Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Djangodog]

The Brix' Birthday Tribute (An Imperial Century) Ride
or, How I Rode Just To Collect Trousers Lost & Found In A Płock Hotel

Willa Adriana -- a boutique hotel in Płock's Old Town -- operates with hardly any personnel. You do anything related to the reception activities on a terminal at the gate. The breakfast (excellent) is prepared by two ladies who come to work at 5:30 am. Rooms are cleaned either before a new quest arrives or on every third day (or, on a guest request), making the demand for maids low. The management even does not sit inside the hotel but they -- for instance -- monitor the parking lot by cameras to be able to ask for the parking fee. You could say: The covid rules used to reduce the operating cost of that hotel. On the other hand, the hotel is just excellent!

I was sure I left my elegant and expensive trousers in the wardrobe. However, the maid was on a well deserved leave, and nobody could tell me whether my pants actually were there! Pretty late (9:03 am) I started my "big" Vado ride from Błonie. I was fully prepared: taking all three batteries, a charger, and optimizing the route not to end up with a 200 km ride.

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32nd kilometre. A fortified church in Brochów (erected 1561, upgraded 1655). The place where Frederic Chopin was baptised (this photo was taken on my return ride).

There in the morning, I got a phone call from the hotel my pants had been actually found and I could collect them!

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A trestle bridge over River Bzura.

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Intentionally, I took a pretty long ride along the Vistula. Approximately 25 km of the trail located just outside the Vistula anti-flood embankment consisted of excellent gravel, and it later continued with asphalt up to Płock suburbs!

FYI: The Vistula is mostly an unregulated river. The embankments are located far from the river, and the Vistula is allowed to flood within. The whole area I rode through was inhabited by Hollander communities (Dutch Mennonites and later Germans) since 16th c. until 1945.

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A peek behind the embankment. The water visible is not the Vistula (which is far away) but a bay.

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End of gravel. Only 23 km remaining to Willa Adriana!

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I made it! My Vado in the Old Market Square of Płock; the townhall seen in the background.

I collected my trousers (the manager let me -- remotely -- enter the hotel). And I needed a huge lunch.

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In the "Inn Under A Thatched Roof" (Karczma pod strzechą). Meatballs, potato, fried cabbage. Very Polish and as good as any Polish mother could make!

The weather: reasonable temperatures in the morning and evening, very warm during the midday and in the afternoon. No wind. It was nothing dramatic during the ride as the perceived wind was a good coolant but the lunch... I ate in the restaurant's veranda where -- despite lack of walls -- and the protection by the roof -- temperature reached 35 C! The heat started taking its toll on me.

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Highway #62 is very nice. Perfect asphalt, not much traffic on Sunday. The road is flanked by the forest on both sides on most of it (giving shadow and smelling so nicely). Still... fancy yourself pedalling for 40 km on such a boring road! And my ass started hurting badly. At some point I lost any motivation to ride. Only excellent coffee I drank at a petrol station later could restore some of my spirits!

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Closer and closer to the sunset. I arrived back in Błonie at the last of the daylight!

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My longest e-bike ride ever. All my Vado batteries hold far less than the nominal 604 Wh. For instance, the black battery held 468 Wh, the blue one 533, and the grey one 521 Wh. As you can see on the map, I used all of them and was gradually increasing the assistance. I could make well more than 200 km using all the batteries for 35/35%. The issue being, my ass and legs would not stand such a long ride!

On July 3rd, 1919, my Dad was born. Exactly 60 years later, my girlfriend @Brix was born. And I have dedicated my 7/3/2022 ride to her!

For those of us that still use miles, that is 106 miles, (why we still use miles I will never know). That’s a long day in the saddle, ebike or acoustic. I love seeing your pictures and that was a nice story too. I never got to Poland, but I do miss riding in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, (riding the countryside of Northern New England, USA, is not too hard to take though). The food was delicious, but I remember the goulash, Spek Dumplings and fried cabbage not sitting too well as a mid ride meal, (but still worth it).

 

[Brix]

@Stefan Mikes Congratulations on another imperial century, Stefan! Happy Birthday @Brix

I was hoping to ride to the racing yesterday but I woke to rain and gusty winds and I knew the winds would be stronger at the race circuit so I reluctantly travelled by car, when I got there I knew I had made the correct decision, the wind was crazy!

It looked nice through the camera lens!

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Some famous people from the rally world were in attendance, ex world champion Phil Mills (Petter Solbergs co-driver) and current superstar, Elfyn Evans with his dad Gwyndaf!

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Jimmy and Alister McRae were also in attendance, Colin McRae's dad and brother!

78 yo Jimmy in action!

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I'm hoping to get out tomorrow, I have been waiting for the proper weather to do a nice ride near the Scottish/English border and tomorrow looks like the day it will happen!

Thank you, RabH!

 

[kahn]

That looks lovely except for the long roads, I too struggle with riding rellatively featureless roads where the distance crawls towards you in slow motion.
Its a state of mind of course, its really just impatience for me and I need to work on it.
Happy birthday Bricks.

My Imperial Centuries, now years in the past, have always been in very scenic areas so the miles are more interesting. And always on paved roads. With sufficient training, the butt, neck and shoulders have generally done well. BUT my first ever Century, while scenic was done in May after not having ridden since the previous Oct. Now that was painful.

 

[kahn]

@Stefan Mikes Congratulations on another imperial century, Stefan! Happy Birthday @Brix

and current superstar, Elfyn Evans with his dad Gwyndaf!

Clearly, the Lord of the Rings did not stretch far for names of its characters!

But that track is certainly set in a very nice area. Hope your ride materialized.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

The food was delicious, but I remember the goulash, Spek Dumplings and fried cabbage not sitting too well as a mid ride meal, (but still worth it).

I generally like the Czech food when on a vacation there. What is even more valuable, it is normal to have a light beer to the meal even for a cyclist there.

For those of us that still use miles, that is 106 miles, (why we still use miles I will never know).

From the viewpoint of an ambitious rider, these are the distances making landmarks in the cyclist development:

• Metric Century (100 km)
• Gran Fondo (130 km)
• Imperial Century (100 mi)
• Double Metric Century (200 km)
• Double Imperial Century (200 mi)
• Ultra Marathon (all above).

It makes no sense for me to say it was a 106 mile ride. It was just my second Imperial Century

 

[Chargeride]

@Stefan Mikes Congratulations on another imperial century, Stefan! Happy Birthday @Brix

I was hoping to ride to the racing yesterday but I woke to rain and gusty winds and I knew the winds would be stronger at the race circuit so I reluctantly travelled by car, when I got there I knew I had made the correct decision, the wind was crazy!

It looked nice through the camera lens!

View attachment 127918
View attachment 127919

Some famous people from the rally world were in attendance, ex world champion Phil Mills (Petter Solbergs co-driver) and current superstar, Elfyn Evans with his dad Gwyndaf!

View attachment 127920

Jimmy and Alister McRae were also in attendance, Colin McRae's dad and brother!

78 yo Jimmy in action!

View attachment 127922

I'm hoping to get out tomorrow, I have been waiting for the proper weather to do a nice ride near the Scottish/English border and tomorrow looks like the day it will happen!

Thats a list of my youth.

I owned a MK3 Turbo Escort fully caged and seam welded championship car ,built by Malcolm Wilson motorsport.
Gutted I sold it.

 

[mschwett]

Last afternoon at Laguna Bay…

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Noosa Beach, Laguna Bay
​

My final ride on the Sunshine Coast—at 35km the longest ride for several months—took me to my favourite spot on Laguna Bay where I sat beneath the casuarina trees as the sun sank low in the north-west.

It's time to head home. My little car has been loaded, overloaded actually, with three ebikes and far more 'stuff' than we actually needed. Now, all that remains is the final check of every room in the apartment: we all know what for.

gorgeous. the light brings back memories of a long trip from Sydney to Cairns many years ago.

 

[Djangodog]

I generally like the Czech food when on a vacation there. What is even more valuable, it is normal to have a light beer to the meal even for a cyclist there.


From the viewpoint of an ambitious rider, these are the distances making landmarks in the cyclist development:

• Metric Century (100 km)
• Gran Fondo (130 km)
• Imperial Century (100 mi)
• Double Metric Century (200 km)
• Double Imperial Century (200 mi)
• Ultra Marathon (all above).

It makes no sense for me to say it was a 106 mile ride. It was just my second Imperial Century

I have done all but the Double Imperial Century, but none of them on an ebike. My longest was 204 Kilometers, (a solo ride with no support on a 90+ degree F, 32+ degrees C day). My days of riding Imperial centuries are probably behind me, (bad motorcycle accident, I’ll spare you the gruesome details). I have 12 Imperial Centuries under my belt and that will probably have to do. I never kept track of then Metric Centuries, but I would guess that there were more than 50. I always loved the almost out of body experience of a really long ride. Congratulations on your Imperial Century. Nice job.

Our ride today was only 22 miles, but nice all the same. The covered bridges are in North Hartland, Vermont. If you look through the bridge, you can see the other.

picture spoiled by my bike.

Unspoiled

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I have done all but the Double Imperial Century, but none of them on an ebike. My longest was 204 Kilometers, (a solo ride with no support on a 90+ degree F, 32+ degrees C day). My days of riding Imperial centuries are probably behind me, (bad motorcycle accident, I’ll spare you the gruesome details). I have 12 Imperial Centuries under my belt and that will probably have to do. I never kept track of then Metric Centuries, but I would guess that there were more than 50. I always loved the almost out of body experience of a really long ride. Congratulations on your Imperial Century. Nice job.

38 Metric Centuries, 5 Gran Fondos, and 2 Imperial Centuries here since August 2019. All on e-bikes

 

[Chargeride]

Im sorry to have to tell you that all your imperial centuries dont count because you were on the wrong side of the road

 

[Djangodog]

Im sorry to have to tell you that all your imperial centuries dont count because you were on the wrong side of the road

I thought that you guys drove on the wrong side. In the US we don’t call 100 miles an Imperial Century. It’s just called a Century.

 

[Mulezen]

My 18 miles through familiar Virginia countryside today is a paltry sum compared to the Long Riders above, and yet are these astronomical distances entirely without risk. Commentary in a disintegrating book I found in Bobby L's old tobacco barn warns against this sort of activity. I was looking at an old bicycle frame on the wall when I noticed through the spiderwebs a book of sorts with a cover of a lanky man straddling a bicycle with his goggles jauntily on top of his head. An oversized chronometer was attached to his bel, and their was a plaid scarf.
Here is some of the bicycle lore "...watch the bicycle if you think it pleasant to be surprised continuously." and "the gross and net result of it is that people who spent most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycles as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycles."

 

[kahn]

My 18 miles through familiar Virginia countryside today is a paltry sum compared to the Long Riders above, and yet are these astronomical distances entirely without risk. Commentary in a disintegrating book I found in Bobby L's old tobacco barn warns against this sort of activity. I was looking at an old bicycle frame on the wall when I noticed through the spiderwebs a book of sorts with a cover of a lanky man straddling a bicycle with his goggles jauntily on top of his head. An oversized chronometer was attached to his bel, and their was a plaid scarf.
Here is some of the bicycle lore "...watch the bicycle if you think it pleasant to be surprised continuously." and "the gross and net result of it is that people who spent most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycles as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who nearly are half people and half bicycles."
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What a great quote. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Im sorry to have to tell you that all your imperial centuries dont count because you were on the wrong side of the road

I thought that you guys drove on the wrong side. In the US we don’t call 100 miles an Imperial Century. It’s just called a Century.

How sad riding for just 60 miles is still 2.15 miles short of the Metric Century
Actually, I love expressing my distances ridden in miles: it gives me a sense of achieving something. "I made a 75-miler" sounds better than the prosaic "120.7 km"

 

[Chargeride]

I read that as a brummie, birmingham accent, as in Ozzie Osbourne.
We use that accent in adverts to make the person sound a bit mentally challenged.

 

[Readytoride]

Another report from Virginia yesterday morning on the 4th - another fine morning for getting out on the ebike to enjoy 20 miles of countryside.

After a bit of a debate - the gravel roads on the new Gazelle, or the paved roads with the Vado - I opted for the quieter , less traveled gravel roads on this busy family oriented American holiday. Any cars on the paved roads this morning were guaranteed to be rushing to the grocery stores for last minute picnic/barbeque items, just the kind of traffic I prefer to avoid.

So my morning ride took on the tone of quiet and serene, the first two miles finding me stopping to chat with neighbors before setting out to earnest down roads with long views across many a hay field full of rolled bales ready for pickup.

The extreme amount of rains this Spring slowed the earlier hay production to a crawl, but thankfully the more prevalent drier mid-summer weather had been a blessing to the farmers. It shouldn't have surprised me that I saw far more farm tractors on the gravel roads than cars. What did surprise me was all those tractors seemed to be in a massive hurry to get from Point A to Point B, sending up plumes of dust as they rocketed down the road with the same urgency as someone who just realized they hadn't purchased near enough ice for their blowout 4th of July picnic and had to race to the store before all the ice was sold out.

In the case of the tractors, it was a race against time and the 4 days of coming rain due to arrive midday on the 5th. No wonder these tractors were cranking out the speed.

I had to stop and squeeze over into the roadside grass to let this one tractor pass. Even with him squeezing to his side of the road there was barely space to breathe between us as he passed towing a massive hay mow which took up the lion's share of the road.

With all the modern hay production suddenly at high speed in just about every field I passed, it was amusing to see this long retired horse drawn hay mow, a rusty reminent of "days gone by", finding new purpose among the marigolds as a driveway lawn ornament. The cows seemed unperturbed by the local activity on the roads.

A moment after I took this photo two Teslas, one behind the other, carefully passed me, both drivers happily waving hello. The second Tesla has been wrapped in matte black - a rather strange selection if you'd ask me. Neither was interested in kicking up any road dust, which I appreciated. I set off once again, the roads back to being solely mine.

I had planned to remain on the gravel roads, but, on a whim, I deviated when offered the choice of jumping onto a local paved road to head into the town of Upperville where bits of history are presented in weatherproof plastic on the sides of the roads for those willing to pause for a moment and rediscover the horrors and sadness of a conflict that still resonates today.

I stopped to read about the battle, taking in the map showing "you are here" to give the reader a sense of place and time, while behind me the 21st century traffic zipped by, unconcerned about anything other than the present.

Inside the town limits the local fire department was out in full force at the fire house, the volunteers decorating their engines for the upcoming town parades later that morning and exchanging calls of Happy 4th as I passed by. Further in town at a local car shop, which was closed for the holiday, I spotted this MG in mid-restoration, surrounded by scattered old pieces of its interior, bonnet up, waiting for an engine. I was informed later by my in-house automotive expert that this was a kit car because of blah-blah this and blah-blah that not being original. Nonetheless, it was a colorful bit of nostalgia that brightened my day, kit or no kit.

The paved town road, throttled by a speed limit slower than an infant's crawl, morphed into a faster paced highway at the town border. The traffic, released from its constraints, and the need to either get to a holiday party or get more ice at the stores before it was sold out, stomped on the gas pedal and swung wide to pass me as we all headed out of town. A few moments later I turned back onto the quieter country roads, leaving the traffic behind. The sun had risen higher, the cool morning air giving way to the warmer and more humid air traditional for this particular holiday. Back on the gravel roads where time slows down and memories of old battles over freedom and ideology are long faded in the shadows of the young trees and the mowed fields. I didn't need any ice or last minute shopping for that evenings barbeque, so I was happy to simply take my time on the final gravel road taking me home.

For those residing in the US, hope you had a Happy 4th of July... with plenty of ice!

 

[Friserando]

I have done all but the Double Imperial Century, but none of them on an ebike. My longest was 204 Kilometers, (a solo ride with no support on a 90+ degree F, 32+ degrees C day). My days of riding Imperial centuries are probably behind me, (bad motorcycle accident, I’ll spare you the gruesome details). I have 12 Imperial Centuries under my belt and that will probably have to do. I never kept track of then Metric Centuries, but I would guess that there were more than 50. I always loved the almost out of body experience of a really long ride. Congratulations on your Imperial Century. Nice job.

Our ride today was only 22 miles, but nice all the same. The covered bridges are in North Hartland, Vermont. If you look through the bridge, you can see the other.View attachment 127942

picture spoiled by my bike.

View attachment 127943
Unspoiled

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In Switzerland decades ago

 

[Chargeride]

Yes happy independence day.
I havent seen a single US flag, but this fast food joint has just opened up.

I think its going for a twist on Southern fried.

 

[RabH]

I changed my plans today and decided to go for a local ride, my Scottish/English border ride will now be on Thursday if everything goes to plan! It was a day of climbs and descents, I certainly got a workout with 4677ft of upness! Most of the time I climb this hill but decided it was time for a nice descent today, I think my brake pads and discs would have been rather hot by the time I reached the bottom of the descent in the Clyde Valley!

It was now time for the big climb of the day, I actually had a large truck following me up the climb but I pulled away from him! It is possible he stopped part way up to make a delivery but I'm taking it as a win! The view of the Clyde Valley from part way up the climb!

The climbing continued after I reached the top and I was now heading for the town of Kirkfieldbank which is at the far end of the valley! I knew after this big climb I was looking forward to a big descent, sadly I noticed that there was a stream of water running across the road near the bottom so I had to take the descent much slower than I would have liked!

The top of the climb looking back down the road I just came up!

The big straight descent!

The River Clyde at Kirkfieldbank!

Time for another big climb up into Lanark and not content with that, yet more climbing up over the railway line at Cleghorn and heading for Forth!

Yet another big climb up past the windfarm at Climpy, then it was time for some descending into Shotts and only 10 miles from home! I then climbed up past the Blackhill transmitters and enjoyed the big descent into my home town! What a fantastic ride in nice riding conditions, the wind had picked up now but it was only around 20mph today! My legs will get a much needed rest tomorrow and then I will prepare for my 70 mile ride from Peebles to Moffat on Thursday, its 3 years since I last completed this ride and I got soaked that day and also had a puncture while it was pouring down! I'm hoping for more luck this time!

 

[kahn]

I read that as a brummie, birmingham accent, as in Ozzie Osbourne.
We use that accent in adverts to make the person sound a bit mentally challenged.

Since you narrate your videos, what is you accent? Mine is no longer Da Bronx although "New Yawk" words still slip out.