Hi!
In the next couple of minutes I will tell you two stories.
One is about how our gear has held up on a very, very long trip.
The other is how one intrepid trail rider has managed to ride thousands of km of the Trans Euro Trail, over several years, whilst holding down a day job, family and mortgage.
Not so long ago John Mitchinson posted this on his Facebook Page:
We’ve known John for a long time, he’s the power behind Rally Raid Products here in the UK. If you’ve got squashy CRF suspension, John’s your man for a firmer fix. He’s an engineer, trail rider and understands the challenges and rewards of making good gear.
A few years ago John posted some pics of his TET trip.
I got chatting to him and asked him how long it took him to get home and back to work.
“About 3 hours” was his reply.
Hang on, that didn’t sound right. I’d looked at his Facebook which told me he had been up a mountain, in a country that defiantly was not England, on his CRF300L, on a TET trail the day before.
“I left my bike there Greg. Just found a local garage and paid a guy €50 a month to look after it for me”.
The conversation that happened next blew my mind and put a big smile on my face.
It turns out that John and some friends had embarked on an ambitious project to ride roughly the length of the Trans Euro Trail, but rather than do it all in one go, complete the project in chapters.
That’s right, bit by bit.
Instead of riding the bikes to and from the UK at the start and end of every chapter, they leave them in whatever country they get to and then fly home for work and life, then fly back and pick up where they left off.
Genius.
Ride a bit.
Work a bit.
Ride a bit.
Work a bit.
Ride a bit…
So far John’s CRF has seen 32,000km of the Trans Euro Trail over three years, and John’s still been at work, part time I guess, but still putting the graft in.
The stories John has to tell are far too long for this email, if you are ever in his company do take a minute to ask him to share some, I suspect you will end up with a big grin on your face too. The key things I’ve taken from our chats are…
- The CRF300L is a wonderful, reliable little TET bike.
- People are great, finding a garage at the end of each chapter has never been a problem.
- There's far fewer people riding the TET than you would imagine (48 other riders encountered so far).
- A little uncertainty can be the best bit of the adventure.
And what about his gear?
Well John’s been riding in Adventure Spec gear from the very beginning, most of what you can see in these pics are our first generation products. Some are probably about 5 years old now.
"The Singletrack Jacket is most used, always got it on with a race shirt underneath, if it’s hot I’ll open the big underarm zips to let some air in."
"For cold mornings I’ll put on the Baltic Insulated Jacket, and when it warms up I’ll take it off, and it rolls up nicely to fit in my rucksack. It also doubles up as my evening attire for walking around in."
"The Mongolia Trail Pants, over the boot version to keep my boots from filling with water, are, in conjunction with the Singletrack Jacket, the most durable clothing I’ve owned. Both done 32,000km TET riding in 3 years, Velcro still good on the trouser bottoms, zips all still working and the only tear on the jacket (caused by a fall) was repaired easily with the Giant Loop repair fabric and adhesive."
"I’m on my second set of gloves, their Alpine Glove, which are a bit warmer than the first set of Dirt Gloves I had, and they’re nearly ready for replacement, so about 15,000km is the life span, and even then it’s only the inside of the first finger that has worn through."
Frankly I’ve tried to give John newer versions of our gear so he looks pretty in the photos he shares but he’s always turned me down.
Why replace something that still works?
It's been wonderful to see how well our gear has held up to John's adventures, but mostly the joy has come from experiencing the TET through his eyes.
And when I say eyes I mean Facebook.
I can't wait to see where the next chapter takes him.
📖🤓
Greg Villalobos
Did you know Adventure Spec are part of the TET origin story? We are proud to have been part of this groundbreaking moto-tourism project. We hope you make some fantastic TET memories this summer!
This story was first published in our email Newsletter. Subscribe now for the most ADV email you will get all week!
