We've got bikes for the round-the-world trip! Our new inseparable travel companions are now sharing the room with us.
Last week we went back to the Thorn factory in Bridgwater for the second time — this time to test, pay for, and collect our new bikes.
After setting eyes on them for the first time and making a few quick adjustments, we headed out for a ride around Bridgwater. Neither the rain nor the wind nor the fatigue we'd built up spoiled a very positive first impression. We finally had our bikes! We had everything we needed for our next adventure: cycling around the world!
A few hours later, with the short winter daylight already gone, we caught a train to Bristol central station, from where we'd test the bikes a bit more — pedalling to another station about 15 kilometres to the north.
First look at our new bikes at the Thorn shop
First experience cycling in winter
We hadn't factored in how late it was getting, so we had no lights. We hadn't thought about the fact that our hiking shoes would get soaked in the constant rain. We hadn't looked at the route beyond a couple of glances at the map. Our ride turned into a full-blown ordeal.
The rain from Bridgwater had turned to snow in Bristol, and not knowing the city at all meant an incredible detour just to reach our destination. The cold killed all our devices (phone and tablet) — something that had never happened to me before — so we had to fall back on the forgotten paper map.
Once we finally found the cycle path heading north, it took us cross-country. Through farms, completely unlit tunnels, and snowy hills with climbs and descents. Our bikes handled everything without a murmur — they seemed to be coping better than we were; we were exhausted.
At one point we reached a spot where some cheerful English kids had built a wall of snow several metres high across the path to our destination, forcing yet another detour to find an alternative route.
The ski goggles I'd bought fogged up completely and constantly, so I ended up riding bare-faced, snowflake after snowflake flying into my eyes. Nothing for it but to grit your teeth and keep pedalling until we reached our destination.
Things to know about cycling in winter
When we finally made it and confirmed we were in time for our train back to Manchester, we were able to take stock of our state and learn from our mistakes.
- Ski goggles fog up constantly. I almost rode into a fence I couldn't see until I was half a metre away. Maybe better to get standard cycling glasses with yellow lenses for low-light conditions. The brakes on the bikes worked brilliantly — I didn't lose my teeth, miraculously.
- Our waterproof jackets work perfectly. Perhaps too well. We were completely soaked — from sweat. We don't need as many layers underneath; you have to be careful not to overdress when cycling, otherwise the cure is worse than the disease.
- My water-resistant trousers are practically waterproof — dry on the inside, and the moisture disappeared almost instantly. Ilze's, supposedly waterproof, are purely decorative.
- Our winter gloves are waterproof and genuinely warm, maybe too warm. We'll need to bring lighter ones for when it's not quite so cold.
- You can't cycle in hiking shoes, at least not in the rain. Our feet ended up completely soaked and frozen on the way back to Manchester. We had to resort to plastic bags because we'd run out of dry socks.
The cold and the lack of dry socks led us to use plastic bags as socks
We were tired, hungry, wrecked, frozen, shivering… And for the first time in several months, we were smiling again. That smile that comes over our faces when we're travelling, when we're having an adventure, when we feel alive.
