One Week to Go!!

May 31, 2016

This will be our fifth trip to Europe since retiring in 2011. On our first trip we rode from London to Serbia with seven weeks spent in France. We have wanted to get back to France since that first trip. France offers so much for people who love to travel by bicycle. Some of the best camping in Europe, beautiful villages every few kilometres, amazing food...pastries...wine,fresh pate, and succulent cheeses.

For the past 2 years, we have left our beloved recumbent tandem, a Rans Seavo TR, in Germany with our friends, the Reitz family. As we have a second tandem (Rans Screamer) and single recumbents in Canada, it makes sense to save the Seavo for long distance touring in Europe.

Nonetheless, we do miss our Seavo and look forward to being reunited soon. Our first morning in Germany we will be riding Seavo to a bike shop to replace worn parts and upgrade for a tour.

Gifts for Seavo: Four new chains (10 lbs worth!) - made in Germany and purchased in Victoria - our recumbent tandem requires over 400 links. BB7 disk brake for the rear of the bike - on a previous tour we were forced to get a BB5 disk brake and we really cursed it for its poor performance on the tandem. An expedition worthy Schwalbe Mondial tire for the rear of the bike (folding version is reputed to be stronger). Cool stop brake pads for the rim drag brake - an experiment and new type for us. And finally, a treat for us - super lightweight and well ventilated helmets for the hot European summer days of riding.

Look at that beefy tread. Here's hoping that it stands up to the load of the tandem, cobbled roads and rough trails.

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