Today I have completed a dry packing run. Taking everything on my list to take with me, I’ve laid it all out and packed it all into my two panniers and topbox. There’s a small amount of room left in the topbox but not much. The panniers are max’d out. Good thing is though, that it all fits in, so one less thing to worry about.
Having stuffed the luggage to the brim, I have weighed them. I have an imbalance on the panniers of 3kg. One being 9.2kg, the other 12.2kg. It’s not easy to rectify this, as one side has clothes, the other electrical, such as laptop, my Gopro, etc. If I took the laptop out and moved it to the topbox I might even them out but the topbox already has 16.8kg, mainly from my security chain, loaded in it.
I have some maintenance to do on the bike before the off. Chain adjustment and lube, plus fitting my tom-tom housing and wiring it in. The latter will wait until Wednesday evening, as I anticipate still using the bike for work Tuesday/Wednesday. The chain will get done today or tomorrow, with maybe a quick hose down too. The aftermath of Thursday's deluge can still be seen on the bike, so even just a quick power wash to get the grit off will help.
The final task will be to wire in speakers for the tom-tom, into my helmet. Then I’ll be ready.
