September 16: Week 11 wrapup

This weekend is the dress rehearsal, an overnight ride to go through all the motions with all the gear and check that it all works. It'd be good if the ride could include some proper hills - so it's a good opportunity to ride the Dutch Mountain Trail, if only for the lolz. (That's a real thing: 100km long, 1600m climbing. It's a route at the far corner of the Netherlands right next to France and Germany; it scrapes along the borders to pick up all the hills possible. )

But it's going to take a couple of hours to get the gear ready and I didn't want to rush so I took the boring option and planned out a route that left from home. Was busy until late on Friday and a few early hours on Saturday getting it all done - this may be the last time I touch some of this gear before it's needed, so it's careful work. Check that all the electronics work, check their charge cords, check there's backups, check all the maintenance gear is packed up and nothing left behind. Tent, ground mat, mattress, sleeping bag. Raincoat, thermal gear, and a warm jacket so soft and comfortable that I've been hiding it from the family, in case it goes missing. And then a wild goose chase around the neighbourhood looking for some more M5 8mm hex drive screws.

From left to right: The Dutch Mountain Trail; the inset shows where it is within the NL border - if it annexed some hills this is what it’d look like. The screws causing all the bother. A nice garage I passed. Snacks.

Not sure I mentioned this in all the excitment, but my left toeclip just plain fell off mid-ride a few weeks back. It's secured by three M5 8mm hex drive screws, two were missing but the last one was still hanging in there so I could redistribute the three from the other one and keep moving (all hail the multitool).

So I've been looking for some new screws. Plus some in 14mm: those secure the rack. A couple fell out on the European Divide so some backups would be handy.

I can get a bag of 50 online but I really only need a few backups, I need a few a year. The local hardware store had bags of 20 but without the hex head, they recommended I try a bicycle shop. The online bike shops weren't helpful; the only screws available were specialized for specific high-end brand-named accessories, were often sold singly, and were so costly I'd like think they're rated for use in space.

So on Saturday morning I went around the nearby bike shops with two example screws in hand. It didn't work out; they don't sell screws and could offer me one or two from their repair bay but I want a handful of spares not a single one.

But I've now got the address of a boutique hardware store in Noord, which apparently has a collection of bolts so comprehensive it's earned the admiration of distant bike shop owners. Do they have M5 8mm hex drive screws? Have I been looking for the wrong thing all along? Am I really going to cycle halfway across Amsterdam just to get some spare screws? Sadly the answer to that last question is "no" and the story ends here ... time is short and my need to get this sorted ended up being stronger than my distaste of Amazon, so I ended up ordering from there. Not feeling good about it though.

So let's get back to the weekend ride. I got on the road about 11 without the spare screws. I was riding 6 hours to Deventer, through the same area as last weekend. This is a nature reserve with a network of bikepaths. From the map it looks like the routes have been carefully laid out to maximize the amount of paths, but keeping enough distance between them so as many people as possible can think they're out in the wilderness. Makes sense given how many people live nearby and want to visit. And they're usually paved too.

From left to right: paved routes through the wilderness. The construction company is indeed called “Pancake”. Tourist attraction. Passed the cycle section of a triathalon in Almere. Arrival in Deventer.

Deventer is a University town, and it's noticeably bigger and livelier than the places I'd passed through along the way. This area is the rural bible belt - on the return trip I passed a procession of very well dressed people, some walking and some cycling: it was people going home after church.

In comparison, it looks like Saturday nights are the high time for Deventer. I'd checked out accommodation earlier in the week, and it looked like there were lots of good cheap options in the town center - but it was an illusion, I'd been searching with the wrong dates. They were mid-October because I'd been exploring accommodation in Chile. When I set them properly everything evaporated except for a few close but unaffordable places, and one that was distant and not cheap. It was 15km out of town, but it was not unaffordable, and that's where I had to go.

So for dinner I ended up cycling 15km back into town. There's a central square where everything happens; it was not quiet when I rolled in at 6 and got steadily busier through the evening. I didn't plan to stay late because I had a long ride back on unlit rural roads, so I wanted to get out before sunset - but got lured into a dessert after eating an unhealthy amount of nachos, and was so full that I could only have small teaspoon-sized bites with long pauses in between.

It was after sunset and nearly dark when I got on the bike. There was a temporary stage being set up in the square and it was still getting prepared so the party hadn't actually properly started by then. It was getting crowded, many people and not much space for bikes, so it was a slow trip back to the main road. And this was on a chilly autumn evening - summer must be madness.

The headlight works but it’s dim. I don't plan to cycle after dark, they're just there as a fallback. The roads were smooth and safe, and one perk of the cold air is that I could push up past 20km/h without breaking a sweat.

That is a lot of a complications for some chocolate mud cake, but I regret nothing.

The Sunday ride back was greyer and colder and the only place in the bible belt that was open for lunch was a tearoom in the nature reserve. The only food they had was soup and apple pie (which works) but I also ordered a juice, which turned out to be jug of watery juice intended for children's parties. I could tell things had gone wrong when they asked how many cups I wanted. I did finish it though.

From left to right: colorful and shiny buildings in Deventer. And an old-school canal bridge. The dessert, I regret nothing. Ferry on the Sunday ride. The wrong juice. And some sand so treacherous I stopped to get a photo.

Not too many days until I fly out on the 26th. Some deadlines have passed: I thought I should order another lens replacement kit for the handlebar camera, since they're hard to get, but the earliest it would ship is 5 October so it's too late...

Another deadline which just passed was being ready for the dress rehearsal. I hadn't gathered up all the socks and things I'll need. Medication isn't sorted yet. And I also need some new jeans, the ones I have are all developing holes and can't be trusted to stay decent for ten weeks.

Ten days left. Plenty of time...