Day 12 Dalhart to Liberal (113 miles)

Another poor night's sleep last night, that's it I'm going with tablets tonight. Reason was partly because we had a rail road right outside the hotel. Trains are legally obliged to sound their horn at every road crossing, or in my bedroom, which ever is the closer, right through the night.

Also another easy day for the GPS. "Turn right out of the motel. Bury yourself for 9 hours. You have reached your destination. Eat a lot. Go to bed".

We were warned this morning that the winds always start from the south and then move around to the north, so get on the road early. This is exactly what happened. First 25 miles were done in little over an hour. Then one of our team had a flat, in the 10 minutes it took to change it, the wind completely switched direction and we were into it for the rest of the day.

Went through three states today. Started off in Texas, passed through Oklahoma and then crossed the border into Kansas. Kansas sign marginally more interesting than the one for Oklahoma, hence the obligatory photo. Note the attractive America by Bike cycling top. It was free I hasten to add. Not much to say about the terrain. Flat grassland / farmland as far as the eye could see, with the odd massive grain silo along the way. Liberal is the official home of the Wizard of Oz. Unfortunately arrived too late to go to the Wizard of Oz experience, and what do you know, we'll be leaving before it opens tomorrow.

Dinner was at an all you can eat Chinese buffet. $10 (about £6) for mountains of delicious food, desert and soft drinks. All you can eat, $10, America, how on earth do they make that work?

Passed through the town of 'Hooker'. Hooker, funny eh, sounds a bit like, well Hooker. It's a comedy cul de sac, there's nowhere you can go with it, as demonstrated by the terrible T shirts in the gift shop.

Struggling to decide whether today was a good day or not. It was certainly really really tough, but three of us worked an excellent paceline in to the wind taking a mile each on the front before dropping back. I think it's one for the purist. Pleased that I could do my share and very pleased to make it through, more than one arrived in the van. So far we've still only had one day when everyone has ridden in.

According to our route sheet, the next two hotels we're staying in don't have wifi access. I'll do my best, but there may not be any posts during that time. You can then gorge yourselves on three scintallating installments in one go.

By the way, please excuse any spelling or grammar errors. I've read a few of these back and there's a few its / it's and stuff like that. These are all written in one go after a long day.

Day 11 Tucuncari to Dalhart (96 miles)

Howdy folks, we're in Texas!

The camera's working again, hurrah. Yesterday's photo is of a tourist information board on the way in to Tucuncari. It shows an area roughly 100 miles by 100 miles in which there are 5 points of interest - and one of those is the visitors' centre (where presumably you can learn about the other 4.)

Really nice, short day today. 8am start meant a leisurely breakfast and then plenty of time to get ready. Day was blue skies with white fluffy clouds, the kind of perfect English summer day that we haven't had in two years. Winds where moderate and from the South (anything with a south or west in it is good, anything with a north, or especially east, is very bad.)

I started out on my own, enjoying the sunshine, but soon got caught by a 4 man paceline moving at about 25 mph. I hooked on to it and managed to stay there for about 10 miles. It's exhilarating, but also scary travelling at 25 mph literally 12 inches from the back wheel of the guy in front. I dropped off when I was knackered and also my knee and hip started hurting. They soon recovered when I slowed. From the first SAG at 26 miles, to the lunch SAG at 66 miles I think is one of the best cycling experiences I've had. There were 4 of us working a paceline at 20-25 mph which was flying, but not stupidly quick. The roads where wide, flat, smooth and clean.

It's wide open countryside out here, endless grasslands, but somehow not as desolate as the last couple of days. Just before Dalhart we passed some cattle feeding lots. There are cows in pens as far as the horizon, thousands and thousands of them. It's burger production on a massive scale. The smell hits you like a wall.

We covered the 96 miles in five and a half hours and that included two SAG stops, one puncture (not mine) and several photo ops. We lost an hour today as we passed from Mountain time in to Central time. I think we're only 6 hours behind the UK now. People seem friendy here, we've had several toots and waves, but also had a bottle thrown at one of the guys today.

The guy who was taken to hospital a couple of days ago is now fully recovered and rode the full day. However we had another in the van all day. He's been suffering terribly from saddle sores almost since the start which meant he's been standing on the pedals a lot recently. It's now all got too much, he's gone to the hospital this evening to see if there's anything they can do, but I guess not riding a bike is going to be the main advice. (WARNING TOO MUCH INFORMATION ALERT) My arse is fine in case you were wondering. I know an excellent nurse who recommended a special cream.

At dinner I thought I'd try the local delicacies. 'Brisket' is very thinly sliced roast beef, which is smothered in BBQ sauce, delicious. I haven't yet tried a Breakfast Burrito, which is like a tortia wrap filled with bacon, sausage (OK so far) scrambled eggs (hmm not sure about that) and pancakes with maple syrup (you've got to be kidding.) If like me you are trying to follow a 4000 calorie a day eating plan, I can offer some handy advice. Some prefer a Big Mac and fries at around 4pm as a kind of apperitif to the main meal, whereas I prefer a jumbo sized Twix just before bed.

Tomorrow is 113 miles and we're into the wind, word is, it's going to be a tough day.

Day 10 Las Vegas to Tucumcari (111 miles)

Well what a difference a day makes. Woke this morning to leaden skies and a chance of rain. Bring back those clear blue skies from the previous 9 days.

If my GPS could talk, this morning it would have said: "Turn left out of motel. Continue straight on for. One hundred. And. Ten. Point Eight. Miles. You have reached your destination." This was the most remote area I've been to, we passed through three tiny hamlets, but other than that there was nothing for a hundred miles.

They've had freezing fog on this day before, so Mike headed up the road in the van to see how it looked at 7000 feet. He reported it was fine, but I was still wearing three layers of clothing. This increased to four as it started to spit with rain. This is prairie country, as in 'Little house on the'. Wide open grasslands. After about 40 miles we dropped off the high plateau we've been on for the last 24 hours. Now we're down at 4000 feet. Got my first puncture this morning, can't believe I survived all those shocking Interstate shoulders and then catch something on a smooth A road. I didn't see what I hit and we didn't find anything, but there was a neat little puncture hole. Three of the other riders stopped and we (well they) soon had it fixed.

Just before the first SAG we passed through the 1000 mile mark, not bad for just over 8 days on the road. Didn't stop long at the SAGs today, it was too cold.

No photo today, my camera has died. The camera that was bought specifically because it was meant to be indistructable. What a heap of crap.

It was 32 miles from the lunch SAG to the hotel. It was a killer, we were in to a 10 - 20 mph headwind all the way. All that training really paid off. We were in a paceline of six. Three guys at the front setting a murderous pace and three of us at the back trying to hold on for dear life. I held on for over 10 miles before finally being dropped with the two others. We then worked as a three to get home. Holding on for so long made a real difference to the miles we covered quickly and I was very pleased to be able to take my turn at the front on the way in. Didn't feel as strong today, but everyone seems to have good and bad days.

Got into Tucuncari just before 4pm. There's an interesting story about how Tucuncari got it's name. An Indian Chief had a beautiful daughter called Cari. Two young Braves wanted to marry her and the Chief decided that they should fight to the death for her hand in marriage. One was the love of her life, called Tucun (don't know what the other was called, Roy, Adolf) Anyway they had the fight and Tucun was killed. Seeing her one true love dead, Cari killed herself and fell onto the body of Tucun. Hence they called the town Thatdidntgotoowelldiditsville. This was later shortened to Tucuncari. Such a pity he wasn't called Cashun.

My lovely new wheels were waiting for me at the hotel. Mike moved the gearing over and gave me a lesson in how to change a tyre (yes you would think it's something I should know by now, but there's more to it than you might believe.)

Tomorrow is our first sub 100 mile day. Only 97 miles, hardly worth getting my lycra shorts on for. Plus there should be tail winds so we're expected to complete it in about 6.5 hours. So we've got a lie in, don't load until 8am.

Day 9 Albuquerque to Las Vegas (135 miles)

No not that Las Vegas, this one is in New Mexico and has 99% less places to eat and 100% less places for entertainment. 10 of us arrived in the lobby dressed in the full lycra gear, pushing our bikes and asked if there was anywhere to eat. The receptionist said, sure, you go out of here, turn right, continue on for about 3 miles..... so it's pizza delivery this evening.

Spoke to Kate yesterday "It's all going well, I'm feeling fine, the bike is working brilliantly, the GPS is great and the netbook is also fantastic". "You've done it now" was her reply. So this morning I checked the wheels and a few of the spokes on the rear were really loose. I asked tour leader Mike to take a look and he kindly did so whilst I was having breakfast. 20 minutes later the prognosis was not good. The wheel's screwed, all the spokes are too far gone to rescue, it would need a total rebuild and even then it's likely to go again. This was going to be expensive, very expensive. The next problem is that with 135 miles to do we can't hang around waiting for bike shops to open, also we're going to some really remote areas, we won't pass a shop that stocks this kind of stuff for about 5 days. Once again the team really came to the rescue. Mike lent me a wheel (which goes better than the old one) and another rider, Jay, had friends at a bike shop in Dallas. We called them and they're going to Fedex a new set to tomorrow night's hotel. The upside is that those wheels were the only thing I didn't love about the bike, it was really difficult to change a tyre on them. The new ones are the one's I've always wanted. We didn't really need that new sofa did we honey?

It was a really excellent day today, felt super strong, even after 120 miles and rode near the front all day. Maybe it was that massage from yesterday, maybe manipulating the muscles in my scalp has diverted the chi and re-routed the energy lines in my whole body. Or perhaps my legs just needed a damn good rub. Whatever it was, it worked.

We passed through some stunning countryside, I don't think that photo does it justice, but there's a snow capped mountain in the background. Wooded hillsides stretching for up to 50 miles in any direction. This is the America I came to see.

We had another casualty today. One guy got really short of breath and had to go to hospital. He's OK and was discharged this evening. Could have been a combination of a lot of things, including the altitude, we went over an elevation of 8000 feet today. Several of us are having problems sleeping, I'm only getting 4-5 hours a night. Altitude could be a factor there too. Another guy broke a spoke which busted his wheel. Mike was on his way to the hospital so couldn't fix it, so he had to ride in the other van for several miles. He was one of the guys who made it on day two, so now we're down to one who's ridden every inch. It's really tough on bodies and machines out here.

There was a really good atmosphere today. Although I rode on my own most of the time, we all met up at the SAGs and everyone was in a good mood. Did get in late though, just after 6, that was 11 hours out there, although the SAG stops were quite leisurely.

Thanks for all your messages of support. It means a lot to know there's so many people following my progress. I'll try and reply individually, but not tonight. Tomorrow is 110 miles, bring it on.

Day 8 Albuquerque rest day (43 miles)

So what did I do on my day off? The same thing I've done on pretty much every day off in the last 6 months - I went for a bike ride. We were told it would be a good idea to go spin our legs a bit. Also I still feel bad about the miles I missed on the way to Blythe, so I'm going to try to make them up over the course of the trip, either on one of the shorter days or on the second rest day. When I get somewhere with a decent internet connection I'll work out exactly how many I need. At the moment I'm sitting in the lobby of a neighbouring hotel because the connection in our Ramada doesn't work.

If you're planning a road trip in the States I can put the following hotel chains in descending order of preference, based on comfort, decor, internet and space. La Quinta, Best Western, Ramada, Motel 8.

After the ride did the usual things of clothes and bike washing. Then went for a massage which they'd kindly arranged for us at the local massage school. Had 30 minutes with the lovely Jennifer (who's a teacher, not a student.) Only had one massage before and that was with a masseuse from a pro cycling team, this was altogether different, more the holistic approach, including for some reason my head?! I really don't know what to make of the experience, we'll see tomorrow if it does any good.

Went back to the room and for the first time this trip watched TV. On a Sunday afternoon you can have evangelical preaching, cage fightiing or films. I went with Legally Blond, which was surprisingly good. So being pampered and then a chick flick, what a big girl.

Tomorrow is on paper just about our toughest day, 135 miles and about 8000 feet of climbing, hope I'm good and rested.

Day 7 - continued

The day finished with a 7 mile climb (which for some reason is called 10 mile hill, maybe they're counting both sides) then swept down into Albequerque. Crossed the Rio Grande and then negotiated heavy traffic to the hotel. It's a bit rubbish for our day off, not close to anything and the Wifi doesn't work.

This evening we said goodbye to Bermuda Mike (we're now down to two Mikes) and Linda. They'd both only signed up for a week, so we're now down to a group of 10. After two 130+ mile days everyone was really tired this evening, looking forward to a day off.

Day 7 Gallup to Albuquerque (135 miles)

Hot dog, jumping frog, we're in Albequerque!

Left Gallup at about 7 this morning. Headed out on quiet, flat roads with a slight tail wind for about 10 miles, then turned on to the Interstate. We were warned about this, it was absolutely the worst bit of road I've ever cycled on. Covered in gravel and debris, I kept the speed right down trying to avoid a puncture. It worked out and we were very glad to get off at mile 20 for the first SAG. Here we reached the continental divide. This is the place where on one side of the line water will flow to the Atlantic and on the other to the Pacific.

From there the roads were great, flat, smooth and a nice tail wind. Again we were doing 20 mph without really trying. I was cycling on my own for about the first time, just pushing it along, enjoying the scenery and remembering why cycling is my hobby. Almost instantly the wind moved round 180 degrees and I was into a headwind, speed dropped to about 14 mph and was having to work hard. This continued for about an hour until I was caught by 4 guys working a fairly aggressive paceline at about 20 mph. We worked like that until they peeled off for a toilet break and I continued to the lunch SAG on my own.

After lunch the winds changed again and it was a fantastic tail wind for pretty much the remainder of the day. I think it sounds like I'm getting obsessed by the wind, but it really makes all the difference between an enjoyable 9 hour day of moving fast and having long breaks and an 11 hour day of constant slog.

Cycled through Grant County which is Indian land and also one of the poorest counties in the whole of the US, pretty bleak. Run down home steads and trailers thinly spread in largely scrubland. Over the last few days I may have given the impression it's all rather vast and boring scenery, but it's also majestic and beautiful at times, amazing plateaus and rock formations.

Got back on the Interstate with about 40 miles to go. There were road works and the shoulder wasn't wide enough to ride on safely, so we were ferried through in the van. This cut off about 4 miles. I still feel bad about the miles I missed on the way to Blythe, but this is different, there was no avoiding it.

Day 6 Winslow to Gallup (134 miles)

Slightly later start than usual this morning,
got on the road at 7:15. Headed out of Winslow on Route 66. Passed the 'famous' Winslow corner. If you're a fan of the Eagles, 'standing on the corner in Winslow' will mean something to you, but it passed me by.

Soon joined up with the Interstate. We couldn't have hoped for better weather, still hot and sunny, but the main thing, blasting 20-30 mph winds behind us all day. It's the furthest I've ever ridden in a day and also the fastest, overall we averaged just over 20 mph (134 miles in just under 6.5 hours bike time) although we did have fairly long breaks at the SAGs.

This was the only photo I took all day. It's at our lunch SAG, there was a 6 lane highway just behind me. It was really desolate, there was literally tumble weed blowing along the highway. Later in the day did see some colourful rock formations, but that's about it.

Only problem today was the debris everywhere, mainly parts of truck tyres, but also bits of wood, bottles of piss, you name it. Several rides had flats. I was really really lucky, have managed to avoid that so far, but do have a chunk out of my front tyre.

Linda was pretty much recoverd from her fall and rode all day. Everyone else has various ailments, the most common seems to be numb fingers, makes typing difficult.

134 miles is one hell of a long way, even with good winds, it's tiring just trying to avoid all the lumps and bumps. Had a severe pain in my knee at about 40 miles, but it soon passed and didn't return. Have very sun burnt lips, but apart from that all OK. Tomorrow we do pretty much exactly the same thing all over again.

Day 5 (continued)

Climbed steadily up Oak Creek Canyon, then a sharp climb at the end with several hairpins. It's a really beautiful wooded valley. I was feeling tired, sleepy all the time, just wanted to have a nap, but continued on. Also for the first time on this trip got very hungry just before lunch. Stopped in Flagstaff for the lunch SAG and loaded up with calories. Heading out of Flagstaff saw the Motel 6 where I'd stayed 15 years ago on my first trip to the US. Also saw a lot of prairie dogs, which are like big chipmunks.

Connected with Route 66 and followed that for a few miles through woods to the Interstate. First thing we saw was a sign saying Albuquerque 318 miles. It's quite freightening to think that we'll be there the day after tomorrow. The Interstate was excellent, for the first time on this trip we had blasting tail winds which meant we could hammer along at 20 - 30 miles an hour.

Stopped briefly at Two Arrows, which is a disused petrol station and two large arrows. Met an English couple there who are driving Route 66 from Chicago to LA. Like most people they couldn't believe we're only on day 5 and have come all this way. Just up the road we passed Two Guns, guess we know who won that battle.

Got in at 4:30 without really having to push for time today, but still very tired. Get a little bit of a lie in tomorrow, start with breakfast at 6:00. We're being split into two groups because the difference between fastest and slowest means we get very spread out on the road. I'm in the fast group, just, so a bit later start but then we need to push hard most of the day.

Tomorrow we're on the Interstate for over 100 miles and we're all hoping for favourable winds. If it's like it was today, we'll be fine, if it's in our faces it could be touch and go whether we make it. We also lose an hour as we cross into New Mexico.

Day 5 Cottonwood to Winslow (107 miles)

Left Cottonwood this morning and headed out along a highway. After 15 miles we reached the picteresque town of Sedona, which is where the photo is of. There was an unofficial SAG stop at a friends of Mike and Barabara's who runs a church. Excellent cake there. Didn't bring good omens though because a few miles later we had our first crash. Linda, the only female on the tour and one of only three who have ridden every inch so far hit a rock about the size of a cigarette packet. The guy in front heard the pops as both her tyres burst and look round to see her skidding sideways. She hit the back of her head and got taken to hospital by ambulance. She's fine though and should ride tomorrow. Her helmet was badly damaged. We've been taught to wear a helmet every second we're on the bikes at it shows why. I was fortunately up the road at this point so missed it all.

Day 4 Wickenburg to Cottonwood (103 miles)

103 miles horizontally and 1.5 miles vertically today. Rode 3 big climbs, the last one finishing at 7023 feet. Really good day today, rode strongly at the front of the group all day.

Luggage load was at 5:20 and we left breakfast at 6:20. First hour or so was a little cold for the first time, but soon warmed to the high 70's once the sun got up. 'Lunch' was at 42 miles and over one big hill and halfway up the next. We were expected there between 10 and 11, but several of us got there at 9:45. Knowing that we were well ahead of schedule it meant the rest of the day we could take it fairly steadily. The photo is near the top of the second climb. That was the typical terrain, winding roads made for fairly fast, fairly technical descents. Didn't push too hard, would be mad to crash.

From the final climb we descended to 5000 feet and the town of Jerome. There's The Haunted Burger Bar here. Don't know what's haunted about it, but they make the best burgers I've tasted. It's a tradition that the ride always stops there. Also fantastic view over the desert plains and mountains for about 50 miles. Full of burger and chips we descended another 3000 feet to the town of Cottonwood. Got to a top speed of 36 mph. Would have been quicker, but the winds were getting up by then.

There's not been one day so far where everyone has made it in. One guy was in the van all day with a knackered knee and I think a few others didn't make it over the final climb in time.

Had a slight twinge in my knee today. Hopefully pain killers will take care of it. Other than that a perfect day. Another set of climbs tomorrow, but they don't hold any fear, it's the winds I can't stand.

It's the wild west out here, they really do wear cowboy hats.

Day 3 Blythe to Wickenburg (115 miles)

Up at 5 am this morning and went to breakfast whilst is was still dark. Left Blythe (can't say I'll be in a hurry to go back there) at 6:20. After about 5 miles crossed the border into Arizona. The interstate highway climbed steadily for the first hour, but the road surface was good, the wind was favourable and there were six of us working a paceline. This soon got cut to 4 and then after about 25 miles to 3. Turned off the interstate and the road got really bumpy. They're resurfacing it at the moment and there was a lot of construction. One point had a escort (not a ford escort) taking groups of vehicles through. We were really lucky with this and it only held us up for a couple of minutes, but others behind got stuck for 15 mins.

Passed through the small town of Hope with this interesting sign on the way out. I grabbed this off the net. Couldn't take any photos today because the battery in the camera had run flat. Not too bothered as tour leader Mike (TLM) (as opposed to English Mike, that's me, or Bamuda Mike) takes literally 5000 photos each trip and sends us the best.

It's a desert out there, cactus, dead things, the works. Lunch was after 60 miles and from there to Wickenburg it was one long totally straight road, no bend for 40 miles or more. Saw some 'dirt devils' they're like mini tornados. Came close to one just before the end. They're hazardous, will knock you off the bike, so had to stop. Our group of 3 were the first in at 4pm. It makes such a difference having a few extra hours to get yourself clean, have a good meal, do whatever you feel.

Top temperature today was about 102 on the road. Drank another 12+ litres of fluid. That's all the day consists of, drinking and rubbing in some sort of cream, whether it's sun screen, lip balm, stuff to stop saddle sores, stuff to cure saddle sores, muscle pain gel, it's like painting the Forth Bridge. Obviously much better day today, got some pins and needles in my fingers from all the bumps, but apart from that OK. A lot of climbing tomorrow, but only 103 miles.

Day 2 Palm Springs, halfway to Blythe (70 miles)

Well drop like flies we did. I think several like me were still suffering from the day before when we assembled for breakfast. Tour leader Mike really laid it on the line (to paraphrase) "today is all about being sensible, we're going through some very tough terrain in excessive temperatures. It's a freeway running through a desert, so if you get in trouble it could take us some time to come and get you. There'll be some points where you can stop, but outside of those things could get rough. We want to avoid a serious situation turning into an emergency situation, because if you have to go to hospital we won't be able to support those still out there. It's not a case of seeing if you can make it" Suitably chasened, we headed off, on quiet flat, smooth roads. It was 7 in the morning, but already in the 70's.

Rode very well for the first 50 miles. Some nice firemen gave us some water. We were working a sensible paceline with everyone taking their turn at the front. The first SAG was excellent, food, water, ice cube neck wraps, we were perfectly prepared when we left it. Then we started heading up hill through a canyon and the temperature shot up. Immediately several of the group were in trouble. I managed to ride to the top, it was beautiful scenery and I was feeling fine. It was an amazing 'box' canyon. Several times the road seemed to end in a wall of rock, but you'd go round a corner and it would continue on up. Out the top of the canyon the road continued to rise and so did the temperature, I was suffering. Turned on to the freeway to ride the 4 miles to the lunch stop. Then the headwinds started. That was the final straw, I was pushing hard, but would have had to keep at that level to ride the last 65 miles in under 5 hours. Got to the halfway distant and lunch and then called it a day.

The top temperature today was 104 in the shade, not that there was any shade.

Spent the afternoon packed in the van with all the others who had dropped out, staying close to the few riders still out there. In the end only 3 made it in. Well done to the support of Mike, Barbara and Karen. They couldn't have done more to help us on our way and avoided any emergency situations, which was the main goal of today - we all get to ride again.

Got in late, so precious little time to prepare for tomorrow - let's hope for better things.

Costa Mesa to Palm Springs (112 miles)

In what I hope won't become a recurring theme, today could be described as a tough tough day. Started out OK, as you can see, me and my limey white legs took a dip in the Pacific Ocean. From there we followed a great cycle track which followed the Santa Anna river. Santa Anna isn't really a river, it's a storm ditch like you would see in Grease or Terminator 2, but it got us out of LA without mixing with the traffic.


First SAG stop (support and gear) was at 31 miles. Here Barbara gave us bananas, biscuits, energy bars, sun screen, anything we needed for a day on the road. Things were going fine until about 40 miles when the winds and the temperature got up. We were cycling into a 30? miles an hour head wind in about 100 degree heat. Even that was reasonably OK until we got to the hills. 1100 feet of climbing later and I was done in. Started feeling sick, but they rescued me with lots of fluids and salt crackers. Fortunately wind changed direction and the last 20 miles we did in about an hour. Got in at 5, totally totally exhausted. Thanks to the guys who did the leading today and let me sit in their slipstream. However fared better than some, who got in after 6 or arrived in the van.

On the plus side, saw some spectacular scenery and lots of wind farms, can't think why they build them around here.

Tomorrow it's 130 miles but apparently not so hilly and hopefully the wind will be better. I'm going to take their advice and not do anything stupid, will ride in the van if necessary. Must have drunk over 10 litres of fluid today. Problem with getting in so late is that there's precious little time for recovery. Anyway, we'll see.

Day 0 Costa Mesa (mile - about 10)

You'll never make it to the Atlantic on that love - and you're going in the wrong direction.

So me, the bike and the rest of my stuff have arrived at the start OK. Flight over went without incident, fortunately I was checking in at the same time as a school orchestra, so a bike was kind of ordinary compared to all the tubas, double bases etc. My advice if you're choosing a musical instrument and plan to travel - go for the piccolo.

Today was spent getting the bike together, buying a new helmet (my existing one failed inspection due to the fact that it was falling apart.) Then had to Fedex my bike box (a very large suitcase) to Amesbury, where hopefully I'll meet it in 33 days time.

Met Mike, Barbara and Karen, the tour organisers. Barbara said that she'd only ever had to take one person to the hospital. Oh sorry, that was only one person to the hospital ON THE FIRST DAY. By day 2 we'll be dropping like flies. Had a two hour preparation session where Mike taught us lots rules of the road and gave us an inkling of what we can expect. Those guys really seem on top of things, feel like I'm in the best possible hands, but if I wasn't nervous before I certainly am now.

There's 9 of us going coast to coast and another 5 doing parts of the trip. Went out to dinner with several of them, they seem like a good bunch.

Up at 5 in the morning and on the road soon after 6:30, so off to bed now. Tomorrow we ride.