Cuba at 4000rpm

Off-topic
1

nice little article to distract you this afternoon

http://www.mensjournal.com/travel/articles/cuba-at-4000-revolutions-per-minute-w201507

2

nice!! As soon as the US softens a bit all the embargo bullshit, I’ll try to move there. I visited 10 years ago and I fell in love with the island and the inhabitants

3

If I was a gambling man I’d wager you were researching this bit

I hit a bad hole and bent both my rims and had to visit a ponchera, a flat-tire repairman, who beat them back into shape with a hammer and a two-by-four
Wonder if Curtis has any spare?
4
One guy kept asking how much my wheels cost, how much my seat cost, and when I told him I didn't know, that I'd bought the whole thing together, he looked confused. He conceived of the world only in terms of parts.
Sounds familiar.
5

I love Cuba - particularily the music -Timba. Been there quite a few times since the late 80’s. Drove around it once which was interesting - like the article says - no road signs - (to confuse the Americans if they invaded) Got fined by the Police for going down a street no cars were allowed. It has changed so much, like once you only saw Jawas and CZ’s now Chinese twist and go’s are everywhere in Havana. Up in the Sierra Maestra mountains was fantastic and Santiago a great city. Even used Cuba as a jumping off point to get to Panama (to check my offshore bank balance). So as to not to have to go through that horrible time wasting paranoid unfriendly belly of the beast the US. 

Out in the country one of the ways to find your way round is to give lifts to people, there are marshalls for the lines of people wanting lifts. You stop and say where you are going and are teamed up with a local going that way. That way you do not get lost (like I did on my way to Trinidad). It would be good to do it on bike. But bikes from Havana cannot go out of Havana province and vice versa.

6

That was a great read

7

The Ponchera I visited in Ceinfuegos was a great experience, I had two punctures in one tyre. Brute force and bits of angle iron were used to remove the tyre from the rim. They do not have mushroom plugs so they glue a patch on the inside then vulcanise it with some makeshift heating elements that look like bits of broken irons and large G clamps.