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Mia and I had hoped to spend our Thanksgiving with our families and friends, but this is 2020. First we were thinking about traveling South (e.g. Virginia), but the driving would be just too long for us. Then we thought about going North and we both agreed that the Finger Lakes region beckoned to be discovered by us. For this trip, Mia suggested bringing our road bikes and I just could not say no. We found a very affordable Airbnb in Auburn, upstate NY. Driving there was not that long (~4.5 hours) but because we were not in a hurry, we came to town in the evening - Thanksgiving evening. We naively thought that we could get dinner in town, so after we checked in our Airbnb, we drove downtown. Surprise, surprise - everything was closed. Luckily, Mia packed frozen gluten-free pizza, avocados, apples and other food so our Thanksgiving was saved! Our apartment had a stove, oven and microwave oven and we could prepare meals for the evening and for our whole stay in Auburn. Next day we chose ...

“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”  When Harry Met Sally... (1989) In the midst of a global pandemic, when the future was so uncertain, we knew that it wouldn’t be a traditional wedding.  Our wedding planning all started months ago in our small Upper West Side studio apartment. We began planning our wedding together the day after we got engaged (but if you know anything about Mia, you would know that she had really been planning her wedding day since she was a little girl). Without all the answers and with a lot of moments of “wait..., what!?”, we began planning the day that would mark the beginning of our lives together. And like in the movie quote, we both agreed that we wanted that day to start as soon as possible, before the situation with COVID-19 in New York, and in the world, got worse. Truth be told, the process was anything other than what we expected wedding planning w...

After watching a few vlogs by Casey Neistat on Youtube, I couldn't help notice the well-chosen music in the background. Particularly music by one artist named Julian Avila. Here is his music:  https://soundcloud.com/julian_avila Inspired, I took several months old videos I shot on GoPro Hero 2 when I was biking to Kahlenberg in the rain. After a few hours and two whiskeys, this came from my computer:

Ak sa chcete vydať na dlhšiu jazdu na bicykli a nechcete sa nudiť len výhľadmi a bezstarostnou jazdou, treba spraviť jednu dôležitú vec: nezobrať si žiadnu náhradnú dušu, pumpu, lepidlo a iné nástroje na opravu bicykla. Po 5 hodinovom spánku som spontánne vyrazil do Neusield am See. Cesta je veľmi dobre značená a niektoré časti som už prešiel tak som nepotreboval nič plánovať. Nabil som akurát iPhone, vzal veci na prežitie, jedlo a nastavil bazál pumpy na 20%. Po cca 30. km som pri diaľnici A4 schádzal z nadjazdu a počas obzerania okolia som prudko nadskočil. Obzrel som sa dozadu a na ceste bol len jeden (1!) kamienok. O pár nato sekúnd bolo už predné koleso mäkké. Hodil som bicykel do poľa a potichu som si vyčítal, že si nikdy so sebou neberiem veci na opravu defektu. Toto bol mimochodom prvý defekt na mojom cestnom bicykli. Prešiel som dovtedy túto trasu:  http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/318700117/6284494 Podľa mapy som bol len pár kilometrov od Weiden ...

At the end of the month I disliked the Favorit bike. The reason: I got '8' on my rear wheel. The guy who has sold me this bike also told me that it has very good rims made of dural and they will last forever. Well it took only two weeks till it got broken. After the holiday in Italy I had to take this bike to bike service in Vienna (recommend!) where I paid 41€ for a new-old wheel and also rear cassette. Because of a difference between the old and new-old system - whole bike was very loud while I was pedaling. At that time I was not very happy about this bike. And few days after the service - I got flat tire! So last week I have bought a new tube, I have fixed the brakes and used WD40 for the chain and now it works perfectly! Riding my city bike to work and back and also anywhere in the city makes a pleasure that this bike should provide. I like the Favorit bike again. And it is not just month anymore :-).

Last week I survived with Favorit bike strong wind and rain. I mean real and very dense rain and quite strong wind. On Friday (the 13th), I took my broken MacBook to a service in 2. district in the morning and then I went to work. It was raining the whole time with some wind from time to time. Mudguards did their job well - I recommend to have them in the city. My clothes were wet but not dirty. I had no special gear - only my Windstopper jacket. Helmet helpded a bit. Some problems occured with my jeans but they became dry after a while at work. I thought that the rain and bike is not very good combinationin the city in the morning but it was OK after all. Actually it was quite refreshing :-).