Day 13: Getting back on track

Maybe my URL for this website was precient...annrides(thebus).blogspot.com

After my breakfast, I walked over to the bus terminal to get more information about this "packing" I will need to do. The lady at the booking desk thought that I probably only needed to take the front wheel off and wrap it in garbage bags. That seemed more do-able then trying to break it down like I was shipping it.

I also took a short walk around the city market. Some of the vegetable stalls are outside, while the meat counters are in these buildings that used to be hangars for Zepplins.

The curved building in the background.

Inside

I was a bit surprised to see how many of the different vendors had major fractions of pigs hanging up. Maybe it was because it was early in the day.

Before leaving, I managed to put everything in the two pannier bags to put under the bus, and a backpack to keep with me. The bike then had all the weight on the back and became the world's most unbalanced rollie suitcase. To get to the bus station, there was a section where pedestrians go to an understreet tunnel. As soon as I put my bike on the ramps down the stairs, it did a wheelie and I nearly dropped it down two flights of stairs. Once it was time to go up, I attempted the process in reverse, but the weight and the width made it nearly impossible. So I went to the elevator, which was clearly marked "no bicycles." But you gotta do what you gotta do.

I had 90 minutes before my bus arrived, so I staked out my spot and got to work taking apart the bike and wrapping it. I basically took off the front wheel and fender, blocked the disc brakes from closing, and dropped the derailleur as a precaution. 

I had purchased two rolls of 60L trash bags, which would be like leaf bags in the US. They were heavier plastic and obviously big enough to fit a bike wheel.

The front wheel and fender went in their own bag.

Then through a process of slitting open the bags, I made a bike sandwich for the back part and used a single bag slit halfway down for the front.

I think the real point of this policy was that the bike does not get their luggage area dirty, not to protect the bike. With this method, the seat made a nice way to pick up and move the whole assembly.

I had about 20 minutes to spare before the bus arrived, then I paid the extra 20EUR for the bike, and the driver loaded it and my pannier bags into the rear baggage carrier. The ticket itself was 12EUR.

The bus ride itself was about 4 hours. It was interesting to look out the window at a faster speed than the last two weeks. I also noticed that it was really, really windy. So part of me was glad I was not out there riding.

After I got to the Tallinn bus station, it only took me 10 minutes to rip open and reassemble the bike. However, I did notice that I had lost one small bolt that goes to the front fender, but I figured I would fix it later.

I purposely picked a hotel near the bus station, so it only took me three minutes to walk there. I rang the bell, and no one answered. And I called the phone number, and no one answered. For a few minutes I contemplated what to do, when the owner waltzes up and says "oh, you are early! I was at the shop."

While the name of this hotel is Bed and Breakfast, there is no breakfast. However, I do have four beds, so I suppose that's something.

I do need all that floor space to do my repacking.

Later that evening, I attempted to fix the missing fender bolt. I should point out that this bolt is in no way load bearing or safety related. So I fixed it with dental floss because the zip ties were too wide.

This just keeps the metal part in the plastic tabs. If it doesn't work, I'll just have to listen to the rattling.

So tomorrow I'll be off to Tapa for my final leg, which seems kind of amazing. It will be about 90km/56mi and I might actually have a tail wind! I'll do a high-five with Eric, get some more money, and then take the train back to Tallinn and a different hotel.

My total mileage thus far: 1620km/972mi (I will break 1000 miles tomorrow!) and 75:20 of riding.