Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Prairie Dog]

Hi folks,
This is not going to be a major verbal post, but I wanted to share todays ride. The coolest part of this ride is that a fellow EBR member @Merle Nelson drove 2 hours (and 2 home!) to come to my Barn and go for a local ride with me and my buddy JP (not a member!).

Our first challenge was to reprogram his default WW setting to something a little less beastly and add air to his shock to stop pedal strikes. I think this was his longest ride on his Hydra as of date. He is set for longer adventures….
-BB (yes I am that fat Troll doll….)

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Looked like a fun time was had by all and also nice that forum member @Merle Nelson was able to hook up with you on the ride.

Thanks for sharing BB.

 

[kahn]

Looked like a fun time was had by all and also nice that forum member @Merle Nelson was able to hook up with you on the ride.

Thanks for sharing BB.

Yeah, one day I'm going to come up there and cross country ski behind you. WAY behind!

 

[Merle Nelson]

OMGOODNESS it was so much fun. It was my longest ride so far. A great feeling of accomplishment and rewarding learning from veteran riders. Slept past the alarm this morning having been a bit warn out by them but excited to go out and use some battery management skills BarnBoy instilled in me again on today's ride.

I'll post more later but here was one picture of going up the steady climb through beautiful old olive trees.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Mt hood always looks so clue but in pictures. only 40 miles to it. wife and I want to ride there on our tandem when she is well.

 

[Merle Nelson]

Look at that mountain!

 

[kahn]

Mt hood always looks so clue but in pictures. only 40 miles to it. wife and I want to ride there on our tandem when she is well.
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Where are you again? Vancouver, Portland? I never did climb Mt Hood but I'm topped Washington's five volcanoes.

 

[Art Deco]

Look at that mountain!

Yes indeed, quite a climb after having already pedaled 40 miles to reach it. On a tandem...

 

[fooferdoggie]

Where are you again? Vancouver, Portland? I never did climb Mt Hood but I'm topped Washington's five volcanoes.

portland. it would be a 100 mile round trip. would need to stay the night too we cant do 100 miles in a day.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I took to one of my favorite single tracks yesterday and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of snow accumulation. The last time I rode the Bench Trail (aka ‘The Bluff’) was back on Dec 11. That being said, there were still plenty of icy sections to navigate as a result of the recent freeze and thaw conditions.

A familiar view from the bench.

The slow descent down towards the river was especially tricky and required extra caution and a bit of calculated braking to safely negotiate down the icy terrain.

It was nice to reach the bottom near the frozen river bank.

As long as the current ground conditions remain similar to what I encountered yesterday, I’ll continue to ride this single with an err on the side of caution approach. I finished my ride with another run along the Pines trail.

@kahn – You might need to strap on your downhill planks and hone those edges on this trail. BTW, the end of my ride enters onto the local nordic ski venue and, on this day, the Alberta Cup 5 was being held with hundreds of skiers congregating from all over the province. I received a few strange looks as I tried my best to look as inconspicuous as possible.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The Ciastki Ride [KPN West]
Dem Cookiez: The best motivator!

Saturday's weather forecast promised raining and a moderately stiff westerly wind. However, the sun was nicely shining! I drove my car (with the big Vado) to Leszno to avoid the boring ride through my industrial/farming neighbourhood.

My intention was riding paved roads only. However, RideWithGPS assumed I wanted it the harder way (top photo) Later, I arrived to the narrow gauge railroad stop in Wilcze Tułowieckie (abandoned for the cold season). RwGPS insisted I took the Rail Trail. No way! You need to understand the Kampinos National Park consists of: Sand dunes, swamps, trees and wild animals. It was not my intention to ride sand on my trip; or to lose the gain of tailwind!

At the famous "Marta's Store" in Secymin Polski, Hollander Land on the Vistula. It was about 50 km ridden up this point. I had to swap batteries. It started snowing and raining there...

Mascarpone Cookies, the beloved "fodder" of roadies passing Secymin Polski. There was no competition from any peloton on that day, so I could readily buy Marta's Cookies

I'm in love with the Wilków Road, one of the finest cycling roads I've ever ridden. As the Wilków Road is missing proper connecting roads, you won't meet any peloton there!

After having suffered bad pavement on the Górki - Sowia Wola segment (Vado does not care about cracked asphalt with its 2" tyres"), I got me on the highway #579 and hurried to Klimatyczna Cafe in the full Turbo mode "You here again?!" Ewa and Patrycja exclaimed at my sight

Even if it was raining, I didn't care. My winter clothes are pretty water- and windproof. I would only welcome some waterproof gloves!

 

[Art Deco]

The difference in terrain from @Prairie Dog 's ride and @Stefan Mikes is striking. Prairies are supposed to be flat, ya know.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Sailing 'fore-de-wind

We Poles have learned nautical terms from the Dutch, German, and British. Here are the Polish (sailing) wind direction names:

• Fordewind ('fore-the-wind, tailwind)
• Baksztag (backstay wind)
• Halbwind (half wind, side wind)
• Bajdewind (by-the-wind, close to the wind)
• Mordewind ("wind straight into your mug")

With the predicted westerly wind of 50 km/h (30 mph), I had no option but to take my big Vado as far west as the Mazovian Railways (KM) would permit and sail 'fore-de-wind back to the Płochocin train stop. And what is the farthest point the KM are willing to take your bike westwards conveniently and free of charge? Łowicz, the Land of Łódź. Note: a single battery, no pannier. (The battery charge initially was 557 Wh, as the battery has degraded over the time from the original 604 Wh). I expected I could ride with assistance of 40/40% pretty fast with the fordewind helping!

Local railroad companies in Poland are pro-cycling! I discovered it was not only blowing. It was snowing then raining...

Railroad climates in Mysłaków, eastwards of Łowicz.

Beautiful Radziwiłł palace in Nieborów. Sadly closed for the cold season.

Only 46 minutes of cycling to get from Łowicz to Bolimów? That's very very fast!

Don't worry about me. My winter clothing is perfect. I would only welcome some truly waterproof gloves!

Stupid, stupid RideWithGPS! I made several detours to avoid suggested "roads" but I got fooled one time too many! It had been snowing then the snow partly thawed, leaving the road flooded. And then that goddam road turned into a dirt road! I could hardly ride through the latter... Had to use Sport mode and low gears. After leaving that dirt road I found my front brake stopped working! While, there was a good asphalt road nearby. I need to reconsider using the RwGPS!

My route was intentionally far longer than necessary. Therefore, I had to travel with "halbwind" sometimes and that was somewhat risky. Here, a small local food plant in Białuty, making the mayonnaise I truly prefer now. (See the thread "Mayonnaise Wars")

My intention was to make 71 km sharp because...

...that let me achieve my January 2022 goal!

 

[Prairie Dog]

I rode the Bench Trail again today and this time when I completed my run I didn’t raise any eyebrows from the officials at the XC venue as I made my way off the course. I did, however, stop and take a few pics of some of the competitors as they whizzed by. Boy, can some of these kids can ever skate but yet look so graceful at the same time. I would be flat on my butt just trying to stand up!

 

[Art Deco]

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I rode the Bench Trail again today and this time when I completed my run I didn’t raise any eyebrows from the officials at the XC venue as I made my way off the course. I did, however, stop and take a few pics of some of the competitors as they whizzed by. Boy, can some of these kids can ever skate but yet look so graceful at the same time. I would be flat on my butt just trying to stand up!

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I failed the bunny slopes. Repeatedly.

 

[BlackHand]

The usual with a slight odd variation to avoid the endless construction of a new storm sewer vault where the pavement (???) is potholed, heaved, rutted, and detours over railroad tracks and a 5 foot wide, if that, sidewalk with a telephone pole in the middle (they did put padding around it like you'd see around ski-lift towers). Only to be about a mile and a half from home: Is that a flat I ask me fellow rider. "Yes, but only the front! Maybe you can give it a temp inflate and make it home" Inflate got me another five blocks. Oh, let's try another temp inflate. Speed up the last of the climb, run a red light carefully and make it home with mushy tire to spare. Okay, time to ditch these flat prone tires and let the bike shop do it for me. A little, tiny thorn.

Okay, 16.6 and 670 feet of climbing. Chilly and the right toes did not enjoy the last half of the ride.

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The Missing Link is supposed to be done by the end of 2023 - unless it gets stuck in court. That section is confusing for both cyclists and drivers with what seems like random cones, signage and lane markings all criss crossed with the unused railroad tracks.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I failed the bunny slopes. Repeatedly.

I recall during my youth feebly attempting to ride the T-Bar up the bunny slopes. I made a complete buffoon of myself. Oddly enough I never seemed to have any problem with strapping on a pair of ice skates and spending an afternoon at the local rink.

I just found there were too many variables involved with balance and coordinating the movement of those long boards. Then there was this phenomenon called gravity!

 

[kahn]

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I rode the Bench Trail again today and this time when I completed my run I didn’t raise any eyebrows from the officials at the XC venue as I made my way off the course. I did, however, stop and take a few pics of some of the competitors as they whizzed by. Boy, can some of these kids can ever skate but yet look so graceful at the same time. I would be flat on my butt just trying to stand up!

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While on a three week trip to Norway, we did a long one-way ski tour to the Lillehammer Olympic stadium a few winters ago. While waiting for our rides back we had time to kill. They were running a biathlon. Oh, my god - their grace, speed and skill were quite incredible. They were perfect Norwegian specimens (which probably explains why Trump invited Norwegians to move here while uninviting others - like the Norwegians would!!!)

I use to be quite good decades ago

 

[kahn]

The Missing Link is supposed to be done by the end of 2023 - unless it gets stuck in court. That section is confusing for both cyclists and drivers with what seems like random cones, signage and lane markings all criss crossed with the unused railroad tracks.

It has been in court for more than a decade. Kind of like the Lake Sammamish bike trail which I think took twenty years and innumerable law suits.

You do know some of those tracks are still used by the Ballard Terminal Railroad (taken March of last year). I've also got a video of that train.

 

[Prairie Dog]

I've also got a video of that train.

Bazinga!!

 

[BlackHand]

It has been in court for more than a decade. Kind of like the Lake Sammamish bike trail which I think took twenty years and innumerable law suits.

You do know some of those tracks are still used by the Ballard Terminal Railroad (taken March of last year). I've also got a video of that train.

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Supposedly SDOT's latest revision will allow them to proceed since it sidesteps the last few lawsuits by leaving the tracks untouched.

I think of the BTRR as more operational than an actual operating commercial concern. I believe they do a couple runs/week at odd hours for Salmon Bay Sand & Gravel (who I think has the same owner?) but I don't know of any other customers.