T2T Day 4 14-Nov-2011 “Hard yards – harder miles”
Duenas (Northern Spain ) to Jerez ( Southern Spain )
Miles covered: 456 T2T miles so far: 1,323 Punctures : 0
Evening Meal: Tapas ( followed by paellas Valenciana and Mixta )
Road hours : 09:00 – 19:30
07:00 alarm calls roused T2T from standard and camp beds. All team members rendezvoused for the daily ritual of fixing of luggage onto our sturdy Thumpers. Team leader Kev led by example, unlocking the bikes and loading first. Jon and Jas joined from their respective berths and surveyed the lead grey skies suspiciously. The weather forecast from the previous night had indicated 70-80kph winds and rain - oh joy !
The journey began on the high plains of the Castilla Y Leon with cross-wind induced wobbles expressed by Jon who, maddened by sudden invisible forces driving him to the hard shoulder sought solace in a service station to collect himself. Testing moments these for team T2T … Kev and Jas waited patiently and rescued the situation by proposing a 60mph limit through the treacherous winds … Before too long Jon had mastered the winds and all was well [ top T2T tip for coping with naughty cross-winds : let the wind take you for a moment then squeeze the throttle thus regaining traction ] … and then it rained, and rained and rained some more. T2T resolve was such that all members ploughed through approaching speeds of 80mph. Bonus points were scored for the driving rain cleaning French insects off T2T visors. Sadly points were deducted for Jas’ ripped jacket (see below), Jon’s solitary pair of (rain-soaked) gloves and Kev’s tactical error in tucking trousers into boots resulted in the excellent Sidi Adventure boots resulted in water soaked seal skinz socks !!
Regardless, in an elongated day’s riding a T2T personal best was set ( 456 miles hurrah ! )
Footnote: the day began with the horror of high speeds winds whipping across the plain but ended in the tranquillity of Sandlawood, Cypress and Pine trees lining the route to Jerez
Product review: New Jacket – Jas wants to like his jacket but some serious flaws leaves his decision in limbo: A quick once over before heading into forecasted torrential rain and the new jacket had a gaping hole in the shoulder/arm pit seam and join. In need of a good night sleep but needs must – out came the sewing kit (a special thanks to mum). ¾ of an hour later and repaired seams. Judgment day and the jacket held up well to the rigors of the weather. Some wet love-handles but that could be down to user error. But managed to rip the neoprene cuff from the lining! What next?
On going review but so far – Design 9/10, construction 3/10 – will it last the trip? Will Jas have enough Nylon?
Neowell Desert Trousers are about as waterproof as a Tetley Tea Bag!! However Chris Scott’s “Desert Riders”, Aerostich Darien Jacket resisted all the weather could throw at it.
Future product reviews to include Asda pants vs. Tesco pants vs Primark pyjama trousers. Stay tuned …
Testing the Camel back hydration systems before we hit the desert…
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