Cycling
In the saddle
In Japan I used to cycle from home to the seaside, which was about 12.5km. The route was pretty much completely flat and competely straight. The only obstacles on the way were traffic lights. 12km is the perfect distance for me to push myself, take a break and then cycle back. I used to be able to do that course in 34 minutes ?? seconds, I forget the exact time. Despite the traffic lights being fairly random I was quite consistent in hitting that time. It was the first I ever truly 'got' that sensation you get from physical exercise, of being relaxed yet hyped up, of being tired yet aware. It's when you know that you're alive.
Now I have new destination: my girlfriend's place! It's also about 12.5km away, but it has a bit more obstacles and challenges. First off, my home is on a hill, so leaving the house is easy and getting back is a pain. There's hardly a flat bit on the way, but I'd say it's about 10% flat, 70% significant downhill and 20% significant uphill. Nowhere near mountainous of course, but enough to make you stop pedaling when going down or start sweating when going up.
There's a couple of big multi-lane roundabouts on the course that are surprisingly easy to tackle because there's never that much traffic. There's always room for a bicycle to sneak in and take it halfway. The road narrows a lot in several areas where there's a middle section to allow pedestrians to cross. Cars tend to wait their turn when it gets narrow but I've had some bastard bus driver encounters where the gap was a bit too narrow for my liking (but still safe). What's worse, sometimes the road surface is crap because of heavy trucks pushing all the asphalt to the side, creating a sort of hill right where bicycles are supposed to cycle, and the only way to avoid it is by cycling on the middle of the road. Which is of course what I do. If this country can't provide decent roads for cycling then I feel no remorse about being in the way of car drivers when I have to.
Slightly past halfway there's a very weird multi-story triple roundabout, which I avoid entirely by going underneath it via a dedicated cycle way. It means I have to spiral down, then up, then down again (or vice versa). After that there's a bit of uphill and then another massive roundabout, always full of cars, where I have to go three quarters. Taking it through sidewalks is a bit of a pain, so it depends on traffic on whether I take it as a pedestrian or as a car. After that it's downhill all the way to my girlfriend's house!
I feel healthy again, and comfortable on the bike. This feeling coincided with the cycling trip and changing my saddle, both of which contributed to the feeling. The new saddle is tough and slightly painful in the beginning, but I remember the feeling well, and it's how I'm supposed to feel when riding a bicycle. When I feel my butt on the saddle like that, I know all is right with the world. And after the cycling trip in Holland I feel completely comfortable on my 'new' bicycle, which is now almost a year old. I know how it reacts, I know what I can and can't do with it. It's where I belong.
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Cycling in the UK
How long has it been since I blogged while on cycling holiday? I'm not counting the time spent at my parent's place of course. I've switched from netbook to iPad and am already feeling the pain of writing blog articles and managing photos. Will definitely need an ultrabook for the next big trip.
Today felt quite authentic. I was rudely awakened this morning by a pleasant wakeup tune, signaling everyone to get up and partake in the expensive ferry breakfast. I slept in and walked to my bicycle directly when the time came to disembark. I cycled out of the ferry and immediately had to stand in line for the border control. Now experience! It was over in 5 seconds and then I was free. Free to roam the cycling paths of England.
'Cycling path', as it turns out, is a bit of a vague term in England. I can't say that I'm impressed, but then I have been spoilt by perfectly maintained, wide, separate cycling paths from the Netherlands.
There's roughly three kinds of cycling paths in south England: regular car-roads, either away from traffic or right in the middle of it, abandoned railway tracks, and trails that you would really only tackle by mountain bike because they are either too narrow or too muddy or too bumpy to cycle with a regular bicycle. All three kinds appear gloriously in the so-called "national cycle network", which must be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
Every once in a while you're on a perfectly wide road with no traffic at all, and then the national cycle route signs kindly tell you to go onto a massive A-road with tons of traffic. It's usually just a short distance until you can get off onto another B-road, but still. And the signs are very easy to miss because they're hidden behind foliage. I do not regret at all that this was the first trip where I s constantly using GPS.
But the mountain bike paths are the worst. At least on busy roads you can still make good progress (at the risk of your own life), but some of the trails I've seen today were absolutely not meant for long-distance touring cycling. Sure, it's nice if there happens to be an abandoned railroad track that can be converted into a cycle way, but if it's not maintained then there's soggy sand, stingy thistles and massive bumps to deal with. There's just no way to cycle in a relaxed manner on these roads, you have to pay constant attention.
All bad things aside, the English countryside is quite idyllic, and today's weather was perfect. I've had many a moment where I thought: "this would be a great place to take a break and enjoy the countryside". But then I couldn't, because these sorts of places are always impossiblef to stop at, because of traffic, thistles, narrowness, other things, whatever. The message that I as a cyclist get from England is: "Move along, nothing to see here. Don't even think about stopping. Innit".
I tend to prefer a calm-ish road with cars on it over a bumpy or muddy trail. When the road is so narrow that I am actually in the way of traffic I just go more towards the middle of the road to make it very clear that if a car were to overtake, it would be fucking stupid. Not all of them take the hint, of course. But I've never had someone get angry at me, also because I give cars space to pass wherever I can.
Today turned out to be over 100km after all, even though it was only supposed to be around 80. I still ended up at the hotel before 3pm because I started so early in the morning. Tomorrow will be the final stretch 'home', back to my lovely flatmates. I should be able to make it home before lunch.
I really missed this feeling. Being on a bicycle for most of the day, making progress here and there, always getting closer to your goal no matter which way you go. Life is simple this way. Once you're done cycling you're too tired to worry about anything complicated. And the next day is always slightly different. When you're on the road there's always something new to see, something unexpected about to happen (in a good way). It makes me feel alive. I can't imagine a life without cycling trips. Even complicated stuff that worries me in daily life always seems simpler after I finish cycling, even if I never consciously thought about any of it.
I am aware of where I am in life.
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Thoughts on cycling
Here I am in Holland, at my parent's place yet again. Last Saturday Kamil and I cycled from Rotterdam to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Texel, then Texel to Harlingen, and then we had to take the train back home because Kamil's knee gave out. I hope he gets well soon, and I hope he has enough sense to RICE.
It was the first trip with my new bicycle, and I managed to reach 1000km on the odometer. Yay! Today I cycled around the lake at a record 25kph average, something I can't remember doing after I came back here from Japan. I think it's because Japan hardly ever had a long flat stretch of road I could cycle non-stop on, whereas I've been doing a lot of that since I came back; around the lake in Holland and in the gym at Google. It does seem to have a small effect on my ability to cycle at constantly higher cadences over longer periods of time.
Wind. Wind sucks. Wind sucks even more if you are going upwind and downwind on the same day. If you're touring then you're usually always facing the wind from the same general direction, which seems easier to get used to than if you're doing a round trip. Anyway, wind bad.
The trip around the lake is the only trip I've done with both my old and my new bicycle, so I finally feel I can compare a little. The new bike definitely seems lighter, mostly because of the absence of a front suspension (which was broken on the old bike anyway so it was just dead weight). I've long thought that my new bike did not have the 'sweet spot' gear that I used to have on my old bike, where I could do around 24kph at a comfortable cadence. Now I'm starting to wonder if it was just my lack of strength that made me think that. During the tour of Holland I managed to hit a very comfortable cycling rhythm around 21, 24 and 27kph, so the gears are perfect.
One thing that's far from perfect though, is the saddle. I bought a Serfas gel saddle on the recommendation of another touring cyclist, but I'm not very happy with it. It's quite comfortable, but any time I lean even the slightest bit forward I end up with numbness in my crotch area. Very bad. I was about to buy a Brooks saddle before leaving on this trip, but a salesperson recommended against it. He said Brooks saddles were too slippery for him and that choosing a saddle is a very personal experience. He showed me some other ones and recommended I try out some saddles for day trips, but the shop couldn't help me with that, of course. I'm really not sure about Brooks. They seem overpriced and hipster-y, and there's zero guarantee that it'll be a good fit for me, so I might as well try out some other saddles first. I might try and get a hold of my original bike's saddle, since I already know that it's comfortable to me. I have no idea where to find one though..
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Soon: cycling in Holland
We've just finished cycling from Rotterdam to Groningen. I'm still sorting out the photos and experiences. Expect some news here soon :)
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Cycling
Cycling trip preparations
This week I will embark on what will undoubtedly be the least adventurous cycling trip I've ever done. I'm cycling my home country for a mere 3 days (any more and I'd run out of home country to cycle in - Holland is just too small..). We pre-booked hotels and won't even be bringing camping equipment, so no random places to stay for the night. Furthermore, I pre-planned the routes on the superbly excellent cycling directions site, and downloaded both the routes and all the map data for the areas we're cycling in to my phone. But wait, you say, I'll run out of battery. Nope. I got a ridiculously large aftermarket battery (6200mAh) and will be bringing the charger pack (10,000mAh) that my girlfriend lent me. I will not be running out of power. I've got an excellent pump, plenty of spare tires, plenty of bike tools. Nothing can go wrong.
There. By saying that I've ensured that something unexpected and undoubtedly exciting will happen during this trip :D
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Mini-cycling trip 2013: off to Holland we go!
It's decided! :D Next week Kamil and I will fly to Rotterdam, from where we will cycle all the way north to Groningen to my parent's place. Although Kamil will have to leave soon after to go back to work I've booked a ferry back at a later date and will cycle back to London from Harwich. I can't wait!
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I feel the need to cycle
Might be doing Sri Lanka this summer with Kamil. I'm feeling free-er and free-er lately. Japan is not finished yet. Perhaps I can do New Zealand this winter. Life is not about work. Life is about roads.
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