Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

Hunting season is here! Been doing a lot of bushwacking!
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finally, retreated from northern B.C. after a 2 month vacation (well some work at my daughter's ranch but in a relaxed mode) we ended up at a provincial B.C. park near Vernon, temperature highs in high twenties (celcius) and swimming in Lake Kalamaka at the first of October which seemed so weird for a Canadian lake experience in the fall, a great biking area that I think we only scratched in exploring, old rail trails that went on for ever, and what really caught my attention was all the literally hundreds (thousands?) of fellow bikers of all types trekking along the trails, maybe a little too much sharing of the trails than what I am use to but nevertheless inspiring to see all the seniors out there enjoying the outdoors, funny thing, after a two month absence with little cell phone service and then catching up on local and world issues (grandma was from the Ukraine) I switched the news to the musical oldie goldie channel only to catch Louis Armstrong's iconic drone of "What a Wonderful World" - that seems like a good reminder for me and why I enjoy this biking thread - tomorrow we will head out to the Alberta/Saskatchewan border at Cypress Hills to enjoy some great biking trails and fall colors (and some good food for our Canadian Thanksgiving) before we have to put the travel trailer to bed for the winter . . .
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finally, retreated from northern B.C. after a 2 month vacation (well some work at my daughter's ranch but in a relaxed mode) we ended up at a provincial B.C. park near Vernon, temperature highs in high twenties (celcius) and swimming in Lake Kalamaka at the first of October which seemed so weird for a Canadian lake experience in the fall, a great biking area that I think we only scratched in exploring, old rail trails that went on for ever, and what really caught my attention was all the literally hundreds (thousands?) of fellow bikers of all types trekking along the trails, maybe a little too much sharing of the trails than what I am use to but nevertheless inspiring to see all the seniors out there enjoying the outdoors, funny thing, after a two month absence with little cell phone service and then catching up on local and world issues (grandma was from the Ukraine) I switched the news to the musical oldie goldie channel only to catch Louis Armstrong's iconic drone of "What a Wonderful World" - that seems like a good reminder for me and why I enjoy this biking thread - tomorrow we will head out to the Alberta/Saskatchewan border at Cypress Hills to enjoy some great biking trails and fall colors (and some good food for our Canadian Thanksgiving) before we have to put the travel trailer to bed for the winter . . .View attachment 137224
Very nice! Glad to hear that you were able to enjoy your summer in BC. It certainly sounds like the rail trails are a popular place to ride. My sister rode the RVR trail in Naramata last week where she was able to ride her Liv Rove that she recently purchased from a friend.

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Beautiful weather this morning in Central Virginia, US. No wind but a bit cool at the start soon remedied by a few miles of cycling. It was a three county jaunt that I kept extending at turning points. It took me through western Goochland county as well as the full length of Octogon Church Road still searching for the namesake house of worship.
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A Commute For The Last Day Of Training With The Oil & Gas Company

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Vado SL.
To the work: 19 km in 52 minutes.
From the work: 20 km in 63 minutes. (Strong headwind. Obscenely warm :D)


The e-bike ride was the fastest commute of all I had during the last 3 days. Warsaw was in a total traffic jam Armageddon as I could see it.
 
Jacek The Mechanic Oct 2022, Or My Vado 5.0 Is Ready For The MOT

Yes, my Vado has to go through the European equivalent of the MOT. It is a lax procedure for mopeds, just checking whether the lighting and the horn are working.

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The Highway Star as dismantled by my brother Jacek for the ultimate service.

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The Shimano CS-M7000 11-speed 11-46T cassette on the reassembly. New 11,13,15, and 17T sprockets are there.

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This small gasket (described by Jacek as "cut from a tin can with scissors") is actually a shim. As the gasket/shim typically breaks on the removal, a new lockring has to be bought together with new sprockets. The cassette I'm talking about allows replacing as many as eight sprockets out of eleven total!

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The fixed drivetrain as being washed in the white spirit, dried, and treated with a lube. As new!


60 new kilometres.
 
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We rode out to the Knapp nature reserve yesterday, (Reading Vermont). We brought along a blanket and some light food. The colors have not disappointed this year, (with the dry summer, it was not predicted to be a very good year for foliage). We met a nice guy with a Giant e-bike, enjoyed the warm afternoon, the colors and being together. The only loon stayed too far out to get a good picture and there were no eagles on this visit. Drab November is on it's way, then Winter, but before we know it, Spring, (I love all five Northern New England seasons, (Mud, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter). You get to look forward to the nice weather and start all over again.

Mrs. Django enjoying the view.
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This is Jim. He is a local and rides his Giant about 30 miles every day.
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Sparky photobombing, as usual.
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Our faithful steeds. Rode hard and put away wet, but never complain.
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^ ‘Two Tramps in Mud Time’ Robert Frost. I visited friends in Meredith last early Spring and was fortunate to visit a syrup operation. Learned the season ends when the peepers sing.

A traveler comes upon a man, buried in mud up to his neck. He hollers to the man “I”ll pull you out”. The man replies “You better get help, I’m on my horse”.

Mud is my least favorite season.
 
Jacek The Mechanic Oct 2022, Or My Vado 5.0 Is Ready For The MOT

Yes, my Vado has to go through the European equivalent of the MOT. It is a lax procedure for mopeds, just checking whether the lighting and the horn are working.

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The Highway Star as dismantled by my brother Jacek for the ultimate service.

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The Shimano CS-M7000 11-speed 11-46T cassette on the reassembly. New 11,13,15, and 17T sprockets are there.

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This small gasket (described by Jacek as "cut from a tin can with scissors") is actually a shim. As the gasket/shim typically breaks on the removal, a new lockring has to be bought together with new sprockets. The cassette I'm talking about allows replacing as many as eight sprockets out of eleven total!

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The fixed drivetrain as being washed in the white spirit, dried, and treated with a lube. As new!


60 new kilometres.
My 'bike' needs that so bad, I really didnt know you needed an mot of sorts.
Im sure if I took mine in for such a test theyd send it to a crusher and charge me for it.
 
Another unusually warm October afternoon had us out on the road once again, this time near the townsite of Sundre, AB around one hour’s drive SW of my hometown. We’ve ridden this loop before but decided to do a repeat performance as the fall colors were still quite prevalent and we suspected that most of the foliage on the tree branches had yet to touch the ground.

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From a cycling perspective, it was a solid outing as we completed the 78km route without the aid of PAS. With a healthy elevation gain of 872 meters (2860 ft) and a handful of steepish grades to boot, we were definitely pushing it to the max. The Creo is such a great bike when it comes tackling longish rides. Even shod with beefier gravel tires, it exemplifes just how versatile it is at accomplishing the task at hand. Perhaps not as nimble or light as our analog bikes, the Creo certainly proves its worthiness over varying terrain, climbs, fast descents and overall comfort. 👍

With everything seeming to come together on this day, we couldn’t have asked for a more reasonable October ride.


Traffic along the rural roads was sketchy at times and we attributed this partially to the early start of the Thanksgiving weekend but no doubt the mild October conditions had much to do with a higher-than-expected vehicle count for the trip. It seemed that many were headed out with their full complement of toys towards Bearberry which would ultimately be the turnaround point for us. For the most part, we had the roads to ourselves and relished every opportunity to take advantage of it.

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Logging trucks can commonly be seen prowling the same back roads with their large loads destined for several mills that service the area. This quad axle semi-trailer with its freshly cut haul passed us on the way back and left behind an intoxicating scent of divine woody goodness. ☺️🌲🪵

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A sublime view of the township road ahead facing west.....

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....and looking in other direction.

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We cam across some strange looking hummocks though I’m not entirely certain of their origin.

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End of the line at the Bearberry cabins. We wanted to ride up the gravel road for a peek but thought better of it to make a quick departure towards homebase as only guests were permitted entry on to the property. The cabins are bit off the beaten track and the proprietors must be accustomed to intruders as was evident by the surveillance cameras and signage.

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Sai leads the way back up the steep ascent towards Bearberry. She’s become quite an accomplished cyclist and really seems to enjoy a challenge.

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I’m willing to bet that these were the same horses that we came upon last year. They certainly weren’t as friendly but I did recognize the one with the large brown marking on its underbelly.

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Main street Bearberry. Not much to write home about but the roadside saloon and restaurant appeared to be doing brisk business from those who were passing by. We found ourselves a comfy perch on the stairs of the local community center for a brief respite and snack and, for a moment, even contemplated on indulging in one of the restaurants bison burgers. Suffice it to say, neither of us cycle well on full stomachs. I need to ask @Stefan Mikes how he seems to polish off a full meal without any side effects. 🤮

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Heading east along Hwy 584, the golden foliage on the poplars is just as vibrant as ever.

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Another pastoral setting typical of the Alberta prairies and a splash of barn red adds a bit of contrast to the otherwise drab landscape.

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More dramatic color came in the form of this eloquently sided bright red garage/suite complete with charming dormers.

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Heading south along Hwy 27, enters the tranquil and calming Bearberry Creek as it meanders slowly though the prairie countryside.

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One final hill before we turn back east towards Sundre.

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It was closing in on supper time by the time we entered the town’s limits but the sun was still bright enough to snap a few shots before we hit the road back home.

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The owner of this frontage property went over the top with respect to displaying their version of Canadiana or in this case, Canuckiana. 🤣

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On this ride there were no towering pinnacles or turquoise blue alpine lakes to show off. With that said, there’s nothing quite as inspiring in something as quaint and simple as a snippet of prairie scenery.

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What a great day today! It’s no wonder we love this stuff. Started out a little on the cool side, low 40s… the long bib pants and cycle jacket have been retrieved from their closet. Rode across the Hudson River into the wilds of Rensselaer County and just had a hell of a good ride. No Canadian Rockies like Prairie Dog gives us and not as many barns as next door in Vermont, but not bad at all.

The color is starting to show up stronger, but nowhere near what it will look like by midweek.

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The county has just done an extensive upgrade program on the roads, along with several of the towns. This whole ride is brand new blacktop.

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And what Fall ride would be complete without an unexpected car show? Some guy had a very extensive extravaganza in his yard, cars and people all over the lawn, along with a pretty good band out back! No charge, just come on in and wander around. Very cool, but no Austin Healey 3000s at this one… Detroit Iron all the way.

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All in all, a classic Fall Saturday road ride, though I had my gravel bike today. Tomorrow is supposed to be just as good weather wise, so it’s off to the Riverview gravel bike ride through the woods - of course, I’ll do that one on my Creo road bike! Fair‘s fair.
 
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"Graveloza Poligon Con Las Cojones" Or, The Men Who Ride Across The Road

"Who the gravel cyclists are?" -- "They are the people who ride across the road!" :D

I didn't think I would take part in the "Las Cojones" group ride with Graveloza. A Graveloza animator wrote in the event description that "The soft game is over. We want to ride hard and fast. If you are not prepared for that, do not ride with us! We will even not provide you with the GPX route! It's Graveloza!" :D Yet... The weather forecast was excellent. My mate by name of Piotr was encouraging me to join, and he promised me to ride together with me in the slower group. The animator kindly sent me the GPX as he knew I was partly disabled and deserved special attention.

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At the Mazovian Railways train stop in Parzniew. Ready to head to the Warsaw-East Station.

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The group ride of 14 men started at 10:38 am on Saturday at the entry to the Poligon (The Military Range).
"How long did the e-bike man last?", a comment on Strava read. Well, well, well... You'll find out soon! :)

Man, those guys were fast! The speed of 32 km/h (20 mph) in rough terrain was the norm. Armed with 55/55% assistance of my Speed Vado and with reduced pressure in my 2" tyres, I was doing pretty well until... There was a road segment paved with perfect asphalt. To have more fun, I switched to 70% Turbo (didn't have more assistance on that day) and started racing against a guy called Tomek, just for fun. We both missed a turn into the forest and lost the group! Then, I started making navigation errors (or, I thought so)... It looked me & Tomek would finish the race long past the main group. So we started riding very hard to experience less shame on the finish line... :D

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This is why you never should ride alone in the forest. The water level in the ford of River Długa was high. A skilled & brave rider could cross the ford. The less brave had to carry their bikes over three wooden "ladders" across the river. Taking my bad health and the weight of the Vado into account, I could not carry my e-bike over the walkways! It was Tomek who saved me!

After some 50 km ridden at mad speed with hardly any stop, my legs had left me. I asked Tomek for a break. As camaraderie or brotherhood is the feature of gravel cycling, Tomek agreed for a 10 minute stop when I could replace the battery, refill the water bottle and let my legs get some blood in them again. So we had almost reached the finish line when... Two other group members rode from behind us! "Which way to the parking lot? Left or right?" -- "Right" I said. And so Tomek was the first on the finish line, and I was the second!

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At the finish line. All fourteen reported there! The animator Michał making the victory sign.

How come Tomek and I were the first?!
Simple. When I thought I made a navigation error, the group was high above us on a sand dune named Góra (The Hill). The main group made a 20 minute stop there while Tomek and I were "pursuing" it :D However, our two-man group completed the whole planned GPX route! We simply didn't take any longer rest! :D

Suffice it to say, neither of us cycle well on full stomachs. I need to ask @Stefan Mikes how he seems to polish off a full meal without any side effects. 🤮
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The secret is to eat a lot the preceding night, and also consume a solid breakfast some two hours prior to the ride :) Post ride, we rode to a hamburger bar. Here: A portion for kids! :D (I do not eat much!)


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A high performance gravel group ride.

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Total Ride Map. I was naïve to think I could just ride home on my e-bike. I could reach the Warsaw Stadium train station on my last legs (so exhausted I was!) and I also had to make up for deficiencies of the Mazovian Railways in my neighbourhood (instead of waiting for a delayed MR train, I took the SKM, or Fast Urban Train to neighbouring Pruszków).


My 'bike' needs that so bad, I really didnt know you needed an mot of sorts.
My 45 km/h Vado is equipped and type-approved as the L1e-B, or a moped. Mopeds need the MOT if you want to be legal. I need to be legal with this e-bike!

P.S. The Brotherhood Cycling Club "Graveloza" has been registered as an organization. I applied for the membership and will surely be admitted as of January 1st, 2023!
P.S. 2. The guy Tomek I rode with is a competing gravel cyclist (6th place in the Mazovian Gravel race!)
 
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