With 26 days to go now to the start of our challenge, there is still an enormous amount of work that need to to be done.
Few days ago taking advantage of the recent spell of bad weather, managed to successfully test out the tent in the rain and wind and am happy to report over the four day trial, I was very comfortable and pleased that it did the job well in sheltering me from the elements. There is however a small modification required to ensure that it will not fail us taking into consideration the varied weather we are likely to encounter in our 1000 mile journey.
Also so far have done 2 full load run on the bikes of 25 miles duration to see how the bikes handle carrying all the gear as we are totally self supporting i.e no vehicular support for the entire trip. First run was done with the wide mountain tyres still in place. The second with some narrower tyres installed which is also more resistant to punctures. Both tests were good fact finding runs. Changing to narrower on road tyres made a huge difference to the rolling resistance of the bike. However the amount of weight on the bike is causing it to be very tail heavy and the centre of gravity needs to be shifted forward by distributing the weight more evenly across the entire bike. This should improve steering and thus help with overall handling. Currently talking to various manufacturers to seek the best solution to this problem.
Considering the enormity of this challenge, the distance involved and the complete self reliance we cannot afford to have any kind of failures. Therefore over the next few weeks will continue to test and retest equipment and ourselves to ensure everything will function flawlessly over the entire 12 day trip.
Will keep everyone posted of all further developements.
Thanks for reading.
Moh
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