TETers?

[Crosshair]

I’ve been having a blast the past few weeks (since I fell out with cycling overnight one day and bought a Himalayan on a whim ) following parts of the Trans Euro Trail at the weekends. I’ve downloaded the Southern Trail (Dover to Tintern) and am trying to ride 50 or so miles each time I head out.

Day one I rode to Alton and accidentally picked up the back trail. 50 miles later I realised I was in Sussex, not Wiltshire

Day two, I rode back to Alton and did 58 miles this way to Highclere.

Day three took me from there to the Plain until a bungee came loose and my coat flew off into the chain!!!
That required a lift home and a trailer to collect the bike plus a new swingarm from a breakers!!

Day four was 80 miles of the Plain and surrounding areas.
So around 212 miles of the 560 mile route achieved so far.

I’m really enjoying it. Just the simple focus of having a line to follow and I’m even finally overcoming some of my rut-phobia.

Any other TETers in the house?

[MyLittleStudPony]

That sounds great, chain incident aside.

I haven't done any of the TET but am strongly thinking about it. Maybe have a crack at some of the UK ones first, then thinking about a trip to France.

I might use my KTM390 or maybe get a Honda Rally.

[Crosshair]

Yeah I’m kind of tied to doing it in day trips at the minute but next spring maybe camp and do the wales section which looks insane

The vids of the guys doing it on big ADV bikes make me think the smaller the better!

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Try and ride across the ruts, rather than along them, you may have to zig zag along a lane to do this.

[Crosshair]

Thanks! Usually it’s only the central motorbike rut that’s passable though- the 4x4 ruts either side are either too deep for the Himmy or overgrown with vegetation

[dern]

Cool. Nice bike, got any more pictures of it?

[weeksy]

Cool. Nice bike, got any more pictures of it?

Not upright

[KungFooBob]

Out of interest I just had a look if there were any 'cheap' Himys on t'bay.

There's one 20 miles from me for £2k!

It has got 35k on the clock.

[dern]

Out of interest I just had a look if there were any 'cheap' Himys on t'bay.

There's one 20 miles from me for £2k!

It has got 35k on the clock.

Is that the white one? Looks pretty nice.

[KungFooBob]

Out of interest I just had a look if there were any 'cheap' Himys on t'bay.

There's one 20 miles from me for £2k!

It has got 35k on the clock.

Is that the white one? Looks pretty nice.

Yeah doesn't look bad in the pics, but I'm also a bit put off them because of Bigjawa's experience with his. 35k is quite a milestone tho'

[Crosshair]

It changes in every pic as I’ve been bolting crap on to it most days lately

[Crosshair]

[Crosshair]

Not been brave enough to try this prototype out on the road
(May save up for a 2x2 cycles rack from ).

[weeksy]

Not been brave enough to try this prototype out on the road
(May save up for a 2x2 cycles rack from ).

LOL bring it over I might even fit the turbo on the planks for full effect.

[Crosshair]

Rocking up to Dirty Reiver on that would be peak gravel surely

[Taipan]

Been watching a few videos of local TET rides, looks fun but i'm too unfit and my bike too heavy!

[MyLittleStudPony]

Is anyone up for some TRC TETing?

I would be. I'm not sure what and where but am flexible on that.

[Crosshair]

I have literally zero inherent off road bike skills but I’ve not found too many bits hard so far.

What strikes me most about the TET vids is that half the challenge seems to be in taking a ridiculously unsuitable and heavily loaded ADV bike

There was one where two guys trailered a KTM 390 adventure and CB500x down from Scotland to Dorset and then looked totally miserable all day until one of them hurt his leg
They could have done it on easy on proper green lane bikes it seemed.

There’s something fascinating about having the route to follow too. It kind of lets you off the pressure of being an enduro god as the goal isn’t to clean every section like Pol Tarres but to just get further along the line.

My next day on the TET will be starting near Pewsey heading through Savernack Forest. Maybe get as far as Swindon.

[Taipan]

I've been watching some videos of ADV riding in the states. They call them BDRs or backroads discovery routes. Some of them have fully loaded GS's, KTM and Africa Twins and then try to ride down trails I'd struggle to walk down! Pretty impressive when they make it through, but quite often they have to turn back and use a bit of road and miss some sections. I guess it depends on how the weather has been recently. Some of the roads and scenery are absolutely stunning though.

[Taipan]

I noticed in a lot of the American vids they were Klim clothing, which I'd never heard of. So I looked it up. How fecking much! I'll stick to Frank Thomas!