The kit, taking care of it

I’ve done a fair bit of tidying this weekend, the flat, the bike, my gear. We are temporarily settled again and have therefore retrieved some of our boxes, yay! Unfortunately, some of our stuff had gone mouldy, boo! I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised as we were constantly fighting mould in our last winter-let. As some of these things are motorbike gear and other stuff with waterproof membranes, I want to clean them with special washing detergent and re-impregnate them afterwards. It all makes sense doesn’t it, it is expensive stuff so you’ll wanna take care of it. I have been to every sports shop and motorbike shop in the nearby town and further afield. I usually get Nikwax, but anything similar could do, however, there is nothing to purchase. The guy in the bike shop actually laughed at me when I said that people must want to wash their gear at some point. I actually had to go back to the same bike shop to ask for chain cleaner a few days later, same lack of success – I suspect they believe that I’m making these products up as they are explaining to me that they have never heard of these things. A rather nice guy in a mountain gear shop explained to me that Spanish people don’t take care of their kit. He actually had some re-impregnation spray, but he said that no one buys it. He’d had it since the shop opened. In the end I gave up and placed an internet order to cover all my foreseeable cleaning needs. So while I’m waiting for that stuff to arrive, I took on some general cleaning.

Firstly, I cleaned my helmet. I absolutely love this helmet, it is comfortable and it is red. It is also rather noisy, so I always ride with earplugs. But the annoying thing is that the visor is clunky. I had a similar model of Shoei before this one and the visor did not have these stages to hold it open on different levels, which is what I think makes closing and opening clunky, so much that it shakes my head. Today, I found a small silicone bottle belonging to the helmet when unpacking a box and I thought that putting some silicone on the fastenings of the visor would work wonders, but I’m so disappointed that it didn’t. The helmet cost half an arm and a leg to buy so this sucks. But it does look good though, doesn’t it 😀 and it goes really well with my Spanish bike, aka Red Fox.

After the helmet, I got working on my boots – they are the same Altbergs as I have been wearing for the last 3 or 4 years. Well, since after my motorcycle vagabonding period when we were homeless and trying to figure out a plan for living after Brexit. I actually visited the boot factory up in Richmond, Northern England, which you can read all about here. The boots are super cozy, and they accommodate my wide calves as well. They have literally been all over and they are well broken in but I still love them, and I will even wear them with a dress on occasions. Well, honestly only at motorbike events, but hey, they look good I think, and now they are prepped for the next event. Below, in addition to a boot close-up, are screen shots from the WIMA World website, me and my boots doing some official thank you’s and awards. Photographer Tracy J Wheldon

Lastly, I took on cleaning my trousers. I got some new kit in Andorra after the official hand over of the WRWR baton. Everyone had kept on telling me that these trousers were doomed, being light grey. I like grey and have been wearing grey trousers for the last 5 years or so, but a shade darker grey I must admit. I was super pleased with the comfort of the trousers, really light and airy, not attracting much heat from the sun and comfortable on and off the bike. However, they did get rather dirty, especially inside by the boot and all along the inner leg. I did wash them once in Sweden in early July, but then I seemed to forget and coming back to Spain I’ve been so busy, working full-time plus taking evening classes, I kind of only thought about how dirty they were when I sat down in class 😀 Now I finally got scrubbing. I use Galltvål, an organic soap made of ox bile, works like a treat on difficult stains such as oil and insects. I wish that I had taken a photo before washing, but you have to believe me, the hem was absolutely black before I started scrubbing, now there is only a slight discolouration. After the scrub with magical soap, I washed them in a gentle 30°C with washing detergent and voilà!

So, at least part of my gear is clean and tidy, hopefully I will not need my mouldy winter riding trousers for next weekend’s event with Mujeres en Moto, maybe I can manage with the now clean summer trousers.