Saturday, April 18, 2009

Incoherent rambling

I've been a proud owner of a '08 Trek Madone 4.5 for nearly three weeks now. Haven't managed to actually ride the bike yet, though. Shameful, isn't it? Although I must say that my excuses are plentiful and, partly, even valid. First of all, I suffered from a persistent cold for some three weeks, during which doing any sports was unthinkable. Then I vacationed for a week in Berlin. And last, but not least, the weather in Finland is not suitable for bicycling yet. In my opinion. Sure, there are plenty of polar bears, disguising themselves as humans, who claim that bicycling through the year in Finland is possible. However, when I'm talking about bicycling, in this blog, I usually mean road bicycling, without winter gear. You know, the kind of bicycling that they do in European countries, like Italy, for example.

Come to think of it, I'm really beginning to hate the local climate. It really is miserable to have a three month summer vs. nine months of trudging in wet snow, coughing and suffering from various colds each year. I don't even ski. Well, you can always move to a warmer climate on pension, but perhaps doing just that should be considered earlier. Berlin didn't seem like a bad place to live at all.

Anyway. The season should be started soon. There's a bicycling event nearby about a month from now, about a 100 km ride. A couple of friends have expressed their interest too. I'm in, provided that
a) weather conditions are not too bad, i.e. no ice storm. No tornados either. Raining s**t will turn me off also.
b) I get to practice a bit before the event. A couple of longer rides should suffice.
c) The wife lets me.

Also I'd like to get a new bike computer and/or heart rate monitor. I can also live with the old ones, provided that I find some cable ties of the correct width so I can install the old bike computer on the new bike. It's not as easy as it sounds.

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