West coast tour: Day 2

Vattersay to South Uist. I had a pretty good nights sleep in my new tent. I was certainly comfy and cosy in my down bag on my therma rest! The tent is small though and I'm really glad the weather has been good as I'd be short of space for cooking eating and storage if it was wet. Its sunny though so life is good!

The day started cold grey and windy however I think it was mainly because I got up early because by 10 the sun was out and it was warming up. Plan for the day was to climb Heaval, the highest point on Barra (and the southern Hebrides), then ride up to get the ferry across to Eriskay.

The climb up Heaval was dead easy and I was at the top by 11. The views south toward Mingalay and Barrahead, and north toward Eriskay and the Uists are spectacular. I always enjoy the view across Castlebay to the beaches on Vattersay particulary though and it reminds me of the first time I came here a few years ago when Don and I sailed across from Coll. That was a cool trip! Its funny coming back as a cycle tourist rather than as a yachtsman as you see everything from a different perspective. Rather than being confined to the water you're confined to the land.
After the climb up the hill I still had a bit of time before lunch so took the longer route to the birth end of the island, going back through Castlebay and round the west coast. The beaches up the west side are breath taking and I had to keep stopping go get my camera out. I've now got about 50million pictures of beaches and I've only got as far as south uist yet!

Lunch was at the Barra airport (another beach). After that I had a pottle round the bay before heading over for the 3.30 ferry. Surprise surprise half the cycle tourists from the previous days ferry were already there. Infact I'd seen several of them earlier in the day and got a bit of chat going with one guy which was good. Touring on your own is good, but its nice to have a chat with other people as well sometimes. He was saying hed been staying in the hostel in Castlebay and got pretty hammered the previous night.

After the ferry docked I headed north again across the causeway onto South Uist with a tailwind driving me on. I've got myself camped at the top of a huge fine tonight on the west side of South Uist just north near somewhere called Garryhaille I think! Although tbh I'm about a mile from the nearest road as I had to bump across the machair to get here. Fortunately the Vodafone reception seems to be good here. Its bloody awful on Barra!

Sun is just setting over the Atlantic in front of me, time for a hot chocolate, some cake then bed! :-)

Garmin stats:

West coast tour: Day 1

Home to Vattersay. Set off yesterday with the drive up to Oban through the terrible public holiday traffic. Luckily I'd left a little spare time as it was 40mph the whole way up virtually. It was great to ditch the car again and head for the ferry to get away from it!

At the ferry it looked like half the world had turned up to go for a touring trip. The bikes out numbered the cars which was pretty cool. I was also surprised at the range of people going touring. There were several old over weight couples lots of older women as well as the skinny middle aged men that you expect.

The passage out to Barra was very smooth with just a bit of swell crossing the minch. Unfortunately I forgot you're not allowed back on the car deck once you're sailing so left my book water etc behind then had nothing to do for the 5hour crossing.

Once we got off at Castle Bay I had a plan to head round to Vattersay to camp for the night. I got round there no problem but had been expecting it to be easy to find a water supply which unfortunately it wasn't. Fortunately some guys in a camper can were kind enough to supply a bottle full and from now on I'm filling up whenever I get a chance!

So the first day was pretty good. The weather was excellent, I managed to do what I'd planned and haven't forgotten anything important! Only 6miles cycled so far!

Garmin stats:

Tour Doon Hame: Stage 3

Another cracking day today with brilliant weather and some fun racing. Todays stage started in Dumfries again and finished in Castle Douglas. Going round to the north over the moors past Moniave the terrain was quite hilly again today and probably slightly tougher than Sunday.

We were all expecting a brutal stage as Rapha and Endura tried to over turn the slim lead held by Raleighs Matt Cronshaw and it did start very fast however the Rapha rider Zak something or other took an intermediate sprint and a time bonus early in the stage which put them in the lead and they controled the pace from then on. It ramprd up again with about 30miles to go which resulted in a split but luckily I was near the front at the time and stayed the right side of it.

Coming into the finish there was a nasty sting with about 5miles to go in the form of a steep climb which finished off a number of other riders. So coming into the finish I was in a group of about 50 riders. Despite having good intentions of contesting the sprint, when it came to it my legs were cooked and I rolled in near the back of the group in 45place. I didn't loose any time however while a lot of others did so moved up the GC to 55th overall. Not an incredible result but I'm happy enough with it. Tomorrow will be a shock having to go back to work!
Robin Wilkins
my blog: http://thewheelabout.blogspot.com

Tour Doon Hame: Stage 2

Much better race today! The sun came out and it was a great stage starting and finishing in Dumfries. The stage ran back up through Wanlochhead again going over the Dalveen Pass then the Mennock Pass again. After those hills it was a run round by Monaive along some windy wee roads back to Dumfries for a super fast sprint finish by the river side.
After the first 10miles or so my legs loosened up a bit and felt ok. Unfortunately my team mate Fin was brought down in the Neutralised zone at the start and broke his arm/elbow. We saw him at the end with a stookie on so must have been nasty.

Dalveen Pass was actually pretty good. I felt really comfortable going up and was the right side of a split going over the top. Coming down the other side was actually harder though, as there was a cross wind and the speed picked right up so only just managed to hang on. The groups came together before the climb up to Leadhills anyway and that was ridden at a pretty comfortable pace too.

I seem to be finding I'm fine going up the hills and can easily move up the bunch then, but on the flat or downhill when the speed is really high I struggle to hold my position and drift back. So I spend the race trying to move up on the hills then drifting back on the decents. Pretty annoying and a lot of wasted effort, but unfortunately I'm not great riding in large fast peletons.

The finish in Dumfries was pretty exciting too. It was absolutely flat out into town through a few suburbs dodging parked cars and traffic islands round a few sweeping turns and down by the river across the line. The bunch was still pretty big at around 100riders but I did my best to get as far forward as I could, although even then only managed 57 place! Pretty happy with the day though, much more my kind of weather. Tomorrow looks like it might be a tough one again but I'll be happy to keep out of trouble again and get to the finish as best I can
Robin Wilkins
my blog: http://thewheelabout.blogspot.com

Tour Doon Hame: Stage 1

Brutal, savage, hardest race I've ever ridden. Stage 1 on paper looked like the hardest stage and the weather today only made it tougher. 3 cat 1 climbs and 92 miles in the pissing rain. At the finish there were riders climbing into the showers fully clothed almost hypothermic, myself included! It took me about half an hour to stop shivering.
It had started off pretty warm and only a bit damp but as the race progressed in started chucking it down and the temperature seemed to drop too. Once you're soaked through its almost impossible to stay warm anyway.

The pace was brutal. Compared to an average Scottish race it was a completely different game. Up the first few climbs I found it manageable but it was on the flat and the downhills I really found myself struggling to hang onto a wheel. Moving up the bunch was such an effort and once you've moved up you're almost immediately going back again. I kept finding myself in the last 20 riders sprinting to close gaps.

The race really seemed to blow appart on the desent prior to the climb up to the mennock pass. The pace had been flat out for the previous 20miles and folk were getting tired and cold. Going up the Mennock it broke up further. I cracked on the desent losing contact with the group I was in. I think the cold affected me pretty badly and also the relentless pace.

The race was puncture tastic and there were several crashes due to the wet roads. Luckily I managed to avoid both today although I only just missed one crash early in the race and had to chase back on, luckily getting back into the bunch on one of the climbs. Hopefully I'll stay lucky tomorrow. I finished the stage on my own in the end 8minutes behind the winner. Not too bad considering but only go enough for 85 place!
Robin Wilkins
my blog: http://thewheelabout.blogspot.com

The Shake Down - Loch Tay trip

Loch Tay from Kenmore

Aside from the interesting route, the shake down trip was worthwhile in testing my touring gear, kit list and identifying gaps in my preparation.  The route I took was certainly rough enough in places to be called a shake down!

There were a few obvious problems - one of my front panniers bounced away from the rack at one of the attachment points a couple of times.  After I'd done about 20miles I stopped to adjust it a bit and found I had to go round and tighten the attachments on every pannier.  Probably should have known to do this anyway, but it hadn't occured to me before.  On getting home I adjusted the front panniers so they attach slightly differently onto the front rack, and hopefully more securely.  While doing this is checked the bolts holding the racks onto the bike and discovered that one of the front bolts wasn't really long enough and had pretty much come loose from the fork! So that was replaced with a much longer bolt thats made it much more secure.  Fortunately the cable tie attachments for the upper arms of the front rack seem to be adequate as they were still super secure.  I packed a few more cable ties into my tool kit though just incase!

Packing of the panniers and my kit list is another thing I've spent a lot of time trying to work out.  Looking at the kit lists on other touring sites online I just cant see how the guys manage to get all the stuff they've listed into the available space!  The two things that are on my mind now is whether I will be ok with just one mid layer long sleeve jacket (what if it gets wet?) and where I'll put my food after i've been to the shop?!  Do I camp first then go back to the shop!?  Should I sacrifice some other item to fit in another jacket?!

On the road the bike handles pretty well.  Its obviously heavy and cumbersome to manvouver, similar I'd expect to a motorcycle.  Uphill it is slow and hard work, even on fairly minor gradients.  For example riding up GlenOgle on a 2-3% gradient I could manage a steady 11mph, where as unladen I'd manage closer to 20!  On the flat and down hill the bike goes well though.  Provided theres not a headwind I could build it up to about 18mph on the flat.  Average speed for Saturdays run was 14mph, which I think is not bad.  I didn't find it took too long to adjust to it either, you quickly get used to a more steady pace.  It's not ideal if you need to be somewhere in a hurry, and if i'm going for a ferry then i'll probably plan on a 13mph average speed.

Riding heavily laden on the gravel roads I was worried I'd maybe get a few pinch puntures.  Fortunately I didn't get any.  Not sure if that was due to luck or good tyres.  I put 90psi in them and the comfort was very good indeed.  I don't think that was just because I'm used to riding 25s at 120psi either, I genuinely think the ride quality of them is great.  I've got a bit of debate going on about whether to get a couple of spare spokes to take incase one snaps or if that unecessary.

I got my new pump in the post and have tried it out to make sure it works.  Its an Axiom Enforce Pro with Gauge and its basically a mini pump with a short hose so you can stand it on its end and use it like a track pump - its has a small fold out foot brace too.  The end fits both Presta and Schrader valves, but you need to take the end apart and swap a couple of bits round.  Took a while to work it out and there where no instructions, but once I'd got it sorted it attaches to the valve securely and I easily got the tyre up to a good pressure - 120psi without any problems.  The pump is relatively heavy (250g) and bulky for a mini pump, but I'd rather have something like that which does the job properly than a small light pump which doesn't work!  It comes with a fitting to attach to the bike frame so it wont take up room in my panniers anyway.

Other thing that arrived is the Therma-rest chair.  I'm really pleased I got this.  Camping last weekend I just chucked a couple of fold out chairs in car and was glad I didnt need to sit on the ground, but I'll not be taking them on tour.  The Therma-rest chair fits round any standard therma-rest mattress and provides a comfortable seat, with a strong back rest.  Yeah, you're still sitting on the ground, but you can sit back comfortably and take the weight off very comfortably.  It weighs new to nothing (170g according to the packaging) and it rolls up so, I put it inside the tent alongside the tent poles.

Tour Doon Hame

Scotlands biggest road race event is this weekend and after a bit of uncertainty it looks like we're actually going!  3 days, 270miles and feck knows how much climbing!  I'm looking forward to it and excited but nervous.  Last years experience of the event was one to forget, failing to finish stage 1 after a double puncture and having to spectate for the following 2 days.  Hopefully this year, as part of a proper team and a lot more support it'll be a different story.

The event is based around Dumfries.  Stage 1 starts and finishes at Moffat and takes in some decent climbs around Wanlochhead.  Stage 2 is run around the hills again this time north of Dumfries itself and Stage 3 is further west again, this time finishing in Castle Douglas.  Theres 140 riders entered, ranging from hobby riders like myself to full time contiinental Pros and even ex Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Backsted.  From my point of view its one of the simplest events of the year - theres 2 objectives: 1. Avoid crashing 2. Avoid getting dropped.  Theres no expectation that I try and get in a break, win a prime etc, just finishing will be an achievement and from that point of view its quite nice.

Looking back to last year what I'm not looking forward to is the stress of riding in the bunch.  Although theres a full police escort and rolling road closure, riding in a bunch of 140 at 30+mph is stressful.  Last years experience although brief was useful.  One of the things I learns was that the amount of time you can loose on the hills is enormous compared to how little you loose in a small split on a flatter stage.  Loosing 5minutes is nothing and not worth stressing about - at the end of the hilly stages riders will be 30-40+ minutes down!

Looking at the start list I think Endura look like the strongest team.  I'd pick their rider Jack Bauer (2nd last year) for the GC.  Lots more information at http://www.tourdoonhame.info

Dunblane to Loch Tay (Sustrans route7)

On Saturday, as planned I rode up to Loch Tay with my touring gear, where I met up with Laura and Oli who'd driven up in the car.  Its not a particularly long way - 38miles in total to where we camped at a site at Loch Tay.  It was good fun going camping, and worthwhile testing out the touring kit prior to the week away.  Previously when I've ridden to Killin either on my own or with the club I've always used the main A84 to the majority of the trip.  Having seen how good some of the cycle paths are and how much more interesting it is using them it makes me wonder if they could be incorporated into club rides more often.  Watching races like Paris-Roubaix, where riders tackle the notorious pave, or Italys Montepaschi Strada-Bianche shows that road bikes are capable of the odd section of poor road surface.  We often go out of our way to include hills in our cycle rides, why not throw in the odd gravel road too?  The Dukes pass for example can easily be climbed on forestry fire track!


So rather then just riding directly up the A84, I stuck mainly to back roads and cycle paths which provide an excellent alternative for riders who are not keen on heavy traffic and aren't in a rush.  From Dunblane I rode over and joined the Doune cycle path which is tarred and flat and much nicer than the A820.  At Doune I joined the Deanston Road (B8032), which runs along the south side of the Teith up to Callander.  This road is virtually traffic free and is a great scenic ride up alongside the fields and river.  The surface isn't brilliant, but its quite acceptable.

At Callander I joined Sustrans Cycle Route 7 for the climb up to Loch Lubnaig.  We used to use this path a lot when we lived in Callander and I found it much preferable to dragging my heavy bike up the hill from Kilmahog on the main A84.  The surface is smooth gravel, and despite being on slick Continental Gatorskin 28 tyres I found it pretty good going.  Smooth enough to ride comfortably along on a touring bike, but not as fast as tarmac.  At the Ben Ledi car park I did rejoin the A84 for the section up to Strathyre as I fancied making some quicker progress along the flat tarmac.  I've ridden cycle path to Strathyre a few times before and its much the same - smooth gravel.  I thought I'd leave that bit and check out the next section which I've not ridden.

So I rejoined Sustrans7 at Strathyre for the section up to Balquhidder and LochEarnhead.  This section of the route is on a minor unclassified tarred road which initially runs through pine woods, and again not a single car: great riding in the morning sunshine!  I had assumed the cycle path would follow the main A84, and that Balquhidder and Balquhidder Station (on the main A84) were pretty much the same place.  They're not however!, and the cycle path takes you a few miles off the direct route, via the small hamlet of Balquidder, before you cross the valley and join another road back toward Balquhidder Station.  I found the maps on my Garmin handy at this point as I was able to easily workout where I was going.  At Balquhidder Station the cycle route again becomes a prupose built gravel path, initially dropping down a bit toward the back of Loch Earnhead before a rather steep climb up some zigzigs up the hillside at the start of GlenOgle.  Gradient on this was maybe 10-12% and on the touring bike it was a bit of a grind, but it doesn't go on for too long before flattening off onto the old railway line.  The run up the glen has had some recent improvement work and its excellent. 2-3% gradient, smooth gravel surface with Glen Ogle and the main road below.  I was very glad I wasn't on the main road as I rode up the glen, watching trucks and traffic make their way up the climb.  From the top of Glen Ogle its a fast descent to Killin.  I just rode down the main road for this section, as I could easily manage 25+mph all the way, and find traffic less of an issue when I'm going faster.  I think the Sustrans route takes a different way but I didn't bother checking.

What would people say to including more untarred sections in club runs?  I know the Davie Bell Memorial Road Race in June will include sections on gravel roads, and the Ayrshire clubs use untarred stuff fairly frequently.  I think it would be quite good fun to have the odd section thrown into some club road runs.  Might help folks bike handling.

Dry Run

This weekend, weather permitting we're off camping!  As advised by various bikey touring sites I'm doing a touring dry run to test out my kit prior to the Western Isles trip.  The plan is to ride up to Killin where Laura and Oli and Gus will meet me in the car.  Lot of potential faffing having to pack all my kit on the bike plus stuff in the car for the family, but I'm keen to get Oli out camping and its probably one of the few chances left to get Laura out camping in the wild before she gets to big and pregnant!  With only another couple of weeks to go before the tour its my last chance.  Next weekend is the Tour Doon Hame 3day stage race, so its now or never!

Killin seems like a good destination as its about 35miles from Dunblane, and has a decent campsite in the village.  The ride up there is one I've done many times and will give me a good indication of what to expect on tour.  The ride starts with a section I do several times a week across to Doune, however most days I do it on the way to work, as fast as possible.  This weekend I'll be trying to get into a touring mindset, so will probably use the excellent cycle path past Argaty allowing me to get used to riding a cumbersome touring bike without getting run down!  After that it's across Doune and up the Deanston Road to Callander.  Deanston Road is well know with local riders as its a quiet, pleasant alternative route to Callander avoiding the A84.  Its get a fairly poor road surface and its quite rolling, so will provide a good shake down.  After Callander, theres not much choice but the join the A84 and press on up to Loch Earnhead before tackling the climb over Glen Ogle.  Hopefully by this stage the sun will be out and the wind at my back! and I not be having any problems being overgeared....

Having reviewed the kit I'm taking I've ordered a couple of new bits and bobs this week too.  Hopefully the last editions to my inventory!  I punctured last week, and when repairing the tyre discovered my pump is a pretty rubbish.  A bit of experimentation at home shows with a lot of hard work I can get a road tyre up to about 80psi with it.  Tbh, the pump was a bit of a freebie anyway, so no surprise its no much good.  So I've ordered a new one, an Axiom Air Pro which will hopefully be in the post tomorrow.  It looks like a mini track pump and should get the tyre up to at least 110psi if needed!  Wiggle were selling these on discount for £11 which seemed good.  I've also ordered a Therma-rest Treker chair.  Its basically a lightweight frame you can push your therma-rest into to create a comfy camping chair with a back.  I found the chair on Jackson Outdoor for £25.  Various reviews I've read say they're superb and I thought they'd improve comfort when camping a lot!  Final thing I've ordered is a cheapo bike cover (£2.75 from eBay).  Thinking about the amount of space available in my tent I expect I'll be needing somewhere to stow stuff outside the tent at some point, and it'll keep the weather off when I'm not riding.  I found this website: http://travellingtwo.com which is one of the best I've found for cycle touring advice.

Quite looking forward to the weekend now though!  Hopefully the weather will be good.  The forecast is currently looking decent.  It'll be nice to do some riding that isn't race training, but just for pleasure.  Last weekend was pretty good, although Laura was working I had fun with Oli and managed to fit in a 25TT on Sunday.  Despite taking a wrong turn at one of the roundabouts, and doing it on my road bike I managed a 56.03, so I guess thats a reasonable time.

Break building

The break climb the Whistlefield on lap2. pic courtesy of PaulH via flickr

I've gone a bit blog tastic recently, but there seems to have been plenty to blog about!  As well as the excitement of mothers day yesterday there was also round 2 of the Super6 at Helensburgh.  2 weeks since my last race and a month on from the black day at Giford, the race at Rosneth was a sucessfuly day out.  I didn't quite win, but pre race the target was a top-ten, so getting on the podium was great.

The race started and finished in Helensburgh with the race involving a run up to Gareloch, the three laps of a circuit taking in Coulport, Cove, Rosneth and the Whistlefield climb back at Gareloch.  So a pretty demanding course to go with the impressive entry list, featuring 4 of the Scottish Commonwealth Delhi Games Road team plus all the other usual big names.

The first lap was pretty full on.  I find the start of races one of the hardest parts.  Everyone is fresh, and determined to get themselves in the break.  The general format for Scottish road race is a break will get away up the road, work together to open a huge gap and its game over for the bunch.  So the presure to get in the break is high.  The first few breaks are often chased down, but that doesn't mean you can just sit in and wait because then you might miss it.  The hope is others will chase and tire faster than you do, which is when you need to strike, making a big gap as fast as possible, therefore discouraging others from trying to bridge.  At the same time you want others to come with you as you cant ride the race alone, you need others to help.  You also need riders from each of the strong teams there, otherwise you can be sure there will be others in the bunch chasing you down.

So the effort getting into the break and making it stick is huge and repeated. Since the first few breaks won't always stick you need to be able to get in there, then recover, and potentially go again several times more, which is why its often called a selection.  Whose the strongest? Are each of the teams represented?  Are the riders willing and able to work together?  Although the course for yesterdays race involved a lot of hills, the breaks weren't made on the uphills.  When the break that finally stuck went the group I'd been in had just been pulled back as we crested a hill on lap 2.  Counter attacking is often a good idea, so myself and a few others who had recovered quickly after the climb nailed it down the decent as fast as we could.  So the break was made on the descent rather than the climb.  The ability to get in the break I think was due to being able to recover quickly.  I think this is partly why doing hill reps helps.  You bury yourself on the way up then get a limited time to recover riding back down, before doing it again.

Tour of Flanders

What a brilliant race! There seem to be too few big pro road races where the big favorites have to stick their necks out and make aggressive bold moves. the closing 40K of yesterdays Ronde was brilliant. Dave Harmon described it ad being like a club race and I think that's exactly what it was. Like a boxing match the riders took it in turn to hammer each other. Cancellara was absolutely awesome once again despite not managing a repeat of last year.

Chavannel was superb as well although what Quickstep were playing at was beyond me. With Chavannel up the road, opening up a nice advantage, inexplicably Boonen goes on the attack. But that just acts as the que Cancellara had been waiting for and he then drops Boonen, catches Chavannel and tears off like a freight train! The later in the closing stages when its looking like coming down to a sprint between about 12 riders and set up for Boonen to take it Cancellara has one more massive dig. Only Nyens and Chavannel can hold his wheel. But instead of sitting on waiting for Boonen to come back Chavannel decides he'll start coming through! They might be wearing the same jersey but they didn't appear to be riding for the same team.

So Nyens wins the sprint. First time he'd been at the front for the whole race and it was the last 200yards. That's road racing though I guess! For me the heros were Cancellara, Chavannel and Gilbert though. They're the guys I want to ride like!

Robin Wilkins
my blog: http://thewheelabout.blogspot.com

Packing

Having decided  pretty much what I need to take on tour I thought I'd better check it all fits in and the bike still moves.  I'm pleased to say it does fit! with a bit of room to spare (although the spare space will be filled with food when the time comes).  The bike still moves as well, infact I am quite pleased following the very short test I have done with how the bike rides.  Its obviously heavy, but I can certainly ride it up decent gradients, and along the flat it rolls fine.  I loaded the front panniers with a good amount of heavy kit to balance the larger volume of kit that will be mounted on the rear.  I found this works pretty well, and provided I'm going in a straight line and the surface is good I could actually ride no handed which was a bit of a surprise.  Might seem like a daft thing to be doing, but its pretty handy being able to remove a gilet, or get a snack from your back pocket without having to come to a stand still.  The Continental gator-skin 28mm tyres I've got fitted are just a new pair replacing what I've been riding on all winter.  I find they're pretty good for comfort, soaking up bad surface well, and super durable.

Since the weather was great today I took the opportunity this afternoon to have a go pitching my new tent in the garden.  Its a Wild Country Aspect 1 (made by Terra Nova).  Being a one man tent it's obviously compact, but I think the size is good compared to other lightweight backpacking tents on the market.  It pitches outer first, with the inner already clipped in, and its up in about 5 mins, with another 5 mins faffing to get the guys set right.  There's guys at either end you cross over which provide a lot of extra stability, so once its up and pitched properly its really solid.  I was pretty pleased to find inside its really cosy and there is a reasonable amount of porch space, certainly enough room to cook, although there's not going to be a huge amount of room for storing kit.  Its also good for head room, as the picture shows, you can easily sit up anywhere inside it.  Packed away its fairly compact although quite long, but it fits on top of the rear rack with a bungee cord no problem.

Tomorrow is quite a big day cycling wise as well.  We've got round two of the Super6 Road Race series through at Helensburgh, and the Tour of Flanders to watch on the telly later on!  I should probably be more focused on tomorrows road race and less on preparing for my cycle tour, but to be fair, the preparation for the race is already done and its too late now to be worrying about whether I've done enough.  I've been training harder than ever before in the last month, and I feel like I'm starting to get to where I'd like to be fitness wise.  At the same time though the competition tomorrow is really strong, and everyone seems to be going well at the moment.  So once again I'm not sure what to expect results wise, but this time I am looking forward to the race.  The course is certainly one I relish riding and its good to race good competition.

Tour of Flanders looks like a fore-gone-conclusion.  A 260km grand circuit of Belgium taking in numerous cobbled climbs, its one of my favourite classics, and it looks very much like Fabian Cancellara will romp away in the last 50K once again.  It will be exciting viewing never the less!  Who knows maybe Tom Bonnen, or Slyain Chavanel can cause an upset.

Western Isles Tour Kit

4 weeks today the big Tour starts.  William and Kate(!) will be getting hitched, and I'll be making the most of my free day off work to head West for a new adventure.  Hopefully going cycle camping touring on the western isles at the start of May won't be too early in the season and the weather will be ok.  This weeks weather has provided a good reminder of how wet and windy it can be in Scotland, even in landlocked Stirling.  The thought of several days staying in a tent in the weather we've had this week isn't particularly inspiring, however it has prompted me to have a good look at my kit list and think about what I need to keep warm and comfortable.


Since deciding last year this was something I wanted to do I've been slowly accumulating the kit I think I'll need.  As posted before I already have a Giant TCX which I'll ride.  I've just given it a good service - its had new cables all round, a new chain and cassette in the last 2 months, and the wheels have been looked at too.  Only slightly dodgy part is the bottom bracket which is going to need replaced, but I think has a few thousand more miles in it yet.  I've fitted it with a freebie rear rack I'd got from Ian a while ago, and a Tubus Tara front rack I got 2nd hand off ebay.  Xmas and birthdays provided the Ortleib Roller panniers I'll be taking.  They're basically like dry bags that attach to the racks.  Once adjusted properly they're really secure and hopefully won't rattle too much and drive me nuts!

Clothing wise I've already got a huge amount of cycle clothing, so the problem is just deciding what to take. Hats, and waterproofs are obvious.  I'll probably go with 2 pairs of gloves (short and long finger), arm warmer and knee warmers to go with short sleeve jerseys and bibshorts, rather than taking tights and long jerseys.  Gilet, few pairs of socks, buff, and a pair of MTB shoes will cover bike wear.  Off the bike I've got a pair of Craphopper trousers, and Altura shorts that are water repelant and quick drying.  I think I'll avoid taking any cotton gear, and just take a couple of Lifa vests and a Mountain Hardware down gilet for on top.  How many pairs of boxers?  Given I'll be wearing cycling shorts a lot I think I'll probably just go for 3 pairs!  Last thing is a pair of light weight Addidas running shoes.  I've gone for these as they weigh bugger all, will dry really fast as they're basically a mesh upper, and they've good grip for any walking i might do.

Camping and cooking gear is a tricky one.  Obvious stuff is tent: I bought a Wild Coutry Aspect 1 in the sale (£75) weighing 2kg and has plenty room.  Sleeping bag I'm taking my Alpkit down bag, and Therma-rest 3/4 mat.  I've been debating buying a Therma-rest trekker chair which allows you to convert a mat into a seat with a back. £25 online, if i've spare cash later in the month I might still get one.  After looking at stoves a while ago I've decided to just go with the Trangia I've already got.  Its just the basic one, but I got a gas adapter for it a couple of years back which is brilliant.  I've just ordered a 'Light My Fire' meal set (compact spork, plate, bowl etc) and lighting flint. As well as this theres some washing up gear and swiss army knife.

Food wise I hope to cook most of my meals myself with the odd cafe lunch.  Buying most stuff en-route and hopefully saving some weight, I'll still start with some basics needed for any meal and top up where possible.  On top of that theres all the other gubbins that is needed - repair stuff for the bike (tools, spares etc), and luxuries(!) like a camera, phone, garmin (how do I charge these?!), book, maps, etc.  And not forgetting the wet wipes.....

Hopefully all this will fit in the panniers and I'll still be able to pedal the bike - I'll be trying this out in the next few days, so might post a picy.  I'm pretty confident the panniers will provide ample room, I think one problem is the more space you have the more stuff you take!  Who knows, maybe i'll not have room and need to chop some of the clothing off my list!  Pedalling up hill fully loaded will certainly be a test, as the TCX only has a compact double, so my crawler gear ratio is a 34/25, rather than what tourers probably often have which is a 30/27.  Hopefully I've got enough power in my legs to overcome this!!! well see.  Next post I'll do a route preview