Since it started freezing two weeks ago, the moment came closer that it was possible to skate on real ice. The last time I skated on ice was already a few years ago and the skates didn’t fit me anymore. So last weekend I bought a new pair of ice skates (Combi I) from the brand Viking. A winter like we have now happens once every ten year I think, although every two or three year there are at maximum one or two days you can ice skate, but then it’s over. I already skated on our local schoolyard to test my ice skates and that went smoothly. Today was the big(ger) day and I skated on a lake nearby Zuidland, with really perfect circumstances. All trees had frost on them – nice ambiance – and there was no wind and the sun was shining, and last but not least, the ice was also very good. I measured the length of one round with my mobile GPS application (Nokia Sports Tracker) and it was exactly 1 kilometer. Anyway, it’s nice to see that when you are on the ice, almost everyone starts a talk with each other and everybody looks so happy that they can finally skate again after many years. It’s a pity that we don’t have that many good winters in the Netherlands.
Anyway, you can take a look at pictures I made with my mobile phone – I had no space left over to carry my semi-professional camera – which look actually quite good. And I also uploaded some live action footage to Youtube:
First, I wish my readers a happy and healthy 2009.
And now let’s talk about my Kronan bike. Especially about how much I like the bike, although many other people think different about my bike. The “real” Kronans from World War II were known to be sturdy and somewhere in the end of the 90’s some clever students reintroduced the Kronans. The first series of Kronan bikes where not sturdy at all actually, but a few years ago they started making new series which should be much better/sturdier. And I think my bike is from the older series.
I bought it in January last year and have repaired already half of the bike:
- saddle pin broke (was welded, had to buy an iron-saw to remove part of the pin and used a dremel to remove parts of the welding, which I didn’t succeed in)
- bike store owner refused to repair the saddle
- completely new front wheel (or back wheel, so much is happening with this bike that I forgot it)
- dynamo malfunctioned after a while (I have LED-lights now, with rechargable batteries)
- one pedal is slightly out of balance (10%)
- two times a flat tire
- repumped the last several months once a week my front wheel
- yesterday the front wheel gave up and I found a big hole in the front wheel
- pump-holder dop stolen/broken
- slowly oxidizing, but not that bad
- several crashes with other bikers in the city
But, the frame is still there and me too. And I really like the bike, it cycles very smooth – although that may sound strange. Today I bought some new parts online – you can’t find them in the usual bike store. So I hope to start repairing my bike this weekend or next week. I was thinking about buying an other second hand bike or even buying a new series Kronan bike, but I will give my current Kronan a try this year and a new Kronan will only be the case when we have a shed to put it in.
It’s already a while ago I wrote a story here and that’s because I was partially busy with a side project called WorldTradeCity. I think it started two years ago when Don and I had the idea to build some sort of digital marketplace which combines the best of Ebay, Craigslist, Marktplaats, Google Base, Speurders et cetera. You might think “yet another digital marketplace” and you are right. But we have been thinking about that for a long while and we came up with a list of functionalities which are not implemented yet in any existing marketplace. Let me be clear that we don’t want too complicated interfaces and useless features. We will definitely try to keep it stupid simple. And it’s a fun project to work on and to learn from.
For now I can’t tell you anything more about the details of the project. Wait till very early 2009 for a public release of the site. If in the meanwhile I need some testers I probably know where to find you.
Last week Nina and I had our holiday in the southern part of France, in a (little) harbourvillage nearby Marseille. We had very nice weather, around 20 to 23 degrees Celcius and just one day with rain. We are used to intensive holidays, wanting to do as much as possible within a short timeframe. This holiday we decided to do it different and so we made it more a relaxing holiday, which means we were half of the time laying in the sun on a little beach nearby our hotel. The rest of the time we walked through the town and visited the local market, shops and rocky beaches. Because we went after the summerseason it was not crowded at all. If you want to see some pictures of our holiday take a look here and here.
First, I wish my readers a happy and healthy 2009.
