Full Fat or Semi-Skimmed?
What a great day.
We set off in drizzle but it cleared up a little and we only had one proper, brief shower on the way to our destination - Torque Racing in Royston, near Cambridge. Our reason? To get a new Rally Raid Products rear shock spring fitted to each bike.
The OEM spring that comes with the bike isn't up to the job if you're slightly heavy and even with me, when I load the bike up for our travels, it wouldn't cope. So a necessity.
The guys at Torque Racing were really helpful and Martin made us feel very welcome, allowing me to take a couple of photos of them at work.
It was great to have a chin wag and we also had a good natter with another couple of chaps who turned up on their bikes. It's always fantastic to talk to other riders, especially ones who are more experienced at trail riding as we do have a lot to learn in that department.
So, springs fitted, tea drunk and off we went. Having ridden up there on the motorway we returned using the lanes and back roads. We happened across a by-way and so gave it a whirl.
Nice and dry, a few bumps and lumps and potholes and the verdict from Carl with his new spring, as he aimed for all the roughest looking bits, was a huge thumbs up. Having gone for the 'full fat' version he said the difference was amazing. I went for the 'semi-skinned' version and having probably been near the top end of the original spring was at the low end of this one and so haven't really noticed a difference yet. That will come when the bike is fully laden.
The weather held up and we enjoyed a picnic by a barley field in the sunshine, with a back drop of angry, dark clouds. Skylarks provided a very tuneful accompaniment and it was very pleasant.
The Cambridgeshire and Essex countryside is very beautiful and we passed through some extremely quaint, pretty little villages.
We got home beaming. We are really, really loving these bikes. Whilst we are very much total novices on the by-ways, they are giving us the confidence to try. This is such an awesome journey to be on and we're so excited by it.
