I had a typical Italian breakfast next to the Arena in Verona, Italy. Some days ago, the Olympic Winter Games got celebrated here. Winter is gone, so now I start my spring sports days. I will bicycle through Emiglia Romagna for several days. Right now, I am having a toscany toast at a random village bar on my way south towards Bologna.
Early breakfast in sunny Stockholm, lazy lunch in sunny Copenhagen, and, later today, dinner in Hamburg. This journey starts promising. I am on my way to Verona, Italy, for taking out my Brompton on a spring bicycle tour. As a bonus, I add a photo from my compulsory visit to the New Harbour in Copenhagen; this time without ice.
The Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyre specifies its air pressure to be between 4.5 to 7.5 bar. With a 10 kg bag on the back, and with my 75 kg body weight, I usually ride with a pressure of around 6 to 7 bar. I do not think that the pressure ruined my rim band. It appears that the structure of the material of the rim band has changed over its life time to the worse.
As usual, my next trip will take me to Austria. I might, however, do a detour through Italy.
After 18000 kilometers, I had to change the rim tape on my Brompton. Due to the air pressure in the tube, the old tape got pushed into the spoke holes, and this caused the tube to follow into these holes. As a result, I twice got a 2 mm large puncture on the inside of the tube. Changing the rim tape was easy, once I figured out how to nicely center the tape on the rim with a spare spoke.
Now the bike is ready for the Easter journey starting on Saturday.
Today, I bicycled along the coast of Sweden's third-largest lake, Lake Mälaren. The ice on lake is about to vanish.
Daylight is getting longer by almost 35 minutes per week right now. We are about to overtake the places further south. We are winning!
There is nothing wrong with such a lovely afternoon in early March in Stockholm, Sweden. Swans and ducks are surfing on leftover patches of ice in the sun. People are out strolling, some even in T-shirts and shorts. I am hanging around with the Brompton and plan my next Easter trip. Life's being good to me!
For the first time in 18000 km, my Brompton failed me. It happened on my recent bicycle trip through Bavaria, Germany. The shaft's tread of the indicator chain got damaged and did not bite anymore. As a result, I could not switch gears anymore. I cut my journey by one day and took the train to Sweden. Back in Stockholm, the bike mechanic in Old Town just laughed and sold me a new chain for 10 Euros. Now, my Brompton and I are back in business again.
What a difference the location makes. On the left side a hazelnut tree in Bavaria, Germany, on the right side the frozen Lake Mälaren in Sweden. The left photo I took on my recent bicycle trip with the Brompton, the second I took today. Both photos were just taken three days apart in this week.
For a couple of days I completely forgot that spring in Stockholm is a lot less advanced than in southern Germany and Austria. Just three days ago I watched bumble bees feeding on new born flowers in strong colours. I stopped in the forest and listened to happily chirping birds. Even a wood pecker showed up and did its job. But spring in Stockholm is also about to appear, even though lakes are still frozen. No worries, it just takes a bit more time.
