Day Sixteen: Apeldoorn, New Bike: (Year 16: 1983)

October 6, 2017

Flash Back to 1983:

The micro computer was really starting to take off in 1983. We had started with a crude one called an OSI (Ohio Scientific), but soon moved to an Apple II clone called a Franklin Ace 100. This actually had a numeric key pad and true upper and lower case. Wow. Joshua quickly appropriated the Franklin.

In 1983 computers hit in a big way resulting in Josh's famous comment "Dat My 'Puter". This was a serious issue, because even at the office we were having to share machines.

Despite the dawn of the exciting microcomputer age, 1983 was a most terrible year for us. Stan Rogers, the iconic Canadian singer and one of our all time favourites, died in an airplane fire at the beginning of June. This was a hugely traumatic thing for Canadians.

Just a week later, our best friend Ira died of a heart attack. He was only 36.

In the hospital, when it was over, we asked to see him. Dodie's tears fell on his closed eyes. Dodie tears are a rare and powerful liquid to me. But they had no effect. The event was of earthquake proportions to Ira's friends and family. All were shaken to the core. For us, it was the first time anyone our age or generation had died on us, though Dodie had experience of it from work. Hands trembled and tears flowed - for years, actually.

Tragedy struck in 1983 for the first time in our lives. Our best friend, Ira, died of a heart attack.

Here is Ira, four years earlier, with Joshua. We asked Ira to be josh,s godfather. They were first introduced while Dodie and Josh were still in hospital. In the picture josh is only 1 day old.

Another of our favourite Canadian singers is Bruce Cockburn. Dodie especially, listened to this song to try to rediscover joy.

As soon as we could organize it, we held a memorial gathering at our house. Many of Ira's friends attended and we shared our tears and memories. The comfort to be obtained from close enduring friendships cannot be underestimated. The John Denver song, Friends With You, is for all the wonderful friends we have made throughout the years.

Despite the sad events, work continued in the garden. In fact it would grow and grow as an activity for 30 years!

We found solace about Ira, working in our garden.

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Fast Forward to 2017, Netherlands:

Today was a very exciting and also exhausting day, though we cycled little or not at all. We are kind of living at the bike shop, visiting it often for one reason or another. It's just 1 1/2 km away, but if you walk there enough it adds up.

This was the day to pick up Dodie's new bike, but also to mail off the Friday. One week has passed since the accident, and in that time a lot of the trauma has worn off. With respect to the Friday, Dodie was able now to change from wanting the factory to restore it immediately, to a more moderate mail it home and let's think about it. So instead of addressing the shipment to Oregon, it will go to Canada.

The bike shop did a great job of compressing the Friday into the maximum 40"x20x20 box. They actually adapted a box from a Birdy - the German folder. We had a bit of an open coffin viewing, and then the thing was sealed shut. I had hoped the shop could lend me a real Dutch cargo bike for the trip to the post office, but none was available. So I just grabbed the box and trudged it over.

The experience at the post office was remarkably smooth. They did not invent any special new restrictions or problems at all. The weight was 16 kg. and the cost was 105 euros - less than a third of what FedEx had been talking about. 105 euros is not cheap, but it is not out of line with all the euros we customarily spend mailing home gear that we never should have brought, and souvenirs that we never should have bought.

Back at the bike shop it was not as simple as just wheeling away the new bike and pedalling off. A typical Dutch bike is still the same animal as a North American one, even a Bike Friday, but there are some critical differences compared to what we are used to. Frankly, by comparison the Bike Friday feels like an old Volkswagen beetle - totally simple, easy to adjust, but outdated almost on the day it was built. Even so - great for basic transportation and a great collector's item.

One of the bike shop staffers had cycled from here to Santiago de Compostella last year. We enjoyed looking at his pictures and saying names like St Jean Pied de Port and Burgos to each other.

But now we are dealing with Magura hydraulic brakes, Nexus 8 internal hub gearing, hydraulic shocks, hydraulic seat post, threadless headset, pivoting adjustable gooseneck, new version Ortlieb handlebar bag mount, and a "café lock" with auxiliary quick release chain, adjustable fenders, and a mega sturdy rack.

For some owners that would all be just very nice. But we are heading out on the open road. If the brakes fail or are out of adjustment, or if there is a flat in the rear wheel, we better know what to do about it!

Fortunately the bike shop staff were so sweet it was unbelievable. There was no question that made them impatient, and they seemed willing to spend all the time necessary to get us happily out the door.

The really key question, I thought, was what to do with a flat in the rear. There are three answers to this. The obvious one is to remove the wheel and patch the thing. But to remove the wheel is not so easy. First is to disassemble the brake on one side. Then there are the main axle nuts - better have a wrench for that! Then there is the cable from the Nexus. You need to put it in first gear, rotate a pulley in the back and unhook the cable. It takes some practice and dexterity. After that there are chain tensioners/wheel aligners on either side - need to back them off (better have a wrench for that too!). Then there is the brown and the yellow lock washer. Brown always goes back on the left side - or else - ... and so forth.

Bless the bike shop boys, they put the bike on a hoist and coached me through it. But did you ever try to wiggle a little irregularly shaped doohickey into a slot with two experts watching! But finally I was satisfied that I might have half a chance, out there in the rain with light failing, trucks going by, and Dodie jumping up and down!

Still, that's where the other two methods come in. At first I thought the first was a little more than it is. It is a pressurized can of something like Slime. If you can find what caused the puncture, or maybe even if not, then this can seal the tube without a disassembly. Slime type stuff has never really worked well for us in the past, and it gunks up your tube, but I would try it in a pinch.

The last method is a devilish innovation, that we have not seen at home. It's an inner tube that is not a full circle. Rather it is cut and sealed, giving it two ends. To install it, the wheel can stay in the bike, but one uses the tire levers to pop the tire off the rim and remove the old tube - need to cut it out. But then one can fit the double ended tube back in there, with the wheel still bolted on!

All this is totally old hat to Dutch people. 98% of gearing here is rear hub, making it more of a bug to remove a wheel. Or maybe it's just what you are used to. Maybe Dutch people would want to dream up any way possible to avoid flexing a derailleur arm and fighting the chain over the cassette? Anyway, we stocked up on these cuckoo split tubes, Slime, and such.

The attachments for the rear wheel are a bit tricky.

Learning to work on the new bike in the comfort of the bike shop.

At the post office I had been assigned to pick up one of those standard sized boxes. In the States, once you buy one you are free to fill it as much as you can for a flat rate, but here it goes more traditionally by weight. The boxes are available here in six sizes. So I naturally selected the wrong size, ready to take back to the hotel where Dodie was readying the traditional mail back of unused gear. It started to rain, so I took off my coat and wrapped it around the box. I can later be dried more easily than a box.

Dodie and I walked back to the post office to swap for the "right" sized box. Dodie and the post office lady seemed to commiserate that you can not rely on the man to get the right thing. Or at least the lady said that she expected to see me back. When later I was back again, this time with the filled box, the lady asked many UQs about our trip. They were followups to what Dodie had already told her earlier.

The Friday in the Birdy box makes it to the post office.

The choices in pre sized boxes. My chance of choosing the right one was low.

When finally we did arrive back at the hotel with the new bike, we were greeted by the reception staff, and enjoyed their comments which were naturally to the effect of "Oooh, shiny", and maybe "So now are you finally going to get the hell out of here?". Ok, not that one.

In our room we parked the bike near the door - the room is crazily huge. We had already imagined the bike as kind of a pony, because its down tube is sort of thick, like a neck and mane. It seemed a little lonely way out by the door, but we were tough and left it there.

Walking deeper in we were surprised, very surprised, by our bed strewn with silk rose petals, and with a bottle of wine, two glasses and a note. It was a happy anniversary greeting from the hotel staff! So nice.

Dodie arrives back at the hotel and shows off her special bike.

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