Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

Sunny, Dry & Warm Winter Ride​

I promised my daughter I would see her in the middle of the week. She (and everybody else at her Social Care Home) has been already vaccinated! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the thermometer: +8°C? Sunshine? That was the easiest day of this year (so far) with putting the clothes on: just the base layer and the snowboarding suit. I put a new backpack (a gift for Magda) on, and rode out on a single battery (60% assistance for the whole trip). The day was beautiful! Sunny, dry, and warm. I even had the chance to wear my tinted goggles! After so many months of dull weather!

About one year ago, I described this very road as "the worst borough road in the entire greater neighbourhood". The road 4102W was reconstructed with the EU money in 2020. I actually love "suffering under jackboots of EU overlords" as some Canadian had put it on this Forum... (What did he know about Europe?)

I also had wanted to tell you a grim story from the past but am unable to do that -- confronted with this very block of flats. As many of you are aware of, one of essential features of the Communist era was collective farming. Farm workers used to be settled in blocks of flats. The building you can see in the picture here used to be a collective slum. Not anymore...

Nothing is perfect in this vale of tears though. Now Boża Wola (God's Will or Godsville) remains one of very few villages in the area with bad roads. I'm sure that road will be reconstructed, too, given some time. The trees marked with crosses are to be cut as unsafe. Actually I could see workers starting the process.

This is how a Central Mazovian village looks nowadays. It is less about farming, more about housing now.

Oh yes, I know my Vado's dirty now Golden Hour in one of villages.

Happy in my tinted goggles. Just a minute afterwards, I decided to replace them with clear ones.

I wear these modern motorcycle gloves in 40s F (meaning, for most of the mild winter). Not good for frost, too warm for temps of 50-60 F.

Sunny, mild Winter afternoon in central Mazovia.

Post-ride beer

I need to add I reached my place back exactly at the hour and minute of the sunset. The days become longer...

The ride map. Nothing sophisticated.

The wind, however strong it was, was not oppressive at all. Only slowing my ride down.

 

[Mulezen]

^ very nice trip report Stefan...that road seems much better than my little country road. We could use some jackboots here...I’m tired of running around barefoot

 

[Clueless]

out today for my longest ride on my 3 day old Cheetah .30 kilometers at about -2 c
Really loving this bike

 

[Prairie Dog]

It's been a relatively mild month of January but I believe that’s all about to change. My winter apparel will need some serious upgrades if the plan is too bike through the remainder of the wintry season. With that said, I took advantage of the recent warm conditions and put together this video made up of a melange of this week’s past rides.

NOTE: No pigeons were harmed in the making of this video.

 

[reed scott]

It's been a relatively mild month of January but I believe that’s all about to change. My winter apparel will need some serious upgrades if the plan is too bike through the remainder of the wintry season. With that said, I took advantage of the recent warm conditions and put together this video made up of a melange of this week’s past rides.

NOTE: No pigeons were harmed in the making of this video.

Way, WAY cool.

 

[FlatSix911]

A family of deer were out at dusk on my ride after work today... they were moving quickly as a herd; however, you could also call their group a bunch, a mob, a parcel, or a rangale.

 

[Art Deco]

A family of deer were out at dusk on my ride after work today... they were moving quickly as a herd; however, you could also call their group a bunch, a mob, a parcel, or a rangale.

View attachment 77334 View attachment 77335

Rangale ... new word of the day. A parcel means a package or a piece of land over here.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

. A parcel means a package or a piece of land over here.

Interesting! Similar word in Polish "parcela" means exactly the same (and it is not a new word).

 

[Dewey]

Trail maintenance!

 

[Kodak]

Great ride last week to the Little Red Lighthouse in New York City. Peddled all the way with battery assist in low voltage which I adjusted down in the controller menu. Complete distance was about 25 miles and battery still read full at end of day. So far great bike lots of info on the internet on how to change the controller settings. I was happy to find this thread as posting pictures and stories of our rides is a great way to share our adventures.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

"Wisconsin", or All Wrong On The Southwestern Front

I have got my Lovelec Diadem, the hub-drive motor e-bike, back from my brother. The first thing I did was swapping Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus with Continental Top Contact Winter II. The latter are expected to be winter tyres but are not spiked. Since weather forecast predicted strong SE wind, I planned -- as usually -- a route beginning with riding into the wind. My plan was to explore the SW area of my greater neighbourhood.

My Lovelec has been stuck in Jacek's garage since the end of September. I have been actually able to forget how a hub-motor e-bike behaved and handled since! It turned out (again) that the thing was unable to ride slowly! My Diadem is equipped with a 250 W motor but unlike mid-drives it provides constant assistance per PAS level. The rider has to pedal proactively to get into the equilibrium with the motor. The outcome is fast ride (I limited my Diadem to Canadian 32 km/h) but to keep up with the bike (no throttle!), the cyclist has to pedal hard. Meaning fast ride and very good workout at the same time. (I'm talking about 250 not 750 or more Watts).

Everything went wrong! Yes, I expected temperature from +3 up to 6 C, strong wind but I didn't expect drizzle for 3 hours of my ride (gross). I got hungry. Moreover, Strava didn't record 11 km of my trip. I was very unhappy at a stop in Krze.

At 42th km, I reached a bigger city of Żyrardów, where I could at least eat sausage and drink hot coffee. I continued in the drizzle until the 50th km. (I need to give a credit to my newest clothing combination: I was warm and dry at all times!)

When I reached Wiskitki, it stopped raining. It got warmer, the sun shone, I dried, and became happy. I could take my DSLR camera out from the pannier! At last!

I considered Wiskitki to be a village. Wrong. Actually it is a town, though one of the smallest in Poland (population of 1420). A friend of mine could not memorize the name of "Wiskitki", so she christened the town "Wisconsin" So Wiskitki have become Wisconsin to me as well!

Lovelec Diadem: My favourite touring e-bike. Very cheap on maintenance, and surprisingly fast. I have fitted a heavy duty rack, so I can carry an extra pannier with heavy photo gear on the bike. My pride though is the Rock Shox Paragon Gold RL air-shock fork I fit to the bike in 2020.

When I was shooting selfies, a local lady with her daughter approached my Lovelec. We had a lengthy talk about e-bikes. She was not convinced:
-- I don't think I would need an e-bike -- she said.
-- Yet -- I smiled
But the teenage daughter! She was completely bought on the idea! Watching, watching, watching, dreaming...

This photo cannot express how much my Gore-Tex shoe covers were soiled. Yet them kept my boots dry and warm!

There are many Polish place names that look funny to the English eye. Decidedly not a Dry Bus! (The best Polish name is that of the town of Police)

A partly wooden church in the village of Izdebno. "Church Izdebno" to be precise.

A historical mansion in Chlebnia turned private property. It looks the owner put good money to renovate this nice house!

The Milanówek terminus of the Warsaw Commuter Railway (WKD). In the past, the trains were getting very deep inside the city. Now, the trains operating on the WKD are Swiss, delivered here as a part of EU participation budget of Switzerland.

Because of the 1.6" tyres (nominally these should be 1.75"), the display overestimated the distance ridden. So I rode to do some grocery shopping post-main-ride to make up the lacking distance

Because of Strava hang-up, I had to fix the ride recording by editing the GPX file. @Art Deco: Can you see the "Parcel" in the property name? Just like in Pennsylvania (The word "parcela" or "parcel" came to Polish in late 19th and early 20th century).

 

[Sierratim]

"Wisconsin", or All Wrong On The Southwestern Front

I have got my Lovelec Diadem, the hub-drive motor e-bike, back from my brother. The first thing I did was swapping Schwalbe Marathon E-Plus with Continental Top Contact Winter II. The latter are expected to be winter tyres but are not spiked. Since weather forecast predicted strong SE wind, I planned -- as usually -- a route beginning with riding into the wind. My plan was to explore the SW area of my greater neighbourhood.

My Lovelec has been stuck in Jacek's garage since the end of September. I have been actually able to forget how a hub-motor e-bike behaved and handled since! It turned out (again) that the thing was unable to ride slowly! My Diadem is equipped with a 250 W motor but unlike mid-drives it provides constant assistance per PAS level. The rider has to pedal proactively to get into the equilibrium with the motor. The outcome is fast ride (I limited my Diadem to Canadian 32 km/h) but to keep up with the bike (no throttle!), the cyclist has to pedal hard. Meaning fast ride and very good workout at the same time. (I'm talking about 250 not 750 or more Watts).

View attachment 77358
Everything went wrong! Yes, I expected temperature from +3 up to 6 C, strong wind but I didn't expect drizzle for 3 hours of my ride (gross). I got hungry. Moreover, Strava didn't record 11 km of my trip. I was very unhappy at a stop in Krze.

At 42th km, I reached a bigger city of Żyrardów, where I could at least eat sausage and drink hot coffee. I continued in the drizzle until the 50th km. (I need to give a credit to my newest clothing combination: I was warm and dry at all times!)

View attachment 77359
When I reached Wiskitki, it stopped raining. It got warmer, the sun shone, I dried, and became happy. I could take my DSLR camera our from the pannier! At last!

I considered Wiskitki to be a village. Wrong. Actually it is a town, though one of the smallest in Poland (population of 1420). A friend of mine could not memorize the name of "Wiskitki", so she christened the town "Wisconsin" So Wiskitki have become Wisconsin to me as well!

View attachment 77360
Lovelec Diadem: My favourite touring e-bike. Very cheap on maintenance, and surprisingly fast. I have fitted a heavy duty rack, so I can carry an extra pannier with heavy photo gear on the bike. My pride though is the Rock Shox Paragon Gold RL air-shock fork I fit to the bike in 2020.

View attachment 77361
When I was shooting selfies, a local lady with her daughter approached my Lovelec. We had a lengthy talk about e-bikes. She was not convinced:
-- I don't think I would need an e-bike -- she said.
-- Yet -- I smiled
But the teenage daughter! She was completely bought on the idea! Watching, watching, watching, dreaming...

View attachment 77362
This photo cannot express how much my Gore-Tex shoe covers were soiled. Yet them kept my boots dry and warm!

View attachment 77363
There are many Polish place names that look funny to the English eye. Decidedly not a Dry Bus! (The best Polish name is that of the town of Police)

View attachment 77364
A partly wooden church in the village of Izdebno. "Church Izdebno" to be precise.

View attachment 77365
A historical mansion in Chlebnia turned private property. It looks the owner put good money to renovate this nice house!

View attachment 77367
The Milanówek terminus of the Warsaw Commuter Railway (WKD). In the past, the trains were getting very deep inside the city. Now, the trains operating on the WKD are Swiss, delivered here as a part of EU participation budget of Switzerland.

View attachment 77368
Because of the 1.6" tyres (nominally these should be 1.75"), the display overestimated the distance ridden. So I rode to do some grocery shopping post-main-ride to make up the lacking distance

View attachment 77371
Because of Strava hang-up, I had to fix the ride recording by editing the GPX file. @Art Deco: Can you see the "Parcel" in the property name? Just like in Pennsylvania (The word "parcela" or "parcel" came to Polish in late 19th and early 20th century).

Stefan, your pictures make my Polish wife want to visit every time you post them.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Waiting for some rain …

Pine Mountain, Queensland​

It didn't rain, so I went home to water the garden, only to find the garden hose tangled into the same chaotic knotted mess that my ride had been…

The photo was taken at 52 km, just over the crest of the video in post #142

 

[FlatSix911]

A beautiful afternoon along the California Coast... clear and calm with few visitors. A view of the Pebble Beach Club (left) and Stillwater cove (right) from the wharf.

 

[fooferdoggie]

OHSu campas. the tram ride is great but its closed right now because of covid only hospital personal. it has a large tended bike parking lot at the base. its on a nice steep hill fun to ride.

 

[fooferdoggie]

here is the video from the tram ride last year.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Riding the Old Fernvale Road …

Old Fernvale Road, Queensland
Watch video clip full-size in separate screen.

A snippet from Sunday morning's ride on the almost disused gravel roads inland from Brisbane.

The video's short – the ride took around four hours – because I have yet to figure out how to join clips together. Learning how to do that is Monday's task… but only after another ride and some much-needed TLC administered to the parched garden.

 

[RabH]

After days of snow and ice I was determined to get a ride today, despite the -8C temp! I have lost 2 uncles and an aunt to Covid in the past week so I had to get out to clear my head, its hard to tell a 92yo they have lost 2 brothers and a sister in the space of a week! I thought of a route which would be relatively safe with no twists and turns, mainly straight roads! My heated gloves came in very handy today, they were keeping my hands toasty and defrosting my water also which kept freezing up inside the feed tube!

The conditions away from the gritted roads were absolutely treacherous as you can see here!

The local loch was almost frozen over once again!

If any of you have heard of the classical singer Susan Boyle, I passed through her home town today! If she was home this week she may have been snowed in

It was good to get out again even despite the cold, not my usual long Sunday ride but I was more than happy to be just cycling again!

 

[Sierratim]

Left the house yesterday morning at ~11AM with the temp at 44°F. Started off with a balaclava, 3 layers on feet, hands and upper. Two layers on legs. More than enough after I warmed up, but goggles would have been nice for those lower cold spot creek crossings. That colder air behind my glasses really makes my eyes water!

I took 2 batteries with the goal of meeting my wife for a hot 'foil packet' lunch at a park where she was helping teach a youth group class. I ended up riding just over 47 miles with 4980' of climbing.

My route took me west out Bitney Springs road, away from the locally famous springs. I had a lunch date, so I didn't stop for any pics on the ride out but this route goes through rolling farm land populated with cattle, horses, sheep, geese, etc, etc. They were all out enjoying a mid-day snack but I rode on.

After 22 miles, I was at the lunch rendezvous spot, but no wife! After a couple of loops around the park and a couple of texts we connected. Yummy warm lunch, though at over 1,200' lower in elevation, it was warmer in the park than back home!

After about an hour, it was time to head home while the class resumed. I swapped batteries. It was at 59%, but the climb home would suck a lot more power than getting to the park. I also dropped the balaclava and one glove layer and was off.

My first stop was Lake Wildwood, a private lake in a gated subdivision. It was once a stage stop and post office on the Marysville to Virginia City route and then a ranch after stage traffic declined and the post office was relocated to Smartville, where it remains today. The site of this activity is now under the waters of Lake Wildwood.

Lake Wildwood is drained each fall for maintenance. It's usually overflowing down the 'glory hole' this time of year. Not this year. The expensive lake front homes will have to wait to get their views back, and get their boats in the water again.

I continued my ride turning east on Bitney Springs road towards Grass Valley.

This area is dotted with old family farms first settled after the gold rush an, like this one, newer 'hobby' farms. I could hear a donkey braying behind their barn, but no sight of any other animals. Seems they'd all decided to take a nap during my afternoon ride home.

As I climbed the grades towards home the battery level was dropping fast. I thought I might need to switch back to the original that still had 59% capacity. I did stop and add a neck gaiter as the temps dropped and rode on.

Took a longer route home though Grass Valley. Found a couple of of interesting sights close to town.

Steps to nowhere.

and machinery from another time.

Got home after 4PM and 25 miles more. The 2nd battery was at 16% so I put it on for a partial charge. Put the gear away, changed, started a fire, and settled in with a beverage. Another beautiful winter ride.

Looks like our weather is about to become more typical. We should have up to a foot of snow by WED with rain and snow starting tonight. Lows should be in the 20s. I'll be clearing the drive, loading firewood, pulling out the snowshoes, and servicing the snow blower today.

 

[Kodak]

It's been a relatively mild month of January but I believe that’s all about to change. My winter apparel will need some serious upgrades if the plan is too bike through the remainder of the wintry season. With that said, I took advantage of the recent warm conditions and put together this video made up of a melange of this week’s past rides.

NOTE: No pigeons were harmed in the making of this video.

Enjoyed the ride very much, thanks for sharing.