Our Rides in Words, Photos & Videos

[Stefan Mikes]

Been to the Court as a witness in a formal case. I made some effort to look civilized, pulled non-cycling clothes on, the helmet on my head, and rode I off to see Her Honor 30 kms round-trip. The point was the case was urgent (even if formal), so it all was on a short notice!

Before that, I made 20 kms for shopping and leisure. My day was well spent!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

"This Is Not A Bicycle"
Another story! On numerous occasions, I had to explain to other people (especially to drivers) that my Speed Vado "was not a bicycle". It is a moped, even if you have to pedal it to ride. Jacek has understood it in the practical terms only today!

Jacek has strong legs, so he can max the powerful motor out even in the Sport mode easily. He was commuting home, and expertly deeply leaned to the side to corner on an roundabout at speed of 44 km/h (27.3 mph). Despite of warm air, the pavement was very cold and slippery. As Jacek reported "the Vado rode on its own while I remained on the pavement"...

Fortunately, no harm to Jacek's body and no damage to the e-bike. Crestfallen, Jacek reached home and wrote a post on Strava:

"This is not a bicycle!" Average speed of 32.3 km/h (20 mph), top speed 45.6 km/h (28.3 mph).

 

[Stefan Mikes]

"An Aware Roadie"

As Jacek commutes to work on my Vado with the traffic, he has to take a short bike path segment near to his business. Today, he had to stop for awhile there.
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Funny thing is that while I enjoy riding my Speed Vado on-road and perceive those e-bike rides as smooth (especially with the lowly inflated Electraks), Jacek's Garmin treated the bike path vibration as a crash and was trying to send messages to my brother's son Jacek stopped to switch the feature off.
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And he was approached by a road cyclist, who also stopped to talk. The guy took a look at the number plate:
-- Hey, should you be there in the first place? -- he demanded.
-- Heck, no! -- Jacek replied -- but do you ask me to ride with that dense traffic in Połczyńska?
-- Oh, I see... Good luck!

Unbelievable. A road cyclist could understand he saw a moped not a bicycle. And so many drivers honk at me when I ride the Vado with the traffic. Are they blind or what?!

 

[Cowlitz]

I burned some gas. I loaded bike and dog in the pickup and drove up to the Loup Loup area, which is also a highway pass. I wasn't sure how the snow was, but it was about what I thought it would be. The road was bikeable until the cold spot, where it looked pushable but I had gone far enough for the Demon Dog today. It was great to be in the woods where it was quiet until one of the jets (probably Navy) flew over.

This area has a small ski hill. In fact, I worked there for three winters before they had indoor plumbing. I taught the local munchkins and adults how to ski. It's a good hill and now has indoor bathrooms and a chairlift instead of a long poma lift. Because of the location, they don't get as much snow as the middle of the Cascades ski areas and have diversified a bit with luge rental/runs in the winter and this year are going to have a biking center. They will even have a shuttle. Hope they have munchies available too. That would be great to go up, bike a bit, and have a burger.

Here's the ski hill.

Temps were in the 40s and it was partly sunny. There were scads of chipmunks to be chased. Here's the cold spot where I turned around and went back.

Those are the new Gazelle panniers on the back. They work well and, as I found out the other day, are waterproof.
The Demon Dog using her mountain goat powers. She has always been sure footed and coordinated! She was shaking with excitement when I pulled into the parking lot and this ride made for an extremely happy dog. Also a tired dog at the end, which makes me happy.

At the end of the ride, but wait! There are burned up remnants of slash piles with ash to go snuffling around in after soaking. Then hop in the pickup all wet and dirty. Not to worry, I have one of those Duluth Pack seat covers that are made for this.

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Welcome back, Demon Dog!

It's time for your 2022 ebike adventures!

 

[Cowlitz]

Welcome back, Demon Dog!

It's time for your 2022 ebike adventures!

The Demon dog, looking dirty and sound asleep, thanks you for the cheer.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

An Unexpected "Group" Ride

I rode to Warsaw for some little chores to be done on Thursday. The day was initially cold and windy, to surprisingly become very warm in the afternoon. At one point of my return journey, I had to stop, remove the excessive clothing, and pack it to my small backpack!

You see me in the Bodycha Street. It is a useful, long, and straight road, making commutes from certain parts of Warsaw towards my area shorter and practical. It is only boring, and there is a nasty shaky segment made of "trilink" or "Tryliński paving blocks", hexagonal pieces of concrete. I curse the late Mr. Tryliński for his invention whenever I ride onto such a surface!

Riding beaten paths makes me bored and little motivated. I pedal with minimum effort, making the ride slow and yet more boring. Suddenly, a guy riding an XC bike took me over. A challenge! I went to SL Turbo, caught up with the guy, reduced to SL Sport to find out I could still ride in my SL Power Eco (60/60%) if I really pedalled. The other guy felt uneasy and signalled I could overtake him. I smiled and told him: 'Ride on! We're not racing!' -- to which he replied: 'Right! It has been my first bike trip since a long time!' Then I asked: 'How do you like riding the trilink?' -- 'What the trilink is?' -- 'We're just riding onto it!' -- 'Ah, I see! I hate it!"

As there was no more traffic, we started riding two abreast. I was continuing the chat:
'Where are you riding to?'
'Grodzisk Mazowiecki. As I said, it is my first bike trip since a long time!'
'I'm riding to Brwinów'
'Oh, brilliant! Could you guide me then?'
'What does your ride route tell you to do after leaving Pruszków?'
'To ride along the railroad!'
' Follow me!'

And we rode together, with him following me. Friends! That was a workout! The guy seemed to like riding at 30 km/h, so I was really pedalling hard! When we were riding slower (on Pruszków bike paths), he told me he was riding a brand new Trek Dual Sport size XL, that he was amazed with the modern bicycle technology, how he used to race with buses when he was young and so on A long, boring journey became a pleasure for me!

 

[RabH]

What a glorious day for a ride, it was the kind of day that I would have loved to be doing an imperial century! That will have to wait though and I am more than happy just to get out and enjoy my amazing bike in perfect weather! I realised I hadn't visited the Clyde Valley for a while, its a place to avoid when there's ice around! I had to pick my roads carefully to avoid traffic and I came up with a perfect route and had a real blast! I had a lovely view of the valley from the top before plunging down one of my favourite descents!

I didn't go down into the valley proper though as I'm sure the roads there would have been very busy, I was near the bottom when I took the huge climb up the past the Cozieglen nursery! I remember struggling up that climb many times before I got my e bike, its a real brute! This is just before the climb starts, you usually see many walkers here using the paths down to the garden centres!

The view half way up the climb, I would never have stopped here on my standard bike as it would have been impossible to get the pedals going again...I was actually surprised to see the car park at the garden centre so empty but it was still early!

I could hear a dog barking while I was taking the photos but it turned out to be a friendly one, it was checking out my bike!

Almost at the top now, the horses were enjoying the grass too much to take notice of me...

My final photo at the very top, it was time to think about heading home now...I really didn't want to!

460 miles now covered this month, my best month of the year so far! I only need another 528 to reach 20,000 miles on this very special bike which is only 4 years old! Today will be the last of the nice weather, heavy rain is coming tomorrow! I think Sunday should be ok, its looking very overcast but hopefully no rain! I couldn't stop taking photos today, it was just such a beautiful day!

 

[Stefan Mikes]

What a glorious day for a ride, it was the kind of day that I would have loved to be doing an imperial century!

Not the Imperial but given the kind of weather we are experiencing here now, it is possible I would ride a Metric Century on Saturday I have made too few MCs on my Vado SL! (And a gravel 50-miler on May 1st!)

 

[Chargeride]

@BlackHand and @kahn – I’m envious of anyone who lives near or close enough to ride to such wonderful coastal settings. It’s still pretty brown here and the scenery is pretty blah in comparison.

My wife and I did still manage to knock off a metric century today 80 km of which was without the aid of PAS as we started our ride off in the historic town of Lacombe, AB.

Once underway, our ride would involve a loop around Gull Lake and through the hamlet of Bentley. If it wasn’t for a very strong headwind on the southern return leg, we would likely have been able to complete the entire ride without help from the Creo batteries.

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It's hard to tell but my bike is actually leaning against that mural wall.
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I really love what the town of Lacombe has done in retaining the authenticity of this historic smithy. It's the oldest operational blacksmith shop in Alberta (circa 1902).

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The resort town of Gull Lake. Nothing much to write home about here folks and parts of the lake were still frozen. There was not a soul around which made for a serene stopover for lunch.

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Not sure if these were alpacas or llamas being tended to on this enterprising hobby farm. The cute custom-built barn for the animals complete with cupolas looked well cared for as did the animals.

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The Monkey Top Saloon. Bentley's infamous watering hole appears to be popular spot with the biker crowd.

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These vestiges of snow are a constant reminder that weather here can be unpredictable. More snow is expected to fall this Friday but I expect it to be short lived with the temps remaining well above freezing.

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Still miles to go before we arrive back in Lacombe.

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Nothing beats a already prepared meal after a ride especially when it’s homemade. We tucked into a generous helping of my red Thai curry with chicken, cauliflower, potatoes, fire roasted tomatoes and baby spinach. The delectable broth made from coconut milk and veg broth was soaked up by a bed of Jasmine rice underneath.

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Keepin’ dessert simple with scoops of vanilla ice cream smothered with warm blueberry sauce with a splash of maple syrup. As if it wasn’t sweet enough.

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That mural is gorgeous.

 

[Chargeride]

View attachment 121692

What a glorious day for a ride, it was the kind of day that I would have loved to be doing an imperial century! That will have to wait though and I am more than happy just to get out and enjoy my amazing bike in perfect weather! I realised I hadn't visited the Clyde Valley for a while, its a place to avoid when there's ice around! I had to pick my roads carefully to avoid traffic and I came up with a perfect route and had a real blast! I had a lovely view of the valley from the top before plunging down one of my favourite descents!

View attachment 121693 View attachment 121694

I didn't go down into the valley proper though as I'm sure the roads there would have been very busy, I was near the bottom when I took the huge climb up the past the Cozieglen nursery! I remember struggling up that climb many times before I got my e bike, its a real brute! This is just before the climb starts, you usually see many walkers here using the paths down to the garden centres!

View attachment 121695

The view half way up the climb, I would never have stopped here on my standard bike as it would have been impossible to get the pedals going again...I was actually surprised to see the car park at the garden centre so empty but it was still early!

View attachment 121696
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I could hear a dog barking while I was taking the photos but it turned out to be a friendly one, it was checking out my bike!

View attachment 121698

Almost at the top now, the horses were enjoying the grass too much to take notice of me...

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My final photo at the very top, it was time to think about heading home now...I really didn't want to!

View attachment 121700

460 miles now covered this month, my best month of the year so far! I only need another 528 to reach 20,000 miles on this very special bike which is only 4 years old! Today will be the last of the nice weather, heavy rain is coming tomorrow! I think Sunday should be ok, its looking very overcast but hopefully no rain! I couldn't stop taking photos today, it was just such a beautiful day!

460 miles in a month, thats more than my van.

 

[Chargeride]

Not much riding, transferring parts onto new frame, I know this should be in the technical section, but Im so pleased with myself after successfully pulling off one of the hardest jobs in the ebike world.
I managed to shear the hub power cable off right on the spindle.
You can hear the screams from the tech forums.

I managed to get the old cable out and insert a new one, resolder and it works perfectly.

The hole is about 1mm smaller than the cable and needs to do a 90 degree bend internally.
Its like a chinese puzzle trying to get just the right shape for the end, lots of turning, praying and shouting.
Then all the connections need shrink wrapping and storing out of the way of the spinning parts.
Took about two hours
I can now look wizzened old ebike mechanics in the eye.

 

[RabH]

460 miles in a month, thats more than my van.

About 420 miles more than my car!

 

[Prairie Dog]

Not much riding, transferring parts onto new frame, I know this should be in the technical section, but Im so pleased with myself after successfully pulling off one of the hardest jobs in the ebike world.
I managed to shear the hub power cable off right on the spindle.
You can hear the screams from the tech forums.

View attachment 121738

I managed to get the old cable out and insert a new one, resolder and it works perfectly.
View attachment 121739

The hole is about 1mm smaller than the cable and needs to do a 90 degree bend internally.
Its like a chinese puzzle trying to get just the right shape for the end, lots of turning, praying and shouting.
Then all the connections need shrink wrapping and storing out of the way of the spinning parts.
Took about two hours
I can now look wizzened old ebike mechanics in the eye.

Great job Charge. I don’t believe that I would have either the nerve or resourcefulness to attempt anything like that. I leave tasks such as that to those in the know.

 

[Prairie Dog]

@RabH -Gorgeous. How do folks keep the natural landscape so well manicured?...at least that's the way it appears in the photo.

 

[mikeschn]

This'll be my first post in this thread. I don't have the fantastic stories that Stefan has or the fantastic photos that David has, but it's where I happened to go today. It was quite cold actually, 54F. So I planned on a short trip out on the local trail... just 16km (10mi) was planned. I also fired up mission control for the first time. That's a nice app. Meanwhile here is the trailhead:

This trail runs along a creek where the locals like to fish. They also go fishing in this little lake along the trail:

Here is the creek. They built us a bridge over the creek last year. This picture is from the new bridge!

Another shot of the trail. Spring is late this year... I'm still waiting for things to turn green.

And finally, last week I lost a glove somewhere, no clue where. I assume it was on the trail. Riding back today I had to come to a screeching halt! Up in the tree was the missing glove. Someone had found it, and placed it there for me to find!

Mike...

 

[Deleted member 18083]

This'll be my first post in this thread.
Mike...

Thanks, Mike!

We all, I'm sure, look forward to having you share your ebike adventures with us.

David

 

[RabH]

View attachment 121754

@RabH -Gorgeous. How do folks keep the natural landscape so well manicured?...at least that's the way it appears in the photo.

A temperate climate sure helps, we don't get extreme temperatures here! Lots of rain doesn't hurt either

 

[Deleted member 18083]

Lots of rain doesn't hurt either.

I'll bear that in mind as I set off into the drizzle this morning! I seldom take risks like this.

 

[Prairie Dog]

That mural is gorgeous.

There were plenty more of them scattered around the town but we were pressed for time and needed to head back home.

Lacombe: Mural Capital of Alberta — Every Day Tourist

It seems like every town and hamlet in Alberta, Canada and North America has developed a mural program as a means of trying to attract tourists off the major highway and into town where they might spend a few bucks. In addition to attracting tourist, these mural programs can be

everydaytourist.ca