Fjällbonäs-FarAwayistan: 070623 Slow leak No matter where we go, there are always boys turning up in no time at all, from nowhere, to look at our bikes. I don’t want to show off as some form of besserwisser, but there should be some sort of rule, stating that the only proper way is straight through. This is an example of unnecessary bends... Maybe the local cars have so much play in their steering that they produce these snake-like roads. Finally, we had the first technical problem in the form of a nail in a rear tyre, so we had to change the inner tube outside this saloon. Sofar, we have been lucky with punctures. When the generator and the compressor were started up, activity broke out all around us. Suddenly people came rushing up with tyres that needed pumping up. Of course, we helped. Here, Rikard assists a driver of a Tableta with his tyre. The Russian Ural sidecar has a wide range of uses. This was the first sidecar we saw in Mongolia, so I stopped to see if he had a problem. The driver was just having a smoke and when I was about to leave again, I saw something moving. The driver had packed his favourite goat for the trip and the goat seemed to enjoy its position, but not the smoke. After almost three days without a shower, Lukas had had enough and stopped at a brook, got out a bar of soap and undressed for a good public wash to get rid of road grit and all the manly smells after a couple of days in the saddle. I was surprised to see that Lukas had soap in his tank bag. In the evening we compared what we had packed and there was a clear difference in our opinions about what is important and what is not. Here is a list of Lukas’ supplies, what I see as a typical city slicker luggage. • Baby powder??? • Soap • Toothbrush and toothpaste? • Underwear? • Sanitary napkins • A handful of money • 2 mobile phones • Chocolate • Visor cleaner and a cloth for drying • Passport This is my list, a typical Farmer Lips selection. • Knife • Lighter • Mini tool-kit • First aid, including injection for painkillers and sutures and needle • Strong thread and needle for repairs • Tyre repair kit • Satellite phone • Sun protector • Passport I am wondering what he needs baby powder for? And what happened to the good old rule that you only change underwear for Christmas and Midsummer? Of course, rules are there to be broken. Maybe he wants to be a bit crazy and changes his underwear three times a year. Hard to say for somebody who is not informed in this field. << Previous All chronicles Next >> High Performance Riding www.pgdakar.com Per-Gunnar Lundmark Fjällbonäs 15 933 91 Arvidsjaur Per-Gunnar Lundmark Eva.PG.Lundmark@swipnet.se Updated 2007-06-25