One week to go
My bike's not quite ready, I haven't thought about packing. I have no insurance, no way to access money overseas. But my ticket is booked, I have my visa, I have a velocipede, and enough will power to force me onto a plane and into the abyss.
Details on my bike and gear. Having decided on the bike tour less than two months before leaving, it was a bit of a rush scraping all my gear together, considering some people spend years planning such trips. My road bike I used for commuting had no brazens for racks, which I thought would have been necessary for any kind of serious touring. So I bought a Vivente World Randonneur, made in Taiwan and put together in Sydney. It's a steel frame with 100% Cr-Mo tubing, with drop bars and STI lever. It was quick to set up, because it already came with a lot of the gear - mud guards, rear rack, front dynamo hub (Shimano Deore XT dynamo) and lights powered by the dynamo (Busch & Muller Lumotec IQ Fly RT w/standlight and sensor and Toplight line plus for day night running).
I set up my bike further with:
- 4 x Ortlieb Panniers (2 x front, 2 x rear)
- Altura handlebar bag
- Tubus Duo Lowrider front rack
- Brooks leather saddle
- E-werk and cache battery for phone charging
- Pedals and SPD mountain bike cleats and shoes
- Mini foot pump
- Kryptonite D-lock
It was a large upfront cost, but I saw it as an investment I would get a lot out of in future days - better to have reliable bike. I was a little worried about bike maintenance - I knew the basic fixes: repairing a puncture, adjusting and replacing brake pads (but I'd never had disc brakes before as on the front wheel), changing brake and gear cables, truing a wheel, breaking a chain etc. But I was scared of being stuck in a remote area and not having the knowledge to be able to fix it myself.
Aaaaaaahhhhjjjjjj por alguna razón el post que ya había escrito se borró cuando tuve que introducir mi contraseña de gmail :(
ReplyDeleteTrataré de recordar lo que escribí, como el echo de que me algro haber tenido bigote alguna vez, pues así puedo presumir que tengo alma! (según Confusius).
Muchas gracias por compartir tu diario! Realmente me gusto mucho y me quedo con algunas cosas como el echo de hacerme sentir que realmente quiero viajar a algun lugar del mundo en donde mi cultura sea totalmete diferente y aprender desde otra perspectiva, muchas palabras que mi vocabulario en ingles no incluia y espero no olvidar tan pronto como curd porridge tins of congee dodge the pot hole shook mongering haphazardly crockery boulders weary embracing nit hauled velocipede Panniers entre otras más. y finalmente el echo de recordarme lo que es el ser humano, con la capacidad de vivir y dejar vivir, como e aquella experiencia que tuviste en donde una mujer de China se entendió contigo con la frase "tu eres bienvenida aqui" que chido :D
Que mal que tu viaje terminara antes de lo planeado y tuvieras que regresar a Australia, pero por algo pasan las cosas no?
Por alguna razón comencé a leer tus relatos del final hacia el inicio jajaa lo que lo hizo quizá un tanto mas misterioso e interesante :)
Te quiero! Germán