High Adventure, Low Impact bike tours in the Indian Himalayas
This interesting and inspiring new magazine from the US includes a feature on bike cargo trailers in all their various forms, with a brief review of the 26in/700c Extrawheel trailer that I’ve been playing around with recently. Seen here in 700c wheel mode, hitched to Cara’s Thorn Catalyst. There’s some more thoughts on it in our Scotland post.
It’s well worth downloading, which you can do (for free) here:
Well, technically, I made half of it. But that’s good enough for me, and I’m still basking in the accomplishment (-;
Robin Mather kindly offered to not just to braze on some rack mounts to my Inbred 29er, but talk me through how’s it done so I could have a crack at it myself. “Useful skills if you’re going pan-Tibetan,” he said.
On with the Ray Charles shades. Coat her with flax, fire the torch up, a few thousand degrees of heat and in goes the brass… Robin did one side, and after a few tentative practise runs, I did the other…
Seeing as there’s the indulgent joys of Phunchok and his Tata Sumo jeep on the tours this year, there’s no need to worry about cramming everything into panniers, trailers and the like.
However, we still need to carry a fair bit more than the normal trail goodies. Apart from the usual suspects (multitool, tube, mini pump, little spares like chainlinks etc…), extra layers are important too, depending on how cold you get, or how sensitive to rain/snow/wind you are. We’re talking a decent waterproof at the minimum, plus a light fleece and perhaps some waterproof overtrousers to act as a wind stop on big descents, or even covering your legs when exploring conservative monasteries. And a warm pair of gloves in case it gets really chilly. It’s that old adage: if you don’t have it, you’ll need it. Factor in shades, suncream, Buff, snacks/lunch and a camera – and it’s all starting to add up. Although we have a jeep, we won’t necessarily be seeing it much doing of it during the day (if at all) so we still need to be self sufficient while we’re riding.
Continue reading ‘Carrying your kit while riding on the jeep trips.’
We’ve just had a cancellation due to a work commitment for the Sach Pass trip. The ride begins in Manali and ends in the Dharamsala, home of HH Dalai Lama, via the stunning Sach Pass. It runs from September 18 to October 3. So if anyone would like the place, please get in touch soon…
We’re back from Scotland, and are now catching up with emails and making final arrangements for the summer in India. We’re off on the 18th – just two weeks away – but will have regular access to the internet once we’re there to deal with any last minute queries.
It was a great two weeks of solid, wall to wall riding. Here’s Cara negotiating a superb offroad loop on the island of Harris, in the Outer Hebrides, suggested to us by Andy Mac, the photographic and route expert for the area.
And here’s our picnic spit on the beach at Horgabost. The sun was out, the water was turquoise, and it was fresh salmon (smoked over a peat fire) and soda bread on the menu…
