Going for More Danish

Wiggling the fingers, pressing the cliclets, and looking for the beginnings of some travel rhythm.  We are going back to Denmark.

The end of ski season in the sierras was troublesome.  I fell on my hip while snow throwing the drive, The upshot was a limp, pain, a cortisone shot, and worry. Physical therapy was prescribed, and it was good. The therapist, Bill, used S & M techniques, accompanied by an appropriate leather device to impart pain and healthy exercise to the injured hip, along with a healthy dose of gentle sarcasm:

Me: “I lost count on the exercise.”

Bill: “One.”

So, to my surprise, on a walk downtown for an early morning physical therapy session, I happened to check flights to Denmark.  Lynette wanted to go back to Denmark and not be so rabid about “getting somewhere.”  On our last trip, we rode over 700 miles to Prague, but only stopping twice for two nights.  We were determined to do the whole distance, even though the train cars with bike symbols passed us often.

Waiting for the physical therapy session, I took a look at flights and found a Norwegian flight, direct to Copenhagen, one stop back in London, for $625 pp round-trip.  Stunned, I booked it and then ran up for pain.

I have this theory about all things.  It has to do with what you think about. The things you think about are the things that happen.  Denmark was on my mind. The last trip was epic fun. Think about it, and stuff happens. Indeed, I believe that things work out.  Patience.

As I booked it, sitting on the chair at the physical therapist’s office I found that I could take our standard bikes for $90 a leg, so I added that.  Part of this is that I have a bit of new-found confidence in tire repair and general maintenance on the bikes.  So, I thought I should commit and see what happens when we ship bikes.  On the last trip, we took the folding bikes, and they were fine, but I want to see what happens with our true tour bikes.

So, we have a trip.  Here are the details:  We are going to Denmark.  We are taking bikes.  I have four days for Copenhagen and jet-lag.  I have two days out near Lynette’s ancestral castle in Jaegerspris.  The rest is direction, and I think it is good enough.

We have sworn that we would not go cold-turkey on this trip.  “Riding into Shape” is a comfortable, but lazy construct.  That said, we haven’t been on bikes in a while.  We have been distracted with working on the cabin landscape and details. I think I will try to post more of our prep activity, just because I am enjoying writing this.

I am working on the bikes.  I swapped out the stem on my bike for a shorter one with a higher angle to give me a more upright riding position.  I swapped out Lynette’s seatpost for one with some suspension.  I am going to take the front pannier racks off both bikes because we have used two panniers and a saddle pack for the back in the past, and we have been fine.  We are not carrying camping gear.  As I said before, we shipped over 20 kg of stuff ahead to Prague last time because we brought too much “STUFF.”

Enough for now.  I am writing this while the Sierra is thunder storming. Rain. Hard rain.  So wonderful.  But now the sun has emerged, and I must greet it.