Casa Robino

Shaun is riding a night blue Santos Travelmaster, with a custom built cromoly steel frame. It’s a derailleur bike (can’t afford a rohloff speedhub) with 26inch wheels – hand built  rim with 32 spokes, shimano XT hub, schwalbe marathon extreme tires, shimano LX shifters, 29 speed shimano XT drivetrain and XT derailleur, brooks B17 saddle, [...]

See original: About the bikes

I’ve been distracted by tons of stuff recently, but finally getting back on the ball and ready to go. The delay is not all bad, though, as there is a lake-crossing in Switzerland, the ferry for which only starts running on March 20. So maybe leaving around the March 10 or 12?
Most importantly, [...]

See original: plans delayed, but still in progress

Aside from some sketchy-looking dirt paths and some navigating construction sites, the Chiasso-Milano route on this CD looks really good. Thank goodness only 3 people showed up to Critical Mass last week, and thank goodness the 3 of us went to that coffee shop and thank goodness one of them happened to know about [...]

See original: Progress! More of it! Chiasso-Milano…

It seems I have (the beginning of) an answer to the Ticino-Milano Problem.
The easterly route that I thought might be better is a nasty for cycling. No bike lane at some points, cyclists frequently riding in the road, and WAY too small for my wide trailer. Headed North, at least, there are [...]

See original: Ticino-Milano update

We are 2 bike freaks with the ambition to cycle all the way from The Netherlands to the Far East. Starting from Amsterdam, cycling through the middle east, and ending up in… We don’t know yet! There is no fixed itinerary nor a tight time schedule we have to stick to. Boundless amounts of pure [...]

See original: Where are we going?

There seems to be a pdf file, in Italian and English, that details a route (written descriptions and maps!) between Como and Milano! ... but more investigation shows that something like half of the "piste" (paths) between Milano and Como are, as of February 2008, listed as "sterrate" (dug up).

See original: Grassroots research is sometimes the best…

For a complete, official answer, go here: http://ecf.com/14_1
For my answer…
The European Cyclists Federation (ECF) is attempting to centralize and organize long-distance cycling routes – EuroVelo routes – useful for cycling tourism.  In doing so, they try to – and seem to – raise awareness of and respect for the importance of cycling in modern Europe.
More [...]

See original: What is EuroVelo?

Two streets in my neighborhood that lie right next to one another. Photos were taken within seconds of one another. The street on the left is a main road. The street on the right is a service road. The service road is owned by the city, but for all practical purposes, it’s private. All of the parking spaces along the side are the property of the people who live in the houses that line the street. The street is one-way, and it’s only used by the people who own or rent those spaces. Anyone passing through obviously takes the main road. The city will eventually get around to plowing the main road. The city never plows the service road. Less than 24 hours after the blizzard, guess which road is clear, and which is suitable only for four-wheel drive vehicles?
More snow-themed econ here.
MORE: Some of you seem to have missed the point of the post. I’m not criticizing the city for not getting to the main road. It’s only been a day, and we got the largest snowfall in the area’s recorded history. The point is that where people expect the city to send eventually plows, the road is still snowed. Where the city has no history of sending a plow, and isn’t likely to, residents grabbed shovels, and cleared the road in 24 hours.

See original: Blizzard Economics

Marcos favourite corner of Cancun is not a beach. It is a little basketball field surronded by trees, a kinder garden, and the best pasta restaurant of the city.

More Photos

See original: Marcos. No fear of dancing. Cancun.