Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

That Woman Is Beating Me! (80 mi Group Ride with Jacek and Justyna)

A typical Warsaw cyclist would open their eye on Sunday morning, look through the window, browse the weather forecast, and fall asleep again :) The weather was grim. It was cold. Very strong WNW wind was promised. And it could be raining. For those reasons, nobody met me and Jacek in Zaborów at 10 am. on Sunday. Disgusted, we almost got onto the main road at 10:02 when I almost crashed into a petite female riding a traditional Haibike. I'm dumb but Jacek is bright and he asked the girl "Are you expected to ride with us?" -- "Indeed!". It was Justyna, a Polish teacher of English, and an American wife. We rode out together. Since we hadn't ridden together before, I suggested we matched our speed. I'm in the lead. 23 km/h. "Could you ride faster please?" -- I can hear from behind. And so on, until I was riding 30 km/h upwind. That girl made me shocked from the very start.

Just after the first turn, I asked Jacek and Justyna to continue their ride while I stopped, started BLEvo and adjusted the Sport mode to 60/60%... (it is a lot of assistance, I'm ashamed!) Then I turned Turbo on, caught up with the other riders, took them over at speed, and eventually could lead the pack, as I was the only person who:
  • Knew the route
  • Was riding a lot in that area (they didn't; it was something very new for Justyna).
And she was riding fast all the time, a little hill or not! Upwind! On an old acoustic Haibike! Kudos!

I made this vid to tell you basically the whole story in two minutes :)


It turned out Justyna was living in my neighbourhood; and she rode up to Zaborów from home in the morning. If I and Jacek made 100 km on our own, what would her daily distance ridden be then? Brother offered Justyna he would accompany her home (and then return to Zaborów) to show his gallantry to her. I agreed to join because I wanted any of us cover the same trip distance for the day :D And... we were caught by rain! So what?

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The total usable charge left in my both batteries was 15% at the end of the ride, even if I economized at 45 and 35% assistance levels on the way back. Jacek rode on a single battery, and he had to pedal a 26 kg e-bike unassisted for 30 km!

P.S. We met literally as many as five roadies on the whole ride. Three of them went in Climatic Cafe, and one of the five visited Marta's for a cookie...
 
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After 8 days off the bike it was so good to get out again and it was such a beautiful (but windy) day! I have been waiting for the right day to do this route again and today was that day, it was such a glorious ride in the sun! Of course there's always something that spoils your day, when I reached my destination I was looking forward to one of my favourite roads only to find it was closed for resurfacing! At least I know the road will be even better when the chance comes along again!

I stopped at the side of the road to take a photo of this lovely view!

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Seconds later! 🤣

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Soon after I stopped to catch this view!

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Next thing I heard lots of voices asking if I was okay! A peleton was passing!;) Nice of them to check on me!

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The day was just filled with amazing views like this!

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Here is a hill for @Chargeride to tackle some day!;) I might have been tempted if I had the right equipment!:p Its called Tinto Hill and reaches just over 2,300ft at the summit!

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My diversion took me down this amazing descent where I hit just over 40mph!

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What a fantastic day that was, cycling at its wonderful best! It was nice to see so many cyclists out today, can't beat it when the weather is this nice! When I set off at 8am it was already 16C, thankfully the strong wind kept the temp down and it only reached 21C so it was very pleasant indeed! I will probably need 2 posts to attach all of my photos!;)
That photo of the cows checking out your ride cracked me up! Thanks for hitting my funny bone. Ride On!!!
 
Friends!
I admit I'm afraid a little bit, as I seem to have unleashed some hell :) I announced a group ride for the coming Sunday on a Facebook cycling group. To take some cover, I entangled Ania The Roadie as the co-organizer :D We got a good response; I'm worried, however, as the majority of potential participants are roadies.

The three people to play their roles on the ride would be: Ania to select and direct ride leaders (she wants to ride in the head of the peloton but not as the leader), I (on my Vado) as the rear guard to assist the weakest riders; and Jacek as the group mechanic. I'm taking most of tools necessary to help fix a bike en route; Ania takes CO2 cartridges. We told the participants to bring spare inner tubes.

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123 km (76 mi). We shall experience wonderful cycling weather if not very strong headwind on the way out...

Keep your fingers crossed!
Who has the lemonade stand at the halfway point? I want to invest in that!
 
Who has the lemonade stand at the halfway point? I want to invest in that!
Certain Marta has done it :)

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"At Marta's" in Secymin Polski is famous as a cyclist-friendly store, opened on Sundays, with special cookie delivery for Thursday through Sunday. Marta's Mascarpone Cheese & Fruit cakes are legendary :) Although there are several other stores nearby, roadies always stop at Marta's.

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Most of Warsaw roadies start their Big Kampinos Loop (100 miles to 200 km doable) somewhere in the bottom-right corner of the map. They tend to avoid the principal roads and ride vacant local asphalt roads (indicated here in white). The Marta's is located on Hwy 575 where any roadie has no option but take that road segment :) And her store is located halfway on the loop.

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Another popular cyclist-focused site is Klimatyczna Cafe in Leszno. The owner family is involved in the road-cycling world, and cyclists are preferred guests there, getting discounts, being able to bring their bike in during the rain etc. Pictured: The preferred guests of Klimatyczna Cafe: A Canyon, a Scott, and a Specialized roadies. The owner asked the guys to let her take their photograph (perhaps these guys are famous?)

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Now, let me tell you a funny story about the Klimatyczna! That time, Jacek and Justyna decided to pay my cake and coffee. They were chatting with the owner and I could hear: "...he brought new customers to you". I approached and said: "I've been here for several times..." to which the owner said something I could not hear because of her face-mask and ambient noise. Jacek and Justyna laughed aloud. What the owner actually said was:
-- "Yes sir. You visited us four times before. I can name any of your orders. For instance, you had Pani Walewska cheesecake when you came here for the first time..."
:D
The cakes at Klimatyczna are heavy but truly organic. The coffee is delicious! (I haven't tried ice-cream yet).

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Did you know Haibike used to make acoustic bikes before e-bikes came?
 
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It was a hot and muggy day today but thankfully riding the trails in virtual shade kept things on the cooler side. Rode the usual trails on this day including Heritage Ranch and the Pines. Also a great day to be out on the water.
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I’ve jumped a few logs in my time but this one takes the proverbial cake. I can only assume that this large spruce came down during the wee hours of the morning when a severe storm came through the area. No choice but to crawl over it and carry on.
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Fallen Tree and Trance.jpg
 
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Back on my local back roads today, the winds have finally abated which is a big relief! It was overcast today but perfect for cycling and I got a real treat when I stopped at a local loch and I was presented with this wonderful sight!

2 swans and 8 cygnets! 😁 They had 6 young ones last year and 8 the year before!
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Nature is so wonderful at this time of year as is cycling, what a beautiful day to be alive! The rain is coming tomorrow but Thursday and Friday are looking promising!

@PowerflyLee formerly known as CheetahLee I'm glad the photo of the cows cheered you up, I was laughing for ages after taking it! I don't think it was my ride they were checking out, they were in search of food for sure! 🤣
 

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Wow, thought these went out with the Dinosaurs! I'll keep an eye out for a good movie and come back on the ebike hahaha, bring one of my camping chairs :)

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I'm off later today, going to Gunpowder Falls Park, it's just 3 miles further than Dundee. The bummer is that they charge $5 per vehicle, even ebikes! grrrrr. I did notice that the drivers this direction are a little more aggressive, so I have to be more proactive in riding. If the videos are worth watching I will upload them on youtube. Stay tuned my fellow fanatics :)
 
Bird's-eye view, an accidental self-portrait…

Kookaburra

The Kookie Monster
On returning from today's ride up the rail trail, I made myself a cup of coffee, grabbed a few homemade Anzac biscuits (cookies to some) and went to relax on the deck.

Swoop! Down came the Kookie Monster. Where's mine?

Suitably chastised, I returned to the kitchen to fetch KM's little baking dish in which his (her?) favourite shredded cheese (low fat, of course) had been sprinkled.

Peace in our time? I flicked on the camera to check ride photos – more of the same!

Camera: Delete… delete… delete…!​
KM: How about a photo of me?​
Camera: Click… click… click…! (I didn't even bother to look through the viewfinder to frame the shot.)​
Hours later I pulled up Kookie Monster's image on the computer. Was that a glint in his (her?) eye? I zoomed in a bit; and then a bit more; and still some more! There, reflected in KM's eye was the little baking dish (foreground) sitting on the slatted bench with the deck's alleged safety railings and the blue sky to the right, the roof above, and me – looking straight back at myself – just left of centre!

So there is a photo resulting from today's ride after all…

Reflection in Kookaburra's Eye
 
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After yesterdays rain it was nice to wake up to sunshine and light winds, another perfect day for cycling with a temp of 15C! I didn't really have a planned route today and just made it up as I went along, with the quiet roads it wasn't too difficult to choose! It worked out perfectly and it was such a lovely ride, not much to report other than I had a blast! It wasn't my most scenic ride but it was ok as you can see from my photos! I might be doing a 50 miler tomorrow if everything goes to plan! 🤞No ride on Sunday as I will be at the motor racing again, I was hoping to cycle to it this time but it looks like it will be a wet ride home after the racing...no thanks!:p
 

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Hello again folks!
I just woke from what appears to be a 4 hour nap. Todays ride was a culmination of many previous rides all linked together along with some inspiration of the Heat-maps feature. Parts of this ride have not been viewed by me since circa 2009; about the last time all of my bikes started to collect dust, and I got fat! The first photos below are of a RC airport in Livermore. Was amazing to see these folks do acrobatics with fly by sight. I did/do FPV drones from my house, but these folks blew me away…. (Zoom in on the spec!)
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I stupidly forgot to turn on my battery pack power meter (and apply SPF!) but came back from this ride with 69% batteries (72% after some rest). Though I BONKED on personal energy, I am inspired as to how far the EVG girl went today. She brought me home….
-BB
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This is the vid, its a nice place to visit but hasnt got that feel you are going anywhere that isnt well trodden by modern agriculture or swarms of tourists.
Theres no cycling signs everywhere which are a sharp contrast to a large bike hire shop in the village and I expect that conflict to increase as more people tread further with their electric helper.
Sometimes I feel we are living in the glory days of ebiking before it becomes mass transit and mass rules.
Chargeride your videos are my favorite !
 
Went for a little blast through the very softsand dunes and the far less..if ever ,used deep trails.
Ended up in crawler gear.
Ended up climbing everything.
Ended up bending a rear cog.
Im claiming first ever, I dont think anyone in the world has such a picture.
Its actually sheared at both fold points.

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Soon ... Chargeride's guide to the UK's best maintained trails.
 
Scotland and England are playing in the Euro socball as I type, so I'll keep it short.
The police gave up as thousands of Scottish supporters descended on London and sprayed all the England fans with beer.
Visited Llandegla mtb trails today, Pronounced clandegla with a throat clearing for the chllan bit.

It would seem everyone is still off work on government covid furlough..it was completely rammed and the defacto bike was the ebike, from 14 to 70yr olds.

Great ride around in super dry conditions ,overcast but nicely warm ..but not too warm.
Obviously the only fatbike there, so much high tech..so many 5 grand plus bikes.
They are also becoming the standard for the grey haired camper van brigade instead of the usual city car in hitched tow.
I can see why, theyll get you from the campsite to the local pub..no parking problems and you can have a few drinks.
Emptied the battery in 2 hours, kept the speed down on busy trails...tbh 15mph is fast enough.

Finished off with a sausage bap and an apple monster.
Burnt face...big smile, no punctures..made a vid.
Girl serving the food is insanely hot.
9/10..would recommend..
 
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