Did a new test run last Sunday with my partner, this time with pretty much a full load of gear I'm planning to take with me on my bikepacking trip in approx one week. Even had medicine, toothbrush and all pretty much everything - had it not been for work I could have just wondered off and started the trip now :P
One week! This was probably the last test run I'll have time for. Based on the previous tests, I found an additional second hand bag for the rear rack - smaller than the main one but enough to share weight on both sides of the bike and provide enough extra space. Happy now I can leave my backpack at home. I'm still thinking whether I need a small frame bag, for tools and snacks. May just see how it goes, can always visit a bike shop on the way.
This time I wanted to practice setting up the tent in rain conditions, ie without getting the inside part of the tent wet. We didn't plan for rain, but a little bit appeared anyway. Following a video tutorial, I'm going to give myself a grade of 4/10 on graceful setup of the tent with the rainfly on. I think the next time will be smoother, so good valuable practice.
Right now I'm worried about a few things:
- Sanna (my bike) has been making some clicking noises while pedaling for a while. Service people found no cause, not the pedals, not anything loose. Going to take her into one more service on Wednesday to get the bottom bracket changed - the last thing that may be faulty, according to service people. The clicking noises have gotten worse in recent weeks and I'm going to be gutted if I have to make the trip with constant noises while pedaling. Should have dealt with this sooner maybe?
- I didn't weigh my two bags on my rear rack but I'm worried it's near or over the 20kg weight limit of the Ortlieb Quick Rack, which isn't meant for massive loads 😬.. If the attachments on that thing break during the trip it's going to require some serious MacGyver shit to keep going. Need to do some weighing and try to get some weight into the front bags if needed.
Apart from actual gear, I'm also worried about my route somewhat. Kind of last minute I switched the direction to be from Switzerland to the Netherlands, rather than the opposite. This way it will be gradual descent rather than a gradual climb towards the south. While doing this I added a few countries, because why not! Now my plan is to start from the border of Germany and Austria, ride to Lichtenstein and then through northern Switzerland through Zürich and on-wards to Basel. From there it would be northbound towards the Netherlands (via Belgium and Luxembourg).
Since my boat arrives and leaves from Travemünde, obviously I'm not going to ride to the southern border of Germany or back from the Netherlands, with only three weeks. I was planning on using trains. But guess who didn't bother to actually look at reserving bike places on trains in time? Somehow slipped my mind, focusing so much on gear and stuff. It was fun to find out that train places on long distance trains in Germany are booked sometimes months in advance. My choices ended up being: 1) use local trains which don't need bike reservations and zig zag towards the south or 2) use a train of some ungodly hour which still had free spaces.
I chose the latter, which means when my boat arrives to Travemünde at 9pm, I'll be riding to Hamburg during the night to catch the 4am long distance train towards the south, and hopefully getting even a few hours of sleep. After a few more changes closer to the destination, I should be at the border of Austria around 3pm, hopefully not entirely sleep deprived. The next days will then be the most challenging parts of the route I've planned, with the worst climbs being around 200m upwards (based on Komoot). I have absolutely no idea if what I'm planning makes sense, but I know it will be challenging :) Slow and steady I guess for these days. Hopefully the views will be nice.
Nearing the end of the route the challenge will be getting back to the boat in time. Will probably need to leave a few days for that, if no good train options seem available, then it will have to be zig zagging on regional trains. I have no idea how far I'll make it along the route, so reserving spaces on any train may be challenging. May just reserve a few possibilities, one from the Netherlands (best case) and one somewhere lower south (the "didn't quite make the route" -case).
I'll be attempting to write something every day, feel free to follow my fedi account posts at https://jasonrobinson.me/streams/tag/jasontravels/ or my Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jaywink, for updates :)
Ps. The bull is one gorgeous animal from the Haltiala farm in Helsinki <3 Such a majestic creature.
