January 18, 2025
Shakedown Trip to Victoria
I am coming into this trip with a lot more confidence than going into the Great Divide trip. All of my gear was sufficiently tested on that trip and the only failure was a tent pole that was fixed with a splint.
For this trip though I'm using a completely new bike that I've only ridden about 10 times with the longest ride topping out at 97 km.
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I went for my bike fitting and learned a great deal including how to properly adjust the seat angle without guessing. Essentially you lay a flat book on your saddle and place your iphone on top. Then you engage the level to determine the angle of the saddle. Even after the fitting I was feeling minor discomfort in the perineum. I made a minor adjustment to tilt the nose up 1 degree.
I also swapped the stem for one that 10 mm shorter (90 mm) and kept the angle we settled on at the fitting.
For this trip I was dealing with not a lot of daylight and black ice risk in the mornings so I decided to set out just before 10 AM and ride the 40 km to the ferry. Then catch the ferry to the Island, meet Peter, and ride another 30 km to his house.
That was the extent of the test with the fully loaded bike but everything felt great!
I unloaded most of the stuff and then we rode another 150 km or so around town over the next 3 days.
Then I reversed the trip and headed back the same way for another 70 km total. For the 5 days I rode about 280 km which was enough of a test to confirm the bags are fitting well and nothing is shifting. I will carry extra straps and Velcro in the event of problems along the way.
It was a great trip though as we had a great time riding and I visited with my parents each day as well.
Simple, even boring post.
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2 days ago
especially being a father to a son I very much love. I’ll pray for daily.”
1 day ago