Saturday 6th August (PM) Right, It's finally time for what will hopefully be the highlight of my cycling year. London – Edinburgh – London, 2021, is finally upon us. And yes, that is correct, this is the 2021 edition, postponed from last year due to the ongoing Coronavirus kefuffle at the time. It doesn't seem like 2 minutes ago, that I was sat nervously filling in my entry form. Pondering, as I still am, if I was biting off more than I could chew? But there's been a lot off miles under my wheels and through my legs since that cold, dark, day back in February, and I guess that I'm as well prepared as I can be. Although that doesn't mean that I'm not still racked with self doubt and apprehension over what's going to be a big undertaking, no matter how well prepared I am. The miles that I've put in over the last few months, coupled with the overnight adventures, will hopefully mean that my kit has now been finally tuned, and trimmed down to just what I need in order to survive over the coming days, and hopefully I'm not lugging loads of extra weight around unnecessarily. In fact, ever since I packed my bags and went out for that final shakedown ride last weekend I've been fighting the temptation to keep adding more stuff. Stuff that I know deep down will be pointless and unnecessary, but you try telling my brain that. There's a million “what ifs” floating round in my mind too. “What if I break a spoke? I haven't got any spares” - Well, the only time that's ever happened it tore out with half the rim too, so a spare spoke wouldn't be much use would it. “Stop worrying” I keep telling myself. “What if I get a tyre failure? I haven't got a spare” - Well, I've only ever had 2 tyre failures, both of which have been when fully loaded with camping equipment and on both occasions I walked to the nearest bike shop, so I'll just do the same again. “Stop worrying”. “What if I'm not fit enough”? - Enough already! But those nagging doubts keep on raising their ugly heads. To top matters off, I got stung by a wasp on the way home Wednesday night, and not a little sting either! The little blighter hit me square on the left knee on a downhill section of my commute home at about 25 MPH, and instead of bouncing off, the little sod grabbed on and got his stinger in good and deep before I could get a hand free to squash him. By the time I got home, my knee was twice the size, and by Thursday morning it had swollen up like a balloon, pulling all those finely tuned muscles every which way, and stiffening up to the point where it was a struggle to bend it. Hobbling around like “Jake the Peg” two days before your supposed to be riding a thousand miles isn't good for morale I can tell you! Luckily though, by Friday morning it had returned to a more normal size and today (Saturday) we seem to be back in the game! Wasp stings and other acts of God aside, every thing that I can do to make my ride as smooth as possible I've done. I've had multiple days away living on the road whilst covering long distances totally self supported. So, in theory, although this is further, it hopefully wont be too much harder, with it being better supported, with bag drops, manned checkpoints, food stops and a million selfless volunteers, all working tirelessly to try and make my ride as painless as it can be. I've got plenty of miles in my legs already this year in preparation (6200) and I'm used to long days both in the saddle and on my feet running. Likewise I've had plenty of back to back long days, so hopefully that wont be too much of a shock to the system. The only thing that I can't account for and my biggest worry is my start time (13:15). Which, as an habitual early riser, isn't ideal. I'd rather be away at first light than sitting around for half the day and starting when I'm starting to get tired. It is what it is though, and I've had a few long days out starting from work at lunchtime, all of which went OK, so hopefully this will be the same. And in fact, looking at the weather forecast it may actually be to my advantage. Granted I'll be setting off in the hottest part of the day, but I'll only have a few hours of high temps to contend with before the cooler evening and night descends. By Pushing through the first night (or as much as I can), hopefully I'll be able to take advantage of that with fresher legs and get some decent miles in on the first day. As the saying says though “No plan survives first contact” and with nearly 1600KM (1000 miles) of hard riding, spread across 5 days ahead of me, it's pointless trying to plan too much. I know from previous experience that trying to set a schedule or having too tight a plan in my mind, leads to stress, frustration and anxiety as soon as anything goes wrong. So I'm trying my hardest to take a “don't worry about it, deal with the problems as they arise and make the most of the experience approach”. Which at the end of the day is what I do best. If I can't control it, I don't tend to worry about it, or at least I try not too. I just need to break it down into manageable sections and deal with any problems as they arise and not before. Provided I'm ahead of the control cut off times that's all I've got to worry about! Oh, and the small matter of ensuring that I'm back before Saturday morning (by which time I'll be out of time anyway) as I've got a wedding to go to on Saturday afternoon that I can't really miss. (That's poor planning on your part “Kathryn Stinks”). So that's it, with the planning and preparations over and done with I travelled up to the start Friday evening (poor planning on my part as the M3 and M25 were manic). Ready to register and collect my number and Brevet card on Saturday morning, all of which was a smooth and superbly organised affair, and hopefully a window on what's to come.
And now it's just a case of “hurry up and wait”. I've filled my afternoon with a gentle 5 mile jog around Epping Forest, just to keep my legs moving and burn off a bit of nervous energy. Although it doesn't seem to have worked very well! And then tried, just as unsuccessfully, to relax and enjoy the afternoon summer sun! And now I'm sat in the van, amongst a plethora of other converted vans, all singing and dancing campers, and people planning on sleeping in their cars cuddled up next to their bikes. All of whom, like me are watching the sun go down, waiting patiently and excitedly for tomorrow and the start of what should be a great adventure! So, I suppose, that there's not really a great deal else to say, and even if there was, there wouldn't be much point, as by the time you read this it'll be all over anyway as it won't get uploaded until I get back home. Having either successfully been to Edinburgh and back, or slunk back home defeated with my tail between my legs. Either way, I'm guessing that it will take me a couple of weeks to get the blog up to date and for things to get back to normal, so until then watch this space and “Ready, Steady, Go” although I suppose that should actually be “Ready, Steady, Gone”!
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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