The week of the rally

So here we go. The route has had its sense check and has been loaded onto the sat nav. The plan for navigation is as follows:

• The main route is loaded in my Navi VI. It will automatically route me to the next waypoint as I reach them. As a backup, I can load up each waypoint within the route or load them for point-to-point navigation. The point-to-point is not a preferred option since I lose the overview details of the wider route (ETA to the end of the rally, total mileage, etc)
• My phone will have each individual waypoint prepared. As I hit and stop at each waypoint, I will be loading the next one up onto Waze. The Navi VI will be a dumb plotter — no traffic or diversions. Waze will provide traffic information and can change the route on a point-to-point basis without messing up the wider route.
• In case the phone buggers up, I have a spare one with all the waypoints also prepared.
• Soft and hard copy of the run sheet

The navigation for the Orkneys will consist of:

• Look at road. Pick road. Ride road. Repeat until tired and/or hungry. Return to base.

Packing is also done. For those of you curious about packing strategies, here you go:

• One saddlebag for operational-type stuff. Spare visor, visor cleaner, chain, lock, first aid kit, inflator, tyre kit, maintenance kit, battery pack, booster
• One saddlebag for the bike-related clothes — spare jeans, base layers, spare gloves, mid-layers. The contents will stay in the various hotel rooms and the saddlebag used to hold snacks/drinks during day-rides
• One bag on the pillion seat to hold laptop, headphones, electronics, underwear, hoodie. This stays in the hotel room
• I won’t be carrying a bag, a pack, a backpack or anything else. I want to stay light. On my person I am just carrying wallet, spare phone, microfibre for the visor, small battery pack and keys… enough to survive in civilisation; if I fuck up, there’s a mini bug-out bag in the saddlebag should I need to resort to it

I’m setting off on Friday morning around 11:00 and I am still debating whether to wash the bike beforehand or not. Within half a day you won’t be able to tell the difference. This early set-off should get me into Leeds fairly early, with time to have dinner at Squires, register and head back to the hotel to chill. I will have to return to Squires for the 20:00 brief

The biggest threat now is what to have for food on Thursday hahaha It is tempting to have pizza and go for carb-loading, avoiding much eating on Friday (if you think this is bad… I don’t really care). The other option is to just stick to my normal eating habits and just snack throughout the day, sort of like running a stoichiometric flame and feeding just enough fuel to match what I am burning. Takes more discipline but provides the best burn.

Looking forward to the week ahead, I could do with something to occupy my time in the Orkneys. I am torn between taking the DSLR and taking my Software Defined Radio and a couple of aerials to sit down and listen to how life in the electromagnetic spectrum sounds like in the Orkneys. I have not got time to dabble in both, I think. I will figure it out before leaving.