First long bike ride of 2010

Well, as planned (see previous post). I made it. 50km (exactly) from home to Pilawa station, in one hour 53 minutes. Average speed, 26.5 km/h, 16.5 mph. Not brilliant, but OK for a first long run after the winter break.

The road from Jeziorki to Pilawa runs down ul. Puławska through Piaseczno (traffic and traffic lights), the woefully inadequate stretch of the DK 79 between Piaseczno and Góra Kalwaria (too narrow, potholed, lots of traffic), down to the Vistula bridge along the DK 50 (international heavy goods traffic), then, at last, on the other side I turn off the main roads finding a charming little road, the DW 799, that runs through Ostrówek and Kosumce. This leads to the start of the DW 805 through Warszawice, Pogorzel, Osieck, Grabianka, Jażwiny and Pilawa. The 805 (above) is an ideal cycling road; very little traffic and in relatively good condition, pot-hole wise. (Road bikes hate pot holes.) One day, I'd like to cycle the 805 all the way to Wilchta, another 17km beyond Pilawa.

I reach Pilawa station just as a Warsaw-bound train is about to depart. With my weekly season ticket valid across all of Warsaw's Zone 1, it only cost me 13.16 zł to travel from Pilawa all the way back to W-wa Zachodnia. Rather than wait three quarters of an hour for a train back to Jeziorki, I cycled home from Zachodnia - an extra 16.75 km. Total weekend riding including yesterday's shakedown - 84 km. No signs of soreness, from saddle or otherwise. There is, however, something squeaking on the bike, which is annoying - bottom bracket? head tube? pedals? I shall return it to the shop for some more lubrication.

Observations from the road: There's still a significant civilisational difference between Warsaw and the surrounding countryside. Today was Palm Sunday; the village churches were packed with worshippers turned out in their finest, holding their palemki. In Warszowice, I saw a procession led by a robed boy on a donkey, playing the part of Jesus Christ. Yet these scenes contrasted with the vacant-eyed problem drinkers, staggering about the villages in the early afternoon; they must have been drinking all night long.

UPDATE: Monday, 29 March. I'm feeling uncommonly good today. Lesson: this is the result of making a plan and achieving it.

UPDATE: Wednesday, 31 March. Whatever was squeaking, it's stopped. A liberal application of WD40 just about anywhere with bearings has sorted it out.