Monday, July 12, 2021

Hilton Head Island: winded; suited again; Lachlan Morton

 My hope springs eternal Raymarine wind instruments have arrived and been duly registered to extend the warranty from two years to three.  I wonder why I think I need that.

Raymarine has changed the color of the case for the display unit from cream to charcoal.  I like the new color.  And they have paired the display with the masthead unit at the factory.  This is most welcomed.  In the past the user had to pair the units which I found to be a cumbersome and often frustrating procedure.  

I still do not know how and when the masthead unit will get attached to the masthe



Steve Earley who has the same brand of dry suit I do, Stohlquist, but a different model wrote that his has a zipper from one shoulder to mid-chest which makes it easier to get on and off than mine.

When I successfully put mine on the other day, I did so partially while standing and I have realized that on GANNET I am going to have to get into it while sitting or sprawling, so this morning I sat on the living room carpet and managed to get in and zipped.  I am now confident I can do this.  After removing it, I spayed all the zippers again with teflon.  



I have been watching and enjoying the Tour de France.  Today is a rest day for the racers, but not for Lachlan Morton, the Australian who is racing the peloton on his own.  On Friday’s broadcast of the Tour he was interviewed live.  Here is his tracking page then:




He started behind the racers, but passed them on the second day and as you can see was then far ahead.  He cycles about twelve hours a day, then finds a place to camp, puts up a small tent and cooks his dinner, presumably on something like my JetBoil.  He estimates that his bike and gear weight about 50 pounds.  The bikes ridden in the race weigh about 15 pounds.

Lachlan needed to be far ahead of the peloton because in a few days all the racers will fly 400 miles from Bordeaux to near Paris.  Lachlan will bike the distance.

I just checked his tracking page again.



He’s going to do it.  He’s almost there.  I am smiling.  What a great challenge.  What a great thing to have done.  Good on you, Lachlan.

2 comments:

cgb said...

Morton is a special character. He didn’t fit the world of professional cycling, but managed to change it instead of himself.
If you have not followed his career, this is only one of many crazy adventures. He and his brother have made some films about some of them that are definitely worth watching, especially the first of the Thereabouts series which can be found on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/QqoKsDBQCTY

Webb said...

Thanks for the link. I watched with interest. He is original.