Welcome back to our blog – new and improved! Over the last few weeks, we have loaded all of our personal belongings into our mini cooper, driven from Ottawa to Denver to leave our things with family (thanks Les!), and have been preparing for what is sure to be our biggest adventure yet.

In addition to spending as much time as possible with family and friends, here is our take on how to prepare for a ~6-month cycle tour through Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Lesotho:

• Clean and tune bikes: This step was mostly performed by Phat Moose Cycles in Ottawa. They attached custom kickstands that can hold the weight of our fully-loaded bikes. We are most excited for this modification – easy to please! 🙂

• Get the gear! This has to be the funnest part of our trip prep. It is not often you can give yourself (almost) free-reign at REI, but if Portlandia has taught us anything, it’s to “get the gear!” We’re saving money on our mode of transportation and accomodation, so it was important to us to have quality items that would stand the test of time:

Bike: Surly Long Haul Trucker, Panniers: Ortlieb, Bottles: REI Purist, Saddle: Brooks

Bike: Surly Long Haul Trucker, Panniers: Ortlieb, Bottles: REI Purist, Bike Seat: Specialized

Tent: 3-person Big Agnes, Sleeping Bags: Marmot and REI, Sleeping Pads: Thermarest, Pillows: Thermarest

Water Purifier: MSR Gardian, Water Bladders: MSR Dromedary, Camp Stove: MSR Whisperlite, Pots/pans: MSR, Army Swiss Knife

Camera: Nikon d-7000, Tripod: SLICK sprint mini 2, Laptop: Macbook Air, GPS: Garmin inReach Explorer +, Batter pack: Chargetech, External hardrive: SP silicon power

• Ride bikes? A few times… we haven’t had much conditioning on the saddle lately. If S. America taught us anything, it is that there is no way to fully prepare yourself for 8-hour days in the saddle except spending 8-hour days in the saddle. We plan to start the trip with shorter distances, conditioning ourselves as we go.
• Pack the bikes and say our goodbyes – I don’t know which is more painful?

Umm…totally fits, right?

Bon Voyage!

Last goodbyes @ Denver International Airport

This is Angela. Angela is having a bad day and being rude to customers. Don’t be like Angela.

After a quick re-pack and a lot more tape, we’re good to go!

After 21.5 hours of flying, and 13 hours of layovers, we made it to Victoria Falls August 14th. We’ll be in the area for a week leading up to Simon’s cousin’s wedding, and then we’ll finally be on the bikes again!