Free day in Reykjavik
I arrived late last night, so I'm doing the bike setup this morning.
I was a bit nervous. On the last trip, to NZ, the shifter got badly cracked and made the first day a lot more difficult than it already was. A friend of mine who went bikepacking in Iceland had his bike damaged by Icelandair. So I'd packed the bike extra carefully, and even ziptied the handlebars up so they'd be less likely to get pinched or cornered or whatever happened to cause the problem last time.
The bikebox was looking in good shape, but when I opened it up the ziptie had been snapped - which is not a good sign, it takes a fair bit of force to do that, and that amount of force breaks things. So I checked and photographed everything as I went, in case I needed to make a claim... but happily it all seems to be OK. I’d still like to go out for an hour or so to check it, that’s how long it took for the problems to appear on that the first day in NZ.
From left to right: streetart I liked. “Banksy made me do it”. Hallgrimskirkja. The bikebox is looking worn, but it has survived two international flights. Tape around the brake.
So the bike is shipshape; next is supplies. I picked up some snacks and water and Powerade. I also bought two breakfast cereal bags which seemed financially sensible at the time, given how costly everything is here, but I deeply regret that choice now: because all my bags were full when I flew over, so I'm now overfull.
However. Today's plan was to hang out with an old friend from Icelandic company days, but he's recovering from a nasty flu and didn't want to risk giving it to me so we're going to give it a miss, sadly. But: I owed him a beer for favours involving a temporal antialiasing prototype (which was pretty exciting tech back on the PS3) and I'd bought a couple with me from Amsterdam. I absolutely do not have space to take them with me on the trip and need to get rid of them... so the plan is that I'll cycle over and drop them off at his house, which will lighten the load but also be a good 2h test ride to check that I can fit everything in - and that the new warm top will do its job.
Almost everything. Not pictured: the cycling outfit I’m wearing.
The big stuff.
The small stuff.
Since I'm repacking everything it's a good opportunity to grab a photo of all the gear, so here it is. I missed the labels of a few things, and forgot my toiletry bag and sunscreen and a few cords, but it's fairly complete.
From left to right: mountains seen from Reykjavik. Bridge I liked. More views. This river ran beside the bike path, which was picturesque.
Strong winds are forecast for the ride tomorrow: 20-40km/h, gusting to 65. It’s a horrible southerly, which will continue for a few days and slowly turn so it’s blowing from the west.
Which makes the decision about which way to go around the ring road pretty clear: I’m going to go clockwise which means north for a few days. So if all goes well, I might have a tailwind! Or at least, no headwinds for a few days.
All-day rain is forecast too, which is a good reminder … don’t underestimate the weather.
