Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
A Friend In Need...
On my Sunday's ride I discovered my big Vado "had no brakes", as to say it. Worried, I looked into my Strava maintenance records...
One of fantastic but underrated features of Strava is My Gear. You can build a list of all "breakables" for any of your bikes. Strava will then tell you what components you have on your bike, when a given component (and exactly what component) was installed, and what mileage it is. Of course, it requires that you record any single ride of yours on Strava (by any method)!
The rear brake pads have not been replaced for 1.5 years! (I installed them just before the fire broke in my home...) The front brake pads had 1 year and 4,000 km on them. Well, well, well... I found a spare brake pad set and ordered 4 more (from Germany). My Vado required an immediate action!
Then the disaster struck...
I got a private message. My close friend (with whom I lost any contact more than one year ago) out of sudden found himself in a Warsaw hospital! I managed to contact the friend and he was in need: not only to meet him but also bring him a couple of things he really needed! A friend in need... I quickly swapped the front brake pads, adjusted brake levers and went for a ride, with some shopping of necessary things on the road then sped to Warsaw, taking a bike-friendly route first. It was cold (5 C). It was raining at times! No problem: I know what to wear for any weather!
My eyes were watering though. I should've worn goggles!
Some 30 km (1 1/2 hour total) and I could see my friend. It was a good meeting.
I returned purely with the traffic. Hard to believe how short that "bike unfriendly" route was (24 vs. 30 km!) The benefit of my big Vado is it technically is a moped, allowing me to ride with traffic where riding regular bikes was disallowed. As a driver, I am not afraid riding with traffic!
When I returned to my base, I could work on my e-bike more. I found a pair of less worn brake pads and installed them for the rear. Oiled the chain for wet weather. Then there was the sunset. I was tired, tired, tired!
On my Sunday's ride I discovered my big Vado "had no brakes", as to say it. Worried, I looked into my Strava maintenance records...
One of fantastic but underrated features of Strava is My Gear. You can build a list of all "breakables" for any of your bikes. Strava will then tell you what components you have on your bike, when a given component (and exactly what component) was installed, and what mileage it is. Of course, it requires that you record any single ride of yours on Strava (by any method)!
The rear brake pads have not been replaced for 1.5 years! (I installed them just before the fire broke in my home...) The front brake pads had 1 year and 4,000 km on them. Well, well, well... I found a spare brake pad set and ordered 4 more (from Germany). My Vado required an immediate action!
Then the disaster struck...
I got a private message. My close friend (with whom I lost any contact more than one year ago) out of sudden found himself in a Warsaw hospital! I managed to contact the friend and he was in need: not only to meet him but also bring him a couple of things he really needed! A friend in need... I quickly swapped the front brake pads, adjusted brake levers and went for a ride, with some shopping of necessary things on the road then sped to Warsaw, taking a bike-friendly route first. It was cold (5 C). It was raining at times! No problem: I know what to wear for any weather!
My eyes were watering though. I should've worn goggles!
Some 30 km (1 1/2 hour total) and I could see my friend. It was a good meeting.
I returned purely with the traffic. Hard to believe how short that "bike unfriendly" route was (24 vs. 30 km!) The benefit of my big Vado is it technically is a moped, allowing me to ride with traffic where riding regular bikes was disallowed. As a driver, I am not afraid riding with traffic!
When I returned to my base, I could work on my e-bike more. I found a pair of less worn brake pads and installed them for the rear. Oiled the chain for wet weather. Then there was the sunset. I was tired, tired, tired!
Last edited:
It was one of those days when everything went right, they don't come along very often but when they do we just have to rejoice!
The last time I travelled round the island in a clockwise direction so I wanted to try the anticlockwise route today, I can confirm its more difficult! 
I think this was actually harder than my 78 mile ride round the island almost a month ago and I'm not complaining, it was just awesome! Next year I'm going to take all 3 batteries and enjoy a 100 miler round this wonderful island!
I'm thinking that we should to take a bit extra time out for breakfast before pushing off for Maligne Lake.
It actually warmed up to about 8C when we left the townsite and slowly but surely the layers came off. We did, however, manage to crack out a metric century with over 1200 meters (4000 ‘) of elevation gain and still managed respectable 80% and 83% charges remaining in our batteries (no REs). My wife was the frugal one today. Traffic seemed pretty light with just 244 vehicles passing us by over the duration of the ride.
