Last week I and my family moved to another apartment and I didn't ride a single kilometer the whole week. Well, I suppose carrying about 100 000 boxes of our personal belongings up and down two sets of stairs is rather good exercise, so hopefully my scientific training programme was not set back too much during the week.
Now I'm on summer vacation and cycling in Kainuu. Yesterday and the day before that I did nice two-hour rides. Well, the first one was a bit tedious, because the scenery was very flat and uninteresting. Long, straight stretches of road and uneventful forest scenery. Excitement was provided a couple of times by large trucks, which bypassed me at a very close distance on the narrow road. The adrenaline rush and the suction improve the speed slightly, but still I'd rather maintain my safety and not have the trucks so near me. I wonder if there indeed are more civilized countries, where truck drivers respect cyclists, like actually slowing down a bit, if it isn't safe to bypass.
The other ride was nicer, because the road was wider and there was enough room for both the trucks and myself. It rained at first, and the road seemed to have been rather dusty, so I became quite sooty and grimy on the ride. I'd just bought nice, white running socks, which had turned black after the ride.
I also did some bicycle maintenance yesterday. I replaced the old handlebar tape, which was sloppily installed, with new, supposedly more hi-tech one. When I opened the tape package, I realised that I didn't know how it's supposed to be done exactly. This instructional video was helpful, and the result is fine. The new tape is slightly more comfortable on the road, I suppose.
Distance: 61/61.5 km
Time: 1:55/1:58
Avg: 31.8/31.1 km/h
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