We'll be heading a short way up the road to the centre of Glencoe to find a suitable spot to sprinkle the first of Dad's ashes and then, having waved goodbye to Mom, Jean, Dave, Granville, Marie and Nero, we'll ride off into the sunset in the direction of Loch Lomond.
I'm sat here writing this post at such an early hour as I've just been turned away from my usual 6.45am Monday morning spinning session because the gym has had the fire brigade in overnight due to problems with their gas detection systems - so my final week's training schedule prior to the ride has stalled before it got started! Well, I suppose if I'm not in shape now, then another week of exercise isn't going to make any difference.
While I've been spinning now since New Year, two or three times a week, Lee's actually been out on his bike/saddle - something I'd been hoping to do plenty of before now so that I can acclimatise to my seat and get ready for hours on it day after day. However, as the weather has been WET and I've at least been getting my cardio workout, I've not been out on my bike for any lengthy rides for a while now. I know I'll be regretting this before I've even cycled my way out of Scotland but there you go, it's just the way it's played out. I have, however, at least bought myself a new seat on the advice of my mysteriously named cycling guru 'Q'.
Looks comfortable, right? Well supposedly the longer the ride the smaller the saddle - apparently the less of your bottom making contact with saddle the better. I bought into the science and went for the pictured saddle, the success of this decision will be apparent on the 'Smith-o-meter' (see previous post) as the days progress.
By way of a 'combo' I didn't just settle on the saddle (a pun for those that missed it) I also changed my mountain bike tyres a.k.a. 'nobblies', for the narrowest tyre I could get on a mountain bike wheel - again on advice from Q, but backed up with plenty of internet reading. It seems like the biggest improvement you can make to your bike for road riding is to reduce the rolling resistance of the tyres by making them narrower. I opted for a pair of Continental gatorskins with kevlar reinforcement. I have to say the difference these tyres actually make is amazing, I can't believe I put up with my old nobblies for so long.
And to finish off the combo I now also own a pair of 'clippy' SPD cycling shoes so that I can greatly increase my chances of falling off my bike at roundabouts or t-junctions - if nothing else it'll be a good blog post and pictures of cut knees may encourage a spike in sponsorship.
So that's all the bike gear sorted, and the toolbox is now too small for all the tools i have in it so think we can be no more prepared now in this respect. Next job is to turn our attention to packing the clothing.
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