Best Gear ≠ Best Ride

The Flying Pigeon. A publicly owned Chinese staple since the 1940s. I wasn't going to say that it was a "liberator of the people" because that's a pretty sweeping statement about things I maybe don't know enough about, but I think it could be argued, carefully, that it was.

Used by millions, or maybe billions over the years, in a place where cars are expensive and wages are too low.

Certainly not in the "best gear" category.

I spotted two of them in a shed in Sweden and I knew I needed to go for a ride.

After checking them both over and adjusting saddles, it was off towards the town of Farhult and the beach.

The brakes were alarming. Not in that they made a lot of noise, but that they were very weak. Both in stopping power and flimsiness. Watching the brake mechanism flex wildly as pad made contact with the rim made me make (and share with my riding buddy) plans for how ditch the bike and save myself should I end up in the path of an oncoming tractor.

It was sunny and nice when we set off. Stunning Swedish summer.

A kilometre in to the ride it's bucketing with rain. Typical Swedish summer.

Then clear and sunny again. Then rain again. Very typical Swedish summer.

We sheltered under the walkway that surrounds a typical Dutch (but in Sweden) windmill from the 1850s that dot the landscape in Skåne. Then in a bus shelter, probably from the 1990s, that also dot the landscape. Then we gave up on sheltering and rode on.

We got to the beach, where I misplaced us a little. Ending up in the reeds, on a three-plank-wide walkway that was certainly not suited for cycling. Gaps between the planks, and a very narrow path, made it challenging.

We pushed on, through the reeds, past the beach, and into a forest, along a rooty path. Through a paddock. Past the cows. And the bull. Over the turnstyle with the bikes.

Then back out on the bitumen path and back home.

Probably nearly the worst gear you could ride on. But a ride that we still talk about regularly, sharing in the laughs about it. The rain didn't sour anything. The crappy bikes didn't sour anything. Getting lost (or temporarily misplaced) certainly did not.

13/10 - would do again