Most recent activity
-
April in Poland is notoriously variable- you may be able to ride in short sleeve with beautiful sunshine, get soaked for few days or even encounter some snow, especially in the mountains.
In my opinion, choose N or S of the country and stick to it, as it takes a day to go from Gdansk to Tatra Mountains (Zakopane) by train. Please check our other mountains as it’s not only Tatra- see also areas of Żywiec or Jelenia Góra.
Train ticket options are here-https://www.intercity.pl/en/ or here https://rozklad-pkp.pl/en/
Travelling across the country is not a problem when you go for couple of weeks but more of an issue if it’s a short trip. IMHO Gdańsk would be a better place to go as there is much more to do do if you don’t ride (shit weather), you can enjoy our sea side and airport is only about 30min from the city centre. Check those MTB trials over there- my friend is using them and highly recommends.
https://www.facebook.com/epicentrumszkolenmtb/videos/epi-trails-sopocka/648393806449013/
https://www.facebook.com/bigfootworksbikepark
I can’t point to anything specific in other areas yet, but I asked the question already and will let you know if anything decent appears.
If you want ride cross country, you could try flying to Gdansk, and head towards Kaszuby (Gdansk-Kościerzyna-Chojnice-Bydgoszcz) or go towards our Lake District Mazury (Gdansk-Elbląg-Olsztyn). Bydgoszcz and Olsztyn are major towns from where you can take train south. -
Pole Positions will be much lighter than stock seats but you may have to replace OE seat runners and more likely fit new seat belt buckles (receivers). Recaro seat cushion/base has high side section and OE buckle will not sit comfortably so most commonly webbing type is used instead of cable/rigid type. Not sure about the runners cost (anything Recaro is pricey) but belts buckles can be made to measure and they are quite cheap to replace. Let me know if you will need more info
-
Hi, Gdańsk is positioned on the opposite side of Poland than the mountains. It’s a big country and it’s about 600-700 km to get to them. If you prefer those, think about flying to Krakow or Katowice instead. There are some good off road tracks around Gdańsk, but no mountains I am afraid. Also, long distance touring in Poland is no fun in my opinion. Check this thread- https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/396362/
If you can be slightly more specific of what you want to do, I will try to get you some more info -
- 26 comments
- 1,697 views
-
Poland. Ride through our home country was short, but it provided us with more adrenaline than our entire journey so far. Unfortunately, not in a positive way. All started very well as route to German/Polish border was alongside Odra (Oder) river with no cars or busy roads in sight. The path was great with good quality tarmac, the river flowing gently next to it and with very picturesque surroundings. We arrived to Kostrzyn in high spirits, had a nice dinner and went towards our accommodation. In the meantime, our plans had changed slightly and Bydgoszcz became our final destination. The shortest route there from Kostrzyn went through Gorzów Wielkopolski, in Krzyż Wielkopolski direction. We set off in the morning happy to be home, but little did we know. First, the bike paths. Their design is chaotic, they start and finish in completely random places, switching between two sides of the road frequently. Very often, cycle path suddenly disappears and you have to use main busy road instead. Big towns usually maintain their bike lanes much better, but smaller cities or villages have other priorities and cycle lanes are at the bottom of their to-do lists. This means old and uneven surface, high kerbs, shops/house entrances or bus/tram stops in a way, etc. Even sections marked R1 were lower standard than what we got used to and expected. So, more about the roads. For whatever reason, according to cycle.travel maps a soft sand road was marked as a paved track. At least it was visible and easy to find because the next section was literally a forest duct that was forgotten about a very long time ago. Cobbled sections stretched through entire villages, and some potholes were of the 700c wheel size. When a cycle lane finishes and becomes a main road, you want to cycle close to the lane edge, as everywhere else in the world. Only you can’t, as the damaged surface is patched over and over again and it’s impossible to ride on it fully loaded unless you have a full suspension set up. You move to the middle of the road and then drivers are unhappy about that. Polish drivers, the final piece of jigsaw. You could write a book about them, but you would more likely gone mad just doing the research for it. With only few exceptions, drivers in Poland are still mentally in the dark ages. If you don’t drive a car or something more substantial, you are no-one to them and they are not afraid to shout it out straight into your face (not literally). Overtaking you less than 50cm away at nearly 100km/h? Notorious. Overtaking someone else on the opposite side without any care that you are in the way? Done. Joining your lane and pushing you to the kerb without even acknowledging you? Yep, no problem. Furthermore, everyone is rushing like there is a fire somewhere, they have been just called to help and you are in the way. They are dangerous, careless and do not have respect for bikers, nothing whatsoever.
All above happened in a space of less than 100km. Don’t get me wrong, we lived and cycled in London for over 20 years, many of those involved commuting on the bike every day but I had enough even before reaching Gorzów Wielkopolski. We decided to continue to see if the conditions would get any better. They did not, so we arranged a pick up from Krzyż and finished our journey there as we did not want to risk any physical damages to ourselves or the bikes. We were approx. 180km from our final destination but it would take us another 2-3 days and a lot of grey hairs to get there so just decided to call it a day.
So here is a quick summary. We started our trip on the 15th of July in St Albans, and finished it on the 29th in Krzyż Wielkopolski. According to my partner’s Garmin we did 1294km in total, the shortest daily distance was 86.4km, the longest one 131.2km, so a daily average was just over 100km. We had 3 days of rest in total- 1 in Bremen and 2 in Berlin. Our overnight stays were mixture of Couchsurfing, Airbnb, our friends place and some local hotels. Paid stays were ranging between £30 to £70 per night, and we only booked in advance the first night and the ferry. With exception of Poland, the routes were fairly easy, with only few short sections being either difficult to find, or to go through. Approx. 90% of time we were fine on our racing bikes with 25mm tyres, while remaining 10% was doable but would be much more comfortable with wider tyres. For the roads in Poland we used, I would recommend a touring bike set up as it is a pain to do that on a racer. You not only have to worry about your own safety but also navigate the bike through various obstacles. I am sure that if you stick to regional trails or if you cycle in bigger towns, you will not be faced with problems we experienced. But if you decide to ride across the country, you will need eyes on stalks, very comfortable set up for your bike and be prepared for the unexpected. All in all, we had a great fun and would be happy to do the same journey again if necessary. If you have any questions about it or need more info, just let me know. Thanks for reading, have fun on two wheels and stay safe! -
My Caad as a touring bike, somewhere in Germany
I got some options for bike parks down south if you decide to go over there. Various types and difficulty levels:
https://www.bikeparkczarnagora.pl/
https://www.swieradow.pl/atrakcje/trasy-rowerowe
https://skolnity.pl/trasy-rowerowe/
https://szczyrkbikepark.pl/
Have fun if you decide to go!