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!
