May 7, 2001
It has been a month since we have the bikes now, and finally it is spring. Heading for summer! I am just back from a 35km-training round in the area north of Amsterdam. It is so beautiful out there, especially now the sun is shining and the weather is dry. Yesterday we made a long ride together: 135 kilometers from Amsterdam to Obdam and vice versa. We were a bit surprised by the length of it, but we drove through some beautiful areas like Wormer, Purmerland and Spijkerboor.
Okke has been riding over 1000km on the Shockproof and I’ve made over 700. No complaints so far. I planned to cycle to work through the crazy city centre of Amsterdam, but I let this plan go recently. It is too hectic and I would be too nervous for it. I think training on cycling through hectic areas has to be done ‘on the job’.
I made some adjustments to the steer. It was set a bit low: my knees constantly touched it and it became annoying after a couple of kilometers. Now the brake cables are a bit short, so when I turn the steer very sharp, the front brakes do their work, while they shouldn’t. In June there will be CycleVision in Amsterdam. M5 will do some fine-tuning on our bikes then.
A couple of weeks ago we decided to leave in july instead of June. Our preparations were far behind schedule and we got very nervous of the idea leaving so soon. So we gave ourselves an extra month.
It is about time we start to test long rides with full packaging. But: we still don’t have a tent! And it is only seven weeks before we leave. ..Now the bikes are there, the bodies are fit, we have to change our focus to the equipment. Hurry, hurry!
We do receive a lot of e-mails from people who wish us luck or have questions or tips for us. That really keeps the spirit up! (SO)