Preparing for this trip has been a great excuse to splash out on some new kit, including a new bike. After considering a dedicated tourer, I've instead chosen a mid-level road bike. There aren't many manufacturers making bikes I'm comfortable on, so I've gone with a Cannondale CAAD9 105 Compact in a 63cm frame, which has identical geometry to my trusty old R3000 and so I can be fairly sure of being comfortable on it.
The only changes from 'factory spec' have been an extended seat post, Armadillo tyres and the saddle from my trusty single-speed commuter, in preference to the somewhat unforgiving Fi'zi:k model that came with it.
For carrying capacity, I have a Tubus Fly rear rack supporting my old Altura panniers. Since the bike doesn't have any mounting points on the frame, the rack is attached to a skewer adapter and to the rear brake mounting. This might sound a bit precarious, but after a few long practice rides and no trouble, I'm reasonably confident with the arrangement.
Aside from the necessities, the key 'toy' for this trip is the excellent Garmin 705 GPS device. Using http://www.bikehike.co.uk to plan and optimise our routes, the track files can then be transferred to the Garmin to make navigation (hopefully!) a piece of cake. It will also log our actual course and speed of course, and we hope to be able to upload these on a daily basis so you can watch as we gradually slow down.
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