Equipment and Route

Welcome to Duncan and Geoff's blog, which we'll update as we go along our tour each week or so, whenever we can get internet access. Some details about the trip:

1. We are going on a cycling tour across Europe and around the Mediterranean Sea, which will be about 10,000km long and take approximately 4 months.

2. Neither of us have done anything so large-scale before. This trip covers twenty countries.

3. We planned this trip in a week, and we're camping almost every night (once a week hostel for washing, internet, and charging electronics). In fact, everybody we spoke to from bike shops thought we were insane, most people plan for ages.

Today, Duncan and I have just finished assembling and tweaking our bikes. We have a few initial observations:

1. The brand-spanking new Brooks B17 saddle, which takes months to break in apparently, is actually already fairly comfortable! All that leather treatment was a good idea, and those beasts will last us well! £100 well spent, lets hope the titanium rails weren't a waste of money, they better soak up those bumps, because nothing else will.

2. My cheap panniers fit like a glove, and I get the feeling they'll be weatherproof to boot.

3. The light, almost racing, bikes we bought are very quick and should be better than the traditional steel tourers, as long as the carbon forks don't shatter on us on a downhill (I've taped mine up to help prevent scratches).

We are finalising the equipment lists for each of us, and plan to depart on Monday 30th. The first few days will average a mere 60km, but we're hoping to double that up after 10 days. Total rolling weight (excluding us) is under 30 kgs each, so it's fairly light for such a long trip.

You can look forward to some quality photos and, if we're lucky, maybe some quality banter too!
Geoff