I jogged about 10K this morning with Thomas. Not much energy or speed, but at least I got out there. We stopped at the local bike shop. The proprietor, John Sotherland makes custom steel frames he calls the Sotherland. He’s been involved with Waterford and still can get you a Waterford bike, so I expect he knows what he is doing. John’s website is https://www.bicyclewise.com

I might go back there on Wednesday and talk to him about maybe building a custom touring bike for me. There are a couple of things about my Trek that are suboptimal for touring. I wish it had just slightly longer chainstays and it had braze-ones for the front racks. Slightly longer chainstays would help keep the bike from getting tail heavy if the rear panniers and racks get overloaded. The front racks are clamped to the forks which isn’t the most elegant setup. Also, the drive train is an old school half-step plus granny system which I’m on the fence about, though I could change that without changing the bike.