Big bike off road?

Things change

I've been having somewhat of a renewed interest in off-road recently and during a weekend in Wales I discovered the GSA is probably a lot more capable than I am.

Going the wrong way (up) a one-way track, apparently. Dropped it turning around.
Didn't break the half-dozen eggs that where in the left pannier either. 

It was a steep rocky climb, tough on a big bike but I really enjoyed it, though only short-lived. I'd already been making plans for a trip to the Pyrenees as I really fancy the idea of getting my bike up a mountain and I'd even planned out some routes but following this trip my usual riding buddy decided to stick to tarmac from now on leaving me as Billy-no-mates.

I'm quite happy to ride on my own but it's wise to have help when venturing off-road. I had put together a 5:1 "Z-Drag" or "Z-Rig" recovery system in anticipation of doing more severe tracks, giving me a fighting chance of getting the behemoth right-side up again, even on my own. I enjoy playing boy-scout with rope and cord and I can now tie a Prusik, Bowline, Clove hitch, Taut-line hitch, Trucker's hitch, Fisherman's knot, Figure 8 etc. All fine assuming I'm not injured.

So I should probably just get better at riding off road to reduce the risk of going solo, after all, overlanders do it solo all the time, no? Maybe I should get some more local dirt miles in again. There's a group of guys I could probably ride with but they've kind of migrated to dirt bikes which is a different kind of riding and they don't tend do the longer distances and touring that I like to do.

I do have some experience of "off-road" riding, though most of it was a few years ago, so I thought again about doing the BMW Off-Road Skills course. I'm thinking it'd probably be wise to do level 1 & 2 before a solo trip to the Pyrenees, but that's a fair bit of cash I can't spare and would push back the trip by a year at least. What to do?

No pressure

SatNav installation completed last night, then route tweaking. I was trying to bring it down from 11hrs by using more motorway and main trunk roads, didn't quite manage it.

I'm finding I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself; lots to do in little time. Not what I wanted. I wanted a more relaxed trip. 

Last few bits to pack tonight, mostly my walking gear (in a dry bag on the rack), then final checks...

Adventure 2-for-1

I've been playing with the Zumo 590 for a fair few hours now but I've still not ridden with it. I'm getting to grips with Garmin's Basecamp to the point that I've tweaked the planned route to change directions in a few places and take me down some trails.

Two things are making me nervous; trusting the weekend to a SatNav that is unproven (to me) but more than that is the concern of tackling the potentially steep rocky trails on a big bike, on my own, fully loaded. I've done a fair bit in mud and sand but in the flats of East Anglia. Rocks hurt and break things. And I can't carry my bike up or down big rock steps...

But that's adventure, right?

The hike up Snowdon doesn't seem to be much of a concern. We'll see.