We live as long as we fly
Good poems, especially this one:
Arise, vast country,
Arise for a fight to the death
Against the dark fascist force,
Against your own fucking self.
https://magazines.gorky.media/volga/2023/1/novye-stihi-49.html
The next day we went on a little loop route north of Misso, generated, I think, by Garmin's route autogenerator. A short one, about 50km, since we had to head home in the evening. By the way, the campsite was quite cute, with little lanterns along the paths, a shower, a grill house, and so on. The sleeping cabins, though, were on stilts, and inside everything felt very wobbly, but that was the only major downside. Such cabins are often built without a foundation to avoid getting all sorts of complicated permits and drawing up architectural projects. Without a foundation, a building is considered temporary, and permits aren't needed (or almost aren't). On the plus side, the host was very polite and tactful, waited for us well in advance, even though he doesn't live right next door. Spoke Russian, with a slight accent. The campsite is called Pullijärve Holiday Park, I recommend it. The area is beautiful, and the price was 17 euros a night per person, very budget-friendly. It's about a four-hour drive from D-pils, three from Riga. As for assigning the cabins, we had a bit of an argument. As a (mediocre) "organizer" and a person with poor health, I want some perks for myself, namely to share a cabin with just my friend. But the drivers also make a big contribution. Plus, you have to consider that there are girls in the team, and it's better for them to sleep separately, otherwise it gets awkward. After a minor shitstorm we flipped a coin, and it went my way. Next time we'll try to talk these things through in advance. Every time on these sorts of outings I try to argue and fight less, but the results are so-so.
We rode the 48 km with a 300m climb quickly, because most of it was on asphalt. I don't really like riding on asphalt a lot. I've been thinking about this lately, and decided that it's generally tied to my dislike of things that are too slick, boring, and ordinary. No matter how you look at it, dirt, sand, grass, and all the rest are more varied and interesting. To make the riding easier, I tried to pump up my tires, but it ended badly. The tubeless tire (which doesn't have an inner tube inside, just like on a car) deflated because of my clumsy actions. And while you can top it up with a regular pump, you can only inflate it from scratch with a compressor, which we didn't have within reach. In the end we just dumbly threw in a tube (good thing there was one among the whole team) and rolled on.
The next day we went on a little circular route north of Misso, which I think was generated by Garmin's route auto-generator. A short one, at 50km, since we had to head home in the evening. By the way, the campsite was quite nice, with lanterns along the paths, a shower, a grill house, and so on. The sleeping cabins, however, were on stilts, and everything inside was very unstable, but that was the only serious downside. Such cabins are often built without a foundation to avoid dealing with all sorts of complicated permits and drawing up architectural plans. Without a foundation, the structure is considered temporary, and you don't need permits (or almost don't need them). On the plus side, the owner was very polite and tactful; he waited for us well in advance, even though he doesn't live right nearby. He spoke Russian, with a slight accent. The campsite is called Pullijärve Holiday Park, I recommend it. The area is beautiful, and the price was 17 euros a night per person, very budget-friendly. It's about a four-hour drive from Dpils, three from Riga. We got into an argument regarding the cabin assignments. As a (mediocre) "organizer" and a person with poor health, I want some preferential treatment for myself, meaning sharing a cabin with a friend. But the drivers make a huge contribution too. And we also have to keep in mind that there are girls on the team, and it's preferable for them to sleep separately, otherwise it gets awkward. After a minor shitstorm we flipped a coin, and it went my way. Next time we'll try to talk these things through in advance. Every time we do these kinds of outings I try to argue and bitch less, but it turns out so-so.
We covered the 48 km with 300m of elevation gain quickly, because the majority of it was on asphalt. I don't really like riding a lot on asphalt. I've been thinking about this lately, and decided that overall it's connected to my dislike for things that are too slick, boring, and ordinary. No matter how you slice it, dirt, sand, grass, and all that is more diverse and interesting. To make the riding easier, I tried to pump up the tires, but it ended badly. The tubeless tire (which doesn't have an inner tube inside, like in a car) deflated due to my clumsy actions. And while you can top it up with a regular pump, you can only inflate it from zero with a compressor, which we didn't have within reach. In the end, we just shoved in an inner tube (good thing we found at least one among the whole team) and kept on rolling.
If you've read the previous parts, you might have noticed incredible futuristic buildings in the background of the story about the trip to Albufera. This is part of the City of Arts and Sciences, built in the riverbed of the same diverted Turia river. The city has an oceanarium, a science museum, a domed IMAX theater, and other stuff. And they look so stylish. This brings us to the conversation that, according to studies, most people prefer classical architecture over all sorts of modernism. That may be true, but not all modernism is created equal. I don't know if the City of Sciences is modernism, but according to my strictly unscientific poll, people actually really like these buildings, and so do I.
