With work and a hernia playing havoc with plans I decided to get out for a night with my kit and see how it and I performed.
I loaded my 29er MTB up with kit and headed off to an afternoons work then off to the local hills. Objective: Spend a night out to test sleep system and see how I was when riding home in a possibly sleep deprived state.
Fully loaded I set off for the Fife Cycle Park and an afternoons work coaching. Distance 11 miles with 800 feet of climb.
Leaving the FCP I headed towards Loch Leven and the Lomond hills. I used Komoot and the app took me down some new trails which was interesting. The plan was to camp at the top of Glen Vale. Distance 13 miles with almost 1000 ft of climbing during which time I got the chance to practice some hike a bike!
I arrived at my intended bivi spot and started to set up for the evening. In my Podsacs bar roll I had my Mountain warehouse bivi with my Alpkit bag already inside it. I got them out and laid them on the already prepared thermarest mattress, which, along with my Jetboil stove, food and spare layers had been in my Roswheel seat pack. Everything had been taken out and carefully arranged so I could find them easily.
I had food and a hot drink and marvelled at the sky as the sun set and the stars came out. It was like time lapse photography accompanied by evensong from birds and the sound of sheep and cattle. A burn was bubbling down in the Glen.
I am not sure when I dropped off but was well wrapped up and cosy in the bag. At some time the bivi must have slipped down off the bag as the top of my bag was wet with dew when I woke at 0400 with a high level alert from Mr bladder. After getting up I did not see the point in getting back in the bag and decided to set off for home and see how I managed objective No 2.
I got the bike reloaded and set off Southwards for Kirkcaldy. The track was rough in places, enough just to test my alertness after a disturbed but long sleep. Suffice to say I made it home without incident and had a thoroughly successful trip. Distance 15 miles with 500 feet of climb. I was happy with the way the kit performed although if the forecast had been for rain I would not have used the Roswheel and happy how I performed especially with a hernia!
Scottish Bike Touring 