Back on track

What a day! First day after me being sick on the bike again. You must know that I live very close to my work now (only 5 minutes by foot) and don't have to cycle there anymore, so I grap every opportunity to ride my bike to places elsewhere. Today these were, all at once:

• my doctor
• a bike shop
• the Vienna University of Technology to meet a friend

Here's the story:

Setting off at home, I picked up Paula from the basement. There is a huge bike storage room in the house, but there are less stairs from our compartment in the basement to the street than from the bike storage room, so I keep my beloved there for the moment.

I even dressed up today (slightly).	Paula in the basement.

Special spring cycling moments

You may remember my enthusiastic post about meeting friends while cycling and that being able to have a little chat with another cyclist at a red light is a great advantage of not being trapped in a car. Well, it's not entirely true that conversations with people in cars cannot happen (and I don't mean the common "Get out of my way" shouts). But see for yourself:

Suddenly Vienna seems so peaceful...

After being back from India (see posts from Nagpur, Delhi and Jaipur) and its stressful traffic, I do appreciate the peaceful and almost empty streets in Vienna. Everything seems so organized and easy.

Gürtel bike path in Vienna

Spring is coming!

Hello everyone! Sorry that I've not been writing much for a while. I'm writing my bachelor's thesis and it takes all of my energy, and I don't feel much like writing anymore after 8 hours of typing and stuff. So, today I'm just posting some images of bikes and cycling in late winter and early spring.

Wow! Bike blossom time!

It's really amazing. On the weekend the temperatures went up, the sun returned after a few months of just gray sky -- and suddenly there are many many more cyclists to be seen on the roads. Spring time kicks in, yeah!

Today I even decided to cycle without a cap and without gloves. The wind in my hair just felt so lovely. Oh, how I missed that! On the other hand, my hands got really cold. On the way back from uni I wore some thin gloves again...

Truly amazing to see the bike paths in the rush hour. It's bike blossom time! Yeah, baby :).

And you're really cool if you find a chewing gum that matches your bike ride.

Bliss

It's 1 o'clock am and I'm cycling with number 13421 Bicing bike (one of the brand-new ones!) across Diagonal's wide bike lane in Barcelona. Diagonal is usually a crowded street but now there are only a few cars. I am alone with the bike, cycling back home after meeting a friend I had not seen for months.

I walked about 15 min to get to station with a bike and I got a good bike (the only one left). The brakes worked, the gears too and I did not even need to adjust the saddle. First, what else could I ask for?

Then the breeze at the wide cycling lane. I close the eyes just one second to become aware of the moment. I open them again. On the right hand side the trees curve towards the lane (those trees that give refreshing shade during the day): beautiful dark green leaves over my head. And me and the bike, no other bikes coming from the other direction nor anybike before or behind me. Just me.

My thoughts fly. To Anna's visit last month, to the friend I have just seen, to my whole life, to the thing I feel I am living. It is me, at 1 h am.

And then, when I leave Diagonal's bike lane, I enter the cozy streets of my quarter, Les Corts. No cars, no noise. The reflection of me cycling on a dark glass. There is no one on the street but, still, I feel safe.

I experience momentary bliss. I can't say why. It's something bigger than me that seizes me. I forget about my troubles, I feel safe. I cannot explain. And maybe all this already sounds stupid to you (as it sounds a bit to me now...but it is not stupid)

I am sad to leave the bike. I reach home and decide I will write about it. I realisedwe can find normal things so extraordinary sometimes. This time it was me, the bike and the refreshing spring breeze of a 15-16th May night in Barcelona.

Number 13421 bike, or the bike of bliss

Anna from BCN

Kirschblütenrennen

Last weekend a special bicycle race took place here in Upper Austria. It is called Kirschblütenrennen (cherry blossom race) and I think it is one of the oldest races still run in my region.

In 1984 it was the first bicycle race I had ever seen. I must admit that it didn't impress me much. I was rather bored by standing around at the road side, watching colorfully dressed men riding up a hill. Albeit it was a very steep hill, so what?

Years later, in my first season of bicycle racing, I happened to enter the race with the scope of experience of two or three races earlier that year, and I was ill-prepared for this one: To my surprise the hill had to be crossed twice. I fell back behind the peloton in the first climb and abandoned in the second. On Sunday I had a kind of flashback, especially when watching 12- to 15-year-old boys and girls merely flying up to the mountain standing with amazing speed.

Cool town, evening in the city..

There are more and more cyclists on the road these days. It's lovely -- sunny and warm. And sometimes I don't even have to ride up that hill on my own. Today I followed that woman in a flowery shirt and skirt. She did ride a bit close to the parked cars and her chain was crunching, which tells me that she's only on the bike for a short time. But well, good to be out, riding into the evening sun, isn't it? ;-)

More cyclists? More about how to count cyclists this weekend..

Listen carefully ... kkrkkrkkrkkr ...

Can you hear it? It's spring time!

Ok, maybe you don't know what I mean by this kkrkkrkkrkkr sound, but I'm quite sure it's familiar. It's the cyclist in front of you. The one who thinks that cycling in the winter is not possible and parked his bike for a few months either inside or outside (sometimes you can even make that out by the volume of the kkrkkrkkrkkr).

It's the chain, of course. The chain that is a bit rusty now, but has neither been cleaned nor greased after reviving the bike with love, ehm air.

"Chain" by Huw Pritchard

Please guys and girls, I'm begging you. Look after your chains. I hate that kkrkkrkkrkkr sound. I don't mind if you don't want to cycle in the winter. I'm happy for each and everyone that cycles (ok, in secret I already think about how I can convince you to cycle on in fall, and then winter too).

But: Look after your chain. Clean it and oil it and your life will be much easier (also talking about the power you need for pedaling). And quieter.

And: Look after your chain. Cleaning and oiling is not enough. I had to learn that the hard way when my chain was torn apart while cycling. It happened in fall, hence it wasn't a "start cycling in spring" thing. But it was one year after I had checked my chain the last time. You know, chains stretch continuously. If they are too long, they do a lot of harm to your (relatively expensive) sprockets.

There is a gauging tool to check whether the chain has lengthened too much, but you can easily do it yourself without that. I found this how-to and an even more useful video about chain wear on BicycleTutor.com (highly recommended). Read all about chain maintenance on Sheldon Brown's homepage if you want to become omniscient. And since we are just at it, here's a chain length calculator in case you need to replace your chain. By the way, well-looked-after chains may last for 5000km or even more. And also new chains are a steal (starting at 10€).

If you don't want to do all this yourself, it's worth to pay a mechanic to check your bike. I dislike kkrkkrkkrkkr people, thus better not be among them. Look after your chain and you can be my bike buddy :-).

Windy Wien

Finally, the sun is here. Hurrah! Well, it's also quite windy and that's both a blessing and a curse. They good thing about it is that the air in Vienna isn't all that bad, cause the wind blows away most of the air pollution. Tailwinds are welcome anytime of course. And a light breeze is always refreshing in the summer.

The bad thing is the hard work against the wind, especially uphill. Sometimes it's very difficult to balance the bike. Flying objects (e.g. paper, leaves, trash, small branches, dust) have to be avoided. And it's much colder -- at the moment we have about 5°C, but the windchill factor is still below 0°C. Anybody else struggeling with head and side wind?

Anyhow. Although rain and snow is forecast for this week, I still believe in spring. The blue Oma bike with the daffodil has told me so :-).