Well...

...now I fixed a slight decrease in weight for those steep mountain roads!

For those that don't see me on a regular basis - I got a haircut!

Thanks to Tinas Hårstudio for giving me the very good price of 150 SEK compared to the rest of the vulture hairdressers here in Sundbyberg.

A trial run with almost full load.

I was out today and packed just about everything I plan to bring on the bike - it went fine the only thing I noticed is that turning gets a delayed response since the front wheel is so much heavier than usual so if you do a sharp turn you have to "catch" the weight as it comes a second afterwards.

I've manged to get the bike into the box now after some issues, released the air out of the tires and now I just need to get more packing tape and wrap it up properly and a good marker to write my name and address on the box. More pictures comes later, I got a cab picking me up Saturday at 02.00 am. Yawn!

Accidents happen in groups of four?

First things first, I was at cykloteket.se and their store on Norra Stationsgatan and got a box for my bike and the trip down to Skopje, it's probably big enough to fit quite a bit of the gear I have with me so I am thinking I might just need it and my carry-on.

Box at bus stop.

Once at home with the box I took my steed out of its stable (read bicycle out of my living room) and headed out for a ride while simultaneously buying a divider for my handlebar bag so stuff don't rattle around in there. This is a shot from the route before shit started to happen...

A little bit further along I catch up with a group of older people out walking, when I am about to ring my bell and alert them the "button" flies off, 3 minutes of searching later I find the tiny plastic thing on the ground and fix it. Some time later I plan to pass some people out walking again and they seem oblivious to me signaling I wan't to pass (this is where I mention that I got my SPD shoes with clips on that attaches to my pedals like shoes for skis) so my inexperience shines through and I end up falling over with my feet still on the pedals, no injuries or damage to the bike as my speed was barely moving.
I get up at reach the store some time later, buy what I need and head off towards home, wouldn't you know it another group of people with like 5 strollers crowd the entire path again they don't react at all despite me coming at a snails pace ringing the bell like... well... someone who rings bells alot.
This time I fall over into a puddle and start to get a bruised ego... no visible damage to me or the bike tho.

Fast forward five minutes I get to a crowded, trafficked intersection so I stop and since its a sharp edge on the sidewalk I life the bike a tiny bit to get it over... that's when I realize my entire back wheel is loose since in my last crash I probably hit the quickrelease for the back wheel and thus forced it loose.

A bit of tinkering and adjusting later I head home and stop by a Greek restaurant and buy myself lunch...

Greek food.

An interesting day, I need to get used to those damn shoes so its beaten into my reptile brain that I can get loose easily and fast should I need to, not just the same way you have done it the first 38 years of my life...

It's getting closer!

I've experienced quite a big increase in interest from colleagues at work, friends and loved ones in general since it's getting close to departure. One of the guys at work who is responsible for the part of the store I work in suggested I swing by and let them take some pictures of me, the bike and gear and post it on our Facebook-page;  http://www.facebook.com/ICASupermarketSundbyberg?fref=ts so it's gonna be fun!

While my mind has circled around this thing like a vulture around a carcass on the Serengeti I have realized that I can't worry enough for it. By that I mean that part of me is so excited I feel I am gonna burst and another part of me is really worried about what can go wrong but its damn exhausting to worry about all things at once that could go pear-shaped so I kind of take them in turn. Currently I am worried about the trip down there, packing things, remembering things and hoping that my gear and bike will reach Skopje without the luggage handlers sending it to South America or crushing it under a mountain of Samsonites.

With this trip I hope to battle my own flaws, bad self confidence, that I too often ask for help instead of trying to solve the problem by myself, that I always been a dreamer and not a doer and that I will be forced to make contact with people I don't know.

Now I just wanna tear the band-aid off and get on with it...

A small list of some things I am still going to get;

Mild, all purpose, washing powder (Lots of weird fabrics among my clothing items)
Baby wipes (...)
Lighter (For the camping kitchen)
Pencil (For writing, already bought nice charcoal tinted pens for my drawing pad)
Cardboard for bike (Hoping to get a big one)
Medicine for diarrhea (Something you don't want happening in some forest in the middle of nowhere)
Dog whistle (Might skip this one and just get a stick but loose dogs chasing you is a real problem for bicyclists down around where I plan to ride)

Anyway, I am hoping to get out this weekend if the weather would just ease up a tiny bit - it's been several degrees below zero this last week. :(

Art!

I call this piece "Koga in spring of sun".

Two last purchases made since I had some luck on gambling a while back I purchased a new saddle, the Brooks Flyer from my local bicycle shop http://cykellandet.se/ - the guy owning it has helped me in adjusting and understand more things about bikes in general and my Koga in particular and I can recommend the service they provide there as well as what they have in stock.

Afterwards I went and bought a Haglöfs Hypna 2S sleeping bag as the one I had was a bit too cold for the areas I plan I will be using it in. I found it 700 SEK cheaper than the recommended price at the XXL store at Bromma Blocks.

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire...

...We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn, burn motherfucker burn.

No seriously, I actually got my camping stove... 

...MSR Dragonfly...

...quite a while ago but I haven't tried it out yet and it's been a slight worry in my mind since I never used on of these contraptions before. I mean the thing got more warnings and icons of skulls than all of the Pirate of the Caribbean movies together.

However, dad and me tried it out this weekend in storm conditions and it works fine and with a few more practice runs I expect to prepare meals that would make Heston Blumenthals jaw drop to the ground... or something along those lines...

My birthday today!

21 days to go.

I have had my dad visiting since last Thursday and because of that has made me less active than usual but that doesn't mean I have been inactive in real life as well.

While being out on the town with dad and showing him stores for paint samples and parts for his Vespa restoration projects I have managed to get a hold of some gear.

Brunton Echo binoculars was a birthday gift from dad today and the glowing thing is  a tent lantern.

Shiamno SPD-shoes and a Abus helmet with mosquito net in the front and temporarily a GoPro vented helm mounted.