Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

Stefan Mikes said:
Good News

As I had been suffering strong aches as the outcome of my earlier crash, I started worrying and decided to spend this Sunday at the Emergency of a local hospital. Tomography and all. Even a covid test (otherwise I wouldn't be admitted into the hospital ward). So... Nothing broken or damaged inside my body. I am expected to suffer aches for the next six weeks though (Ibuprofen does me good).

Now, the surgeon started (almost) shouting at me: "RIDING A BIKE ON ICE (even on studded tyres) IS AN EXTREMELY IRRESPONSIBLE ACTION!" Hehe, I knew it would be pointless to tell him crashes used to occur to me at any season... :)
Click to expand...
I'm thinking that like here, your hospitals may be extra busy right now and they don't want more patients. Be careful out there.

Weather note: Our forecasts will show the sun icon for the next day. I get up and there is fog when there is supposed to be happy clearing. Noticed this morning that there are no happy sun icons shown for the predicted future. They gave up! Sigh. WAIT! This one shows happy suns on Saturday. Teasing us? Or will the fog burn off? Stay tuned. https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/KOMK

I could hop in my pickup and head up to a higher elevation, I guess.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
The only thing that really didn't survive the crash was Specialized Zee Cage II, the water-bottle cage that held the Range Extender battery on the ride. Think of the impact! This specific cage is made of a composite plastic material. I wonder whether the tremendously expensive S-Works Carbon Zee Cage II would last?

Taken into account the impact, I'm still surprised such relatively little harm happened to my body. Wear the helmet!

View attachment 112611
Click to expand...
Coincidentally, I cracked one of the Zees on the Creo after hitting a large bump on a gravel road. I had to retrieve my water bottle but otherwise no harm no foul. I’ve since replaced the Zees on both our bikes with Lezyne side loading cages which are light, strong and likely more reinforced in design than the flimsy Zees. What’s more important, however, is that they are capable of holding a heavier and more precious load in the form of a RE rather than a mere water bottle.
 
Prairie Dog said:
What’s more important, however, is that they are capable of holding a heavier and more precious load in the form of a RE rather than a mere water bottle.
Click to expand...
It is possible to secure the RE by turning it inside the Lezyne the same way as it is done with the Zee?

Cowlitz said:
I'm thinking that like here, your hospitals may be extra busy right now and they don't want more patients. Be careful out there.
Click to expand...
Certainly. It was more than 5 hours of waiting for the orthopaedist. You think he was busy all the time with the hospital patients?
 
Stefan Mikes said:
I Nastily Crashed (Artezan Brewery Ride)

I've got an idea I would ride to meet Błażej and Agata in Warsaw on the coming Saturday. We have not seen one another for the whole pandemics I think! As Błażej is the guy who attracted me to the Craft Beer world, I thought I would ride to the Artezan Brewery and buy so called "stoß" (hit) beer for my friends there.

Hard weather. -2 C is nothing. It was the 35 km/h headwind that made the ride hard again, combined with a snowfall and ice on roads. I can just tell you that 100% SL Turbo on my Vado SL was not sufficient upwind. The headwind was occasionally slowing me down to 14 km/h despite of 240 W of motor assistance!

View attachment 112316
At the side of the Artezan Brewery in Błonie. It is one of the best craft brewers in Poland, and only 10.5 km away from my place! I met Albert, the son of the owner there, and we had a pleasant chat before he went back to the work, and I went in the brewery's store.

View attachment 112314
The four top Polish craft beers (all of them are brewed seasonally only and hard to buy):
  • Samiec Alfa (Alpha Male): Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with coffee, 13% abv
  • Chcesz ciasteczko? (Wanna A Cookie?): Imperial Milk Stout with Raspberry and Cocoa Beans, 11% abv
  • (You're) Too Young To Be Herod: Christmas Stout, 11% abv
  • Preparat: Beech Smoked Barleywine, 9% abv.
View attachment 112315
The return way was very pleasant, as I was driven by that very strong tailwind. I was hitting 42 km/h (26 mph) at times.

On last metres of my ride I lost my vigilance: what could have gone wrong? Well, the parking lot where I live now resembles a rough ice rink. And I crashed, painfully crashed. Fortunately enough, I fell on the non-drive side of my Vado SL, which saved the beer :) My left shoulder hurts badly! I don't think I broke anything though.

View attachment 112317

Dedicated to @DaveMatthews:
In 2017, my London friends and I made this tune together, online :) I play the bass and "lead guitar" here :)
Click to expand...

Stefan Mikes said:
The only thing that really didn't survive the crash was Specialized Zee Cage II, the water-bottle cage that held the Range Extender battery on the ride. Think of the impact! This specific cage is made of a composite plastic material. I wonder whether the tremendously expensive S-Works Carbon Zee Cage II would last?

Taken into account the impact, I'm still surprised such relatively little harm happened to my body. Wear the helmet!

View attachment 112611
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear/see about your crash. Shoulders can be a bugger - but I hope yours turns out ok.
I'm 14 months into living with my "full-depth" rotator cuff tear and it doesn't trouble me much anymore.
You just learn to accommodate - and medicate.

Your story of why you were out for a ride reminded me of this:

Bike_Scotch.jpg


;) 🍻 🚲
 
RandallS said:
I'm 14 months into living with my "full-depth" rotator cuff tear and it doesn't trouble me much anymore.
You just learn to accommodate - and medicate.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about your accident! I can remember it was a bad one!

RandallS said:
Your story of why you were out for a ride reminded me of this:
Click to expand...
A good one! I copied it to my FB for amusement of my friends there!
Hmm... Perhaps I should take a risk and ride to a liquor store? :)
 
Cowlitz said:
I'm thinking that like here, your hospitals may be extra busy right now and they don't want more patients. Be careful out there.

Weather note: Our forecasts will show the sun icon for the next day. I get up and there is fog when there is supposed to be happy clearing. Noticed this morning that there are no happy sun icons shown for the predicted future. They gave up! Sigh. WAIT! This one shows happy suns on Saturday. Teasing us? Or will the fog burn off? Stay tuned. https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/KOMK

I could hop in my pickup and head up to a higher elevation, I guess.
Click to expand...
The overall air quality is also suffering. There is no new snow but I'm still considering taking out the cross country skis and heading up to the sunshine.

map.purpleair.com

US EPA PM2.5 Air Quality Standards Interactive Map by PurpleAir

Watch: With two minute updates, The US EPA PM2.5 Air Quality Index (AQI) is a number used by US government agencies to communicate to the public how polluted the air currently is or how polluted it is forecast to become.
map.purpleair.com map.purpleair.com
 
Been away from the forum for a bit, work, babysitting and helping friends with ebikes.
Nearly there with the new hub drive, but been helping friends out with repairing and reconstructing, learnt so much about bosch/ shimano etc and all the intracacies of construction, spare parts etc.

Screenshot_20220124-200707.png

Friends Orange ebike...thats a British make, not just a colour...motor died, tried repairing, ended up buying a new one from Germany, 600 quid.
Took half a day just to workout how it came apart to replace.

Hoping to take the hubdrive at with lads through the dunes on a night ride on thursday, so wish me luck, testing at the deep end.

Im seeing Stefan had a crash, I'll browse through to catch up.
 
Stefan Mikes said:
It is possible to secure the RE by turning it inside the Lezyne the same way as it is done with the Zee?
Click to expand...
Yes, it’s right-side loading as well but I find it overall to be more sturdy and stronger than the Zee.

ride.lezyne.com

FLOW CAGE SL ENHANCED - RIGHT

Durable, fiber reinforced Composite Matrix construction. Optimized side-load shape for easy bottle access in compact frames. Engineered to hold bottles securely. Oval mounting holes allow fine tuning of position on frame. Available in left- or right-side configurations. Sold individually or in...
ride.lezyne.com ride.lezyne.com

IMG_20201028_1129438.jpg
 
A Little Update...

Had a 7.5 km (round trip) ride to a liquor store (thank you @RandallS for your inspiration!) And... You would not believe that! NO SINGLE ACHE WHILE RIDING! I only suffer pain when off-bike!
I don't know how to explain it. Redshift ShockStop being a perfect suspension system? SQlab Innerbarends being truly ergonomic? Riding position good to my shoulder? I don't know!

P.S. I was not on pain-killers!
 
Stefan Mikes said:
A Little Update...

Had a 7.5 km (round trip) ride to a liquor store (thank you @RandallS for your inspiration!) And... You would not believe that! NO SINGLE ACHE WHILE RIDING! I only suffer pain when off-bike!
I don't know how to explain it. Redshift ShockStop being a perfect suspension system? SQlab Innerbarends being truly ergonomic? Riding position good to my shoulder? I don't know!

P.S. I was not on pain-killers!
Click to expand...
But what about the ride back?
 
Stefan Mikes said:
The only thing that really didn't survive the crash was Specialized Zee Cage II, the water-bottle cage that held the Range Extender battery on the ride.

View attachment 112611
Click to expand...
I just saw this bottle cage on the Giant site - I think I may get one of these. Not sure if it would be suitable for your range extender or not.

1643068714600.png
1643069377650.png

It comes with a 9 piece mini tool. There's a 12 piece mini-tool version as well.
 
Last edited:
The Land of Snow, Ice and Everything Else in Between

It was a glorious albeit overcast morning as I set out on another ride along a familiar route. Night rides are something to experience if you haven’t done so before but day excursions are hard to beat especially when it comes to the odd encounter with one of the locals.

GH011378_Moment0.jpg

GH011378_Moment(3).jpg

It was a bit disappointing not being able to even see a glimmer of sunlight today and the gloomy skies made it appear to be much cooler than it actually was.

Trail conditions, on the other hand, were near optimal even with the recent spell of warm weather. It was ideal hard pack making it oh so grippy for the studs with just the right amount of softness beneath the tires allowing me to enjoy a relatively constant pace even on uphill sections. I actually prefer it to be quite a few degrees colder than the unseasonably mild -1C that we were rewarded with today as the drive train is kept much cleaner by the end of the ride.

GH011378_Moment9.jpg

Part my route runs parallel to the public paths which work well for everyone including XC skiers as well for those who are simply out for a brisk walk.

GH011385_Moment10.jpg


I came across only one slushy section along the trail as well as a fair amount of ice on a bridge crossing - a tell tale sign of the thaw/freeze cycles that we’ve been experiencing.

GH011384_Moment5.jpgGH011386_Moment6.jpg

I’ve been a consistent visitor to the Bower Ponds in recent days. I must say that the municipality does a great job in maintaining the ice conditions from snow removal to flooding.

GH011387_Moment8.jpg

GH011387_Moment(7).jpg

A short video of today's ride. :)

 
Prairie Dog said:
The Land of Snow, Ice and Everything Else in Between

It was a glorious albeit overcast morning as I set out on another ride along a familiar route. Night rides are something to experience if you haven’t done so before but day excursions are hard to beat especially when it comes to the odd encounter with one of the locals.

View attachment 112651
View attachment 112652

It was a bit disappointing not being able to even see a glimmer of sunlight today and the gloomy skies made it appear to be much cooler than it actually was.

Trail conditions, on the other hand, were near optimal even with the recent spell of warm weather. It was ideal hard pack making it oh so grippy for the studs with just the right amount of softness beneath the tires allowing me to enjoy a relatively constant pace even on uphill sections. I actually prefer it to be quite a few degrees colder than the unseasonably mild -1C that we were rewarded with today as the drive train is kept much cleaner by the end of the ride.

View attachment 112653

Part my route runs parallel to the public paths which work well for everyone including XC skiers as well for those who are simply out for a brisk walk.

View attachment 112654

I came across only one slushy section along the trail as well as a fair amount of ice on a bridge crossing - a tell tale sign of the thaw/freeze cycles that we’ve been experiencing.

View attachment 112655View attachment 112656

I’ve been a consistent visitor to the Bower Ponds in recent days. I must say that the municipality does a great job in maintaining the ice conditions from snow removal to flooding.

View attachment 112659
View attachment 112658

A short video of today's ride. :)

Click to expand...
How fast are you cruising through the woods?
 
kahn said:
How fast are you cruising through the woods?
Click to expand...
I really couldn’t say for sure...maybe 10-15 kph on some of the straighter sections. Definitely not as fast as on the pond ice. I rarely glance down at the stats on my Garmin when I’m on the trails as I’ve had my fair share of mishaps as a consequence of not being focused enough. Today was an exception as the ground conditions were that sound and I was having so much fun that I rode another loop. 😀
 
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