CLEARED TO RACE ! ! !

This morning, Friday June 17th, RAAM inspected all our vehicles, bikes, helmets, shoes, wheels, phone numbers, insurance policies. Official photos were taken of us in our Team Kit. We were cleared to race!

Our Team is getting together!

Tarzana - a northern suburb of LA. (Big trees for large gorrillas). I arrive Sunday lunchtime. So does Jim from New York. Great to meet up again. 3 Crew members - Joseph, Brendan and Tom. We unpack the bikes and wheels. There's a mountain of equiptment. Hope that there are some engines too! And then our Great Crew Chief Sandra arrives as well. We're so grateful.
And then I get a cold. I feel like death. But it's only a head cold. Better not ride tomorrow. Get better for the Race!

California - here we are!

arrived last Tuesday June 7th. Glad I gave myself a week to acclimatise. Did some rides with La Grange - hill climbs and hill repeats, and on the 3rd day a flat recovery ride. Nice bunch, they know how to ride :). Then go shopping at the bike shops. I had thought that going to a large city would make that esier - surely they have the supplies? Wrong! It transpired that there was one pair of Sidi Ergo 2 in 43 1/2 in the entire western side of the metropolis. That took some searching out! But they fit like a glove (and I've christened them by spilling coffee on them after the 2nd ride!)

What a Fortnight !

The last 2 weeks have been wonderful. Firstly I spoke to a group of community workers and parents in a country town in Victoria AU (Shepparton), about being HIV+. Message: your youth tries not to get HIV, and if per chance they do, then love and support them. Big positive response :) Then in the evening, a 1 1 /2 hr talk to the youth. We cooked together, ate together, and talked. Very empowering for everyone.

In the meantime the filming continued, which culminated in the ABC TV story on 7:30 Report, a current affairs program with a daily audience of 1/2 - 1 million (out of a population of 22 million). The journalist did a fantastic job - see www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3220590.htm.

The response has been overwhelming - so encouraging for all of our team, racers and crew.

Oh yes, in the meantime I keep cycling!. Today 160k throughout the Eastern suburbs of Sydney. Towards the end of autumn, and bright, sunny, and 23degrees!. Am I lucky!

And a little bit more on Tuesday !

Tuesday April 27th was a further public holiday in Sydney. Again it poured with rain. I did get out of bed at 5.20, put in my contact lenses, looked outside and (I admit it!) went back to bed! But the bike got the better of me by early afternoon. My legs felt like lead, but after warmups etc, I did 7 x 7 minute TT intervals with 3 min rest in between. The TT intervals were at 85-90% FTP, so I was happy (and sodden due to the incessant rain)!

So for the whole Easter holiday, I rode 551km, at an average of 29.3km/hr (18.075miles/hr). That includes warm up rides, cool down rides, getting through the traffic rides - the lot! And mostly in the rain. Whilst during RAAM we will each have a lot further to ride each day, this was nevertheless a useful exercise. And I will keep training!

Easter "Festival" of Cycling

Easter - great opportunity to do some serious training. A mixture of endurance, hills, time trials, and lots of perserverence!.

Friday - 163km : 100 miles, not called "5 Gorges Ride" for nothing! 2300m (7150feet) climbing, in fabulous autumn weather.

Saturday - 3 x 1 hour TT intervals around Centennial Park Sydney. First 2 hours in absolute downpour! Oh well, it could rain in Arizona (!).

Went for a drive with my partner in the afternoon. I slept most of the way.

Sunday - another 3 x 1 hr TT intervals. But the sun shone in the afternoon, and lots of recreational riders (and drivers) came to the Park. That made TT-ing very tricky.

Monday - the bunch was supposed to go to Waterfall and Royal National Park - a 120km ride with about 2500m climbing. It was very wet. Only one rider turned up - me. I suppose that the others don't have RAAM to train for. I still went, but missed the park and only did 100km.

All told - 500km and 4,000m climbing in 4 days. About 60% of my share during RAAM. How do I feel ? I'd like a good sleep, and lots of food! I'd prefer to feel better, but during RAAM I can be much more focussed, and have no other things to deal with. Happy enough.

Riding, Training, Eating, (and running a bit scared!)

Oh boy - 60 days to go. It's all really happening. We're on the home stretch. Accommodation booked in LA and Oceanside before the race, and Washington (2 days) and New York afterwards. No accommodation in between - just a bike saddle and the RV! We've got sponsorship from Nespresso for RAAM - yippee!.

Doing the final body tweaking bits - an MRI of my R knee this morning, just to make sure. Keep stretching, don't tighten up too much.

Training - like crazy! both on my road bike and the TT bike. My cycling club buddies in Sydney think (know) I'm obsessed. After our usual Sunday ride I go and do our usual Saturday ride. Twice daily a couple of times per week. Easter is very much a "Festival of Cycling" : "good" Friday: 150km with 5 major climbs, Sat and Sun = 5 x 1 hour time trials, Monday a mere 120km with hills, and Tuesday a flat 100.

We got our nutritionist's plan last week: it's fantastic. During the Race, we're each looking at about 5,500cal / day, plus about 5 litres of liquid. (My skin will look good!)

Gotta keep training!