Ok – one day until departure and waiting for the postie to bring along my final supplies (spare folding tyre and perhaps more pressingly a map of Europe - which way to Dover?). If they don’t arrive in time at least I won’t have to carry them...
I’ve been on a couple of short training rides around Northamptonshire and can’t believe how much my bike weighs. I break into a heavy sweet with a couple of kilometres – God knows what it’s going to be like going up mountains under the hot African sun.
I've weighed in this evening the bike and I weigh a massive 149 kg (328 lb) and that was before supper.
According to a website calculations (www.caleriesperhour.com) even cycling at a light speed 16 - 19 km/h I'll be burning off nearly 900 calories an hour. So if I'm to keep it up for 6 hours i'll be around 4,500 calories down plus the normal 2,000 I'll burn off the rest of the day. All in all I should think I'll be needing to take on board 6,000 calories plus each day - over three times what the avergae female is supposed to eat - or I'll risk losing my figure!
I have no idea if these website are accurate but I am aware of how hungry I get after my short training rides so shall have to ensure that I have plenty of opportunity to
I have finally managed to organise my seat height out so it fits and got given a crash course in bike repairs – will continue with my policy of hoping for no breakdowns as I don’t fancy my chances of rebuilding my bike with a Swiss Army Knife.
I spent last night on a test ride – 10km up the old railway line to the pub and back followed by a camp out on the farm. Not quite the adventure I’ve got ahead of me but just wanted to check I had everything in place.
One of the things I am most scared of is what I’m going to do if I come across a snake – will I man up knock it on its head and bbq it for supper (pretty unlikely I’m not Bear Grylls) or freeze and brick myself (more likely). Well I came across one slithering across the road on one of my traiing rides and am pleased to report I casually cycled around it.
I’ve been on a couple of short training rides around Northamptonshire and can’t believe how much my bike weighs. I break into a heavy sweet with a couple of kilometres – God knows what it’s going to be like going up mountains under the hot African sun.
I've weighed in this evening the bike and I weigh a massive 149 kg (328 lb) and that was before supper.
According to a website calculations (www.caleriesperhour.com) even cycling at a light speed 16 - 19 km/h I'll be burning off nearly 900 calories an hour. So if I'm to keep it up for 6 hours i'll be around 4,500 calories down plus the normal 2,000 I'll burn off the rest of the day. All in all I should think I'll be needing to take on board 6,000 calories plus each day - over three times what the avergae female is supposed to eat - or I'll risk losing my figure!
I have no idea if these website are accurate but I am aware of how hungry I get after my short training rides so shall have to ensure that I have plenty of opportunity to
I have finally managed to organise my seat height out so it fits and got given a crash course in bike repairs – will continue with my policy of hoping for no breakdowns as I don’t fancy my chances of rebuilding my bike with a Swiss Army Knife.
I spent last night on a test ride – 10km up the old railway line to the pub and back followed by a camp out on the farm. Not quite the adventure I’ve got ahead of me but just wanted to check I had everything in place.
One of the things I am most scared of is what I’m going to do if I come across a snake – will I man up knock it on its head and bbq it for supper (pretty unlikely I’m not Bear Grylls) or freeze and brick myself (more likely). Well I came across one slithering across the road on one of my traiing rides and am pleased to report I casually cycled around it.