Saturday, July 11th and Sunday, July 12th 2015: Travel days

July 12, 2015

My flights were mostly uneventful, which is the way I like it. I left for the airport at about 4:15 am Saturday morning. Thanks for the lift, Mick!

Check-in went smoothly, with no concern about my bike box. The agent didn't even measure it that I could see. My flights were on time, and the layovers long enough not to cause stress, but not so long that they became tedious. The transatlantic flight was a bit bumpy, and that kept waking me up. That's a good sign, that I was sleeping, but a bad sign in that I really didn't get much sleep.

My luggage arrived safe and sound. The bike box had been opened by TSA, and they had sealed it up okay. It wasn't quite as bulged as when I initially packed it, but that was probably just from the handling.

I asked at the tourist information booth about where I could put it together, and they directed me to a left luggage area. It has lots of space and doesn't get crowded. It took me a bit over 2 hours to assemble the bike, with no significant problems. I left with everything working, including 13 out of the 14 gears.

I had a hard time finding my way out of the airport, and ended up retracing my route a bit, and adding a few extra miles.

I was really hungry, and a few miles outside of Stockholm stopped for pizza. It was near the town of Sollentuna, so I ordered the Sollentuna pizza. It came with mushrooms, pepperoni, mozzarella cubes, black olives, and shrimp on a nice thin crust. I rushed out with half of it boxed up, as it was spitting rain. It continued to try to rain without really succeeding as I found my way into the center of Stockholm and to the hotel. I must have stopped and asked directions half a dozen times. There was a lot of construction which led to my GPS thinking I was off route. It was confusing anyhow, with most of the cues saying "bike path to bike path". But I found the hotel, checked in, brought my bike to the room to try to find that elusive 14th gear, and got cleaned up. I've eaten leftover pizza, and am ready for a good night's sleep.

Today's ride: 53 km (33 miles)
Total: 53 km (33 miles)

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Mike AylingI am sure you have worked it out by now but for some readers considering a Rohloff the tip is to shift into 1 or 14 before disconnecting cables because the shifter just flops around without cable tension and you may not remember what gear you were in.
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2 years ago

Susan ShoreThanks, Mike. I've always tried to shift into the lowest gear before disconnecting the cables. I think that the problems I've had have two sources. The first is that when removing the rear wheel, I've needed to remove the gizmo (I don't recall what Rohloff calls it) that attaches the cables to the hub. When re-installing it, it is not easy to align, and apparently I'm shifting up a gear when jiggling it around to get it back on. That has resulted in missing just one gear, and was the case here. The second is that there is a stiff shift between gears 7 and 8, and while it has felt as if I've shifted all the way down, I've actually only shifted half way, and haven't realized it since I'm not actually riding. I'm aware of both of these errors now, and take more care to avoid both situations. I'm aware that a lot of other Rohloff riders don't seem to have this problem, but, for whatever reason, I do. I'm glad that you're interested, and certainly welcome any tips!
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2 years ago