New saddle has been broken in (yes, yes, the Cambium isn’t supposed to need it. Well, either it or my sitbones needed so time and miles to sort themselves out – but they seem to have done so).

London Revolution was revolved, and all went ok – had to walk three hills, but it transpired (rather later than it should have done) that both front and back brakes were dragging, probably because I had a “tactical dismount” on a hill. Note to self: don’t try and get going again on a steep hill. It only leads to bruises and a slightly banged up bike (thankfully not the frame and nothing non-fixable – unfortunately, the brakes got knocked out of alignment but it took a while … like, maybe, two weeks … to notice).

The brakes lead to abandoning the Cambridge/East Anglia 300k (but I need to have another go at that – gorgeous scenery). All seemed ok, but when a thunderstorm hit, the brakes issue was abruptly very very audible as all the trash (leaves etc) from the road got onto the rims. 70k into a 300k audax … not ideal. The brakes need an 18mm spanner to realign them and … I did not have an 18mm spanner with me (one is now in the saddlebag!). So, limped into Ipswich trying not to trash my rims too badly, and caught a train back to Cambridge and the car. Back home, to promptly sort out the brakes (and then clean the bike!)

Still playing with luggage ideas – I may have sorted out the handlebar bag at last. The Apidura one brushes the wheel when the bike jolts; the Ortlieb one seems to press badly on the brake cables and isn’t all that easy to access. I’ve been refusing to consider the more traditional type on the basis that my light would be unusable with a handlebar bag in the way … it turns out that Carradice have thought of that (duh; audaxes are mostly characterised by Carradice – you’d think I might have realised earlier). Their handlebar bags have a bracket underneath for mounting lights to. So, I acquired one – not on the bike yet, because the bar tape needs to be adjusted to enable the bracket to fit properly. I need to add gel pads under the bar tape (and replace the bar pad with gel tape as well) so I’m waiting for the tape/gel pads to arrive then will do it all at once. It’ll mean moving the bike computer to the stem, but that’s straightforward. the handlebar bag has plenty of room, won’t press against cables, and is rigid so it’s easy to find stuff in it. It also has a map pocket on top, in case of computer failure (I’m taking a marked up set of maps plus a route sheet for LEL, as well as the GPS files).

Dynamo wheelset has been ordered and should be here soon. Getting there, getting there.

Now debating the rear luggage – I like the Apidura bag I have, it just proves to be awkward to get stuff out of. However, with a better front bag, it may be that I don’t need to access the bag other than at controls for clothes etc, in which case it’s fine.

The Carradice bag, btw, should also work as a DSLR bag for non-audax rides.