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29 September 2010

#272 Dare to bike away

Today’s guest blogger is Gillis Bengtsson, Gothenburgs reggae king. He has his own music company, Swing Kids, and among other things, he organizes concerts, and he helps out a lot of fine artists such as Kapten Röd, Syster Sol, Movits! and Svenska Akademien. He is based in Gothenburg and bikes everywhere.

I think many of us have dreamed of getting on our bikes and going off on an adventure. To just drop everything and ride through southern Europe in the warm spring with a view of the Alps and then down to Barcelona. But you don’t have to go start by going far at all, so today’s tip is to get up on your bike and start with a day trip to get to know you, your bike and your landscape better.

Taking a long trip for several weeks means that you’ll need to acquire some equipment, which will cost money, but if you just take a day trip you won’t have to buy a thing.
Try to trick a friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, brother or sister that’s about in as good or bad shape as you to come along so that you have someone to share the experience with. Bring a map before you head out to the countryside and try to find some smaller roads that hopefully will spare you from oncoming cars and other environmentally hazardous distractions.

I did something similar last summer a nice warm day when I left Gothenburg in the morning and rode my bike south along the coast on the beautiful bike trail "Sverigeleden". After an hour the green signs pointed away from the coast and inland, and a few hours (and a pizza and a few liters of water) later I reached my grandmother and grandfather in their summer cottage who were of course thrilled by my visit. The day after I biked home. This was a very fun, simple and basically free trip that led to many little richer experiences that led to me coming home with an appetite for more. Later in September, I cycled along the entire Croatian coast to the Alps of Slovenia but that's a completely different story ...

A 60 km bike tripe like the one to my grandparents summer house is a nice test run for you and your bike. You don’t even have to be in very good shape. The speed and how long you want to bike between breaks is all up to you.

Required time: 
1 week or less
Cost: 
Less than €50
Cons: 
You can get sore muscles, a flat tire or get lost.
Pros: 
You get fresh air, muscles and discover new parts of your landscape. It might give you a taste of something that could have you ending up on a bicycle path in the Alps.
Taggar: swing kids, lunch, leg muscles, helmet, Gillis Bengtsson, cycling holiday, Alps, a flat tire, 365 things you can do
5 August 2010

#217 Eat lunch with someone interesting

365:s Alexander's Kandiloros continues his meditations on Wednesdays. He also enjoys Desperate Housewives with the blinds pulled down when no one is home and wants to become Sweden's best Jianzi player.

Recently, me and Patrik met Regina Spektor after her performance at Hultsfred. There is much I want to say to Regina Spektor. I want to talk about The West Wing because I know she likes the series and I want to talk about literature and if she has thought about writing a novel, because a book by her is something I’d really like to read.

It didn’t happen so smoothly in reality. I called her “playful” about one hundred times in different contexts and I told her about how I have her music in a folder called "The Girls" along with Feist and Sia, and how, until recently I didn’t know who was who. After about five minutes her manager says "Yeah, we were about to eat dinner..." I was unprepared and star-struck.

 

Don’t let it happen to you. Take control and prepare for meetings with the people you admire. Everyone has to eat. Be inspired by this fact and think of something that and you everybody else does every day to converge. Think about who in your city you’d like to talk to. Maybe someone further ahead in the field you’re aiming for, or someone who possesses wisdom you want to receive. It could be an artist, author, or entrepreneur. Then, find a way to contact the person. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, hitta.se, the friend of a friend’s friend, there are ways dude. Then contact the person, introduce yourself and offer to take the person out to lunch. If you’re nice and somewhat flattering it’ll be difficult for them to say no. Be flexible with the when and where for best results.

Required time: 
1 hour or less.
Cost: 
Less than €50.
Cons: 
Someone on the list may have much to do. If you’re touchy, you may take offense and see it as a diss. The interesting person might not prove to be as interesting as you thought.
Pros: 
You can get tips on how to get to where you want to be in your life or career. You might be inspired.
Taggar: role models, lunch, inspired, idols