Europe. I see your back door is open...

March 8, 2012

Do you like unfamiliar places? Did answering that question make you as nervous as asking the question made me? That's alright, (sooth, sooth, calming mantra, calming tea, yoga, breathe, etc., etc.ehhhtcssssaaale). You may or may not be an intrepid adventurer with a yen for exploring the wide world. In either case, I heartily and soulfully recommend Rick Steves' Europe. He is a neutral, generic, dorky guide to various places around Europe. His show airs occasionally on PBS stations across the country. And he will be here in Omaha to present a slide show, talk, Q&A this upcoming Monday at 7 p.m. at Joslyn Art Museum's Witherspoon Concert Hall. His presentation is called "Backdoor to Europe" or something similar. This is not to be confused with the specialty video called "Backdoor to Europa." I may try to get up the gumption to attend this rare opportunity. I occasionally imagine traveling to Europe, the land of my ancestral conceptioning. My mental image of Europe is mostly shaped by films, most notably European Vacation, Hostel, and In Bruges. Be that as it may I do have a few small goals I wish to accomplish should I ever set foot on this cosmopolitan continent. Here they are:

1. Climb an alp.
2. Swim a channel.
3. Telemark in Norway.
4. Eat a schnitzel.
5. Watch a bicycle race.
6. I might stop by Amsterdam.
7. Hell, I might even run into RS himself!

Rick Steves, being a kind of unwillingly accepted step-child of Europe, is also known to bicycle about various towns, while talking into a camera. Here he is bicycling around some rural-like area of Holland/The Netherlands.

As I gracelessly age, I become less motivated to pedal forcefully up and down the suburban hills I am wont to haunt. To that end, I am about to swap out my 44T chainring with a 40T or thereabouts. Now I just have to find the best deal, which entails shopping around. I will wonder what the hell those specs describing chainrings reference. I will consult the web pages of another unwitting mentor of mine, the inimitable Sheldon Brown, may his soul be pedaling happily wherever it chooses.

See you at the back door!

BS