intrepidly storming the shed...

Packing. A stressfull business. I am off to Scotland shortly; it has just dawned on me that what with one thing and another I am going to have everything ready to go by Monday. I can hear the gods of the time concertina laughing mightily from here - I still have a great deal of work to do before I can go and so - of course - I am doing my best to ignore the gritty quick release grouptest scattered around the desk and the half-written emails littering the desktop and instead I am playing with kit...

How to carry enough stuff for two weeks of racing and riding in one capable-of-swallowing-a-keg-and-a-cake-but-suddenly-oh-so-small Timbuk2? Start with basics. Two crops, two race jerseys, two pairs of MT500s - what's not being worn can be washed. Then, a warm layer: arm, knee and leg warmers, a long-sleeved jersey (break out the old, old Cannondale waffle top - deeply uncool in these days of dye-sub prints and stockbroker merino but oh so nice to pull on when the wind nips). Finally, the outer layer - and here is where it gets tricky, because I need to take a proper waterproof but I'll wear the softshell more if the weather is anything less than vile, and I'll need a gilet as well, and a light pocketable windproof for the option of a packless excursion or two... So the pile of jackets ends up being as big as everything else altogether. Back to the drawing board.

Elsewhere, it's easy; everything must be able to do double duty if required (so tech and wool tees replace cotton, and Fireflys are the order of the day), and bike kit acts as outer layers. One pair of Sidis, one pair of Salomons. Two... three... six pairs of socks. Hardware is simply a matter of emptying the camping box and the saddle pack straight into the Timbuk2, remembering to add CO2 pump for racing, buying a new bottle of travelwash and remembering to pack one of those lethal matchbox-sized tin openers that would have a finger off as soon as actually allow access to supper, except in a classic example of sod's law in action I can't find the compass, and I'm not quite sure where the super-cute camping toothbrush went after last time, either...

Sod it, maybe I'll just do some work instead.

jenn.