What do skiing and motorcycling have in common?
In my ignorance about tyre wear I’d misjudged how long tyres would last. I’d posted a spare set down to Lusaka (couriers back then?) and faced dumping the half worn set or carrying the new.
I was way too tight to dump them so…
Bike handling wise, this was the best place to carry them but I still hadn’t worked out how to stop them slipping down. It wasn’t long before a mod was made and it’s still on Libby now. Next time you see her…
The canvas roll bags were made for me in Uganda by my friend Heather. If you’ve read ‘Into Africa’ then you’ll have met her. She made them for me when I was thinking about getting rid of my top box.
The bags weren’t waterproof of course but big plastic bags did the job nicely.
And this road? That was fairly standard. You learnt to slalom pretty quickly and prayed you didn’t get stuck behind a truck. A dust and hole combo wasn’t fun to sit in and they also made it very hard to overtake.
There were times where it made sense to back right off and then try to travel at truck speed so you stayed a good distance between them. The priorities were get ‘there’, see the world around you, and keep you and your bike working well. 👍👍
You can read or listen to this full story in ‘Into Africa’ – paperback, kindle or audiobook.