According to Strava it took me 2hr 32min and 8 seconds to ride 27.1 miles this morning – what it doesn’t take into account was the length of time it took me to peel out of my soaking wet cycle gear with numb fingers when I got home before even attempting to find my phone in bottom of pannier so that, with still numb fingers, I could push the stop button – reckon I can knock about 15 mins off my time. Despite the peeing rain and wind and the fact that neither my jacket or gloves could stand up to the amount of rain it was a good bike ride – I just need to rethink my cycling wardrobe before the Loch Ness Etape in case we have similar conditions on the day – it wasn’t particularly cold today but combination of soaking wet gloves and the wind setting in, it made it feel cold. Today’s bike ride.
Moving on from rain and wind I finally had my first skiing fix of the year – a week in Les Gets, France, with my sister Emma and nephew Ben. I didn’t learn to ski until my mid 30’s and I’m never going to be very brave or fast – Ben had his first ski holiday when he was 4 and is now 11 and is very good, brave and fast. Great holiday and I’m looking forward to my other ski holiday in a couple of weeks time.
My research and route plannning is taking shape – previously though I thought I had plenty of time to get organised – now I only have 5 months left and I’m starting to panic a little – maybe I should just make it up as I go along and see what happens??
Research has included watching the BBC 3 part programme on Yellowstone – great programme – lots of sceenery and wildlife, including bears and I now have bush fires to think about. Also watched A Walk In The Woods – the film based on the book of the same name by Bill Bryson, when he walked the Appalachian Trail – no relevance to my journey really except I assume I will cross it at some point – but good film and it also had bears in it!