I’m ontrack to get my affairs in order before my departure and had the glorious honour of having my daughter Imogen accompany me on yet another shakedown ride to Napier today. Having things break now is such a gift. Once in the Australian outback or a country for whom English is not common would make these breakages much harder to deal with. Todays breakages were:

The solar connectors from the canopy panel had both come loose (after I fell off last week and the solar panel got lifted up a bit) and had to be “wheedled” back into place. A bit of glue in there may be the answer to these not coming loose again or I may make a new extension cord and connectors to allow for a similar incident not pulling on the connectors.

My bracing of the trailer frame mount for the panel has not worked as well as I had hoped. Another of these frame joiners broke today and a new approach to making the connectors stronger has to be found. I have tasked a friend – Brent, to see if he can come up with a stronger joint. Thinking solid plastic or Nylon but will see what he comes up with. More thought needs to go into the bracing. The trailer is soft so the length of the bracing will differ between when the trailer is fully loaded or lightly loaded.

It was wonderful to ride along Marine Parade in Napier and enjoying the company, the beautiful day and sharing the bent with interested folk. A treat to have a wonderful lunch at Hapi cafe at Chantals.

A sunny day with little wind made for an excellent ride. Imogen was riding her brothers e-MTB and battery assist topped out at 30kph. I was pedalling comfortably at 30kph feeding above 400w into the battery from the panels and drawing a similar amount to help me pedal. The net effect was a comfortable ride for me and a ride with effort for Imogen that left her with a sore bum 🙁