I am slowly getting aware of the powerful concept of multi-mode bicycling with the #Brompton. I can just hop on any local bus wherever there is a bus stop. This extends the range which I can reach within a weekend tour tremendously. I started my recent three-day tour in Stockholm, took a bus to Norrtälje (2.30 €), then took another bus out to the island of Björkö, which cost me another 2.30 €. After 3 hours I was in the middle of the beauty of the Archipelago. (1/2)
Hey#cycling fediverse Lael Wilcox is attempting to break the womens world record for cycling around the world. She arrived in Portugal today and will be cycling through europe in the next weeks. If you're close by the route https://content.rapha.cc/us/en/story/laels-ride-around-the-world please show up and ride with her a while.
I bycycled all the way to the island of Singö, the most northern point of my tour. I spent the night on the shore of the Baltic Sea. I talked with a man about bicycling in the Netherlands, which he considered top-notch. I countered his opinion: To me, this part of Sweden I am bicycling right now is by far better. Best roads, virtually no traffic, and enough bakeries and food stores. Finally, let's not forget the freedom to roam in Sweden. Top-notch!
On the boat towards Travemünde \o/ It's been a few hectic days getting everything ready, but finally on the way. Now it's 30 hours of looking at the sea, and possibly hacking on things a bit to pass the time.
Having spent an hour queuing into the boat in hot sunshine with no shelter, kind of looking forward to the what looks like a bit cooler temperatures in Germany - at least for now :P Once I arrive, my plan is to do a night ride from Lübeck to Hamburg, and catch the early morning train towards the south. Weather forecast says I'll be getting wet.
Also, I managed to get rid of the clicking noise on my bike, yay! It seems on the Marin DSX 1, the saddle post is too long for the frame. If you lower it to the lowest it will go (which I did when I installed my saddle, which has a slightly higher profile than the original one), the seatpost will actually hit the bottom of the tube 🤯. I really hope I've not damaged the frame by riding it like this for months. After raising the saddle by 1cm, the worst of the clicking noise disappeared instantly. There is still a little bit of noise when putting a lot of pressure on the pedals, so something to check up on later, but mostly it's now quiet to ride.
I would like to share the track of my recent 4-days tour through Uppland, Sweden. I usually start planning a route with the app BRouter (Android) with the profile "trekking" for finding suitable routes. Next I check the chosen route and might manually improve it by using smaller "no-name" roads. Quite often I also check the pavement of the road by using Google Street View.
Aus Zagreb wieder rauszufahren war bedeutend einfacher und entspannter als der Weg in die Stadt im gestrigen Stossverkehr. Zuerst durch das Labyrinth der Wohnviertel, dann etwas, das mit seinen Glashäusern und diversen Gewerbebauten an Simmering erinnert und dann auf einem vorbildlichen Radweg ins Umland. Ab hier ist es vorbei mit der radfahrerischen Anarchie, es kehrt wieder geordnetes Landleben ein. Gemütlich schlängelt sich der Weg durch die von der Save geformte Ebene und nachdem die keine Siedlungsformen vorgibt, finden sich die Häuser einfach irgendwo, d.h. meistens entlang der […]
"In patriarchal societies where #masculinity is coded as #power and control, men often try to get closer to women through power and control. The range of how this plays out is vast. It could be inconsequential, or it could end a woman’s life. This (...) may also be a reason why so many women in the “Man or Bear” debate chose the bear."
I recommend every man to read this piece by long-distance #cyclist Laura Killingbeck.
Wenn ich die #Vennbahn bis Troisvierges fahre, bietet sich da ein weiterer (Fern-) Radweg in der Nähe an, den ich gut verknüpfen könnte?
Im Idealfall Richtung Norden/Nordwesten, der mich ungefähr auf hohe Ruhrgebiet bringt.
Nicht, dass ich noch ein paar tausend Kilometer vor mir habe auf der aktuellen Route, aber nach der Tour ist vor der Tour, oder so ^^ #radreise#fahrradbubble#bikepacking @fedibikes_de
On day 3 of our #Brompton tour we bicycled from Arboga to Eskilstuna, Sweden. On the picture you can see Lake Hjälmaren. The lake's peaceful surface perfectly mirrors my state of mind after three days of touring through Sweden's countryside: All the world's noisy nervousness and merciless madness, amplified to the extreme by all the media, is far, so far away from me.
je pars dans un mois pour un premier petit voyage #velo#bikepacking (250km autour du golfe du morbihan).
Et donc vous avez des recos de matos, des conseils ? j'avoue je pars à l'aventure...
D'ailleurs j'ai regardé rapidement chez D4 et il y a un petit budget en sacoches... Donc si tu es sur #rennes et que tu veux louer tes sacoches... ca pourrait m'intéresser ! :)
Honestly, our two-day stopover in Patmos was a lucky coincidence that came about through a name mix-up 😂 patmos, piraeus... 🧏♀️ I don't know... thanks to my legastenic brain and the stressy situation at the ferry ticket office 🤷♀️
The ferry crossing was already amazing 🤩, but when we arrived in Patmos and were warmly welcomed at the vegan restaurant 'Pernera' with our loaded bicycles, we were very happy about this confusion 🥰 !
Sidenote: The neighboring shop initially wanted to send us away and said we should park our bikes in the parking lot at the harbor... yea of course... not!
In the beautiful 'Pernera', we enjoyed a vegan and gluten-free menu, prepared with love from organic and local ingredients 🫠. And besides the delicious food, our souls were nourished by the inspiring and motivating conversations we had with the people there 🫶
The search for a campground in the picturesque small bays was a bit challenging. Either the beach was too narrow for a tent or private. Fortunately, it was still off-season, and we were able to set up our inner tent in the bay 'Kampos Beach' next to the beach bar, as the beach taverns and sunbed rentals were not yet active.
The last test and recent rides have been useful in the sense that I realized I simply can't have a backpack on my back for three weeks while trying to do long daily rides. I already occasionally suffer from shoulders being tense due to weight on the backpack while riding, so probably not a good idea for longs rides over many weeks.
So, new plan, don't buy a frame pack and instead buy a rear rack and a pannier which converts into a backpack, thus allowing leaving the backpack at home. Due to time being limited, options were limited to local shops, which basically meant a combo of Ortlieb's Quick Rack + Vario PS QL2.1 26L. The Quick Rack is simply amazing, literally can be attached and detached in seconds. The Vario PS is very functional. It does the job of being both a pannier and also a backpack. This is a difficult thing to achieve and given that Ortlieb have done a good job. However, it's somewhat ugly and uncomfortable actually wearing as a backpack. But hey, we're going riding, not walking, right?
This ride told me I do need another pannier, if I'm going to skip the frame pack and backpack, otherwise the single pannier is just going to have too much weight in it. Basic model panniers are available second hand quite well luckily so hopefully wont need to buy that one new.
Setting up the tent was really easy! At least without rain pouring down 😅 I do love the functionality of the MSR Hubba Hubba NX 2. Also got to test my Klymit inflatable sleeping pad and the super awesome FLEXTAILGEAR mini-pump, which also functions as a light for the tent. Really nice find.
Our campsite in the middle of Rhodes...
When we found this place in 'Rodini Park', there was not a single person visiting this deep green park. So we thought we could go to bed early and spend a quiet night. However, we did not expect a group of teenagers who had come to play 'hide and seek'. As soon as they spotted us, they started throwing stones in our direction. So we got out of the tent to show them who we are and to talk to them. Finally, they understood that we are travelers who just want to spend a peaceful night here. After exchanging some famous football players and some curse words in different languages, they finally ran away.