Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[RandallS]

It was a wonderful way to spend a day with family and I look forward to similar outings this summer. Your photo submissions are always a pleasure to view and I’m envious that you can ride to such great settings. It’s a 2 ½ hour drive to the mountains from here which makes for a long day.

As for rain, it would be a welcoming sight to the parched gardens here.

And I'm 1.5 hours closer and still haven't ridden that stretch yet, although done a bunch in Canmore and the Nordic Centre..
When my wife's trike has arrived, and when she's confident enough again, away we go!

Great video as always.

 

[RandallS]

A short couple of rides on the new Rail 5!
Very long and hot weekend trip to pick up my new Trek Rail 5 and take a couple of break-in rides.
View attachment 89762

That's a pretty Spiffy looking bike!
Congrats!

 

[RabH]

Rather bad news. I'm completely not in the advanced bike mechanics but the Giant LBS told my brother the "cylinder to which the cassette is attached went apiece". It is very hard to get a replacement nowadays, Jacek has learnt. Now, we need to dig the warranty card from my (partly burnt) house*, so the LBS can create a warranty case for Shimano. The latter are expected to fix the defective part.

In these weird times, a single smart bike part may decide if you can or cannot ride an e-bike... Honestly, I would have bought an N+1 but another e-bike of my dreams has not been designed yet Or, it would be deadly expensive.

*) We have found the warranty. Now, it is the matter of how long Shimano would keep the wheel before they can repair it. The problem is the latest Shimano rear hub for 32 spokes (32 spokes make it rare).

That really sucks, Stefan! Can you not purchase a new set of wheels in the meantime while they source the parts required? I bought some Mavic Allroad wheels for my Giant and they have now covered over 10,000 miles and still run true to this day, they have been fantastic!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

That really sucks, Stefan! Can you not purchase a new set of wheels in the meantime while they source the parts required? I bought some Mavic Allroad wheels for my Giant and they have now covered over 10,000 miles and still run true to this day, they have been fantastic!

Let's be of good hope! Giant LBS have accepted the warranty and started talking to Shimano. We'll see what the future holds.
A wheel set with Wide Trail rims, good hubs, etc would cost a small fortune (and be hard to buy) while my Trance E+ is still under the warranty

A short couple of rides on the new Rail 5!

Congrats, Dallant! Your new ride is beautiful!

 

[RabH]

Let's be of good hope! Giant LBS have accepted the warranty and started talking to Shimano. We'll see what the future holds.
A wheel set with Wide Trail rims, good hubs, etc would cost a small fortune (and be hard to buy) while my Trance E+ is still under the warranty

Good luck with it, Stefan!

 

[Deleted member 18083]

The strangled lamp post …

Moreton Bay Fig
Enoggera Creek Bikeway, Brisbane​

 

[Catalyzt]

Ossów Group Ride - First Impression

With @Jerzy Bańkowski and Joanna Makenzen. I have completed the ride with a metric century on a single battery.
More - later!

Okay, the ska mash-up of Ramones songs in your sound track is absolute heresy!

(But quite entertaining, as is the video!)

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Single Battery Metric Century (Ossów Group Ride)

To keep a long story short: I rode out on my Vado unassisted on Sunday morning. The OFF mode 2.3 km ride took me some 8 minutes. (I was conserving battery charge for the main trip).

The Mazovian Railways train from Brwinów to Warszawa Radość (literally: Joy) was almost empty and I reached the destination in an hour (for those interested, the ticket cost US$2.50, and transporting a bike was free). At the Radość train stop I met @Jerzy Bańkowski; Joanna Makenzen joined as as planned at 10:30 am. We rode at relaxed speed.

In Sulejówek.
Top: Makenzen only rides recumbent bikes (and she owns N+1 of them)
Centre: Jerzy rides his trusty 26" Wheeler.
Bottom: And we could spot some horses! The guys warned us horses were afraid of bikes, so we had to give way to the equestrians and their steeds.

Some historical information: Józef Piłsudski, a statesman, Head of State, first Marshal of Poland is a greatly respected figure in the history of Poland. Him being the symbol of regaining independence by Poland in 1918, the architect of the Soviet defeat in 1920 Polish-Soviet War, and a politician with a great vision. Marshal Piłsudski's family had spent many years in a Sulejówek mansion house, the latter built by his grateful soldiers.

The pictured "cavalrymen" (in fact, historical reenactors and equestrians) wear uniforms of Polish light cavalry, or Uhlans. Uhlans played major role in defeating Red Army at the outskirts of Warsaw in August 1920.

We were heading to Ossów (more on that later). A little bit lost, we discovered the best shortcut to Ossów was closed for roadworks (that would mean a very long detour for us). My quick recon convinced me the road was rideable though

"The Pearl of Mazovian Architecture" LOL A terribly ugly villa was built by someone in 2012 and has been for sale since

We met the Uhlans again in Ossów where they were giving a show to the public.

No more fasting on my long rides anymore! There was variety of food available. Tasty kiełbasa did me really good!

In 1920, Red Army led a large offensive against Poland. It looked as if Warsaw were captured; then the way to spread Communism throughout Europe (very weak after WWI) would be open. So-called "Miracle on Vistula", or the Polish counter-attack on 13/14 of August 1920 (engineered by Piłsudski) sent the Bolsheviks packing. The hardest battle was the Ossów one. Top: the Battle of Ossów Memorial site.

On our return way, we found a nice cafe in Warszawa-Anin and could not resist some ice-cream and lemonade

As we reached River Vistula, we said our goodbyes. I was positively shocked with the remaining battery charge! (Here were my Vado settings:
20% Eco: 73% of the time ridden
30% Sport: 14%
50% Turbo: 13%).

I realized I could return to my old home on that single battery! So I planned a new route and made it intentionally longer than necessary to meet the 100 km goal And I did it! With 13% of the battery left!

An anecdote: On our trip, we were overtaken by two female roadies (they had to overtake us as we rode pretty slowly). You know me, right? I just turned Turbo mode on and chased them. To my surprise, and despite of tremendous effort I put in pedalling, that was not easy to catch up with the girls. When I did, I praised them for maintaining the speed of 36 km/h (they were happy to hear that) and fell back to wait for friends. And I could realize why the sprint was so hard for me: I only had 50% of Turbo...

 

[Dallant]

Let's be of good hope! Giant LBS have accepted the warranty and started talking to Shimano. We'll see what the future holds.
A wheel set with Wide Trail rims, good hubs, etc would cost a small fortune (and be hard to buy) while my Trance E+ is still under the warranty


Congrats, Dallant! Your new ride is beautiful!

Best of luck with your Giant.
Thanks, I have a lot to learn! I scared myself doing a downhill/hard (for me) right turn and hit the front brake just a bit more than intended. Thought I might go over the bars for a split second. I consider myself very lucky to have found one and must be careful AND lucky not to hurt myself!

 

[steve mercier]

Nice bike!

 

[Art Deco]

A short couple of rides on the new Rail 5!
Very long and hot weekend trip to pick up my new Trek Rail 5 and take a couple of break-in rides.
View attachment 89762

Well done. If you are going to catch the N+1 virus , you can still be classy about it. That's a super bike.

 

[steve mercier]

This is the main mall at UBC ...it is a ghost town now but with any luck it will be packed in the fall.

 

[steve mercier]

The flag at the end of the mall is at half mast to honor deceased native children of the residential schools.

 

[steve mercier]

My Charger has 30,000 km on it now and is still going strong so I can say it owes me nothing (-:

 

[RandallS]

Best of luck with your Giant.
Thanks, I have a lot to learn! I scared myself doing a downhill/hard (for me) right turn and hit the front brake just a bit more than intended. Thought I might go over the bars for a split second. I consider myself very lucky to have found one and must be careful AND lucky not to hurt myself!

Keep working on it and don't forget to use the dropper on the downhills. The stuff I was tentative on last fall, I am relatively confident on now. But caution is a sign of maturity, and maturity is usually a sign of common sense. I still have the odd minor tumble, but nothing serious. These 60+ parts don't heal like they did 40 years ago...and wearing knee and elbow protection isn't a bad idea either. Get out and enjoy the trails!

 

[Dallant]

Keep working on it and don't forget to use the dropper on the downhills. The stuff I was tentative on last fall, I am relatively confident on now. But caution is a sign of maturity, and maturity is usually a sign of common sense. I still have the odd minor tumble, but nothing serious. These 60+ parts don't heal like they did 40 years ago...and wearing knee and elbow protection isn't a bad idea either. Get out and enjoy the trails!

66+ parts are even slower to heal! Last summer’s slight fall gave me no fractures but sure as hell felt like two broken ribs and I was only doing about 5-10 mph on a level path!
BTW, I’m probably one of the more chickenshit owners of an EMTB on this forum!

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

I'd love to see that rig pull up to a boat launch ramp on the river with all the diesel pickups and giant SUVs that people say they need to pull their bass boats. That picture would probably go in the local newspaper.

Yes, I had quite a few second looks! One lady rolled down her window (big black escalade) at a stop light and said that I shamed her into going home and riding around the block on her bike! Another couple of people snapped a photo with their phone at other stop lights. It was fun

You really have to pay attention to your driving when towing I found out. I couldn't go more than 12 mph or the rear end of the kayak would start fishtailing really bad. So, I slowed down and enjoyed the ride. I found out later that the temperature had gotten to 96 F . Humidity was 81%, ugggh.

Next trip I'm going to take along a trash bag and when I run across some debris will scoop it up! The trash has gotten a lot better on the water but there is still some to be had.

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

I'd be afraid to leave the bike !

Don't worry, she was locked up tight and proper. It also helps when the boat ramp I used is the local Coast Guard Station! Our tax dollars at work hahahaha

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

The Cicadas sound like a 1950s science fiction movie background noise.

It was even louder in person. I wish I had a decibel meter. Hmm, will check out for an app. If not, I will write one up.

 

[PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee]

Quite the turtle! I saw one like that only smaller once just like that along the side of the road. I stopped to push it into the ditch and the damn thing jumped up about a foot and almost caught my hand! So much for helping!
Love yer PF flyer! I really wanted one but found a Rail 5 this last weekend and snatched it up!

Good going on the Rail. If I find a 9.8xt I will probably snatch that one up too! It's gonna be an expensive year