The carboniferous period

Mirabel, for reasons known only to her designer, has the rear pannier rack mounts as part of the frame, rather than in the traditional place which is just above and behind the rear axle.  The rack the bike came with is, naturally, designed for the frame, and is sturdy and quite alright really, but I've found it a bit annoying to use with bungees, and the top deck is a little short and narrow for carrying my tent longways.

I wanted to fit my other rack which is a bit larger, but since it's designed for the traditional mounting position I needed to space it backwards about two inches.  So I spent all afternoon measuring things very carefully, and made these little carbon fibre plates.  I never did get my twill weave, so just made do with the stuff I was sent originally.  I think they will be stiff enough but I need to stress test them.  The first time I used this approach, on my laid back tourer, I made them a wee bit thicker.

I finished in time to whizz over to see Mum and Dad and catch up on family news over tea.  The journey home was very hard work, riding into the latest approaching storm.  I have to say, I'm getting a bit browned off with all this weather.  At least it's warmed up: it was ten degrees warmer at lunchtime than it was two days ago.