One challenge at a time

Im currently sitting on my sofa... its 01:45... and it's also Day 0... D-day... Ive been up now for around 18 hours having had next to no sleep the entire weekend and Im totally wired Sentences form in my brain which dont make sense when I utter them aloud.... half thoughts that have fractured in my head floating round... This day has been over two years in the making. With not much else to do but think as I peddalled from Chicago to L.A.. the seed was sown ... plans have been made.. and now is the time for action.  Dream... Plan... Do. Events in my life have conspired in the last few months to feel lost... without direction or purpose.. everything shattered into pieces. A feeling with which I am not comfortable with and that unsettles me further... kinda like a snowball starting at the top of a mountain and gaining momentum as it rolls down the slopes... picking up more disquiet as it goes and hightening the lost feeling. This is where it stops... Cycling a challenge...

The day started well... no sign of the impending doom and disaster that was to befall me. Finished my night shift a bit early and raced home to get everything sorted that hadnt been sorted because of my seven day work stretch. Currency picked up.. car packed... and bike on the bike rack... Half eleven... on the road to Wales for The Gathering pre flying off on Monday. Tootling up the motorway ... no traffic... all good. I stopped off at Oxford services just to recheck the bike rack as you are supposed to do... all looking good.  Off onto the motorway again... love the M40. The wind was gusting pretty bad and every now and again I had to fight the steering a bit. But all was going smoothly...  Until....  I felt the car being pulled back by the wind... then it settled. I glanced in my rear view mirror and in slow motion... I saw the back wheel of my bike drop a little... then settle... then tumble from my car and bounce behind me down the middle lane! Could...

So where was I.... oh yeah... heading like the proverbial steam train towards bonking big style... Funnily enough the two cereal bars and gel didnt halt the decline and in short order I found myself at the lowest ebb possible... worse than the headwinds in Arizona and the hills in Missouri combined. (Search for 'Putting the metal to the Pedal' to read my book about my American experience) And so when I reached this point I had a choice... continue on the planned route... or hightail it to my 'campsite' for the night. I battled with my headspace for a good five minutes before deciding to continue onwards ... at least for a bit. Food was now a necessity in order to put fuel into my now useless legs. So I made a slight detour to a co-op... made the cashier laugh when I explained I wouldnt need a bag because I was just going to eat it on the spot... and pulled over to a nearby bench to eat my lunch.... Lunch was interrupted by the two town crazies... one o...

It all started with too much time driving in the car back from snowy scotland.... too much time to think and plan. I rang my mum. Tomorrow Im going to cycle a long way with all my kit and Can I possibly set up camp in your garden tomorrow... oh and tea would be great too. Now my parents being my parents and having set me on the path of who I am today... did not question the sense behind camping in january with kit meant for a summer in New Zealand and temperatures to match... instead the question I got was.. and what time will you be here for dinner?? So that was that. In fact... details of freezing temps aside... it was actually a sensible plan... to try to find out any problems with the kit in an area I knew and if necessary could be easily rescued from... should all go completely pearshaped. The camping thing was basically... if I can survive January in the UK then NZ will be fine... so went the theory. So when I arrived home my plan was to pack ready to just leave in ...

30 days to go.... yup that's right 30!! Aside from the general (ahem) lack of training - ok to be completely honest I haven't put my leg over (MY BIKE - you dirty minded lot) for a good couple of weeks other than to pedal the 2 miles to work and back on my ridiculously heavy mountain bike. Though to be fair - the wind and the rain have made that 2 miles a hell of a workout! Aside from all that I feel pretty much ready to go - small details like currency and last minute service, bike box to be sorted, flights to check in for, finding my passport.... (only kidding) are all that's left between now and me boarding the plane. My room resembles a Ranulph Feinnes Expedition preparation hut, with kit piled up to the ceiling (slight exaggeration) and in my infinate sleep deprived wisdom I decided that it would be the perfect time post a run of three night shifts to sort my kit and pack as if I was leaving tomorrow.  Bright idea... and 4 hours later, back hurting, knee...