Jun 5 2014

Every cloud has a silver lining – always!

While Anne was getting root canal treatment yesterday, because of an absces, under a crown, Anthony spotted one tool we’d been looking for which the endodontist was using: a short metal ruler to measure our chain slack, one of the crucial things to check to ensure chain longevity. Luck would have it that the endodontist had just received new rulers and the old ones were waiting to be thrown out. So now, we have the perfect ruler! Once again, life is working out just perfectly for the 2 Slow Speeds.

We will be making the most of our forced delayed departure to take some rest now – more news on the 25th June.

– Anne

One of our show stoppers being dealt with - Anne getting root canal and absces treated

One of our show stoppers being dealt with – Anne getting root canal and absces treated

Dental ruler, perfect to measure the chain slack.

Dental ruler, perfect to measure the chain slack.

By 2slowspeeds • Posted in General
1
Jun 1 2014

Departure delayed

Today is the day we were going to head off, leaving the UK for France and making our slow way back to Australia. But…

We still have a number of items on our list which we have not managed to tick off. The last few months seem to haven taken their toll and now we need to make sure that not only are the bikes ready and administrative issues taken care of, we need to take care of our bodies. Anne’s tooth abscess has not been resolved yet – in fact she did not make it to the dentist last week. Suddenly feeling very faint, an ambulance was called to take her to hospital. Poor Anthony was confused when he got a call (while collecting the Russian visa) from a petrol station and then the dentist calling him to ask where I was. We won’t get the results of all the tests until late in the month.

Of course, we are very disappointed about this delay (and the time constraints this now puts on us to get through Russia as the visas have been issued for specific dates) but the good news is that we will now leave for our trip rested!!! We will take some time out for rest and relaxation, not sure where, but we will find somewhere to pitch the tent, take long walks and recharge our batteries.

– Anne

By 2slowspeeds • Posted in General
4
May 27 2014

Russian Visas collected

Today Anthony collected the Russian visas. The first of many we will need for the trip. We must thank the staff at the vfsglobal who handle the Russian visa applications for their advice to ensure our applications progressed smoothly. Well worth going in person rather than mailing application in. Alternatively you can use an agency.

– Anthony

May 24 2014

One week to planned departure date

This is a strange time for us – we are suddenly one week away from our original planned departure date and yet, it still does not feel real (are we really about to ride around the world on our motorcycles?! 😳) and we still have 33 items on our ‘to do’ list. We have a couple of ‘show stoppers’ such as collecting our European passports from the Kazakhstan embassy on Thursday, connecting Anthony’s additional spot lights and downloading the various required maps for our GPS. And Anne’s unexpected visit to the endodontist next Tuesday for a suspected abscess under at the root of one her crowned teeth… Not happy about that little surprise 😦

The good news is that we did our first pack practice yesterday and there is room to add ‘stuff’ to our panniers! Next will be our first practice ride fully loaded – could be fun. Here’s hoping for some dry weather in the next couple of days!!

– Anne

May 19 2014

Pre-trip bike maintenance

Today was a big day for our bikes: we rode 2 hours to get to North Oxford BMW, where we bought the bikes, and back, for their last pre-trip maintenance – like a full ‘health check’. We wanted to start the trip with all new consumables, even though it was earlier than necessary or recommended, for peace of mind and wanted to be involved in the actual maintenance steps in order to be able to perform routine maintenance ourselves once on the road.

We cannot thank North Oxford BMW enough for their assistance from our first dealings with them until today. Our sincere thanks go out to Nathan, Matt, James, Mark and Mark.

As part of this maintenance day, we also:

– installed Anne’s Rox Pivoting Risers (to bring the handlebars closer) – although fiddly to get the right position and secure the original bolts, no changes were required to the cables on the BMW F700GS. And they are perfect!!! I am very happy with them – the riding position is now perfect.

– wired up the GPS to Anthony’s bike

– replaced our main beam light bulb with a high intensity one – wow, they are bright alright!!

– wired up Anne’s new Cree fog/spot lights – for more visibility: oncoming traffic no longer just sees one little light coming towards them but a wider looking vehicle. We need to get an auxiliary fuse box to install Anthony’s lights as he already has the GPS connected.

– replaced our tyres with the new Heidenau Scout K60 which, based on reports, should last 10,000 miles. The ride back this evening was interesting, brand new knobblies on tar feel a little wobbly and then towards the end of the ride ‘home’, it started to rain. But all was good – the 2 Slow Speeds being as cautious as ever.

– Anne

Bike maintenance with North Oxford BMW

Bike maintenance with North Oxford BMW