Well, I made it to Conrich. It was a little rough at first; the rear rack was not quite balanced properly. I made it about 5 kilometers, then I had to stop and adjust the load. Once everything ws all centered and tightened, it was a lot better. It took about an hour and a half to go the first 5k, due to stopping several times to adjust one thing or another. The next 8 to 10k after that took about half an hour or so.
I got to Conrich at about 1pm, then set up camp for the first time, in the backyard of a friend's place. This was the first time I had set up the tent completely, and it went up without any problems. It is a three man tent, big enough that I could bring the bike inside if I wanted to. I also set up my inflatable boat for the first time. Setting that up was a snap, and repacking it was also pretty easy; good thing too, as some rain started to roll in while I was taking it down. It took less than 15 minutes to set it up and repack it; I finished getting it all in the tent just as the rain started. No point getting it wet before I have to.
The results so far have been really good. I am particularly impressed with my little alcohol-burning camp stove - only a small amount of methyl hydrate, maybe 25 ml, and I was able to make a cup of coffee and some stew. This little shakedown has pointed out for me what sort of problems to watch out for, and verified to my satisfaction that I ought to be able to make most of this trip on my bike.
For those times that I am tired of biking or way behind schedule, I can simply hop on the bus. The weight is distributed between the front and rear racks pretty well. I will keep adjusting it until the balance works out to my satisfaction; it's fairly close right now.
the steed, loaded for battle:
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