• distance cycled: maybe 5 miles around Haarlem.
  • No luggage, so I won’t include it in our total
• cumulative cycling: 954.0 miles

A day of much laziness. I slept until after 10:30. Elly surfaced in time for breakfast, and magicked up tea and bread for me when I was vertical.

This afternoon has included gentle bimbling around Haarlem, mostly doing bike-lust. I am in awe of the numbers of cargo-bikes styles here. I’m thinking of my next bike, or upgrades to Lev, including Rohloff or Pinion rear gears, but I’d miss having multiple chain-rings and (in theory) having 27 gears. In reality, I have 11: 9 on the big ring, then two other chain-rings. (Not the approved method, I know!) Some day I should work out all of Lev’s gear ratios.

But do I also want a folding e-bike? Or a soft-tailed MTB with bike-packing bar- and frame-bags? Or even a recumbent touring trike? Or a cargo, or a trailer? Or just one bike that can reconfigure itself for any situation like the professor’s car in Whacky Races? And of course, it must have rocket-launchers and a magnapoon. In truth, none of these are in my near future, but a boy can dream.

In practical terms, I wanted to replace my stolen rain jacket, but I won’t: I have another jacket so I just want a suitable cross-bar bag for it. However, another part of today has been the rediscovery of bodily comfort. I cannot express the bliss of brand-new padding under a complete set of clean clothing.

And happiness is a nice meal in good company! Tot ziens!

components of bliss!