Took my bike out today for another test drive.

The spring is getting more near and today was a nice +5ºC outside and mainly cloudy.

The roads were almost completely dry and free of snow and ice, but there’s still lots of this small gravel and sand on the tarmac. They spread that on the roads in the winter time so you can still walk and bike in there even when there’s ice on the road.

The main computer said that it was a 7 km ride, and took about 30 min to complete, with speed average of 13 km/h and max in a downhill 33 km/h.

As I’m getting more familiar with the bike I can say that the nice cruising speed on flat tarmac is around 15 km/h. Gear ratios and small 20″ wheel on the back just sets those limits.

Also the saddle needs some adjustment, as it has a design flaw that causes me to sit too far back on it and the shape of the saddle gets a bit awkward against my bottom.

And the third thing is that I still don’t have rack for the panniers. I took the bike to a bike repair shop Monday and spoke with a person in there who was confident that they could do me a nice rack to hang some panniers. But yesterday when I went there again to get the job done, the person retracted the deal stating that they would not be able to do it so that it will last and can handle the load, but they were sure it will tear off and break.

So still some fixing to do, before I can get some longer trips done. But maybe soon I will be able to make my first bikepacking trip to a nearby laavu and do some cooking on an open flame and stay for the night, before biking back the next day…