through Friday morning of about 4.64. inches"

"The tiny city of Rainier, southeast of Olympia in Thurston County, got a record 10 inches of rain in 24 hours."

"On Thursday, Leavenworth was hit with 36 inches of snow in less than 24 hours." Leavenworth is our faux Bavarian Village on the east side of the Cascades. All four major mountain passes have been closed due to snow, tree falling and avalanches since Thurs and will remain closed till Sunday, they report.

"Snoqualmie Pass, the lowest of the four passes at 3,022 feet (910m) above sea level, received 236 inches this season as of Jan. 3, the most in 20 years."

Wow…

 

[kahn]

Wow…

And you thought the UK was damp!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

In The E-Bike Heaven

At Specialized Warsaw. These guys have used their e-bike charging station for the first time ever (on my Vado SL). The charging station is meant for larger events when several e-bikes are to be charged at the same time. Each of the two stations includes 36 and 48 V Specialized chargers.

I'm with a family of customers here. The wife had tested a gorgeous Como SL in brushed aluminium and she found size S was too small for her. Now, techies build another Como SL, size M, same nicer colour, and she'd get her bike before the store closing at 2 pm. That's the service!

Polish Food Porn At nearby Bar Meta ("Finish Line"), or a biker restaurant.

I have ridden for 64.2 km (40 mi) in 3 hours and 24 minutes (slow!) There was frost and ice on my journey. I have found Vado SL a tad too slow a bike for winter conditions!

 

[kahn]

@Stefan Mikes What did that Polish Food Porn cost for lunch?

I like it - a bike store with a couch - for the partner couch-potato!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

What did that Polish Food Porn cost for lunch?

It was equivalent to US$5 for the meal and US$2.50 for tea. It is four PLN to a dollar nowadays.

 

[ChezCheese:)]

Tea is clearly the business to be in!

 

[ruffruff]

ohhhhh boy, damn near killed myself today!!
Took the fat tire out to my fave trail. It wasn't groomed but it had a packed single track trail...
The trail was only as wide as a bike tire and if you blinked you were out of the track and into the snow. I feel over a bunch as the snow would grab the tire and I'd skid out even with studs. A guy stopped and he says you got way too much tire pressure. I felt his tire and it was nearly flat! He said about 2-3 PSI.
So I dropped the pressure way down and what a difference it made! Only fell over a couple times on the last 8 miles! I was exhausted even with the Ebike!

On a bright note, a guy on a Lamere Ebike pulls up and we start talking. He's the owner and it turns out he lives in my neighborhood! Super nice guy!
There bikes are beautiful but out of my price league.

The eSummit! World's Best Electric Full Suspension Fat Bike | LaMere Cycles

LaMere eSummit is world's only full suspension, full carbon electric fat bike with Shimano E8000 motor and internal battery. Can be turned into regular eMTB for non-snow season. Fits biggest 27.5x4.5" and 26x5" fat tires. Custom built any way you like here in Minneapolis, MN.

www.lamerecycles.com

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Let me share my impression from riding Vado SL in the Kabacki Forest of yesterday. Because of topography, the best route from the west to the Specialized Warsaw Brand Store is riding for 5 km through the Forest, which is a favourite leisure/workout area for Warsawers living in the southern part of the city. The surface type is hardpack, which becomes slightly muddy in the wet season. Now, given the frost, the surface has become pretty rough and interlaced with ice.

To reduce the rolling resistance prior to the ride, I inflated the wheels to the allowed max. The nice surprise I experienced upon riding into the Forest was how good the Redshift ShockStop system was! I was riding well over 20 km/h over that unpleasant terrain with total comfort and control over the bike! And I am sure the studded Marathon Winter Plus tyres were of great help to maintain traction!

Talking about studded tyres, I found them a must-have for the frosty winter! Fancy riding for many kilometres on dry asphalt to just find a 100 metre stretch of solid ice! And try riding through on regular tyres!

I shared my thoughts to the store manager, to which he sighed: "What a shame not everybody can install or afford studded tyres on their bikes! Yet, there is something even worse: Riding without a helmet during the winter! You must have seen those types riding in a warm cap instead of helmet; they cannot of course use the summer helmet but damn! they could wear a snowboard helmet or whatever! Riding in the winter without a helmet is an attempt to commit suicide!" How true.

 

[BlackHand]

Finally, a day off work with no snow, rain, slush, or ice in sight!
Took a ride through downtown then up to Meadowdale Beach Park to see how the estuary restoration project is going at Lunds Gulch. It's the northernmost part of the ride on this map.

The project relies on BNSF taking out their railroad grade and putting in a 100 ft bridge to allow both pedestrian and salmon access between the beach and the newly restored estuary/stream.

For the last 50 years, the only access has been this culvert:

The project was put on hold this summer when BNSF had to reallocate crews and equipment to California to replace to bridges taken out in this year's fires.

The beach is rarely crowded as the only regular access is a 1 1/4 mile trail down the gulch. But there is a gated service/ADA road at the end of a residential waterfront street so those who live nearby or those of us on bikes(!) have easy access to the park.

Hopefully, BNSF will be able to put in the bridge this year during the July-Oct window when the creek can be disturbed.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The Magnificent Seven

Przemek The Gravel Man is an excellent group ride organizer. I don't know how he gathered as many as seven gravel cyclists for early freezing Sunday morning. Or, how was it possible he said "We start at 8:15 sharp" and Wahoo registered the ride start at 8:15 am sharp!

Seven different people, seven different bikes, including a speed e-bike Many of the people on the ride didn't know the others before. I think half of bikes on the ride were even not gravel bikes. People tend to ride "winter bikes" now, saving their treasures for the warm season. And how different people they were! Rob -- an Englishman wearing American colours! (That's why his nickname is "Americano", and he was riding a Cannondale hybrid as his winter bike). Or, another Przemek, a tall, skinny bearded man riding a hardtail (more on him later).

I turned out to be the weakest rider there despite of riding the full-power Vado. Take just a single battery, and only charged to 95% for a Winter ride with strong gravel cyclists and you'll understand why! I had to economize on the battery, going down to 40/40% assistance for the return leg when my buddies got at speed as they got tailwind on asphalt... I was helping myself with bursts of Turbo to keep up with them! Returned with only 11% of battery, and it could be worse if I didn't monitor my Vado with BLEvo all the time. Add to it my worn 13t cassette cog, exactly the one I needed for that kind of the ride...

Somewhere on dirt roads. A road segment was cut with a deep puddle, not completely frozen. I had to walk my Vado over a muddy and soft field. This picture is of bad quality but it shows the general type of terrain we were riding outside asphalt roads. Dirt roads were frozen with a lot of dangerous ruts. One of buddies actually crashed because of a rut, and he was riding a road bike... I had no issues thanks to 2" winter studded tyres though.

The Magnificent Seven at the front of the Młochów Palace. Standing (L to R): The MTB Przemek, Michał #1, Roland, Michał #2, Yours Truly. Crouching: Rob the "Americano", the Gravel Przemek.
Notice: Everybody's wearing the helmet!

There is a splendid story about the MTB Przemek. The guy resembled a Viking, with icicles hanging from his long beard! There was an overpass: I was climbing in Turbo mode by road while my buddies did the same on a bike path. It is rare a traditional cyclist climbs as fast as I do if I'm riding in full Turbo. Not only my mates were climbing at my speed but that MTB Przemek! He pushed on the pedals and ZOOMED uphill, accelerating! I asked him later: "What your peak power really is?" to which he modestly answered "I think it is 700 to 800 watts but I don't own a power meter, so am not really sure..."

It was a nice ride in sunshine, starting at -4 C and ending at +1 C, with rather strong headwind on the outbound ride leg. I will never ever take a single battery for a ride with guys like these again!