Kit Testing & Mini Adventures.

The last few weeks the U.K. has been enveloped in sub zero tempratues, this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to get my tent tested along with the other kit I intend to travel with. I set off a little later than anticiated around 5pm, crossing through town I passed the hordes of people heading for the warmth and banter of the local pubs. Riding into the local woods I was met by a clear, crisp, freezing twilight, void of the comforts just passed. I enjoy riding at night especially when the full moon reflects ample light to switch off my lamps, this was true of this night. Cruising along the frozen bridleways of Wiltshire with the cold chill whistling past, an eager grin develops across my face anticipating the night ahead.

If you’ve found me through Instagram you’ll have seen that I’ve been upping the training (if not, check it out https://www.instagram.com/peter_lacey_23/ ). Pretty much everything went to plan apart from two things. My water collection where I tried my new MSR trail shot, whilst attempting to use it in the dark I didn’t spot a small cap on the tip, I tried to pop it off after a few squeeze’s and the whole top section came off and went down the stream, this was pretty annoying as I care quite a lot about littering, hopefully I’ll find it on one of my beach cleaning missions. The second thing that didn’t go to plan was my test saddle, quite possible the most uncomfortable 100km I’ve ever ridden. Apart from that I found my designated camp spot about 30 miles from home, pitched up, got the stove on, had some grub, a cup of tea and a good night’s rest. The following day also went well with the GPS doing its thing and keeping me out of Guy Ritchie's Estate.

Following that ride I made a bit of time to get the hardtail back into action as this is what I'll be riding for the trip, perhapse not this exact bike, but details still to be confirmed.

On Sundays ride I swapped out my saddle for the next demo perch, straight away it just felt right. I’ve tried six saddles now initially I went for padding which was good for a few hours but then gave me a dead behind, perhaps the padding cut off the circulation I’m not sure. I tried a honey combe construction saddle, it had all the right blurb touting it but, this was the earlier mentioned offender. I guess what I’ve realised from this is that shape really is the most important thing and this varies incredible even from saddle’s that have the same outline, they can vary a lot in their contours. My magic saddle (Fabric Line Elite Shallow) turned out to have the least padding and be of the slimmest design, it even seems to have enhanced my kinematics, making pedalling feel more efficient. On route, I dropped into my parent’s place to eat lunch and to help them polish off their bacon supply. After this, I managed to check my current bag weight, tipping the scales at 12kg. I’ll be riding with alot less weight in my bag, however that weight will be distributed around the bike, hopefully I can get it down, I’ll keep you up to date with a final weigh in before the off.

The train ticket down to Land’s End was booked this week making the start date the 9th of April, I’m still yet to finalise a pickup as I still need to execute my full itinerary. There’s a few major jobs that also need to be done, distributing donation buckets to a few stores whom I’ve asked if they will support my fundraiser. Contacting newspapers along the way to see if they would like to cover the story. Ordering some stickers with my logo and a QR code to my fundraising page which I can leave in Boothies, Bikeshops, campsites and generally place’s I’ll stay and get chatting to people to drum up that extra support to reach my fundraising goal.
I’ve not had a great deal of luck with the magazines, I am going to keep trying, maybe as the trip is underway I can attract a little more interest.

Here’s my current kit run down, I’ll fill in the specifications whilst I’m on the road with a little more of a review.

Camping equipment.
• Tent
• Stove
• Mat
• silk liner
• Sleeping Bag
• Head Torch
• Micro fibre towel
• Thermals
• Thick socks
• Down jacket
• Platapus 2ltr collapsible bottle (to collect cooking water)
• Beanie
• MSR trail shot water filter.
• Flint
• Spork
• Magesium block (had this since I was 12)

Riding kit:
Deciding to ride in SPD’s, the shoes come in quite a variety of options and I’m a little torn on which to run. I have a pair of Shimano Am-45’s at the moment, when they get wet they become heavy and take an age to dry.
I’ve been looking at four others, one a Shimano XM-9 which has a much more flexible less pedal efficient sole, designed with a lot of hiking in mind. Two, the Shimano ME7 which is fairly stiff, but I’m not sure about the construction impacting the drying time. Thirdly, Mavic XA Pro H20 GTX, looks good on paper with gortex lining, and designed to be hiked in, but I still think the inside will get wet at some point, will it dry? So, I’ve ordered all three to try and have a closer look. At the other end of the spectrum I tried a Mavic Cross max elite, which would be amazing for pedal efficiency, dry’s quickly but potentially lethal for hike a bike up mountain boulders.

• Evoc 28ltr bag
• 3ltr bladder
• Waterproof jacket
• Padded shorts x2
• Shorts x2
• SPD Shoes
• Base layer
• Riding jersey
• Leg & Arm warmers
• Multi tube
• Gilet
• Socks x2
• Waterproof trousers?
• Water & windproof gloves
• Regular gloves

Spares & Misc
My biggest spare a rear deraliure can now be left behind courtesy of the bike choice, the hardtail can be run as a single speed if need be.

• Deraliure hanger x2
• Inner tube
• Dropperpost cable
• Gear cable
• Medical kit
• Speed link
• Pocket knife with plyers
• Cable ties
• Gorrila tape (removed from spool)
• Chamois cream
• GPS
• Lights
• Compass
• Phone
• Bike lock
• Spokes
• Multitool
• Pump
• Tubeless plugs
• Brake pads

So if you've enjoyed reading this and would like to support my efforts to raise money for the Salisbury & Southampton Hospitals and to find out my full story, please follow this link: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/peterlacey3