2021 was my first full calendar year with cycling since 1986, and yes, that was the time before I got my driver’s license. The beginning of 2021 was really cold, and there is one story already about that: Cycling during winter (Nov ’20 – Apr ’21).
I didn’t do any longer trips this year and the daily tours were mainly between 20 and 35 km and almost always on the same route Espoo center – Kivenlahti – Jorvas. The reason for that is that I want as little crossings and as little traffic as possible because I’m always listening to audio books. All disturbance is bad. I did only a couple of little longer trips during my summer vacation. During the year I managed to cycle 5300,2 km which was pretty good for me. Best year anyway. And yes, I had to make an extra 2 km detour on the last day to get that 5300 milestone.
As the bridge in Kivenlahti has become very familiar to me and it is the only point on the route that has some views, the only good pictures that I have are also from there. The first one is a winter panorama, and the next one is a more green picture from the same bridge.
Regarding practicalities, i.e. bike service, I had to replace the transmission cable twice which was annoying. Both times I changed it to the cheapest one (1,99€, Motonet), but I suppose I should have learned my lesson already on the first time as it lasted only 3200km. Next time I’ll buy something else and I should change it in the spring BEFORE it breaks again.
In addition to the normal change of chains and the rear cogs during the spring service, the crank bearing was also damaged and it had to be changed. Total: 250€. Not cheap. During the summer I replaced my ten-year old shoes with new ones.
Fortunately, the back tyre (Continental, >30€, Motonet) has been there already 7100 km, which is way much more than what the Biltema cheap ones (~10€) did. I had a couple of them earlier and they barely lasted 2000 km before they were completely dead.
For bike service I used 445€ during the year, including the mentioned service plus a new front rim with a summer tyre. The old rim with the winter tyre I saved for winter use only. It is “slightly” easier to change the whole rim than to change the tyre twice a year (you save the money, but neither time nor nerves).
The end of the year was again cold and we got quite early snow and freezing temperatures. Cannot complain, it is much better than +1C and rain.
Last night I had a dream that I was cycling and suddenly the whole front break was loose and dropped between the spokes. I managed to fix it on the road although there was lots of snow and it was cold which is the actual situation now. So, let’s hope this was not a premonition for today.
