Well, I’m back from the city center. I’m as ready, as I’ll ever be.
By the way, on the subject: kitobow has a wonderful post about English words in Russian speech:
https://kitobow.livejournal.com/462469.html
Most of the time this annoys me, though sometimes I like slipping them in myself. It’s just that there are words whose Russian equivalents I personally don’t understand, or that don’t evoke the right associations, or sometimes don’t exist at all. For example, consistency, coupling and cohesion (important programming concepts).
As for the bike.
They replaced my pedals, and they no longer crunch. I also bought a cheap bottle cage and the bottle itself at Maxima, broke the fitting in my helmet a little so that it would fit over the top of my head, bought a 700C 35-43 Presta inner tube (they’re finally available), batteries for the bike computer, and charged the batteries for the lights. I also got 5 spare spokes (I’ve already lost 2).
Then at Depo I bought strap-ons car bungee cords for securing cargo. I don’t have a top bike bag, so instead I’ll be carrying a sleeping bag, sleeping mat and tent. Depo and similar stores, incidentally, make me feel fond of them: although I’m no “Do It Yourself” handyman myself, the very thought that people can go and buy everything they need for it makes me happy, because it is connected with my love of science and technological progress.
I also downloaded maps of Turkey to my iPhone (with some difficulty, using xgps manager and imapconverter to convert them to the MotionX GPS format). The iPhone, incidentally, is usable for bike tracking, but only to a limited extent: the battery runs down and the apps aren’t particularly good.
I also learned several dozen Turkish words and some very basic customs, so I hope I’ll be all right.
I didn’t buy the Speedo swimming trunks; I couldn’t bring myself to pay the price: 25 lats ($50). I’ll order them online after all, but later.