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.