More people have been curious as to how the bike is holding up rather than me! I’ll take that as a positive vote of confidence in my abilities to get through this in one piece.
So the bike, Reggie Ridgeback Panorama. He appears to be fine. Initial annoyances with rattles and squeaks and vibrations have disappeared. I’ll put this down to starting the trip on British “boneshaker” roads in the first couple of days. Now that I am cycling on predominantly good quality road surfaces, such minor issues have all but disappeared. Iain Harper back in Deal also helped me by tightening a few screws. But I do have the Italian roads to come… I think I am over using the middle gear of the middle front plate or cog and it is occasionally starting to slip, especially when starting off in that gear. Everything else is fine which is what you what you would expect really from a new bike in good cycling conditions. I hope that doesn’t tempt fate.
Well as you ask, I’m fine too. My only issues remain my cut foot from the shower slip in a Luxembourg hotel and I still have a slight twinge in my left shoulder from the ballroom dancing episode back in Boulogne…. I’ll stick to the cycling 🙂