26
NovPortuguese Lifestyle
Nov
Ahoy Partisans & Friends & Guests,
The last days in Porto… I have been working on my homepage and tinkering with my new Expedition Machine. I am looking forward to the first test ride in January 2010. It will be a challenge. I still have troubles to cycle on my new Two-Wheels’ Lowrider Machine 
Imagine you have to learn once again cycling. You cannot compare it with an usual (non-recumbent) bike. Let’s take it easy especially with these Portuguese traffic & roads marked by horrible surfaces (flagging), narrow streets, extremely uphill / downhill, careless & aggressive car drivers, better said “warriors” (I am sorry Portuguese drivers. But that’s what you are
Anyway, I see it as perfect training for Asian traffic & roads. I have been told to expect similar or even worse traffic conditions in Eastern Europe, and later in Asia.
What I am doing rest of the time? Working on my Yoga & Freestyle Performance, hiking, camping, learning Portuguese and for sure, enjoying Portuguese culture with Portuguese Music, Traditional Dances, very delicious food (esp. Seafood, Fish, Vegetable Soups … Yamm Yamm), ah… no worries, more insights will be blogged soon!
For the next weeks (over Christmas & New Years Eve) I am going to visit my parents & family in Germany. I have not seen them for the last 2years. I’ll come back begin January 11.
Last but not least, a Big Thank You to the photographer Christina Baek, who provided me some of the pictures above.
And for all partners, friends and guests who understand Portuguese, that’s the first blog in Portuguese. You can change the language by clicking on the Portuguese flag above. It shall help me learning the language. But no concerns, my Portuguese level is still very bad. Laughing & smiling accepted, but no judgement.
19
JunExpedition update: Continuing cycling from Hamburg to Bremen (Northern Germany) tomorrow
Jun
It’s my last night in Hamburg (Northern Germany). I will continue cycling to Bremen tomorrow meeting another interesting person. Updates later.
Anyway, I could solve the technical problem with my (expensive) Rohloff shift. I got a new one (guarantee). But unfortunately, I have no solution with my break problem :o( No, it’s not a joke! I got back my repaired hydraulic wheel breaks (Magura BIG) by my bike producer. But there is still the same problem that these breaks don’t work. I will send them now to the break producer (Magura). I hope to get breaks in London then.
I am dissappointed not to have any other solution as my V-brake on the back wheel but I cannot wait several weeks in Hamburg since I have many appointments in the coming countries.
Yes indeed, I have been thinking about some mechanic wheel breaks as alternative. But the discussions with my bike producer about the price / guarantee are ongoing …
1
MayHow do I like to cross the English Channel? // Waterbiking vs. Motorised Vehicles
May
Well, I found an interesting interview documenting a waterbike ride. It’s exactly the way how I’d like to cross the English Channel from France to England (See the expedition route).
It’s still a dream to cross the water like that. I don’t like motorised vehicles incl. ferries :o( But, I have no clue how to do it. Perhaps I should start finding out more about these guys in the video.
30
AprFirst Webisode: “The Start”
Apr
Voila! Our first webisode about “The Start” is ready!
If you want to watch this webisode in High Definition standard, please watch our webisode @ Vimeo’ Profile: Berlin-Hanoi.
Peaceful rebellious greetings (in memory to May Day),
The Team
After 3 ½ months winter cycling I want to list all my expedition items and my experiences / critics. Overall I am quite shocked about too many defects of high expensive items. I have an error ratio of higher than 10% which means that at least each tenth product is already defect.
Anyway, crossing North Germany in 1 month I will go to my favourite German adventure shop Globetrotter. I bought almost all items in this shop. So far, I have had no problems with their service at all. Let’s see how they will react when I come with (at least) 11 defect items to be replaced ;o)
The table below is a snapshot of my winter expedition list. The space is not sufficient so that I published the complete list as an interactive table on an additional site: Equipment. Furthermore, I wrote down also some individual fates of items and summarised my investment in expedition items.
SnapShot: List of Equipment
