One challenge at a time

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...

The Aero bar is a necessary addition to any cyclists kit list. Small.. compact... taking up no unneccesary space and enabling the cyclist to go further and faster..... I have just added this to my kit and took it out for a test run this afternoon... a quick spin to see if  it helped my cycling ability at all. With New Zealand in mind... it may be dificult to replicate the exact version but testing it was a necessity. The result...... more speed but more weight added...... This is an aero bar Oh you meant the aero bars I attached to my handlebars to give more hand positions and to lower my profile when cycling into a headwind all day?? You meant these?? Ahh well in that case... It took a few minutes to get used to transferring the hands and resting the elbows on the pads but once I had done so it was surprisingly comfortable and definately too all the pressure off my hands. Most of my short ride this morning was into a headwind... no surprise there then, and wether it was purely ...