"Ya Man" Amsterdam /Day 353

NEW POSTS BELOW, CHECK THEM OUT.
WEEK OF 7-5-09
If you see anything you like let me know, put it in a comment.

"Betsy is a Bit Frisky" I Warned You 29/3/09 Day 255

Day 255 (Slide show)
(Video 1) (Video 2) (Video 3) (Video 4)

This week has been the best week so far for riding. I'm sure glad to because I'm getting a bad case of cabin fever. The week started with a forecast I saw on Monday showing that the temperature was going to get to 16C by Saturday. That is double the current temperature. This means I have to get busy and decide on my first road tour. I have three places in mind but haven't committed yet. Also Renee needs a check up. Thanks to my friend Rob I was able to repair the front brake problem incured during shipping.
Special Note: A few weeks ago my camera sling that holds the camera around my shoulder had a malfunction. I sent an email to the company and they sent me a new one here in Prague for free. I want to give this company some much deserved space on my blog.
Check out the link. "PacsafePacsafe Anti-Theft Bags & Travel Security"
I have gone half way around the world taking over 4000 pictures so far and this nice piece of camera security has saved my camera from getting lost or damaged so many times. Also it has allowed me to take a lot more pictures then if I had to take it out of a pack every time. This is what I have. The phone and camera strap.
These folks shipped me a new one which cost 15.50 USD. The price of the strap is only 9.99USD.
Now that's customer service. I have several other items from these folks with me right now on this adventure. This is a great company.
As I mentioned last week, Betsy has had a shifting problem. I did my best down on my special bike stand. The one on the tire, but I need better tools and I found a place this week. A small Czech bike shop Eurobike . The owner Pavel doesn't speak very much English but we managed and he saw right away what I show him. He had the right tools to get the derailleur adjusted and then he gave the whole bike a tuneup. Betsy was feeling real good. This only cost me 300CZK. (15.00USD) So this has been a good day and the weather is getting warmer.
On Friday I had the best day for riding yet. I toured all over the city. Wow, the cobblestones and curbs really suck. Another funky thing is the steps that come out of nowhere. It seems I'm always stopping to lift the bike up a curb or carry Betsy down some steps.
But it is nice to get out and check out the city. The traffic here isn't much different then California. Drivers all over the world want to kill you I guess. All day riding around the city I saw a lot of young tourists. I guess it is the discount time because of the weather. The pre-season crowd.
It seems like I'm riding everyday this week which is nice. I need to get used to the traffic and the bike path signs. It is easy to get lost if you don't watch for them. These signs are missing or posted in crazy spots a lot. I happen to bring a spare set of tires that are a bit wider and softer. I can tell already the I going to have to put them on Renee. The narrow 90psi tires on her now would be alright but not as nice as these others that are 70psi and wider. I bought them on the last day to, what a good move.
On Sunday I told a friend of mine from Moscow to go riding with me. His name is Pavel and I thought I would let him ride Betsy and I would take Renee out together. I warned him right off the bat the Betsy was a bit frisky. "Be careful" I said. Of course she threw him, right over the top too. He was alright but it spooked him I think. Everything was alright and there wasn't any damage.
I for one crashed too. I was waring my clip shoes and got caught in an intersection where the traffic stopped. I was going to cross over and a car got in front of me and down I went. No damage though. I have learned to fall correctly. Lots of good pictures here and some wacky videos for you.

Finally Spring in Prague 21/3/09 Day 247

Day 247 (Slide show)

This week started out with a boring winter Monday. I needed a few groceries but I ended up having to go to three stores. It’s a typical thing around here. Even the large markets don’t stock quality produce. It seems the small Vietnamese shops have better quality. But on Tuesday it turned out nice, about 10c, so Betsy and I went for a spin around the city. I found a tire hanging from a tree to use as a stand. Betsy seems to have been injured on the way over here. It was probably a forklift trying to make advances on her. She was having some shifting problems and I couldn’t see the cause until I got her in the tire stand. Her derailleur was bent. I did my best to straighten it out but I need a professional shop.

I have her purring like a kitten now though. Not long after I stopped at the tree the weather turned a bit cold so I had to get back to my flat. Good to be riding again though.

I want to say something about the streets of Prague. This isn’t anything like riding back home. I remember complaining to fellow rode warriors in Huntington Beach about the trash in the bike lanes. (nuts, bolts, nails and such) It was an appalling to think we had to ride in trash. Where were the city street sweepers? Well, I wish that was the only problem over here. Prague has crazy 5 way intersections with limited lights and curbs to get over. There is the cobblestone problem where you can break a tooth if you don’t keep you jaw loose. Then the worst is the steeps. Here you constantly have to carry your bike up and down steps that come out of nowhere. I’m never going to complain about trash again.

Wednesday I woke to snow. You can tell spring is close though this snow melted quickly. I’ve got to start planning for my tours. I have some ideas and it seems I can start to work on my conditioning now. I’ve gotten a bit soft sitting around so much. During my few rides this week I discovered a few new sites and some cool buildings. I really want to get out for an overnight trip soon.

Group Headquarters of the Soviet Central Group of Forces Base 15/3/09 Day 241

Day 241 (Slide show)

I had just got back from skiing in Switzerland when I received an email from my friend Ricardo here in Prague. He wanted to know if I was interested in a day trip to an old Soviet Air Force Base outside of Prague. The weather didn’t look very good but I thought this would be a lot of fun. It’s a Sunday morning and I headed to this old train station here in Prague. I had been by it several times but never inside the place. It is called Masarykova. Their doing a small remodel in the place but it has a real old funky fell to it. There is always a plethora of local color hanging out around the place.

Anyway after boarding the train for a short 40 min ride then we switched to another single rural train that was only one car. This was a fun 15 min ride and then we were in the village of Milovice which is northeast of Prague. Then there was a short walk in the rain to the Group Headquarters of the Soviet Central Group of Forces. About the time we walked onto the old tarmac the rain stopped. The place is very large with many old building that have been left to rot. As I’m walking through I thought of Greece and all the ruins I had seen there. Of course it isn’t the same but the feel of history was a bit overwhelming. The place was decommissioned in the mid eighties and when you think about it that’s only 20 years. Who would have thought back in the late 70’s that a Yankee from California would be walking around the place today. Because this was the Group Headquarters I’m sure there were many high ranking officers floating in and out of here. Check out the pictures and Ricardo even found a bullet slug that someone had fired into a wall. I’m sure it is just some local guy playing around but it still interesting. I have it and I'm going to give it to my Dad when I see him.

He likes things like this.

The site now is used for many things. I saw a weekend warrior training area with some clerks dressed up in fatigues doing some mock assaults. There was an area where auto enthusiasts have a garage set up to modify thier cars to race on the tarmac. Then on one end of the base there is a movie set. This looked like a POW camp or a small encampment used to film in. It was very cool.

There were about 10 of us and we had a nice day even though the weather gave us rain and cold wind. I still enjoyed it.