My First Canadians

5th June two very happy and charming girls turned up on my doorsteps. Marie and Eveline are from Québec Canada, my first two Canadians. If the rest are like these two, they are more than welcome! They even prepared a lunch for me, unfortunately I forgot it, and made them upset.
  They started their trip in Kirkenes (a town almost on the border to Russia) and were heading for France where Marie (she was very strict on how to pronouns the 'r' in Marie) were going to work this summer. In Québec she works in a cycling store and was proud to show off her bike. She was not too impressed with my bike, though, since it was made from aluminum. As I understand, aluminum is not the first choice for touring since it is hard to weld.
  She was giving me some very useful tip on bike maintenance when on the wheels. I will give you a detailed description in my "Good Ideas" section.

"Life on a Bike"

Cari and Mike came to Cyclist's Home after 12 days of cycling without a resting day or a shower. My youngest daughter wondered why they didn't just take a bath in a river or a lake? Well, they did, but getting a warm shower was something very different.
   It wasn't just the riders who needed a clean up. The bikes were also dirty and "tiered". It was interesting to see how their bikes had held up through so many kilometres. Before they started on their way to North Cape, they had done South America and crossed over the USA. I have to admit, that made them special. It was great to watch Mike work on their bikes and to discuss different aspect of touring. Talking to them was inspiring, and with some help from Cari, I opened a new part of my blog: Maintenance. Her I'll give statistics over problems visitors have had with their bikes.
  Ben came together with them. He is from France, and started cycling without any previous experience. A friend of mine who came over while they were her, found Ben's story very inspiring. He could tell us about how he just  got the idea of touring, planed it and went. That was a lesson for both of us; we would love to go on a cycling tour, but we are too concerned with getting the right gear and preparing. If you want a "Life on a Bike" you should just sett out.

Making a Bike Roll

The more I ride my bike, the better I understand how important maintenance is. It seem like all the moving parts on a bike will have to be replaced at some point. This understanding just became stronger when I met Sabina and Thomas. They came to stay with us at Cyclist's Home for a few days while they waited for some spare parts for their tandem. They had come all the way from Germany, and needed a new rear wheel. It was really nice having you her, and I hope you will let me know how far the wheel was willing to take you.

Follow their journey on: www.tandemtrotter.de

Internet Shops and Bike Maintenance

Bike maintenance is both rewarding and challenging. My bottom bracket was worn along with the two larger chainrings; hence they had to be changed. So I ordered the parts I needed from my local Internet shop in England.

  Since this was the first time I would do this operation, I sat aside the weekend for the job. Knowing I had all the tools needed, I started. I like my bike, and take some pride in keeping it in order. But as I already have said, I do not know much about bike maintenance; I do, however, find it rewarding since it is quite simple and easy to understand.  I would never claim to be skilled, but I am quite handy.

  So, I was able to change all the parts and it worked fine on Sunday morning. Monday morning, on my way to work, I found that my left gear shifter no longer worked. After some time, I understood it did not have anything to do with my work, but it was all worn down. 

So now I am looking for a replacement. But truly I should have bought the groupset in the first place; that would have been less expensive and I would not have had to wait so long for the new parts. It turns out that my local Internet shop in England does not send this item out of England. It is probably some national secret they want to keep for themselves; just a shame it is Japanese.