Cruisers, low-riders and choppers

The bicycle has become the most fashionable way of getting around town. With summer here, there's little excuse not to get on two wheels and take in Warsaw. The Veturilo urban bike hire scheme has proved wildly popular - there's a marked increase in bicycle sales (new and used), and being on two human-powered wheels is increasing seen as healthy, ecological and trendy.

Mainstream hipsterism has settled on the fixie as mount of choice; minimalism, lightness of weight, commitment - swiftness, instinct and fluidity at the expense of comfort. Fixed gear, single speed, one (or in extreme cases no) brake, a light frame designed for the track. I've written about these over the past four years.

Today, we witness a new cycle culture taking root in Warsaw - that of the beach cruiser. This is the antithesis of the fixie. Based on 1930s,'40s and '50s American designs, beach cruisers are slow, heavy, laid-back, comfortable rides, with big fat tyres (up to 3 inches/75mm separating rim from road), sprung mattress saddles. The aesthetic comes from motorcycles of the era; these bikes being more for show than for go.

Earlier this season I noticed a new bike shop (PlumBike, ul. Puławska 67/69), which sells nothing but retro-style beach cruisers, painted your way. A quick Google of Warsaw bike shops suggests there are other shops that sell this (and other non-mainstream) category of bicycle.

Below: here are some beach cruisers out in force in Park Skaryszewski. Unlike snooty Łazienki, there's no bike ban here, just proof that cyclists and pedestrians can mingle happily (as long as the former take it easy and don't treat the latter as moving slalom poles).

Although the ladies tended to be more conventionally mounted (on equally hip Amsterdamki - lady-framed roadsters from Holland), the chaps are riding some gorgeous machinery.

Below: Yes - that white one. Hard to ignore! It's so Gothic, it looks like Toruń Cathedral on wheels. Super-long wheelbase necessitated by the low-set back saddle position, long, swept-back handlbars whitewall tyres on huge rims - a work of art (but don't try getting more than 20km/h out of it). Click to enlarge - it's worth admiring all the details.

The cruisers take to the wide paths of Skaryszak, mixing it slow'n'easy with pedestrians. These are members of Warsaw Bratz, a group of cyclists who revel in all manifestations of cruiser style.

As the cruisers headed off in the direction of the National Stadium, I wondered whether my five bicycles are indeed enough, and whether something beach-cruisery wouldn't make for fine summer time leisurely riding... (Some interesting designs here!)

After a few minutes thought, I dispel the notion. To use a bike like this the way it was intended, one needs to live in the city centre, not on the fringes. Pumping swiftly up and down Puławska all the way from Jeziorki and back, I need a bike that's fast and focused. Cruisers look gorgeous, but they need dedicated cycle tracks and a leisure destination at the end of the ride.

Update, Sunday 7 July: Here's another one! This beautiful example of a stretch cruiser was snapped on Most Siekierkowski bridge. Note how far back the rider sits - the lower riding position means lower air resistance. At 30kmh, 80% of a rider's effort goes into overcoming air resistance on an upright bike.

A wide, well-paved boulevard, connected to cycle paths at the Stegny and Gocław ends; on a sunny Sunday evening, a cyclists' mecca. Show and go!

This time three years ago:
Gone is the threat of Państwo Smoleńskie

This time five years ago:
Bike ride to Święty Krzyż

In the highways and the hedges

Today - an optimal day for cycling. I managed 50.65km today between meetings, lunch and home. And on the way, took time to stop off and photograph the beauty of the wildflowers that grow alongside Warsaw's minor roads and byways.

Below: poppies (mak) along the edge of a wheatfield, ul. Poloneza, this morning. Pause, dismount, snap, mount, continue.

Below: thistles (osty) on ul. Sztajerki this morning. Look upon these photos, ye motorised commuters, feel the texture of reality! Realise what you're missing out on in life!

Below: wild chicory in flower (cykoria podróżnik) along the side of ul. Hołubcowa this morning. A beautiful day, almost cloudless. Thanks to AdtheLad for correct identification!

Below: Corncockle (kąkol - sounds similar enough to 'cockle' to make me suspect it's a loanword - but in which direction?). Photographed this afternoon on Kępa Oborska. To the left, Wał Zawadowski, the flood defence wall on the Vistula's left bank. Thank you to Ania for identifying these flowers.

Below: daisies (stokrotki) this afternoon in Okrzeszyn, between the Vistula and Powsin. This is the ox-eye daisy, which is tall, not to be confused with the lawn daisy, which is short.

Tomorrow's looking like a fine day too. More cycle commuting is required; 'while the sun shines, you'd better make hay'. Summer's finery must be savoured in full.

Update, 8 July: not just out in the sticks, but in town too. Above: the corner of ul. Puławska and Domaniewska. The beautiful summer weather abides with us. To the right, a cycle path starts here, going into town, though stopping short at the junction of ul. Dolna. Can anyone identify the yellow daisy-like flowers (they're about 50cm tall...)

This time last year:
How Warsaw's public transport authority communicates with passengers

This time two years ago:
Farewell to separate alcohol tills at Polish supermarkets

This time three years ago:
Twin turboprop cargo planes at Okęcie

This time four years ago:
To the countryside, Czachówek

This time six years ago:
Why I feel freer in Poland than in the UK

This time six years ago:
Stormy summer night

By bike, south of Jeziorki

The last day of the great Majówka (extended May bank holiday) and finally the sun comes out. A lovely warm day, with temperatures topping  23C, the highest all week. An ideal opportunity to get out into the countryside by bike. From Jeziorki, the nearest countryside lies south of Piaseczno ('Setchno or Sand City), a town with which Warsaw has a similar relationship that London has with Slough. The sooner through it the better. Not an easy town to navigate through, I always get lost here.

Below: I passed hundreds of cyclists today; here I'm at Zalesie Dolne station. Now, you may have heard of Zalesie Górne station, south of Piaseczno on the line to Radom, but Zalesie Dolne is on the touristy narrow-gauge line from Piaseczno to Tarczyn.

Below: am I on the Mazurian lakes? Have I cycled all the way to Wigry? No, this is one of the fish ponds between Żabieniec and Zalesie Górne. I spent a while here sunning myself and watching the myriad wildlife, including a swimming grass snake (grey with a white stripe behind its neck, like this one). No midges, gnats or mosquitoes whatsoever - thanks to the dragonflies darting about.

I cycled back through Żabieniec, Siedliska, Chylice and Julianów. Żabieniec, a village full of działki (summer-houses) was already in summer holiday mode. Disco-polo music was blasting out of tinny speakers, bare-chested young men riding in the back of pick-up trucks; Pan Heniek and Pan Żiutek were staggering to the sklep wielobranżowy for another flaszka, while scores of cyclists were riding up and down ul. Główna, Żabieniec's main drag.

Below: Half a kilometre east of the level crossing on ul. Julianowska, there's a man-made hill, created by developers who've been filling the area south of Las Kabacki forest and Chylice with houses during the boom years, 2003-2008. This hill, some six-seven metres high, affords splendid views of the surrounding countryside. The railway line is the one that carries the coal trains from Okęcie sidings to the sidings at Konstancin-Jeziorna and on to Siekierki power station.

Below: a convertible Cadillac from the late '60s/early '70s; a splendid sight. If I were minister of transport I'd limit motorists to a 1-litre hatchback and 10,000km a year. If they wanted anything else, such as this magnificent vehicle, they'd have to provide me with an essay stating their aesthetic, historical and ideological reasons for wanting to own such a machine. If their essay gushes with sufficient enthusiasm, permission to own would be granted. The owner would be obliged to maintain the vehicle in showroom-style splendour for the pleasure of future generations of admirers.

Back home I find I overdid the sunshine; I will no doubt have a red nose and peeling skin on my forehead. For the record, I covered 38.6km by bike today, all but 2km of it on asphalt. My commuting bike, built over 20 years ago, is good for this kind of cycling; with an upright riding position, I can appreciate the scenery, the skinny tyres are good for tarmacked roads.

This time two years ago:
Functionalist architecture in Warsaw

This time three years ago:
What's the Polish for 'to bully'?

This time four years ago:
Making plans

This time five years ago:
The setting sun stirs my soul

This time six years ago:
Rain ends the drought

Bicycle shake-down day

At last! Two weeks after the clocks went forward, a week after the majority of the snow disappeared, time to buy some WD40 and put the bikes on the road. Starting with the Holdsworth Triath Elan, I get ready for the season with a 36 km warm-up ride across the river. In contrast to the excellent cycle paths from Wyścigi that stretch eastwards right across to Rembertów, ul. Puławska is still missing decent cycle facilities. City authorities take note!

How my posterior (and other muscles - notably shin and thighs) will feel tomorrow is a matter of some worry; will I be walking with a rolling, waddling gait?

In the sports shops, great business as millions of Poles shake off winter cobwebs to buy Nordic walking sticks, bicycle pumps, volleyballs, running shoes and tennis racquets. Not a minute too soon. Winter has been long, so spring will be three weeks shorter this year. May it be warm and sunny.

Below: the Vistula is high; the meltwater from downstream has raised the water level, though it's not judged to be dangerous. View from Most Siekierkowski bridge, lens at 18mm (wide)

Below: on the return leg, from more or less the same spot, with the lens zoomed to 55mm (modestly telephoto). Skyline of Our City with evening colours warm upon the face of the waters.

More about cycling in and around Warsaw in coming weeks and months.

This time last year:
40 years on - Roxy Music's first two albums

This time three years ago:
Twenty years, ten months, six days

This time five years ago:
Swans still in Jeziorki

Boris Bikes arrive in Warsaw

Having praised the near-ubiquitous Boris Bikes that have revolutionised cycling in Central London, it's good to see that a similar scheme has just been introduced in Warsaw.

Above: the bikes have just appeared and are immediately attracting attention. Having taken a close look at the instructions (in four languages - Polish, English, German and Russian), I must say they are not entirely clear.

There's a requirement for pre-registration, which initially stunted the take-up of Boris Bikes in London. After six months, procedures were simplified and mere possession of a credit card can allow a tourist in London to ride off with a hire bike (if it's not returned, the credit card is simply debited for the amount). And the London scheme, launched in June 2010 with 5,000 bikes, was supported with advertising from the outset, whilst Warsaw's Veturilo bikes are still without a sponsor.

Full details of the new Warsaw scheme (in English) here. (The registration page does not yet work on the English version of the site).

As the sign-up fee is a mere 10 złotys, I have registered, and look forward to wizzing around central Warsaw on a... Hanna Bike? Probably not. Unlike London's mayor, Hanna Gronkiewicz Waltz is not associated with bicycles and cycling, even though under her watch the provision of cycle paths has greatly improved (her predecessor's highways spokesman claimed that the bicycle was the vehicle of the backward countryside). I promise my readers a test-ride as soon I get a pass-code sent to me by e-mail.

Today I rode my bike to Ursynów Park+Ride, over the new footbridge with cycle ramps (HURRAH! AT LAST! AT LAST! OPEN AT LAST!) to Las Kabacki, through to ul. Moczydłowska, and thence by cycle path nearly all the way to the P+R. Nearly I write, because the road engineers have stopped the path just short of its gates, it's devilishly difficult for cyclists to get to. Dismounting and crossing two busy roads as a pedestrian is the only legal way. Anyway, no time for moans - let's now celebrate the new footbridge over Puławska (below). It's the same design as the one on Al. Niepodległości linking both parts of Pole Mokotowskie, nicely profiled for easy climbs and gentle descents (skid marks show at least one rushing cyclist has slammed into the barriers!)

Even more reason to dump the car and make the most of the summer, get on your bike and ride (if only to the P+R), take Metro into town, then ride to your final destination on a hire-bike.

This time last year:
Getting ready for the 'W'-hour flypast

This time two years ago:
A century of Polish scouting

Clinging on to summer

In most people's minds, summer ends on 1 September, when schools go back. Astronomical summer ends this year on 23 September, when the sun, having spent the bulk of its time shining over the Northern Hemisphere, retreats back across the equator. At this time of year, within a month either way of the equinox, we feel the day shortening at a noticeable pace. Every day, the sun sets two minutes earlier, and rises two minutes later; as a result the day shortens by four minutes, or around half an hour a week. Frightening.

Still, the weekend was as the meteorologists had predicted it - hot and sunny. As I write, I can feel the effects of the sun's rays on my face, having spent most of the day out and about on my bicycle.

Indeed, most of Warsaw was out and about on its bicycle. The cycle path along Przyczółkowa was like a bicycle motorway. It attracted a wide range of cyclists - from very young to very old; mountain bikers, road racers, trendies on their sit-up-and-beg amsterdamki, riders of old school Polish Jubilat or Wigry bikes, parents with their little ones in kiddie seats or trailers. In fact, the only tribe of cyclist unrepresented on the cycle path to Powsin were hipsters on fixies. This is not a place to be seen - unlike the forecourt of Złote Tarasy, where fixies are piled high, chained to the railings. (The way to mount one, by the way, is to swing your leg over the handlebar).

Above: the cycle path from Wilanów to Powsin; very busy indeed - as it should be. A cloudless day.

No rain all week, yet the water table is still high, puddles abound and with them and the heat - the midges/mosquitos (call them what they are: komarzyska - culex pipiens). In the midday sun, there are few about, but around dusk they are still a total nuisance.

While the sun shines, we have got to make hay. Within a few weeks, the weather will have changed; darkness will have replaced light as the dominant mode; summer clothes will have been put away and replaced by thick, heavy coats. Make the most of every sunny hour.

This time last year:
Compositions in yellow, blue and white

This time two years ago:
When the Z-9 used to run, temporarily, to Jeziorki

Mini-breaks or micro-breaks?

A subject that came up in both of my lessons today: is it better to take one long vacation, or many short breaks? I think the answer is one of life stage - if you have small children, the one long vacation taken during the school holidays is usually the only option. But once they've grown up and holiday independently - then what?

Another new billboard campaign (below), paid for this time from European taxpayers' money, is encouraging Varsovians to take weekend breaks in the Mazowsze province. Yes indeed, I'm all for it. Wonderful countryside just a stone's throw (dwa kroki - lit. 'two paces') from the metropolis where we work so hard. Get the batteries recharged more often, at lower cost.

But as I pointed out yesterday, you can get out into the country with bike quickly and cheaply. While the sun shines, get out there and enjoy Mazowsze. The two-billboard version, above (there's a single board version too) extols cycling in the Puszcza Kampinoska forests - 200km of cycle paths. Having passed by there in March, it is a great place for bikes, but for one minor drawback - many of the cycle paths that run through the forests are soft sand - the worst possible surface for cycling. Still, the idea's a good one. Get on your bike and head out of town - for the weekend, or just for the summer's evening.

This time last year:
Pride and anger (warning: Smolensk-related content)

Twilight rambler

A restless urge to travel seized me this evening; I checked the online train timetable (click here - a brilliant starting place for any adventure), saw a departure for Czachówek at 19:34, grabbed my bike and camera and raced for W-wa Jeziorki station to catch the train. The 17km journey took 21 minutes; shortly before eight I was in Czachówek, in time for Magic Hour, when the twilight creates that sublime mood. The return ticket, from Warsaw's boundary to Czachówek Górny and back again, with bike, cost a mere 13.50 zlotys, or three quid in English money.

I set off from Czachówek towards the east. Above: A shop in Czarny Las. A sign in the window says 'no to windmills'. The building itself is the definition of the Polish adjective zapyziały. Just ten miles from Warsaw's southern borders and the built landscape looks entirely different. There are more and more new detached houses appearing here and there, but this is essentially still wieś rather than exurbs.

Above: a column erected to the glory of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Czarny Las. The fields, the forests, the gardens, the dirt-track roads - all are sodden with rainwater. It's been a wet July, the water table is high, there's nowhere for the water to run off.

Above: a goods train made up of cement wagons trundles slowly eastwards through Czachówek Wschodni station (left); the sun has just set over Czarny Las.

The forest itself exudes an intense smell of mushroom and moss; the air at dawn and dusk smells quite different from how it does during the day.

That golden time of day again; my mind drifts to another time, another place, a lost world from before my birth, I feel it...

Above: waiting for the train home, Czachówek Górny station. Scheduled at 21:08, it arrives on time. During my wait (no more than a quarter of an hour) I am so assaulted by mosquitos that I'm forced to don full wet weather gear - Goretex hooded jacket and over-trousers - despite the pleasant warmth of the evening. This has been a bad year for the mozzies (culex pipiens), the worst I can remember since that awful summer of 1997. Last summer, although also wet, there was a large number of dragonflies about, that feast on mosquito larvae. Very few this year.

(It seems this is the first time I've ever posted on 2 August!)

Along the Vistula's right bank, heading north

I mentioned (here) the new footpath/cyclepath opened earlier this season by the city authorities. Sunday - beautiful weather at last after a week where it rained every day - was a good time to check it out from its southern end (it starts north of the Most Łazienkowski bridge just past the Wisełka rowing club) and continues along the Vistula as far as Most Grota-Roweckiego bridge. Below: an urban beach, to the north of Most Poniatowskiego, near the new stadium.


The route crosses under five of Warsaw's seven (soon to be eight) bridges. Left: approaching Most Śląsko-Dąbrowski. The quality of the path is generally very good - I was expecting that after a week of heavy rains (July is Warsaw's wettest month), the paths would be sodden with water - not a bit of it. Mr Engineer has taken care to it that the path would adequately drain off all surface water. A good surface to ride over.

Below: the combined footpath/cyclepath is not designed for high-speed bike riding; it can be quite congested around the central area between Most Poniatowskiego and Śląsko-Dąbrowski bridges, especially on sunny weekends.


Right: towards the northern end of the cycle path: in the distance, we can see the chimneys and buildings of the Żerań power station, across the road that is carried across the Vistula by the Grota-Roweckiego bridge, where the path officially ends. Beautiful riverbank meadowland; flowers, butterflies, dragonflies, no mosquitoes, midges or horseflies, and not wet. A felicitous spot to take a break.

Below: the city transport authority ZTM, operates the 'river tram' (seen mid-stream) and a ferry that runs parallel to the Most Łazienkowski. Information for river tram here and for ferries here. Note - the services are capricious and may be called off at a moment's notice.

This time last year:
Grunwald and Europe: the big picture

This time three years ago:
"Take me right back to the track, Jack"

This time four years ago:
Vrots love

Lost in the wonder of it all

The first time it struck me was as I was pushing my bike up the steep part of the Vistula escarpment above ul. Myśliwiecka. Below: Thousands upon thousands of dandelions backlit by the sinking sun. A sight that truly stirred my soul. A dozen attempts to capture the scene, delicately juggling different exposures to bring out the white seedheads while not losing the shadow details, then more work in Lightroom and Photoshop to get an approximation of what I saw and felt at the time. (Click to enlarge images.)

Below: Park Ujazdowski, above the escarpment. More of the same - dandelions in flower are everywhere (and my sympathies go out to those allergic to the pollen). The plant, however, has medicinal properties, including "assisting with urinary tract infections in women" and is said to possess "anti-inflammatory effects".


Left: even more dandelions, by the Wyścigi tram loop along ul. Puławska. The sun, that four and half billion year old thermonuclear reaction that keeps us alive, has today been warming the earth and blessing us with its rays. As I write, just before 9 pm, it's still over 22C, having hit a high of 25.3C earlier today. Hard to believe that just one week ago, Warsaw was waking up to the sight of snow on the ground.

This time last year:
Meet my five bicycles

This time three years ago:
Celebrating my garden

Miracle on the Vistula

Not the martial one, but the natural one, the one that happens every year; the victory of Warmth over Cold, of Light over Dark, of Fecundity over Barrenness. Drawn once again to the banks of the Vistula at this joyous time of holiday, I can revel in how life has returned in abundance so swiftly, as it does each year at the end of a lengthy winter, something not so immediately in England. One appreciates these things only after their long absence.

Leaves on trees just seem to appear; they explode into being. One week the trees are bare, the next one can discern the buds bursting forth; and then the week after that the greenery is fully in place. A miracle indeed, and one for which we should be thankful for, each and every year.

Worth bearing in mind that the above photos were taken in Warsaw, not several kilometres downstream of the capital. This spot is in Zawady, in the district of Wilanów. Across the river on the other side, the district of Wawer.

Left: St. Anne's church in Wilanów (built in 1772); inside Mass is in full swing; outside Wilanów's cafes and restaurants are packed, crowds jostle along the pavements and cobbled street.

So many people out today, revelling in the glorious spring weather and the day off work; so many cyclists, strollers, roller-bladers, enjoying the warmth of the sun, wearing t-shirts rather than multiple layers of padded coats and woollen sweaters.

This time last year:
Collapsing old footbridge, Pyry

This time two years ago:
Four-engined aircraft at 30,000 ft

The topography of dreams

I have written before how actual landscapes influence dreamscapes; how many of my dreams are set in a location that is neither Warsaw nor London but both at the same time. Last night, waking up at 03:45 (02:45 old time), I dozed off to dream; and I dreamt about The River and the landscapes around the Most Łazienkowski - the bridge linking Powiśle where I work with Saska Kępa. A 100% Warsaw dream this time, then.

Prominent in the dream's topography were spiral ramps, rusting reinforced concrete, bridge supports, crash barriers and pylons - and beyond, a broad river, and a city with its back turned to it. And across the river the sophisticated Saska.

Above: looking under two off ramps towards the bottom end of ul. Fabryczna where our office is located.

Left: Spiral stairs lead down to the embankment from the bus stop. The bridge is crumbling in places, and supports are held up with steel props where the walkway passes under the road above.

My classic London dreams have long been of brick arches and tunnels under Paddington station; dark steam railway viaducts at night. Here's the Warsaw dream equivalent.

Below: there are bus stops on the bridge by both embankments, and a walkway separated off from the busy main road by crash barriers. Bus lanes in both directions keep public transport moving along this busy thoroughfare.

These empty riverbanks on either side are located in the middle of a capital city. Warsaw has done little with this natural asset; compare the banks of the Thames or the Seine as they flow through London and Paris.

Despite the bridge having been renamed in 1998, plaques bearing its original name (the General Zygmunt Berling Bridge) remain on both sides. Gen. Berling, a communist, is still commemorated with a statue on the other side of the river. It has been daubed with red paint in the past.

Soundtrack to the dream? Bruce Springsteen's Meeting Across The River from the 1975 album Born to Run; that ethereal trumpet and piano catches the ambience so precisely.

[See this post for some nocturnal atmosphere from the other side]

Last bike ride to work this summer

But the bike will not remain garaged. Tomorrow, shortly before midnight, it will be the autumnal equinox and once again the balance between light and dark northern hemisphere will once more shift towards the dark side, with more nighttime than day. In three months time, we'll be down to just over seven and half hours of daylight a day in Warsaw.

So when the sun shines, it behoves us to make the most of it, gather in those mood-lifting rays and enjoy the warmth. Today, I tried a new way into town by bike. From the race course at Służewiec, rather than use the bicycle path along Dolina Służewiecka, I follow the route of the canal. The track runs through some muddy puddles but is basically fine, and a pleasant alternative to riding alongside the busy road.

Above: blocks of flats to the left, a crane on the horizon suggests that more blocks will shortly appear. The canal here is actually a drainage ditch for the airport, channelling rainwater from the flat plains of Okęcie towards the Vistula.

Cycling through the spirit of place

A bright morning, heavy showers in the afternoon, a bright evening. A day ideally suited for a return trip to the office by bike.

There are places along my regular route to work that spark that involuntary moment of anomalous familiarity, when I catch myself in another memory, triggered by the urban landscape I ride through. Left: the stretch of ul. Puławska between Idzikowskiego and the Królikarnia. Those blocks of flats, separated from the road by greenery. Not their architecture in itself, more the alignment.

Incidentally, the 1.8km of cycle path along Puławska between Domaniewska and Dolna is ideal. A shame it's so short.

Above: ul. Belwederska, opposite the Russian Embassy looking down ul. Lądowa. Another beautiful stretch of cycle path - this one much longer (Pl. Trzech Krzyży all the way out to Powsin). But bombing along this particular part of it - down the skarpa is made more satisfying by the configuration of road, trees and buildings.

Further out of the city centre, turn off ul. Sobieskiego and head west towards Ursynów along the Dolina Służewska. The silver birches lining the road and the road itself have triggered that strange yet entirely familiar feeling of 'I've been here before and yet I haven't' for as long I've lived in Warsaw.

Above: Looking north-westward towards a setting sun shining through the trees. Below:turn back towards Ursynów. Rush hour traffic still looking heavy. Cycling along safe cycle paths is the way to go. On a day like today, even after cycling all the way in to the office and a long working day, I still elect to cycle all the way back home. Well, it makes eminent sense...

Sunny Sunday, Powsin, bikes

Sunny Sundays will become fewer and fewer as we head into autumn and then winter, so one must make the most out of them. get out into the Las Kabacki forest and go mad on your bicycle (where conditions allow of course. It's annoying to see cyclists hurtling at full throttle just inches from mums pushing prams). But the 900-hectare forest is large enough to provide stretches where you can open up (below). Suffice to say, like George W. Bush, when on my mountainbike I do not pootle around whistling show-tunes.

Especially good fun is the so-called 'Technical Trail' which runs inside the forest along its southern edge. Twisting and turning between trees, charging along here is exhilerating (helmets essential given the risk of getting whacked in the head by low-hanging branches).

Then right across the forest from south to north, to the railway line linking Warsaw's Metro to the outside world and the Metro Depot. To get up to the beautifully evocative trail running alongside the depot's sidings (below), one must first rush a five-metre high earth ramp along which the trail runs. There's only a 25m long run-up - not enough to accelerate to full speed - and the final part of the ascent is at least one-in-three. I used to be able to get to the top first time, today I managed on my third attempt (above left).

And finally on to Powsin (below), where the ride starts and finishes. At least a hundred other cyclists have had the same idea. Get out on a Sunday, cover 30-35km then relax with a beer and grilled pork shoulder (karkówka). It is a remarkable contrast with Britain, where Sunday sporting activity is usually team-based such as Sunday League soccer or rugby. In Warsaw, thousands of people take to the forest for jogging, Nordic walking or cycling. Would you witness such scenes in say, Richmond Park?