amusing ride report. any photos to post? On Sunday, November 24, 2019 at 10:07:17 PM UTC-6, Michael Morrissey wrote: > > Hi Riv-listers, > > This summer I took the best bicycle ride I have ever been on in my life. > In the last few years, I’ve made an effort to go on better vacations. Two > summers ago I bought a BMW GS and rode from NYC to Yellowstone and back. > The BMW GS has the best reputation as a travel bike, so I wanted to try > one. It was great, but I decided I wanted to do things a little differently > on the next trip. Instead of an expensive dream bike with all the farkles, > I decided to just get a whatever bike. One of my best friends moved to > Finland, and has invited me there for years, so I finally took him up on > it. He told me I should do a longer trip and check out some of the > neighboring countries, so I decided to fly into Riga, Latvia and travel to > Helsinki. The second I booked the trip, I started thinking “hmmm… this > should be a bike trip.” I thought about bringing my Rivendell, but I didn’t > want to risk having it stolen. It’s only 200 or so miles from Riga to > Helsinki, so I figured I could do it on any old bike. I emailed a bunch of > shops in Riga and one responded. I told them I wanted to buy a bike for 100 > to 400 euros, and they said sure no problem, they’d hook me up for 100 > euros with one of their old rental fleet. > > I packed my bags. I brought 2 ortlieb bags, my favorite hoodie, a Brooks > Cambium saddle, Adidas sneakers, 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of pants, my Giro > helmet, and my camera. Here’s what I didn’t bring: a sleeping bag, a tent, > bicycle-specific clothing, any food, a water bottle, tools, a camp stove. I > wanted to travel as light as possible and maybe even blend in. > > I got to Riga and was so excited that I could barely sleep. Also my airbnb > wasn’t really someone’s home, it was more of a college dorm. College kids > were in it, coming home at all hours. I went to the bicycle shop as soon as > I could. I paid 100 euros and bought the bike! > > They sold me an older Gazelle bicycle. It wasn’t a Rivendell - it was > aluminum - but it would do! It had Shimano Alivio components, 700x35 or 38 > tires, V brakes, no fenders. It rode just fine. It even had a back rack for > my Ortlieb bags! I had them change the seat to my Brooks, added a > Rivendell-spec safety triangle, and I took off. I rode all around Riga. I > went to the Vespa shop, the art museum, up the Radisson building for the > best view of the city. It was great. I spent another day there seeing > everything. Then, I took off. > > I was so excited to ride on that first day that I woke up at 5 in the > morning. When I travel, my official philosophy is > “freestyling/freewheeling” which is a joke of mine - that I didn’t even > decide on what to call the not-planning-ahead. It’s not all improvisation - > I do browse the website Atlas Obscura. The streets seemed dead in the > morning. Traffic was so much lighter than what I’m used to commuting to > work in New York City. I went to the Bicycle Museum in Saulkrasti. It was > my goal to get there before it closed for the day, but I crushed the riding > and got there before it opened. You Rivendell fans would love it. It was > just the garage in the backyard of someone’s house. They collected bicycles > from Latvia only. They had all sorts of cool bicycles and interesting > parts. There was a full-suspension wooden bike made by an engineer in the > 1930s that looked like a 1990s mountain bike. It was great. Even their > collection of head-badges was amazing. I looked at everything and left to > keep riding. I ended up just riding and riding that day. My navigation was > just hotels that I had started on Google Maps. I hadn’t realized camping is > actually really popular there. I marked a campground called “Kemping > Klintas” and aimed there. I got there around 4 PM, really tired. My legs > were mushy and I had done around 50 miles from Riga. I felt so tired that I > thought someone else was going to have to lift me off of my bicycle. The > last 3 miles were on dirt washboard roads to the campground. > > When I arrived at the campground, they told me they just had tent camping, > and all their cabins were full. I told them I didn’t have a tent - was > there any place I could stay? It was just me and my bike. They made me a > deal that I could stay in their sauna! They had a sauna shaped like a boat > that overlooked the Baltic sea. They gave me a blanket and a camping > mattress, and charged me 15 euros. I didn’t bring any food, but they had a > restaurant. I was worried I wasn’t going to find much vegetarian food and > I’d be subsisting on cashews and apricots, but I got a huge plate of > roasted veggies and quinoa that looked more like a “vegetarian option” at a > wedding. It was great. > > The next morning, I woke up chilly. Ironically, the sauna was cold. It was > overcast, and I rode out of the campground. There were some dirt roads > along the Baltic with incredible views. There were lots of old farmhouses. > But, most of the dirt roads spit you out back to the main highway. That > morning, almost as soon as I hit the highway, I met two other bicycle > riders. They were two college girls from St. Andrews in Scotland. They > immediately let me follow them, as I was wearing my safety yellow hoodie > and helmet, and we were on the shoulder of a major highway. They wanted to > get off the highway, and instead of Google Maps on airplane mode, they told > me they had a bicycle-specific app with the bike routes marked. I followed > them, and the bicycle paths turned out to be more of sandy hiking paths. It > started raining. Our bicycles got very sandy. One thing I love about riding > bikes is that you can never tell who is a poser and who isn’t. These girls > turned out to be super tough riders, powering through these sandy trails. > It started raining hard. We were in the woods. We passed amazing old > farmhouses. We weren’t sure how long we were riding. We ended up in > Salacgriva, and we stopped for more food. We got hot stew, noodles, and > veggies. The sun came out. We rode more and made it to Estonia. In Estonia, > we were off the highway. I expected cows and farmland, but the farms and > country houses looked more like the Hamptons. There were Range Rovers and > nice Volvos in the driveways. The girls had brought camping gear with them > and had maps of the state forest where they could camp. As the day got > later, they pulled off to camp, and I rode on alone to find a hotel. I > found a cabin campground, but it once again was full. There was another > hotel next to it, so I went there. It turned out to be one of the most > pleasant hotels I have ever been to. I got my own little cabin for 55 > euros. It was a lot, but the place had everything. It had a restaurant, a > bar, a sauna, a dock, a swimming pool. It was great. I sat around and > listened to some Grateful Dead and just felt my heartrate dropping and > stress melting away. It was so tranquil there. I was the only American > there. If you’d like to fact-check my story, the hotel is called Lepanina > Hotel. I took a rest day there. I went in their sauna. They had a big > all-you-can-eat breakfast with little silver dollar sweet pancakes and > cappucinos and berry jam. I walked around on the beach. > > Also, my bicycle had started to make a funny noise. I was worried that > some spokes were coming loose! But, I flipped the bicycle and investigated! > Of course, it was the pie plate! The pie plate came loose. I didn’t have > any tools, but there were some Germans in the campground section of the > hotel. I figured they would have tools, and they did! They had huge pliers > and clamps. Any little bike kit wouldn’t have had huge pliers. I borrowed > the clamps and left the pie plate in the trash. > > The next day I rode off again toward Parnu. Again, I was on the highway, > but the weather was lovely. I stopped for some snacks at the supermarket, > and felt kind of sad once I was in Parnu. I felt like I returned to > civilization. It was a small city. They had a really cool historic > downtown. I checked myself into a hostel that was part of a church and had > come recommended to me by a cyclist traveler I met on the road. I put my > bicycle inside and left to explore by foot. I took pictures all over the > beach, then turned around and saw a sign that said “Women’s beach, please > respect their privacy.” Oops! I felt like a creep. Then, I walked and saw > the big rock jetty. The legend has it that if you walk to the end of it > with your love, then kiss, you’ll stay in love and live happily ever after. > I was alone and didn’t bother. I went looking for a vegetarian restaurant. > > I really like VW Buses (I have one), and I saw one parked in Parnu. I > started talking to the owners who were two French girls on a trip to > Tallinn to go to the singing festival. Of course, I didn’t do any research > and didn’t know anything about the singing festival. Estonia, I learned, > gained independence from Russia by singing traditional songs. Every five > years, they celebrate, and now was the year. I hung out with the girls and > had dinner with them. I told them how much I like music, and how I was > headed to Tallinn anyway, so they offered to bring me with them. I > initially protested because I wanted to ride my bike, but there’s always > more bike rides and how often do people invite you to go in their VW? The > next day, I totally gave up on my bike tour. “I’m not here to earn a merit > badge,” I told them. They let me drive their bus, which was actually a > high-roof panel Vanagon diesel. They were impressed an American knew how to > drive stick shift. > > There’s more to the story, but I’m tired and I need to go to sleep now. I > took the ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki, and I rode all over Helsinki. The > furthest I went was out to Alvar Aalto’s house for a tour, which was > understatedly beautiful. I left the “slow gazelle” bicycle in Helsinki at > my friend’s house (he already has 6 bicycles, so one more was no big deal), > and I might go back again to ride more next summer. > > I definitely wouldn't have done a trip like this had I not been influenced > by the Rivendell philosophy, "Just ride," under-biking, never trash talking > any two wheeler, and so on and so forth. Thank you to all of you who roll > that way and thanks for reading! > > Michael >
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