Time to go

Getting to the departure gate has had more twists than a John le Carre spy thriller.

Passport arrived at only 4pm yesterday - after I had been sitting in the wrong place all day. Good thing was I did get some things done while I was waiting. This meant that I had to change plans for getting my visa put in onto Thursday morning. Also had to postpone getting replacement contact lenses and getting keys cut for Stuart (who will use my apartment for a while). Never afraid to change sequences and critical paths - everything got changed around and headed into town in the morning traffic with all my kit.

Phone call from Qantas as I walk to the Immigration office - can I make the earlier flight as my flight to Hong Kong is delayed - ordinarily I would have done BUT not this time. Long queue at Immigration which I manage to short circuit and am out of there by 9:18am - have to hold off the Qantas call back as I hit the service counter. Question: can I get to optician and to airport in time to make earlier flight? Not necessary to rush as Qantas have rerouted and I have time to amble up town to optician - have to reschedule meeting Stuart - and will miss Yohan in Zurich in the morning.

Now even have time to write this - hope this is the worst that it will get.

Good news is my cold has finally deserted me after 3 weeks. Now to ride.

The day before departure

I am about to embark on the next cycling adventure. It is more than a cycle tour this time although there is a fair bit of that. On August 20, I depart Paris to ride the furthest I have ever ridden in one go. I will have 90 hours to complete 1200 kilometres of Paris Brest Paris (PBP). Now I have ridden that far before in 5 days but never in 3 days - in fact have done that more than once. Preparation for this has not been ideal. I spent 3 weeks in June in the USA supporting Team Velokraft in the Race Across America. I did manage to get some riding done on the East Coast. I have spent most of the month of July with a bad cold/flu which has kept me from riding. I had planned a 1,600 km month and have managed only 400 kms.

I have 2 weeks of touring lined up in France before PBP - I am hoping that this will round out the work I have done and I am pleased to see my cold has now cleared away. This tour is for an Australian contingent of PBP riders and takes in a day of Semaine Federale; Lourdes and a few rides in the Pyrenees; Annecy and a few rides in the French Alps - also lots of good French food and wine. It will be good to get back to France again - I worked there a lot in the 1990's. After PBP I will cyclo camp (as the French call it) my way along the Mosel and Rhine Rivers on my way to Zurich.

If only my passport would arrive - not sure how I am going to get my return visa into it before departing for the airport for an early afternoon departure.

Beginning to blog

I started this blog at the time I was preparing website and blogsite for Team Velokraft participating in the Race Across America.

I don't know who wants to read about the travails of a middle-aged man consumed by a passion for cycling and cycle touring.

You can find the travelogues on http://carrinm2007.crazyguyonabike.com/ which will capture what I'm doing on my tours but will not necessarily capture what is crossing my mind.