Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Prairie Dog]

That is one heck of an awesome outfit. I can imagine you turn heads wherever you ride your bike.

I should pay more attention to my dress code ala @Stefan Mikes when it comes to donning more HiVis wear. Maybe fluorescent leggings!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

That is one heck of an awesome outfit. I can imagine you turn heads wherever you ride your bike.

I read in one of your post you were wearing skiing clothes and picked up the idea. Thank you!

Besides, there was a girl cyclist riding a bike path opposite to me. I managed to notice her smiling eyes when she saw me!

See my FlyBy from the ride. Does it work for you? (I reached Cyberpunk at 13:13 and restarted the ride at 15:08; you can skip that part).

Strava Activity Playback

Find who you passed or flyby'd. Playback multiple activities together.

labs.strava.com

 

[reed scott]

Nobody tops Prairie Dog.

 

[FlatSix911]

If anybody's interested what I wear for my winter rides...

View attachment 78553
Winter Body Armour Ultimate.
(Photo by Cyberpunk).

Nobody tops Prairie Dog.

View attachment 78560

Reminds me of training with full MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) gear for chemical warfare.

 

[FlatSix911]

Back on topic... the ride yesterday to the summit of Black Mountain. I had to shed a few layers during the climb... I'm in the black jersey and my climbing buddy is in the grey jacket.

 

[FlatSix911]

We climbed 3,455 ft of elevation gain, 27 miles total distance traveled and 32.4 maximum speed while descending.

 

[FlatSix911]

Descending from the summit back to the forest trails below.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Reminds me of training with full MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) gear for chemical warfare.

View attachment 78587

I was trained as a chemist scout while in the Army....

 

[FlatSix911]

I was trained as a chemist scout while in the Army....

I was trained as a Corps of Engineers officer in NBC warfare... Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical.

Glad we never had to use it!

CBRN defense - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Glad we never had to use it!

CBRN defense - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I share the same feeling! My suit and the mask were those:

Gloves are missing here.

 

[Chargeride]

Breaking In Winter Tyres, or Cyberpunk 2021

I (of course) needed a pretext to go for a long winter ride: to bed the spikes of Ice Spiker Pro tyres (it requires riding at least 40 km on paved surfaces). Radosław (Radek) -- to who I will refer to as "Cyberpunk" invited me to the distant part of Warsaw on the right-hand River Vistula bank. It was sunny, -4 C (25 F) when I rode out with my "winterized" Monster at 10:50 a.m. I had to face severe headwind on the whole outbound ride segment.

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My favourite stop halfway to meet Cyberpunk. The shortest route to meet him feels industrial, cold, and boring, especially in the wintertime.

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The management of Warsaw is unwilling to remove snow from the city bike paths. Even if we had thaw in recent days, I could meet long, uneven ice patches on my ride. You know what? Ice Spiker Pro tyres held to ice as if glued, and the full suspension of Monster ensured traction at all times

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Radek knows pretty well I hate AC/DC (he loves that band). He, in turn, hates the QUEEN. So we took a provocation photo (It is the actor Rami Malek not Freddy Mercury on the screen).

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At the sunset, I turned the full 1700 lumen high beam on with my Cateye Volt headlight and plunged into off-road. You see nothing special here. When I, however, took a turn to the left, I got confronted with solid ice and frozen mud ruts. You know what? Trance E+ with the Ice Spiker Pro tyres is ice-proof. It is not proof to frozen mud ruts though... I almost wiped out once and then rode very slowly, searching the best line for riding... Adventure! Adrenalin!

View attachment 78489
General Grot's Bridge in Warsaw has so complex system of bike paths that use of GPS navigation is a must there.

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Off-road, ice, frozen mud ruts, darkness, 18 F.

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The Bródnowski Cemetery is the largest in Warsaw Europe. The wall I rode along was exactly 1 mile long.

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Ride metrics. Note the ride duration. Giant Trance E+ Pro is not by any means a speed monster

Lovely tyres, and yes ruts defy any attempts to stay upright, they are my most likely reason to be on my arse.

 

[Mulezen]

I share the same feeling! My suit and the mask were those:
View attachment 78605
Gloves are missing here.

That’s what Roberta wears when she comes out to visit. We will see if that changes after the pandemonium

 

[Prairie Dog]

I ventured out for short, slow ride out to MacKenzie Trail and back with the temperature still hovering around a -37C wind chill value and I was grateful that I made the last-minute decision to wear my insulated thermal parka. As an added bonus, the sun peeked out as I left the house which was certainly a welcome sight. Hard to imagine something as simple as sunlight can significantly lift one’s spirits during a bone chilling ride. I had no idea how electronics would measure up against the low temperature so I made sure that my phone was tucked securely in the inner pocket of my jacket rather than in the side pocket of my over pants. Taking photos was a bit of an affair today as it required removal of both mitts and glove liners, hence I only managed to snap a few pics. Once again, I’m amazed at how my Garmin was able to survive the cold trip and not shut down.

A lonely evergreen in a stark winter landscape....in this case the middle of the frozen river.

The MacKenzie trail was in exceptional condition. Unfortunately, I couldn't say the same for the city streets and sidewalks.

A local neighborhood garage remodeled in vintage fashion.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Shady place to stop …

Foreground: Poinciana
Beyond platform: Moreton Bay Fig
Newcastle Street, Fairfield​

I wake early – at least that's the usual intention – and ride before it's too hot. Before leaving home, I slip on a lightweight, long-sleeved shirt, slop on some SPF-50 sunscreen and slap on a my MIPS helmet with its Da Brim visor. Not quite up to Polish or Prairie standards of sartorial elegance, but my best try given less the challenging environment.

From home, it's two minutes to the rail trail; however, heading seaward necessitates a thirty-minute drive in the car. The car is left near a railway station – that's proved a boon on occasions – and the ride commences. After an hour it's definitely time for a coffee break! Any longer, I tell myself, and the brew in the vacuum flask will have cooled and I don't want that.

And that brings us to the above scene beside the river in Brisbane's western suburbs. A shady cul-de-sac with a platform beneath the Moreton Bay fig complete with convenient benches. Bliss.

 

[Helaine]

@David Berry - That's a really, really beautiful shot!

 

[Twin Valley]

Farmyard …
View attachment 78249

Borallon, QLD​

and like David I needed a break from my usual country rides but without a seaside to venture towards my usual change-up is in the East Kootenays of southern British Columbia, and the fresh mountain air always seems to recharge the exercise routine - the first picture reveals an innocent looking trail towards the "Hoodoo clay formations" but under the new snow was at least 3 inches of ice that was pretty well impassable for my worn out tires (the turbo levo goes to the shop this week for its one year plus tune-up inlcuding new rubber) so a lot of search and test of best routes on this ride -

 

[Prairie Dog]

@Twin Valley - The Kootenays seem beautiful any time of the year and you're lucky to have this special place to spend time at. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

This Is Why I Wear the "Mass Destruction Snow" Suit...

Shopping during Polish snowstorm.

I have to admit I was scared a little bit. My "winterized" Monster is good for ice, not for the fresh snowfall. While it was easy to ride downwind (35 km/h) on the highway (riding on bare icy asphalt in the ruts made by cars), I decided to return via snowy local streets. I had to ride very slowly and carefully to maintain the bike stability.

Main Street in Podkowa Leśna. It is by no means "main" As there are West and East Streets in the town, it was necessary to name the third one "Main". (These street names reflect the three WKD train stops within the town). Main Street is wide, with hardly any traffic. Weather: Snowfall, -10 C, 35 km/h eastern wind.

Points of Interest.

Normally, it takes 10-12 minutes net ride time to do shopping. It was 20 minutes this morning.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Snow Calamity

It was hardly possible to ride in the afternoon. Cars were experiencing similar (though less severe) issues.

 

[Prairie Dog]

@Stefan Mikes – You’re brave to skip out for shopping errands when most of us would simply hop in our vehicles to pickup essentials. Meanwhile, it’s yet another cold day here as we are stuck in this deep freeze for a solid week. On days like this, I take solace in viewing other posters’ images of tropical locales or warm sunny beaches. @David Berry comes to mind.

It doesn't look so promising for the province as a whole either.

Weather Information - Environment Canada

Environment Canada's weather web site provides official weather warnings, current conditions, forecasts, and weather models, for public and marine areas in Canada. Canadian weather RADAR, tropical storm tracking, lightning activity, UV index, and AQHI index values also available.

weather.gc.ca