I put toeclips, a bottle cage, and my rear Jandd Expedition rack on the Randonee. The rear rack is sturdy enough to hold, like, a dozen gymnastic elves. Unfortunately, my Jandd Extreme front rack doesn’t seem to fit at all – it gets in the way of the wide-ass center-pull brake calipers, and the braze-ons midway up the fork don’t line up with the screw guides on the rack… I might have to finagle some adapters, but that means any panniers I hang from the front rack might not be level. I’m not even sure if that matters – but we’ll see – there’s an REI used gear sale this Saturday, so I’ll try to wrangle some decent bags anyways. I’m even getting a decent ride in on Friday with the roommate, so we’ll see how roadworthy the beast can be! There’s still some more tweaking to do to the stem, seat height and seat position, but it’s a great fit so far.
Luckily, after panniers, the only big thing I have left to purcase before I move is PLANE TICKETS. I noticed that in the month since I’ve looked at May-to-July plane tickets to Copenhagen, they seem to have risen from 700 to about 1000 dollars. AWESOME. Coupled with this whole “owing the government $3,000″ thing, I love throwing money at things! Money, Money, Money!
Two big parts of my plan came through (I hope) in the past two days. The most exciting news is that I may have a place to stay in Lund (the same town I studied in)! The setup there sounds pretty nice; apparently he has it filled with musical instruments: guiars, drums, etc… so I should feel at home. I “officially” accepted the guy’s offer via email, now I’m waiting to hear back again before I pull the trigger on plane tickets. Then I’ll have a home base to come back to in Scandinavia.
The other news is I no longer have to worry about and obsessively check Craigslist for tour bikes! I caved and bought one at a really cool used bike shop near the beach. I always drove by the shop assuming that it catered to only track and fixie bikers, but someone gave me a tip to check it out, and sure enough, they had a nice, older, beefy Novara Randonee in my size built up for touring. Cantilever brakes, wide road tires, triple chainring – perfect. It even has STI shifting so I don’t have to fiddle with any downtube shifters on the side of a busy, windy Swedish highway. Here’s some pictures of the burly beast:
The Novaras you buy at REI today definitely don’t have the WEIRDEST LOGO EVER.
I’m pretty happy with the purchase. I can’t wait to get my toeclip pedals and racks on this beast and take it beach camping to test everything out. I’ll just be on the lookout for panniers in the meantime!
After posting last night, I looked up the proper etiquette for putting in a notice. The internet told me, almost unanimously, that two weeks notice is appropriate and more (I was planning on a month) was not only overkill but potentially dangerous as an at-will employee (I could be fired even after handing in a written notice). So, I arrived at work today knowing I wouldn’t be putting in a notice. I’ll hold off until April – a good three weeks notice. If they want to let me go then and there (they wouldn’t ever do something like that, but just in case), then I’ll be alright with it.
EDITED on Mar. 23rd for whininess.
This is, bar none, what I will miss most about America’s Finest City. I’m going to have to make my own heart attacks from scratch from now on. And believe me, as long as there is a carniceria (nobody born in this country can make proper carne preparada para asar) anywhere close to me, I will be doing so.
I’m putting in my notice tomorrow, and I’m scared shitless.
