The Roam Scotland Rally is an event starting and finishing in Edinburgh. The 2023 edition takes you down to the borders of Scotland and back to Edinburgh. Based on the Nice-Torino rally it is a self supported, non-competitive social bike ride over 538 Km or 724 Km depending on route choice. Oh and between 6090 and 9390m ascent!
The 2023 edition fees, are all going to Talking Tandems (TT). This is a charity I volunteer for that provides pilots for visually impaired riders who otherwise would not get outdoors to participate in this great activity of ours.
The rally takes place in May just missing midgie season! I felt almost duty bound to enter once I heard that TT were benefiting from the organisation of the race. My heartfelt thanks goes to Calum and his crew.
Now it is decision time. The event has two routes known as the rolling route and the rugged route. Obviously there is nothing stopping you from mixing the routes. So rolling route with carbon Ridley loaded up with bikepacking gear, rugged route with the 29er MTB loaded up and possibly a rucksack as well or the Tour de Fer with panniers and a mix of the routes? The racer in me says the Ridley but as this is billed as a social bike ride I suspect the Tour de Fer with panniers and some comforts will be the best choice.
I have done multi day rides before both supported and unsupported but this with the social downtime at the end of each day sounds like a really good mix. The stops are:Kelso, Newcastleton, Gatehouse of Fleet, New Galloway, Moffat and Innerleithen. The detailed manual provided gives advice on available options for rooms and indeed camp sites or wild camp spots. More decisions to make.
Now however it is time to check kit, repair or purchase where required and get out there.
Scottish Bike Touring 