Our bikes on the roadside.

Arron and I spent the best part of a week in Almaty, fixing my pannier rack, refixing it and generally tinkering and improving our bikes where we could. 
In the end, I had to buy a second entire rear pannier rack in order to get the two P clips I needed for the pannier rack I already had. This left me with a spare rack which seemed somewhat useless. Detesting wastefulness, this did not sit well with me and I resented that I had been unable to buy just the P clips that I needed and had had to buy an entire new rack. 

However, I needn’t have worried. Arron, full of magic tricks and ideas as always, managed to fashion a front pannier rack out of it, and now, I am the proud owner of not only a fully functioning rear pannier rack, but also, a front one too! 🙂 Thanks Arron!

We have used the quick release on the front wheel to attach it and simply cable tied it onto the bar of my suspension so that it remains stable. I was, and still am, incredibly happy with the new, revamped design and in a short cycle tour this week, it has proved incredibly useful. 

Having never ridden with front panniers before, I hadn’t appreciated just how good they are! The redistribution of weight across the bike makes pedalling so much easier, and the bike handling so much better. If we had been able to get hold of front pannier racks in Hong Kong we would have, but, as with most things on this trip, we had to make do with what we could find, and it wasn’t always what we wanted. 

However, what seemed like disaster just a few weeks ago, has now turned out better than I could have hoped! Although our original dream of cycling back to the UK from China is no longer a reality, I am excited for our new trip from Saint Petersburg to the UK.