Saturday 10 May 2014

Last Post Before Etape Caledonia 2014!

What's done is done.  What's been trained has been trained and now it's the eve of the race.

How am I feeling?  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive about tomorrow. I haven't done as much training as I did last year, but I've certainly done more training than I did the previous year but not as much as the first year (to wit I am never doing that amount of training again).  We are faster this year.  I want to beat my time last year (if I don't I'll be back next year under 6 hrs).  A billion things could go wrong tomorrow - a tire puncture or two, a bad crash or the tire puncture pixies could be out - but I feel like I'm faster this year than I have been in previous years, and I am faster, I have the stats to prove it. Not consistent stats but stats none the less, so... 

That assides what prep have I done?  Well there has been some Carbo Loading Caledonia Style:


I have to confess that that's not my portion you're looking at (you can tell because I don't 'do' pickled eggs), but mine, with a cup of Chinese curry sauce (a delicacy only available in Britain I'm told, as besides from Thai style curries the Chinese don't do curry as we have it), is pretty much the same, in fact you can see my pale Scottish hand on its way to stubbing my face in the back ground.

In further related prep news, given the amount of gear I have (and lack of idea), I negated to bring a cycling jersey with pockets in the back.  It's reporting to be very warm tomorrow, and going up Slug Road last week - there were no freak arsed clowns - I was streaming sweat as I had my Lidl sports top (very good if you can get them,) and my purple Altura jacket which was sweltering.  So I was going to wear my rab hooded top (thinnish but strangely windproof), with my Lidl sports top and an Endura jack-in-a-pack as it's supposed to be showery and then heavy rain about 1ish.  The only thing that has pockets is my camel pack and my little cross bar pouch which will not hold the items I plan to take. I wasn't going to wear my black endura jacket I've worn in previous years because it's a bit done and looking worse for it, but it did have those handy deep hoach (the chubby bit just below your kidney, almost on but not quite the back of your hips) pockets good for stashing stuff.   

I also don't know how I'm going to take my rain jacket off without stopping.  See now if I had just done and made do I wouldn't be thinking about this now.  

Actually, do you know what... I have my bike lights attached by safety pins and some small plastic bags.  I can attach the small plastic bags onto the inside of the waistband of my trousers.  There. That's potentially solved that problem.  

Wish me luck.

See you after.

Jxx

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