Lights have
now been acquired for the bike from the BikeLight shop http://www.thebikelightshop.co.uk
– a Niterider Ultrafazer 5.0
for the front and a Niterider Cherry Bomb for the rear. (The service from this
supplier was good enough for me to recommend them wholeheartedly).
Although,
it isn’t our intention to cycle in the dark, we may well encounter bad weather
such as fog and we need to ensure that we remain visible.
With a bar
bag taking up all of the room on the handlebars, the question arose as to where
to fit the front light. Spa Cycles, who also supplied my bike, sell a little
tube stub for £8, about 40mm long, that is screwed onto the lower front rack
braze-on for mounting a front light. This allows the front light to be fitted
to the left or right of the front wheel, reasonably low down.
The rear
light, unfortunately, doesn’t have a mount for fitting to the rear rack but it
can clip to clothing or fit on the seat post. I can’t yet say how good the
front light is in illuminating the road but the rear light is awesome and akin
to a high intensity fog light on a car.
The care
instructions for the leather saddle say that the saddle should not be allowed
to get significantly wet. No problem when cycling but at rest stops etc, a cover was needed so I took a tip from a suggestion on a forum to buy a set of 3
Boots shower caps (around a £1). These seem to fit the bill perfectly and are
light. In fact, you can wear one under your helmet to keep the rain off!
Just to
give myself an idea of anticipated loading, I’ve started to weigh items of
clothing, tools, panniers etc. I’ve only vague ideas of how heavy the kit is
that people normally carry when using hotels but I’ve read lists totalling from
25lb upwards (one person who camped said that he took 75lbs!)
So far, I’m
up to 20.5lb and I’d like to think I’ll be able to restrict everything to about
25lb to 30lb but it’s still early days yet.
Having been
overweight for many years, the preparation for this tour is spurring me on to
eat sensibly and exercise more. I have a target weight loss of 40lb (lost
nearly half already) so I’m reasoning that once that’s been achieved, I won’t
notice too much what I’m carrying on the bike. That’s the theory anyway…….
With 3
bottle cages, I’ve managed to get most tools in the bottom bottle, keeping the
upper 2 for water/drinks. The helpful guy at Spa Cycles suggested that spare
spokes could be carried in the seatpost with some foam stuffing top and bottom
to stop them rattling around. I’ll do that nearer the time and also take some
foam pipe lagging to protect the bike’s finish when locking it up. Damn,
haven’t weighed the bike chain……….
The
preparations and planning continue.
Elan
