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.