10 days to go!!!, sorting, packing, unpacking, checking lists .....

Tent , mattress , sleeping bag.

Well it’s down to crunch time , time to put it all together , do I have everything, am I forgetting something , will the bike fit into the box , how much hot weather clothing do I take ?, how much cold weather clothing do I take ? Do I have all the spare parts that I need ? , and most important will it all fit into two laundry hampers ???? 

Spare parts , odds and ends 

Bike box, will the bike fit?

Working on getting the clothing pile smaller!

Along with the excitement for the trip the anxiety level increases !!!, am I ready ?? , can I do it ?? , will the bike be reliable and not cause issues, will my knees behave ? , will the rest of my body behave !!!, I’m I totally crazy ????

And then it’s hard to be leaving the loved ones behind, I’m going to miss them immensely , and as the trip gets nearer that realization gets more intense. A bit of gilt sets in, but they are being great about this trip of mine and very supportive.

So I’ve tried to put together a good line of communications, with long distance cell plans , learning to text !!, and taking the laptop with a turbo stick with the hope of being able to get online more often then not and to be able to maintain this Blog. They did warn us that maintaining a online journal during the trip would be difficult between connection problems and just plan fatigue from long days of riding , but I’ll do my best. 

I took the bike in for a final tune-up and I wanted them to go over it carefully in case I’ve missed a problem, the guys at Evolution Cycles did a nice job and they even found me a mirror that fits this this bike !!!!

Training though is getting harder, I’m finding it hard to get motivated to go out and do the same rides over and over, riding has gone from being pleasing daily voyages to push, push, push, faster, harder, longer, etc..,  it’s time for a change !!!, time to start enjoying riding again!!!. 

And it’s getting hard to actually find time to ride, last minute preparations for the trip, work days that are getting longer as I try and leave everything in order here on the farm; the World Cup and watching Argentina win !!!, all cuts into riding time.

This week I only got out twice for a total of 137 km , but I am finding that my average speed on the training rides are going up, todays 55 km was done at 24.7 km/h.  

I’ve encountered a new hazard on the road  “ baby birds “ that fly out wildly from the underbrush on the side of the road not knowing how to fly all that well and having absolutely no idea of what a person on a bicycle is !!!

In the midst of all of this excitement some sadness has entered as my aunt Elina passed away this morning , she was a lovely lady and will be missed. 

Life is a very short journey and we must make the most of it , live well , and enjoy it to it’s fullest, something that is easy to say but for some reason not all that easy do do ???