Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

At the moment in Amazon reviews, there's a "button" to press to translate the comment into English from German, Spanish, etc (and maybe other languages for other users).

Unfortunately, I'm of an age where foreign language learning started too late in the US school system.
I learned almost all of the French (very rusty now!), Spanish (a bit better) and Italian (pretty darned good!) that I can speak/read well after I finished with the American K-12 school system! It can be done! Had a year of Latin, and 3 of French (mostly grammar study and worthless conversation memorization) in high school, so I'm "of an age", too 🤣!
 
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Stefan Mike, I was actually thinking of you when I asked if everyone saw this forum in English. Yours is pretty good. Much better than my Polish, which is non-existent. I learned Spanish in high school, but forgot most of it except ”where are the bathrooms” and “two beers please”.
 
The Zatory Escapade

In 1987, Polish television started a new comedy series by name "Zmiennicy" (Subs) by Stanisław Bareja. As it was extremely witty, all the nation was enjoying that a lot. The plot: Kasia (a beautiful girl) is an excellent driver but is denied getting a job of a taxi driver due to gender inequality. Being a boyish type, she disguises herself as a boy, and using (illegally) someone else's ID she gets the job, and becomes a sub of one Jacek. Jacek lives in Zatory, a small faraway village in Mazovia north of Warsaw, north of River Bug and eastwards of River Narew. He lives in a ruined palace. His daily commute means wasting many hours to travel by bike, boat, a coach, a train, and by city tram and bus (and his daily odyssey was funny to the viewers, especially as it used to be true for so many real people at those times!)

Another feature of Zatory is my gf @Brix used to shortly live in Zatory as a young girl together with her father the mason and her brethren.

Believe me: I considered a bike ride to Zatory for a long time. What baffled me was the distance to be ridden was in the range of an imperial century. Now, with low outside temperature, any long range e-bike trip would be impossible. And when I planned a car trip to Serock (so the e-bike ride would be feasible but not banal), I eventually could understand Jacek the taxi-driver's daily ordeal: that's just far away and complicated to get to.

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I can only tell you the Wahoo's own route planning is somewhat silly. I chose ROAD as the surface type, to be directed on that cobblestone road...

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Or, it is a "road" according to Wahoo. I would be better off to plan the route in RideWithGPS. There is a small issue though: Route Planning in RWGPS Mobile requires a costly subscription!

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Reached the magical Zatory! :)

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The house where my gf lived as a little girl.

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Palace in Zatory. The construction started in 1739. Every new owner was rebuilding and extending the palace. The estate had its "golden era" between 1925-1939 with the most prosperous owners. During the Communist era, the palace became ruined, and the movie taxi-driver Jacek had to sleep in a room with a leaking roof :) The new owner brought the property to a decent level. And then he bankrupted. If anyone is interested to spend some US$7,000,000 as the bidding price, just give it a try :)


Necessary to mention, the access to the property is not allowed. I was lucky to get in. Attribute it to the Mikulski's men charm, and me being a smooth operator :)

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The former steam-mill.

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The former spirits distillery. It operated by 1995.

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The former office building. Notice the new roof.

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The palace is located on a high ground. There is a large pond in the low ground. Very picturesque park, if that would be maintained.

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Then I rode to Pułtusk, which is a quaint old town on River Narew. Here, Basilica in the Old Market Square.

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The Town Hall in the Old Market Square. Take note the square is paved with cobblestone, which is so different from many Polish towns with concrete main squares!

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I chose a long return route to avoid the dangerous traffic on busy Highway 61. It was close to sunset. Temperature was dropping very fast: from 9 C when I started the trip to 5 C just before the sunset (when I ended the ride). Despite of wearing adequate clothes, I started freezing!

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The bike computer was telling me I would make just 59 km. How to make it up to 60.0? At some place, I rode onto Highway 61 to discover it turned into an expressway (my e-bike not allowed there). I was lucky to find an exit, go back to the junction, and ride onto the proper bike path. That made the missing kilometre up! :)


Jacek's Daily Commute
 
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I’ve been wanting a drone. I see a lot of cool stuff being done with them. But it’s on a long list of wants.
I had a DJI drone for a while. However, I was not good with controlling from a first person perspective, just couldn’t get my head round that. Plus too many regulations and registration requirements in the UK. Took the fun out of it and ended up selling it in the end.
 
It was raining this morning but stopped around 11. weather report showed no rain around 2. so off we go. well almost found a flat tire I had to change before leaving. a simple ride out to boring oregon and some country roads. no rain most of the ride. the wind picked up and the tress blocked it but for one gust that made us wobble. the wind started blowing and the rain came down and we had to ride about 6 miles in it. but by the time we got almost home it was over.
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Half hour to go then Sunday night football

Foofer let's have some fun more pics from your rides. I post lots of photos for my lack of English writing skills.
if I posed more pics to cover for my crappy communication skills the internet would crash. we don't get a huge amount of variety as everywhere we go its on the bike so a lot of the same routes. sometimes I hate stopping for a pic.
 
The Zatory Escapade

In 1987, Polish television started a new comedy series by name "Zmiennicy" (Subs) by Stanisław Bareja. As it was extremely witty, all the nation was enjoying that a lot. The plot: Kasia (a beautiful girl) is an excellent driver but is denied getting a job of a taxi driver due to gender inequality. Being a boyish type, she disguises herself as a boy, and using (illegally) someone else's ID she gets the job, and becomes a sub of one Jacek. Jacek lives in Zatory, a small faraway village in Mazovia north of Warsaw, north of River Bug and eastwards of River Narew. He lives in a ruined palace. His daily commute means wasting many hours to travel by foot, a hitch-hike, a ferry, a coach, a train, and by city bus/tram (and his daily odyssey was funny to the viewers, especially as it used to be true for so many real people at those times!)

Another feature of Zatory is my gf @Brix used to shortly live in Zatory as a young girl together with her father the mason and her brethren.

Believe me: I considered a bike ride to Zatory for a long time. What baffled me was the distance to be ridden was in the range of an imperial century. Now, with low outside temperature, any long range e-bike trip would be impossible. And when I planned a car trip to Serock (so the trip would be feasible but not banal), I eventually could understand Jacek the taxi-driver's daily ordeal: that's just far away and complicated to get to.

View attachment 104534
I can only tell you the Wahoo's own route planning is somewhat silly. I chose ROAD as the surface type, to be directed on that cobblestone road...

View attachment 104535
Or, it is a "road" according to Wahoo. I would be better off to plan the route in RideWithGPS. There is a small issue though: Route Planning in RWGPS Mobile requires a costly subscription!

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Reached the magical Zatory! :)

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The house where my gf lived as a little girl.

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Palace in Zatory. The construction started in 1739. Every new owner was rebuilding and extending the palace. The estate had its "golden era" between 1925-1939 with the most prosperous owners. During the Communist era, the palace became ruined, and the movie taxi-driver Jacek had to sleep in a room with a leaking roof :) The new owner brought the property to a decent level. And then he bankrupted. If anyone is interested to spend some US$7,000,000 as the bidding price, just give it a try :)


Necessary to mention, the access to the property is not allowed. I was lucky to get in. Attribute it to the Mikulski's men charm, and me being a smooth operator :)

View attachment 104553
The former steam-mill.

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The former spirits distillery. It operated by 1995.

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The former office building. Notice the new roof.

View attachment 104556
The palace is located on a high ground. There is a large pond in the low ground. Very picturesque park, if that would be maintained.

View attachment 104557
Then I rode to Pułtusk, which is a quaint old town on River Narew. Here, Basilica in the Old Market Square.

View attachment 104558
The Town Hall in the Old Market Square. Take note the square is paved with cobblestone, which is so different from many Polish towns with concrete main squares!

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I chose a long return route to avoid the dangerous traffic on busy Highway 61. It was close to sunset. Temperature was dropping very fast: from 9 C when I started the trip to 5 C just before the sunset (when I ended the ride). Despite of wearing adequate clothes, I started freezing!

View attachment 104560
The bike computer was telling me I would make just 59 km. How to make it up to 60.0? At some place, I rode onto Highway 61 to discover it turned into an expressway (my e-bike not allowed there). I was lucky to find an exit, go back to the junction, and ride onto the proper bike path. That made the missing kilometre up! :)
I have to look into a pair of ski goggles and helmet. I see you wear glasses with your goggles which I need to do. I didn’t think they would fit over glasses.
 
Jacek's Daily Commute

I have found it! No need to understand Polish :D See the scene with the ticket inspector at a tram :D (You will also see the shape of the Zatory Palace in 1980's: utterly ruined!)
I cannot fail noticing Jacek rode the same "Wahoo Road" I have ridden myself :D
 
Jacek's Daily Commute

I have found it! No need to understand Polish :D See the scene with the ticket inspector at a tram :D (You will also see the shape of the Zatory Palace in 1980's: utterly ruined!)
I cannot fail noticing Jacek rode the same "Wahoo Road" I have ridden myself :D
Stefan - - so on the train, the woman went up to the conductor and gave him a coin, which he proceeded to flip. What were they saying to each other? It seemed like nobody was paying for any transport until the tram conductor was stamping tickets/transfers.

The steam mill would make a terrific hotel, and the distillery should be a restaurant. The palace should be a museum - - of what I don't know...
 
Stefan - - so on the train, the woman went up to the conductor and gave him a coin, which he proceeded to flip. What were they saying to each other? It seemed like nobody was paying for any transport until the tram conductor was stamping tickets/transfers.
The woman asks Jacek for a lift on his bike first. They ride my "Wahoo ROAD" together. While they are riding, she explains to Jacek she has to stand as the accused at the misdemeanour court (she was caught without a valid ticket, and that was her second time, hence the offence). When on the train, she's tossing a coin into the conductor's hand to not pay the full ticket price. He accepts the bribe but warns the woman "it will end badly for you one day" to which she replies: "It has already ended badly for me".

After the tram's motor catches fire (which occurred often), passengers are told they could use any regular means of transport (that is, neither a fast bus nor a suburban one) for half an hour if they presented the stamped ticket to the next ticket inspector.

Later, you can see a bus at high speed, not stopping at the bus stops. Jacek explains to the co-passenger: "He's trying to catch up with his colleague of the same line, just for sport. He would be at the terminal stop faster, which would give him more time to eat his breakfast or whatever. And he's travelling light, which means fuel savings, and fuel savings are important nowadays". As you can see, the other bus is overcrowded.

Bareja movies were a kind of "theatre of the absurd" but they were dangerously close to the reality of those times...

The steam mill would make a terrific hotel, and the distillery should be a restaurant. The palace should be a museum - - of what I don't know...
Yeah, probably. Only the Historical Restorer Office could be of different opinion. The guy has built a structure for a hotel indeed. Now, he has to demolish it, as the structure was built without the Historical Restorer Office permission...
 
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