The year comes to a close and it is time to see what happened to my New Year Resolutions. Yoga Everyday Well, this didn’t go so well. Overall I managed about every second day, though I have done most of it in the first half of the year. But it turned into a habit now, so I tend to do it a few times a week. Cycling Mini Adventures I managed to do quite a few and had fun doing them. ...

Short tip this time, just to confirm to anyone googling for the 144 hour transit visa for Shanghai that it really works. I have just been to Shanghai using the 144 hour transit visa. My trip was from Barcelona via Dubai to Shanghai and finally Manila. You can find more information on the net, but this is how it basically works: you can stay only 144 hours (there are some rules on when these begin and end) it has to be transit, you can’t just return to your origin after the visit. you have to go to a third country (Hong Kong doesn’t count either) you have to use one of the two main airports in Shanghai, you can’t just use any odd border (I think there is a port option too) it doesn’t cost anything you have to have a passport from certain countries Europe/Schengen and USA are fine for example The main problem of the transit visa is that nobody knows about it. The Chinese consulate here had no idea and the Emirates staff also had not heard about it. ...

Amazingly this is the first multiple day cycling trip that I have done alone so far. I had the weekend for myself and decided to use it to explore some new roads in Catalonia. After asking my cycling friends for some tips I decided on using Ripoll as a base. It is a two hours and €8 train ride from Barcelona and surrounded by nature parks and nice mountains. ...

I wanted to this for a while, but it came up again recently, so here it goes. This is my small saddle bag, that I use daily and in group rides. For sportives or Gran Fondos I use a slightly bigger bag, which I will come to in a different post. I don’t really like to have too much stuff in the jersey pockets. On the usual rides I just carry my phone, cash, credit card and keys and maybe one gel. When it is colder or changing also a wind jacket. ...

Mauro talked me into taking part in the La Ruta Minera sportive, conveniently he broke his collarbone before and didn’t join. On paper this looked like a lot of fun. It is a bit shorter than Gran Fondo La Mussara and a “bit” more climbing. The event starts and finishes in Berga, which is an hour away with the car. There is no good rail connection, so I rented a car for the long weekend. I booked a hotel through the sportive organisation from Friday to Sunday, with the race being on Sunday. The Hotel HCC Ciutat de Berga was nothing special, but the front desk was very friendly and he did the sportive last year. He even checked out my gears to make sure I was not trying with a 11-25 cassette. They allowed bikes in the rooms for this weekend and also provided extra early breakfast and late checkout on Sunday. ...