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.