Thanks to the guys at Campione in Calgary, I’m now the happy owner of a very shiny Surly LHT.
It went for its first test ride today, and seems to work. And aaahhh, the smooth gear changes of a brand new bike. All stock components on it so far, no upgrades to fancier parts. I’ll probably keep it that way too, until things actually need replacing… except perhaps the saddle. A comfy saddle is always good.
(And yes, it is green)
But… wha? It was so nice last weekend! It’s still August – that’s supposed to be Summer. Isn’t it?
So, it’s snowing today apparently. Umm, so I guess I’m not going climbing. Maybe I’ll go for a bike ride in the snow? I hear that’s possible.
EDIT. 8.30am, still snowing.
EDIT2. 11.00am, still snowing.
As I’ve been whiling my time away looking at accounts of bike tours, it suddenly occurred to me that my two rear panniers (Deuter Rack Pack I think they are) probably wouldn’t carry enough stuff for cycling round Europe for four months. Even if I lashed things on top of them. There would be water and food and camping gear, and maybe, just maybe, tying everything to the back of my bike would be do-able, but would not necessarily be very rideable. Lots of people seemed to have front panniers. Also, I would really need somewhere to put my camera bag. I could get a basket and tie it to the front of my bike, and put the camera bag in that. This solution wouldn’t be very waterproof though. Or dustproof. Or shakeproof. So I got all consumeriffic and started looking for things online. Then somehow managed to order everything, just like that…
So I’m soon to be the proud new owner of a small Ortlieb rackpack/duffel bag:
Ortlieb Classic Front Roller panniers:
A Tubus Tara Lowrider Front Rack Black to carry them:
And an Ortlieb Ultimate 5 Classic Bar Bag – to be padded with foam to provide a nice solid camera carrying case:
The plan is not to fill these all up, just because I’ll have the space now, but instead to have spare room available for extra things like food and water – so we don’t always have to be reliant on food shops being open, or water being where you need it. So now I have all the bits I need for cycling wherever I want. Hurrah! The most horrifying part of all of this is that my order came to about AUD$340 (with postage free) – but pricing these things at Australian shops comes to around AUD$700.
Lovely Summer day climbing at Heart Creek.
Warm sun, cool creek, gentle breeze, plastic dinosaur. All in monochrome. Not a lot of climbing was done, though we did find the waterfall at the end of the creek – the trail leads all the way to it, but then to actually see the waterfall you have to scramble around some polished rock. From the looks of the bolts, there used to be chains going round, so everyone could get there.
I guess most people just have to be satisfied with the noise of the waterfall these days.
My current loaner road bike – JD’s Campagnolo beastie. It has just 14 gears and likes to go fast. (Oh, and a giant statue of an eagle)