Steel is real – and soft

The mechanic’s report by Kare:

I hauled our trailer to Lohja and back with my old, trusty and rusty Surly Cross-Check. It is a great bike and we have had a lot of fun together, but it did not feel rigid when stomping on the pedals uphill with trailer. On gravel road downhills I also had some dangerous moments when I turned the handlebar and the frame responded just by twisting.

This morning I loaded the trailer again and tested it with different bikes.

My steel road bike SAB is made of Dedacciai’s triple butted high-end steel. With fully loaded trailer It was scary, wobbling all over the road.

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My gravel bike Cross-Check is made of basic double-butted CroMo-steel. It was ok but not good.

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My cyclocross race bike On-One Pickenflick is made of oversized, unbutted titanium. It has got oversized carbon fork. With trailer it felt rigid. Especially the front end was stiff. Rear end was quite ok.

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Pickenflick also has disc brakes and a simple 1 x 10 drivetrain. That means safety and durability. I suppose I will have to swap the cross rubber to touring tires and show Pickenflick some folk music festivals this summer. Steel is real, but oversized titanium is stiff.

Emilia does not have this kind of problems. Pelago Sibbo is one sturdy little bike, and carries fully loaded panniers with ease.

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It is different

Yesterday was the first proper riding day of the tour – 140 kilometers and two gigs. Kare hauled the trailer that was loaded with two violins and one nyckelharpa. Emilia had panniers. From Helsinki to Lohja the wind was blowing hard against us. Luckily (NOT!) it eased up when we rode back.
We noticed a few things.

Before the gig riding helps with the nerves – stress and biking don’t get along.

After the gig riding helps to get rid of excess energy. Some musicians go to bar, but riding home is more effective and healthy.

On your bike you can’t hang around in social media or mess with random office work. Traveling by bike helps you to keep focus. It’s like meditation, and totally different to travellng by car.

You can memorize the lyrics or the speaks when riding a bike.

Kilometers on the map are easy. Kilometers in real are not easy, but they are fun and worth it. Seven hours of riding, two hours of playing.

Kare’s violin. In action first time in fifteen years.

The set list, serious business.

Bemböle Kaffestuga – an obligatory stop for cyclists.

Tänään mennään

Emilia on treenannut ohjelmiston. Kare on pumpannut renkaat täyteen ja varmistanut, että viulut mahtuvat peräkärryyn – juuri ja juuri. Yhdessäkin on soitettu ihan pikkuisen – eilen Kare soitti ihmisille julkisesti ensimmäistä kertaa viiteentoista vuoteen…

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Ollaan melko valmiita.

Lohjalle on luvassa aurinkoa ja vastatuulta. Ensin soi museon kahvilassa klo 15, sitten Cafe Laurissa klo 17. Kummatkin ovat kuulemma hienoja kahvilakulttuurin pesäkkeitä. Sitten ajetaan kotiin. 140 kilometriä on päivällä mittaa.

Tulkaa katsomaan keikkoja vaikka fillarilla. Kahvi ja fillarit kuuluvat yhteen. Melkein niin kuin pyörä ja pyörä.

(Trailer) sharing economy

You can’t fit two violins and one nyckelharpa into bike panniers, that’s clear. So we need a trailer for the tour. We don’t own one, because there is not very much use for a bicycle trailer in normal life. We just don’t haul that much groceries.

For a short moment we considered buying, but that would have been ridiculous. We don’t like to own things we don’t use. So we asked our cycling friends if they have trailers for rent. Answer: Of course they have, many, and of course they rent them with pleasure.

It is not coincidence, that the biggest newspaper in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, had an article today about sharing economy. It is a mega trend of 2010’s.

We like sharing economy. It makes living easier, cheaper and more ecological. I don’t know if the so called real economy likes it, but who cares. In our lives, sharing is highly profitable, and we don’t mean money.

Dressing up

Today Emilia had a meeting with the charming designers at Tauko. They make beautiful, practical and very Scandinavian clothes, and use recycled materials. They even ride bikes.

So, quite naturally, some kind of co-operation is brewing up. Well, we co-operated with Tauko quite a lot already for our wedding, but also next summer Emilia will be using Tauko Design. And Tauko will probably have a pop-up store at some of the gigs.

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