Friday, 27 June 2003

Final Test Ride

Location:France, Andorra, Spain

The bike needed final testing over mixed terrain, long miles, two-up and carrying a full load. Squeezing in time to do this between other work commitments, we had a long week-end where we chose to ride through France, over the Pyrenees, across Andorra and base ourselves in Northern Spain.

The ride down from Calais to Spain in the first day provided a good long distance ride on the French autoroute, some good twisties on the mountain roads and the heaving traffic in the small town of Andorra le Vella. Over the week-end we tested out Spanish dirt tracks, country lanes and more steep mountain bends, before having another long blast back up to Calais.

European summer weather also gave us ideal testing conditions; torrential downpours, close humidity, high temperatures, but some very cold, fresh early starts meant that we could also test all the clothing. We stayed dry and the heated vests worked a treat.