See the photo link below to get the full flavor of my first real tour with the P-38.

I have a couple of comments worth noting here.

It has taken this many miles, but I am finally comfortable with the one toe stop. It just takes multiple 'click and go' photo stops to make one toe an automatic action.

My goal for this trip was less than ten pounds of gear. We left on tour early on impulse. I was throwing things together and didn't weigh my bags. I think I'm over ten pounds though. When I was having 'shimmy' issues, I quit carrying water in my seat bag. I now have a 32 oz bottle and a 20 oz bottle in the seat bag and have not had problems.

I now feel comfortable saying that my issues were a combination of rider inexperience and not balancing the load on my bicycle. Throwing only one pannier on the bike and taking off is not done on this bike. Over the past few days on tour I've had some sudden stops and other less desirable moves on the bike, but felt totally in control at all times.

Another thing that makes a huge difference to me in overcoming the shake/shimmy feeling, is using only one brake at a time. I occasionally forget and apply both brakes at once and I feel as if the bike is on the edge of moving in an unwanted manner. I have the disc brakes. As long as I use one brake at a time and pulse that brake, I'm ok. Living in Colorado I do ride 10%+ grades regularly. It is difficult to trust that one brake will work on steep grades. On the big downhills, I will alternate between the two, firmly.

Now that someone mentioned it, I now seldom ride one handed. Having two hands on the bars is an important piece to feeling in control with the P-38.

I said I was going to wait until after this trip to make the final decision on selling my former touring bicycle. I'm midway through the tour and am happy with the P-38's performance (or my performance while riding the P-38). The only question remaining is riding dirt roads. I don't ride dirt frequently, but enough that it's a factor. On this tour, the dirt roads are actually sand. I'm not ready to try loose sand. Firm packed dirt, yes.

I mentioned adding a thin layer of packing foam between my seat bag and the seat. That completely worked for me. We've ridden some rough roads the past couple of days and I've had no issues with my spine hitting the back of the seat. On real bouncy sections I lean forward in the seat. Happily, even while leaning forward and steering over extra rough spots or speed bumps, I have control of the steering. I did consider I could change the tires from the 1.5 Marathon Racers or I could let a little air out. I run 80 PSI.

I'd like to give another plug for my little top tube bag mentioned on the first page. It is perfect for holding my phone at easy access while riding. I don't have to lean forward at all to reach it.

I ordered some Smokey Mountain Saddlebags. Spoon has a set and uses them on the seat bottom. Mark from Power on Cycling says they can go on the seat back (as shown in the link) or the seat bottom on a two wheeled recumbent. Unfortunately the bags didn't arrive in time for this tour.

Speed - I still think speed is more the engine than the bike. We've been in flat country here and I've been feeling my oats. I've always said I'm happy with anything over 10 mph. Even with lightly loaded panniers, I've been averaging over 13 mph. I suspect the difference is the flat terrain and my powering around, happy to be riding in sunny Arizona in December.

Once I finally got the brakes swapped out, I've had no issues. No more shifting problems, no rack issues. No issues at all. Breaking the bike in was tough for me, but I think I'm in the sweet spot now. I'm keeping the chain clean and lubed and air in the tires. Happy, happy!

I did develop some knee pain this tour. It took me an embarrassing couple of days to trace the source. In the interest of helping my fellow cyclist - it's the small things that matter. I took to storing my Earbags in my nifty eoGEAR top tub bag. They made the bag bulge slightly, so I turned my knee out. Ah, ha! Source of pain. Once I removed the Earbags from the pocket, problem solved.

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