Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[DaveMatthews]

Dayum @RabH that's some tough sleddin'!
Get better quick!

 

[fooferdoggie]

this is a really high bridge in the middle of the city. I cant get a good pic from it as its to wired to keep jumpers from using it.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

"Whoever Didn't Ride Out Today, They Lost Their Game of Life"

These are words of the man who inducted me to gravel cycling Yes, the 112 km gravel group ride of today was called off because of heavy morning raining. I looked through the window in the afternoon today. Sunshine?! I put my Wahoo as a thermometer to see it was as warm as 16 C outside! I pulled my warm cycling clothes on in a few minutes and sped to Klimatyczna Café to save the day. Yes, a strong wind from NW was spoiling the ride a little. However, as I was testing the latest Range Extender purchase, I put my Vado SL in the 80/80% assistance, so the ride was easy!

The weather was gorgeous!

Among Mazovian fields.

A road favoured by "roadies" as it is straight, flat, and perfectly paved.

Klimatyczna will be closed for 10 days since tomorrow. It was the high time to ride out for the ice cream there!

The 579 or The Road That Is Not On The Map. Long time reconstruction. Ideal for me as there is hardly any traffic here.

A beautiful (and lit!) bike path between Błonie and Rokitno.

"Whoever Didn't Ride Out Today, They Lost Their Game of Life"

On local gravel roads. The Moszna Stack was a landmark and beacon

Less than 2 km to home.

Only 37 km but the day was saved!

 

[Chargeride]

You seem to have my hair.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You seem to have my hair.

The hair-dresser made her last haircut of mine to be almost a mohawk I didn't ask for that! And yes, my hair is grey.

 

[Mulezen]

Grey…barely…and it’s still there. Your picture to me looks like a man who’s earned his ice cream cone

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Grey…barely…and it’s still there. Your picture to me looks like a man who’s earned his ice cream cone

My hair is grey in full daylight only. It shocks me from time to time...

 

[Chargeride]

Ha, yes, I see myself in a mirror..grey!
When did that happen?
Its my birthday today, by the way.
Sept 11th, nothing to see here
59
Sixty next year.
Ive ordered a Zimmer.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Sept 11th, nothing to see here
59

I will drink for your health! Man, you were born in 1963. I'm just two years older than you are!

 

[Chargeride]

Thankyou Stefan.
I think that makes us the last of the Baby Boomers.

 

[AlanDB]

Yikes, I am WAYYYY on the other end of the Baby Boomers .... 1947! In 1963 I was a sophomore in HS! I'm feeling older every day and know I am in the "bubble" ... next generation to go, but thankful to still be happily riding my Gazelle whenever I can!

 

[PatriciaK]

oooh, double check saddle height.

Hmmm - have been riding with the seat at this height (leg almost fully extended with heel on the pedal all the way down) for some time, and never had a problem before...

 

[Chargeride]

Hmmm - have been riding with the seat at this height (leg almost fully extended with heel on the pedal all the way down) for some time, and never had a problem before...

Ha, yes, I was just making the observation, thats the first thing you check with knee pain.
The wife did a long ride with a very low seat and her left knee actually swelled up a tiny bit, she was hobbling for a few days.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Hmmm - have been riding with the seat at this height (leg almost fully extended with heel on the pedal all the way down) for some time, and never had a problem before...

Ha, yes, I was just making the observation, thats the first thing you check with knee pain.
The wife did a long ride with a very low seat and her left knee actually swelled up a tiny bit, she was hobbling for a few days.

You have been probably confused by looking at the picture of my Vado The saddle is at the proper height of 72 cm as measured from the bottom bracket centre to the centre of the saddle top. That is the measurement I know by heart and it allows me pedalling the most efficiently. It has worked for me on all my e-bikes, including the ones I have demo ridden.

I cannot show a convincing photo of my big Vado but you will notice the handlebars on my Vado SL are actually lower than the saddle is. It makes the impression the seat-post is extended too high. Or, do you think my saddle is too low? It is not! I couldn't be pedalling my e-bikes for long distances if my e-bikes were set up wrongly!

Not sure what conclusions could be drawn from this picture but the saddle height is 72 cm here, too!

 

[reed scott]

I’m not sure I 100% I know how they loaded those corn cribs or unloaded them. Once in a while you will someone pick it on the ear but it’s pretty rare around here

They used to have corn shucking contests. Before mechanical pickers came along. A good horse would pull a wagon down the already picked stalk rows by voice command as the man or men picked the ears and tossed them into the wagon. They wore a sort of half glove of thick leather that covered the palm and it had a hook in the center of it for initializing the removal of the husk. I'd seen my grandfather do it and he was fast. Took him about two maybe three seconds to break off the ear from the stalk, slit open the husk with the hook, pull away the entire husk and break it away from the cob and then toss the ear of corn into the wagon. It was hard exhausting work. I'd rather dig ditches.

 

[Djangodog]

Another beautiful late summer day in the North East. I came across a “small” Black Bear within a mile of home. They tend to be timid and this one moved off and into the woods pretty quickly, (sorry, no picture).

A fair amount of climbing, (you don’t get the view without the climb).

I made some friends along the way.

It’s not easy living in a postcard, but someone has to do it.

South Woodstock, Vermont.

Store, Cafe and Post Office all in one. Not a tourist trap, it’s the real thing.

Sugaring house, (Maple Syrup).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I Know This Post Might Not Belong Here (But I'm Sure You Will Understand Me)

Getting on speed on the street at night, and I feel young & healthy again and free like a bird! All worries are gone! Darkness? The headlight is excellent, and I ride at a reduced speed, carefully watching the road. Cold (5°C, no wind)? With the proper clothes on it is no issue. What a fun!
----------------
The issue is putting exactly a dozen of individual items on after I have taken a shower. And I still wear no goggles! (The eyes are watering, never mind).
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I experience a decision paralysis before I actually prepare and ride out. I procrastinate.
----------------
I could drive a car, especially as the night means no traffic jam. Driving a car? What?! It's boring!
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And then I am happily pedalling. All worries are gone. I will never regret the decision I took 15 months ago to buy a Vado SL. The e-bike that is always ready to ride.

Essential grocery shopping at night. I only use the SL Range Extender on short rides to conserve the main battery.
P.S. A 7.7 km ride used 24 Wh, that is, only 3.11 Wh/km. It was 15% of the Range Extender (equivalent to 7.5% of the main battery).

 

[Rome]

I met a fellow cyclists this weekend. I was doing sprints up and down a new stretch of bike path and when I stopped to photograph my bike a man approached me, saying hey I know you. I swear I have not met this man before. As we got to talking he says "I recognize your bike you passed our group on Pear Harbor Path" I thought here we go he's going to criticize my bike or riding style. He turns out to be a nice guy was very intrigued about my bike and peppered me with questions How questions, fast, much, far(range).
I down played the cost and speed, range still experimenting. Before we parted we exchanged phone numbers. His name is Gabriel. He texted me photos of his cycling group with an invite to ride with them. He is in of the photos I captured.
Some random pictures of a "Slowly but surely "coming along 30 mile bike path that will connect James Campbell rail trails with Historic Pearl Harbor Bike Path. Everyday I ride the path, terrain keeps changing, There's a display of machines for the job can't use the big dozer because of petroleum pipeline under ground. Too heavy.
Honestly I prefer the bike path as it is now. But with more paved paths the goal is to encourage more people to ride if there are more places that they can feel safe away from speeding vehicles.

 

[Readytoride]

The Biking Weather of Autumn

The fall charity bike rides are in full swing in our area. This past weekend was the Civil War Century held by the Baltimore (Maryland) Cycling Club. I've been on this ride before -pre-pandemic - in the quarter century (25 miles) so it was time to step it up to the half century. 52 miles through the upper part of Maryland near the Catoctin Mountains, home of the presidential retreat Camp David, and into southern Pennsylvania along the roads once marched 150 years ago by the Army of Northern Virginia enroute to their fatal encounter with the northern Federal Troops in the pastoral killing fields of Gettysburg.

The ride was capped at 1,600 riders, and if the endless rows of cars in the field designed for parking was any indication that the ride had met their numbers, the hundreds of cyclists pumping tires, greeting old friends, hopping on bikes to start their ride, and general air of excitement at the start was more than enough to get the blood flowing and get the pedals turning. 3 divisions set off at 7am - the century, the metric century, and the half century - while the 4th division - the quarter century - waited until 9am to set off. It was a "go as you please" start. A lovely way to ease the congestion of cyclists on the in-town road and not provoke the ire of any poor motorist having to wait behind waves of bikes taking up the travel lane.

The entire route was both scenic and peaceful. Very rural, very quiet, very lovely. A cycling paradise.

We had been promised three covered bridges to ride through, but only one was still intact. The 2nd was blocked off by construction equipment to do repairs, while the 3rd for unknown reasons had been reconstructed as a steel bridge, even though it retained the original wooden floor. I didn't mind since it was rather nice to look down at the river flowing beneath.

The century riders had been directed up into the mountains to provide them with a bit of challenge, while the metric and the half century were guided across the bridges and straight into Pennsylvania to tour the Gettysburg battlefield.

It was very somber experience to glide through the silent fields , once the site of so much horror and death and bloodshed in the struggle to keep the US as one country, or to divide it into two depending upon which side you were on. Now a well visited National Military Park, the fields were surprisingly, although purposely, unshorn, ragged and heavy with weedy growth as if to depict their appearance in July 1863, almost obscuring the many many monuments built by the various states to honor their troop positions during that battle. Stern signs on the edge of the road forbade any cars from parking, directing them instead to designed parking areas, I guess to not obscure the somber view of the historic fields. The monuments furthest out in the overgrowth would have been impossible to visit, so I could only gaze on from a distance and wonder who had placed them there.

One particular monument had snagged a place close to the road, close enough to stop and read the inscription and marvel at the artistry that had chosen a prone soldier, gun at the ready, to shoot any approaching enemy. An enemy that may well have been a brother or cousin. It was a local battalion that had claimed this spot a century and a half ago, and had a monument erected to them in their honor as their "side" had eventually won the civil war.

A far more regal monument, worth quite a pretty penny in the day, was awarded a space of honor on a hill overlooking the battlefield. The noble steed and his noble rider, General Sedgwick, were set to forever look with intense concentration at the now long gone troops that had once arrayed in blue clad lines across the killing fields. They stood at attention, rain or shine, year after year, century after century. They didn't seem to mind me standing below looking up at them. They never wavered in their studied gaze high above, ignoring the random cars down below that would pass, slow down to look at them for a second or so, then move off to continue their automotive tour of history without setting foot on the ground. The general and his unnamed stallion have been long dead, but for that one day in history they have been given the rights to an eternal glory... or glory as long as history cared to remember.

The route solemnly wound it's way out of the silent battlefields and past the back entrance of the Eisenhower farm, once owned by the Army General and later US President who closed out the WWII era. From there the route turned towards home with 20 miles left to go

The ride back was just as pretty as the ride up, just as peaceful. I had switched to my second battery at mile 40 simply to keep my knee happy and unstressed. I still have plenty left in the original battery to get me the full 50 miles, but with a full batallion of electrons at the ready, I was more than happy to ride the rest of the way on Turbo. In no time I was in the midst of the quarter century riders heading back to the ride site, all of whom were riding in groups, all with happy smiles at their pleasant ride. They had not gone to Gettysburg but instead had looped around in Maryland to enjoy that state's beautiful scenery.

Back at the ride site my hubby met me at the start, and we walked back to the car, chatting away. The ride was starting to serve lunch as more and more cyclists began returning, so we loaded the bike, went back to the start to enjoy a great meal, an ice cream cone, and fun conversation with other cyclists. Then it was time to hit the road for the hour drive back home.

This weekend is a ride in Rappahannock County, Virginia, about an hour south of us. Stunning countryside and a fabulous ride that I can't wait to revisit. They are offering four divisions including two gravel routes, but I chose the simple 33 miles this time, because I have a metric gravel road ride the following weekend and don't want to stress the poor knee which has been doing great thus far.

 

[Rome]

Epic