I've arrived home safely. The Ferry from Santander to Portsmouth was great and as on the outbound trip was a flat as a millpond.
Thanks for all the kind words. My little accident could have been worse, much worse now that I think about it and reflect upon it.
I traveled just over 800miles on the trip (3 days riding) and averaged more then 60mpg (UK gallon).
Panniers are the boxes/containers that are fixed to the sides of bikes (pedal and powered). Many US riders prefer throw over saddlebags instead. Mine are made of strong Polycarbonate and despite tumbling down the road the structure is still intact but will need to be replaced because the mountings are all broken.
Off to the dealers tomorrow to get the bad news.
Samantha
Comments
Welcome back
Any chance of a used or odd single pannier to save a wad of cash? Despite that part I hope there are plenty of good moments from the ride to remember.
Teri Ann
"Reach for the sun."
single pannier
I can buy a single pannier from the makers. They make a generic box that has a different coloured clip on cover.
My Insurance will cover most of the costs.
The Picos de Europa is wonderful biking country be it on human or engine powered devices. The roads are mostly empty of traffic (mostly... sic). The scenery is breathtaking at times.
Apart from the little incident the trip was great.
Samantha
Some in the US prefer the
Some in the US prefer the saddle bag but from seeing motorcycles for years(I lived just off a beach) that they are the extreme minority with hardcore riders and antique bike owners being the one's who had them. Normal riders and weekend riders have panniers like yours, and 100% the time if you see a motorcycle police officer s/he has panniers. Plus panniers look nicer imho.
Just out of curiosity, what kind of bike are you riding?
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
What bike?
I treated myself to a new Triumph Trophy SE as a retirement present. (Sigh).
It comes with panniers with a matching colour to the rest of the bike.
Mine is in Pacific Blue
http://www.triumphmotorcycles.co.uk/motorcycles/adventure-an...
Just been onto the Insurance company and got things moving wrt. getting it repaired.
Samantha.
well here in canada
the "saddlebags' are bolted to bikes, made of leather and carbon fiber that are hard like boxes.... for motorcycles.
i have seen some bicycle riders with cloth bags on bikes but thats it. Usually its just backpacks tied to bikes as they are a lot easier to cart in and out.
Truthfully most bike riders have only a water bottle and a pouch. Anything more is dead weight.
you won't
Get serious bicycle riders using hard shell panniers - they are too heavy. The best cycling bags are of coated cordura material welded to make them watertight - I have lots of the stuff depending on the trip. So far no one has improved on the German Ortlieb brand, they make special bags for horses, dogs, canoeists and yes, 2 wheeled travellers.
Here in Europe motorbike touring is very popular and most of them use hard shell panniers and top boxes. (when I was in the Alps last month there were literally hundreds every day terrorising the mountain passes! Casual day riders will sometimes use backpacks, panniers are expensive!
Madeline Anafrid Bell
A water bottle and pouch ...
... may be OK for a short ride round the block but not much use for a serious self reliant ride. Unless I was racing I always had either a saddle bag (big one) or, panniers, sometimes 4 panniers if we were cycle camping, as well as mudguards. Even winter training rides on a chaingang, there were complaints if there were no 'guards and, as it was a take no prisoners group (ie no-one waited if you had a mechanical or bonked) all had traditional saddlebags.
I cycled a minimum of 27 miles/day commuting in all weathers throughout the year (admittedly we don't get as much snow here but snow rarely stopped me) before I retired. You have to carry tools and spare inner tubes as well as civies and packed lunch.
I almost never use a back pack. It's better to let the bike carry the weight and that applies to motor cycles, too. I used to ride Audax events up to 400km and so needed somewhere to carry night riding wear as it gets cold riding right through. On our tandem we only do shortish day rides and a rackpack is enough for food and spare wet weather clothes. Handy for adjusting clothing to suit the temperature as well.
Our most enjoyable holidays were spent cycle-camping in either the Alps or the Pyrenees occasionally wild-camping if there were no official sites.
btw I'm surprised that the Santander ferry landed in Portsmouth. I thought the only route was via Plymouth. We'll have to look into that next time. Glad things are (slowly) working out.
Robi
I Have An Old, Steel
Trek 620 touring bike from '82. I used to take it on century plus (miles) rides in the '80s with only handle bar and under seat bags, but then I got into racing bikes for long rides. I have, also old, Cannondale front and rear panniers, and the handlebar bag. The fork has bosses for the front rack. Cannondale started making bags and panniers before they made bikes. The Trek has a triple and I only upgraded it to 8 speed, since I've mainly used it for shopping and commuting with little climbing the last 30 years.
For shopping I also secure a pack-frame bag to the top of the rear rack. After one food shopping trip with lots of canned food and glass bottled liquids, I weighted all the panniers and bags separately, while full, and found I was carrying more the 85 lbs. Luckily, I only had a 1 1/2 mile flat ride home from the last store. Starting from a stop was a bit wobbly, but as soon as I was going 10 mph or more, the ride was smooth and the handling fine.
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee