Not the Chair’s Chatter

When Steve first suggested committee members taking it in turns to write Chair’s Chatter, I thought it was a really good idea.  Then the rota for the next twelve months came out and I found myself at the top of it.  What would you write about, if the task fell to you, I wonder?

Well, I um’d and ah’d for a while – remembering to mention what fun was had on the Cider Run and at the BikeShed Christmas drinks (assuming neither was snowed, frozen of flooded off) – and then I decided I’d write about the biking topic that’s occupying most of my thoughts at the moment.

Those who know me, know that my big thing is long-distance touring – some might even call it overlanding.  There are others in LAM who do it in more rufty-tufty ways than me; who go further, or to more obscure places, or for longer or with less of a plan.  I like to travel with a group and have things pretty well organised in advance (ideally by somebody else), so all I have to do is prepare, pack and ride the bike.  In 2019 I rode from London to Beijing.  In 2022 I rode across Africa.  In 2023 I rode the length of South America.  And in 2025 I’m hoping to ride across Canada.

A big part of the fun of these trips is all the planning and preparation.  The marked-up maps of Canada are now top of the pile of stuff on my desk.  Many LAMkins know that I am a super-geek when it comes to packing light.  To pack properly light, you have to really do your homework.  I’m already on version four of my packing list - and we don’t leave for nearly seven months!

More fun was to be had reading all the Black Friday sale emails and trying to justify to myself how much more I’d enjoy the ride if I had a bargain new suit, a new helmet, some new boots and gloves – or even in my wilder moments, a new bike.

In the end though, sense prevailed and instead of a load of fancy new stuff, I’ll be riding my tried and trusted BMW F850GS, wearing the same suit, my old C3 Pro helmet and the gloves and boots that have been (literally) half-way round the world.

I will be treating myself to one new thing for the trip though - underpants.  How many pairs I hear you ask?  Well, how many pairs do you reckon you’d need for an eight-week trip?  Experience tells me that if they’re the right ones, you can manage with just two.  Prudence suggests three is less risky though, so the one Black Friday offer I did take up was a Rohan three-for-the-price-of-two deal…

Richard Boden-Doyle