I rode my XP using 2 rear panniers and a BOB one wheel trailer, while my wife rode her Kettwiesel with 2 front panniers. Average daily distance was around 40 miles, with a cultural/social stop in the morning or in the afternoon. Tents were put up on soccer fields, where we could use the facilities such as showers, toilets etc. At the end of the day, for those who felt they did not ride enough, some extra rides could be made. Of course I joined all of them, enjoying riding the bike without the extra weight of the luggage. I rode all the way to Drongen last Sunday (a 102 mile trip) following the LF5 to Gent, where I spent the night together with some other riders who came from far away (we had one Englishman and 2 people from the Netherlands).
Without realizing it at the time, I completed my first century on the XP ! It wasn't hard at all, just riding along and following the signs .... When we got back on Friday, I decided that after sleeping in a tent for one week, I needed my own bed, so I rode the XP all the way back home. I only arrived at 02.30 am in the morning, but the luxuary of my own bed made everything more than okay ! Total distance this week was a stunning 420 miles, not bad for this old fart ;-) !
Though I never used the XP for touring before, I did not regret choosing this bike for doing so. It has comfort written all over it and I enjoyed every minute on it.
Some fellow riders asked to try out the XP and all of them were surprised at how comfortable and relaxed it rode. Most of them ride low riders with hard shell seats and although most of those bikes have rear suspension, there comfort is no match for the XP. On Thursday night we went for a local signaled tour which turned out to be more of a tour for mountain bikes : half of it was on fireroads, through some woods and on gravel. The XP handled extremely well and I could easily could keep up with a much younger rider riding his OPTIMA CONDOR, a dual 26" suspended high racer with fat tires. In fact, out of the 4 riders who participated, we were always leading. I really made me feel like a kid again, just blasting through and over anything with the big wheels underneath me .... Great ! After we finished the ride, the other 3 riders told me that they did not expect the XP to be so versatile, that I could even ride it on gravel and through the woods. It just shows what a great design the XP is !
Another nice surprise was to discover that the rollerbrakes performed more than adequate. There were some downhills were I reached speeds of almost 40 mph, but even fully loaded they performed flawlessly. Nice !
The only negative thing I can think of is the seat mesh. When I rode back home last Friday night, I felt the metal structure from the back of the seat through the mesh. I stopped and tried to stretch the seat mesh some more, but it was already stretched to the maximum. Maybe the mesh itself got stretched in time, but I need to fix this, for it is not really comfy. I'll sent RANS a mail to find out if they ever had heard of this problem before.
For those who are interested : info about the Flanders Tour 2007 can be found here, and the pictures I took on this trip can be found here
Group picture taken on the last day (without me, someone had to take it)
