Opening up.. I’ve never told you this… (while on an EPIC Isle of Man mini-adventure)

Isle of Man mini adventure… I wanted to telI you something I haven’t before and a little embarrassed to tell you this. But feeling good and want to help any of you in the same position 🙂

0:00 The adventure plan…
0:49 Morning.
2:40 Swim anyone?
4:16 Opening up. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this…
8:49 I really messed this up.
11:08 WHY I do this… and a thank you!
13:46 How I plan my routes / adventures
15:46 Comparing all the head units
17:51 All day, all night ride.
19.27 STRANDED.

Here is the beast Edge Explore 2: https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/802162

And if you want to look at an of the other units have a gander here:
https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/c/sports-fitness/cycling-bike-computers-bike-radar-power-meter-headlights/?series=BRAND482#shopallcycling

// Cycling eBook: https://www.ilikemountains.cc/s-h-o-p
// Instagram: http://instagram.com/katiekookaburra1/
// Strava: https://www.strava.com/athletes/3352833
// My Zwift Club: https://tinyurl.com/4wusdwxp
// Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/katiekookaburra

Super happy to have the following brands support me and my ol’ cycling adventures. So you will see some of their products I choose to use in my content 🙂

https://www.shimano.com/en/
https://www.garmin.com/
https://www.zwift.com/uk
https://exposurelights.com/
Shokz: Use KATIE2023 for £10 off: https://shokz.cc/3Sq4IXJ

Just checking in for the Quast two Ferry thank you so much so excited who is ready for a little Adventure it is 1:30 in the morning I am going to somewhere that I’ve never been before I am so goody right now me my trusty bike my trusty

Patagonia and a great route for the ride see you in a little few hours biky oh that nice man saw me waving goodbye to my bike it’s like what a loser it’s 159 a.m. and I’m just wonder good night I’ll see you in a couple of hours good

Morning it’s a.m. o GE but I had plenty of Deep Sleep let’s go [Applause] I am excited to get my ready ready ready for a little Adventure Monday out let’s go okay me remember the taste I need to take a picture of that cuz that looks I’m going to be stopping so much today like there’s no wish to get around it is literally just about having

A bit of fun I think at the very start of these Adventures like my biggest excitement is because I don’t know what I’m going to see or how it’s going to smell or what it’s going to feel like what it’s going to sound like I just love going to new places you

Know I like clim but they I’ve got four 14 and I’m about to do my first one couple of things that I’ve noticed about is man I’ve been two climes here is it’s so quiet and peaceful I don’t know it’s because it’s early but it’s so

Pretty and quiet the other thing it is quite hilly which I like not seen any sheep yet though I’ve been scouring all the fields like come on sheepies hi St hi sheepies God look at that view I you can see that the top of the church the sun and the Sea behind

It I love this place already there’s like pretty beaches and really steep hills and going about I’ve just come down a really steep I think it was called Mina this is laxie Beach so if any of you know the AL man you know another climb I just came down

And now I’ve got to go up the other side which I think is going to be pretty steep too oh it just smells proper seaweedy and like Seaside and before we get any further into this adventure I just want to kind of Define what like my

Terms or like what I Define like an adventure and that’s for me is like going somewhere somewhere new somewhere that you don’t know or just going somewhere that like actually excites you that you just really excited about going and for whatever that reason that might

Me there might be nice Beach might be a nice tree there might be nice sheep there might be I don’t know I just feel like Adventures don’t need to cost loads of money you don’t need to go really far away this is going to be all done for me

In 24 hours and it’s probably going to cost me I think it was £60 for the ferry £380 for that that bargain that breakfast 3380 and then like maybe just like a drink later on and I will talk about how I when I’m going somewhere new

How I platten the route like how I know where to go how I know what to do [Applause] [Applause] what look at that little beauty I’ve just sat behind this FL cuz it is quite windy and I want you to be able to hear me I want to actually chat to you because I want to confess something to you and I want to tell you because I think it will help

Some of you but I’m a little bit embarrassed to talk about it so be kind to me um basically like when I come on like these Adventures I really do love them and the thing that I like about them I love the planning I love being

Out just somewhere that I don’t know on roads that I don’t know on climbs that I don’t know and a lot of it I like doing it on my own like I love going around don’t get me wrong I love going on adventures and rid with other people but

I do love doing these things solo sometimes times and I think it’s because and this is the thing I’m embarrassed about when I first started riding it was absolutely not the case it was the complete opposite and I would only ever want to go out with other people so that

I would trust their route planning when I when I started riding and I was trying to get better at Hills I would literally ride up the same Hill on my street just up and down and I’m like what was I thinking there was all these amazing roads but I was just too cautious

Because I didn’t want to go too far away and get lost cuz my navigation is not great I didn’t want to get going get on a climb that that was way too much for me and so I would just avoid it and I would just kind of either go and rides

With other people or just ride the same Hill near me i’ loved going on adventures I still I’ve always loved that but solo ones and trusting my own abilities to do it was just not it just didn’t happen I saved up so long I bought a garment Edge 1,000 so that I

Could plan and plot roots and be able to do things on my own and honestly I want to this is why I want to share it because having that unit having that tool to be able to plan and trust myself and it just it just totally changed it

Just built my confidence it totally changed my riding it made me go on adventures and then being able to trust a device like that and being able to plan things just made me so much more adventurous and I kind of wanted to share that because and it is embarrassing saying that like someone

Maybe if you’ve not followed me for very long you’ll just see me go on adventures and not necessarily worrying and doing things on my own but it it wasn’t I was honestly the complete opposite and I think sometimes I kind of want to remind people of that because if any of you are

Thinking oh I wish I could do that but I’m too nervous to go on my own or I don’t want to do this or there’s too many things that I’m worried about I want to be the one to help give you that that confidence to do it so I’m going to

Show you later in the video how I um plan and plot the route so if rooting is the thing that you’re worried about then I can do that no problem because rooting for me and planning the route is like it’s half the fun of it it really really

Is like I absolutely love root planning if you don’t like root planning actually on Gins is a really good feature where you can just put like from where your stood or you you know wherever if you rock up somewhere and you go to somewhere new you can just do like it’s

Called like round route I can’t remember what it’s called but you can put a distance in it will just plot you a couple of different options of doing like a circular route from where you are and it’ll bring back bring you back to the starts also what I will say is that

It is a really nice I don’t know like a full circle moment because having saving up from buying that my first garment um like head unit cycling unit it did give me so much like confidence and it did change my cycle so it’s so nice now that

They now support me and I’m like what Garin like gar that have done so so much and they’re I just love their products love them and the navigation on them is just 10 out of 10 and you know what else that I think is really good that any of

The the units that you have so the 104 which is like the top of the range amazing Do-it all um head unit is the same navigation as say the 540 all the other units in the Garin range of all are all using the same navigation system

So they all pull from the same thing so navigation is as good on all of them so if you are feeling like you want some encouragement to explore I’m your girl I can help you and encourage you and share what’s worked for me so let’s go let’s

Go let’s go let’s go around the island it’s a little bit wind I don’t you can tell but the wind is like going this way I’m going that way and I’ve had that since last I don’t know how far it’s felt like a long time and it’s also

Felt like I’ve been riding in mud because the headwind has been so strong um and so on that I I just be honest with you like I feel like I’ve not brought enough food so I need to go and find a shop and get some drink and I

Thought I would just share what I do on rides if this happens and I don’t always plan well cuz this is the thing planning routes navigating routes you can plan everything but sometimes you do just need to just do stuff as and when you go navigation search and there’s so many

Searches so bike shop repair toilet shop convenience JY shop and post office right let’s go to the shop good morning shippies G is also tell me I’ve got an eat alert I know I’m trying to get food I planed in a food stop about 100K and I

Was like oh I’ll be fine till then yeah I uh misjudge that please be open that was actually like so close on the route and I’m not going to go back on the route I’m just going to cut through this way so I just put the route

Back on and then is that pink line that’s my rote so I’m going to go and join it up this Way got a 3K clim now it’s so s see oh look it there I’m still on this CL but look at the view okay I’m really excited because I’ve just come around this corner and this this climb looks so se but look there all sheepies because you’ve got

Like all the pretty like sea front that feels really holiday and there’s like seagull it just feels like a proper Seaside place like a really pretty Seaside place and you’ve got all this like proper steep hilly mountainous like Wilderness it’s a little bit gravel I’ve just been uh descending down here

And look at this view this is what to me this is what life is all about like just getting out and enjoying like nature and just the Simplicity of me being on my bike was just a bit of food in my bag and just appreciating like this like

This moment now like I know we all have to work but I think so many of us get like bogged down and just work and I don’t know I know that I know we’ve got serious stuff a lot of us have got serious things to deal with but I just

Think we should all get out and just do this as much as we possibly can because I don’t think I feel happier than when I’m doing this you know your cyclist as well you get this feeling but it’s just so good and knowing that I’ve

Got all day just to take as long as I want stop where I want CH to you 10 i1 this is your um message to go and plan a little Adventure I don’t even care how big or how small it is even if it’s just driving to the next County next weekend

And doing a route that you’ve never done and just thank you so much for making this my job and God I just never ever ever take it for granted that I get to do this oh look how green this is can’t believe the girl that was like riding up and down

That Bloody same Hill is now doing This and like it’s her job like what how how I just don’t I I think so many of us don’t give ourselves credit when it’s due and I feel like I’ve I’ve done good and I’m proud of myself oh there some gravel here actually really proud

Of myself of like pushing myself to do things that weren’t necessarily things that were easy for me to do so I’m sure youve all good done the same and things that you forget that you’ve overcome and done things that you are proud of so little

Pat on the back for you he sheepies I’ll give you a little pat on the back the headwind is just it’s getting a bit much now it’s taken me so long to do this I think it’s about 100K made it to the beach and I don’t

Care what anyone says about I don’t care what the weather is if you’re British you sit on the beach and you have your snacks I’m not actually on the beach but um look how pretty this is while I still have this I will show you how I plotted

The route and how I found everything and like how I knew I wanted to come here and where the shop was and all that kind of stuff so how did I plan the route so I went and G connect on the web browser and this is free for anyone to create

Roots on it’s actually a really good root planner um I just put in my location so I love man and actually if you click nearby courses there’s loads of different courses that other people have created around there so that might be a good idea to give you some

Inspiration I actually looked how to look through these and I was like oo I found the Isle of Man Grand Fondo so I was like I might steal some of that route from Mya which is what I did so I created my own course um I was starting

Off in Douglas and then what you can see here is on the drop down men you can have terrain selected so it tells you where all the hills are and also I’m just double clicking on the toggle for climb so you can see where all the

Climbs are this is perfect for a climb level me if you want to go to the climbs if you don’t like them you can avoid them so yeah I’m just starting there at Douglas and then the purple lines you can see are the most popular routes that

Cyclists take um in that area so I’m just going of Follow that weave it around some of the hills and that’s how I created the rout that was the lighthouse I was like I want to go to the lighthouse and then yeah I just basically followed the um Grand Fondo

Route just on this little section cuz I was like they’re going to know some good hills and then from there I just looked wherever looked particularly hilly and so then I went to the very south of the island as well I went to the very bottom point and then just rooted it straight

Back to where I started and then once you’ve done that you just basically save it and St it on the bottom left open connect on your phone and that has then Auto synced and then all you do is basically export it and send it to your unit so I’m sending

It there Edge 1040 solar rage roll as soon as I open my garment and connect them they are that route is there on ready to use and now I’m literally going downhill I think it’s about 20 200 a bit K uh downhill to the very lowest point

Of the island and I’ve got to climb all this way back up look how beautiful this Is so this is the very bottom part of the island of ban and it is so pretty but actually really quickly now um I will just quickly go through a few of the well all all of the um head units just so if you are wanting one and

You’re like oh which one do I get so the 130 plus I would say if you are wanting one just for training that you don’t necessarily need like a really um big map cuz that’s only breadcrumb Trail um or you do a TT and all you want to do is

Just see Power numbers but it is small so if you’re wanting something with really detailed maps that is not the one for you but if you’re want something just for power then that is amazing if you are wanting one with just map so maps for obviously navigating but you don’t

You don’t want any of the training features so you don’t want to have training plans there no like way of putting training plans in there to follow as you’re riding so if you are solely wanting just really a really big screen all the the map functions that is

Going to be incredible and I think that’s I think it’s 250 so and I kind of feel like that’s like a real Dark Horse of like all the Garin head units if you are W in the training and the navigation you’ve got the 54 which is buttons but

If you’re wanting one with touchcreen then the 840 is the one that you would want they both come in solar as well then if you want like the all singing all dancing um you can get 1040 solo which is the big screen training navigation

Solar and yeah like I say it’s got a big screen but there are so many different ones out there and I hope that doesn’t help narrowed it down and I’ll just quickly tell you a couple of the things that I really like on the navigation

Side of it so the main one is is and this is this is what I’m not feeling so great is there’s a back to start button so you just go on the navigation and you just go back to start and it will either say along the same route or the fastest

Route which is really good when I’ve been on like Club rides and I don’t really know where I am and I just want to go home I’m like no I’m done with this I’m just want to go go home it’s not happened a lot but when when you do

Need it it’s so handy to have that I want to get that in the background as I’m riding away up the hill goodbye s of the island so the climbs I think they’ve exceeded my expectations of the length of some of them the steepness of some of them

Yeah quite a challenging place for they old climes so I will definitely be back I want to explore all the climbs I think it’s a mixture between the lakes and whales this is a really really good road just for bikes and Walkers now I’ve just come through like a little gate it

Has taken me a lot longer than I expected just cuz I’ve been sitting around in the wind honestly this is my thing of like I love being out first thing in the morning till like last thing at night I just I just love it it’s just like playing out to

Me I she just come from around like corner and then just seen that I was like and I’ve got like a beautiful song playing I this is so nice that’s my I think that’s a steam packet I think that’s my sorry we are back at the Fairport it was

A lot of climbing it was I think it actually ended up being 2,400 just over 2,400 M 446k it was a lot of climbing I will definitely be back to do more of these climbs and I’m not going to finish the video here cuz I

Want to take you back on the phone I just love getting on phone a slight change of plan uh the ferry is not going tonight it’s been cancelled and so we’ve all been put up in a hotel um I’m in a Premiere woohoo the bike is there I’m happy I

Think there was something wrong with the heating or something so my day trip turned into a day and a night so I can’t complain I’ve got um and I never have bath I’ve run a bath I’m going to watch probably some love Island um so yeah that’s good it’s actually quite nice at

The end of the trip because I’ve got like a little night day out of it so that is it okay so you’re not going to see me on the furry I might add a little bit of furry in the morning um just means I’ve got to wear all this stuff

I’ve not B anything else I’ve about to buy a toothbrush I was got to wear all my sweaty gear tomorrow so thank you so much for watching goodbye God bless little Adventure going on an adventure let’s go on an adventure on the waves this kind of feels like an OD AC oh I’m

Gone M oh God was that zoomed in oh no that was Bloody zoomed in all oh