Last summer was so goddam amazing that we were forced to pay for its radness by enduring a shitty winter. Ok, so it never really got cold, but it began raining before Christmas and truly didn’t stop until the end of February. I’m not even kidding, the BBC recently confirmed that this winter was the wettest since records began. It was also one of the stormiest winters in many years, in fact so stormy that the main railway line in and out of Devon was washed away entirely. And no, it’s not been fixed yet.
But joy! Just this weekend, the sun blessed us with her shiny face and everyone jumped on their bikes, myself included. Dave and I had been dying to try out some of the gear we might be using cycle touring, so we loaded up the bikes with beer, a BBQ and Linda McCartney burgers and headed along the coast to see how our bikes and gear performed.
I’ll be posting reviews of some of the gear we try out along the way, both here and on Total Women’s Cycling, as well as explaining more about what we’re packing for our cycle tour of Japan and what bikes we’ll be riding, so stay tuned for that.
But for now, here are a few pics of Dave on his Charge Plug 4, with a fresh Brooks ‘swift’ saddle, Ortlieb ‘Bikepacker Plus’ panniers and a Tubus rack. He’s also giving the new PEdALED kit a first outing, to check whether it’s going to be comfortable once we’re on the road. We’re both planning on packing extremely lightly, hence the need to test all of our kit thoroughly beforehand to ensure everything works perfectly.
Long may this wonderful weather last. I love Devon in the sunshine!
