Rain. Lots of it. Last work week and the weather is doing little to lighten the mood. During the last couple of months we’ve had to organise a lot of things and quite a few of them have not gone to plan. Sometimes it feels like the country is fighting to keep you at home. As though it does not want you to leave. It adds to the doubts and fears of any project involving stepping into the unknown. What if the visas don’t come in time? What if we don’t have enough money? What if the bikes break down? What if the house is not let? “What if” is hateful. Add that ‘stepping into the unknown’ to the fact you are doing it on a one of a kind diesel bike that you built in your garage and its more like jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane with an untested parachute.
The bike gear seems to be holding up ok though and thankfully (touches wood) the bike is too. Last weekend saw both of them shod out with new tyres except for my front wheel which is currently being rebuilt with a new rim. The old one might have been ok though I have a tendency to worry about these things. An interesting thing I learned though was that Helens BMW F650GS and my Tiger both share the same front rim dimensions. Perhaps I should have re-laced my hubs to a BMW rim, cos they seem infinitely better quality. Helens bike also got the pannier rack fitted and she spent a good bit of Saturday cleaning the alloy boxes to go on them. Still a complete service to do on both of them, which is a big job on my bike…
And yet despite all the concerns it’s still exciting. What we will find and learn we don’t know yet. We have not met the friends I am sure we will make. ‘Once in a lifetime’ is a tired old cliché but seems appropriate. How many people are lucky enough to be able to do something like this?
Perhaps it would have been easier to go out and buy a BMW/KTM/Other and then (get some mechanic to) throw some of the latest farkles at it. It would probably be more reliable, or at least would have the placebo effect. I would not be listening for strange new noises or worrying about some bolt I had not tightened correctly because I’d never have seen inside the thing.
But then that’s not the point of adventure is it? 🙂