So it’s been in the pipeline for some time now, JOGLE 2018 started along time ago, but in essence it really begins tomorrow morning. The Spacetourer is packed with all the essentials, I have added a picture of my prep list that I created a couple of week’s ago. Packing actually started last week as I slowly started to buy the food and drink on the list, getting 40 litres of water, porridge pots, protein weetabix and what seems like 10kg of salted peanuts. Hopefully this will get me through the first few days with regards the water, I highly doubt I will eat all the peanuts, but I am sure Dad will give me a good helping hand!
I have always done a pre pack, no matter where I go. You can see my laid out clothes similar to what I did with the cycling outfits yesterday. This will be more than enough for the week, puts me to shame when I think I once cycled to Spain with only 2 panniers carrying all my gear! Evening clothes didn’t need any thought process at all as I just grabbed a few different items to get me through the few hours. My cycling outfits however didn’t take much prepping or planning in terms of colour, but did it terms of padding. Like most things in life, as my Grandad used to say, “if it costs more it must be better”, be like “you pay peanuts, you get monkeys”. Well similar can be said for bib shorts. I have had a few pairs in my time that are ok for shorter rides, say 30-40 miles, but when you need to spend 8-9 hours on a tiny hard saddle, you want something that’s going to give you a little bit of cushion. So I tried a new make that caught my eye, Rivelo. They do different styles and cuts, obviously material comes into it and I ended up going with a couple of pairs of their Honister short. Cycling equipment is not cheap, luckily I use Sportpursuit website to buy them in the sale, but still didn’t get change from £100 for the pair. Tried and tested on my 100 mile rides I have completed in training, so fingers crossed they get me through this week.
Before I wrote this blog the support car needed a name. My Dad, who also named my bike (Camilla), has decided to name her Florence. Now I thought this was based on Florence and the Machine, with yours truly being “The Machine”. Well no, it has a deeper meaning than that, Florence Nightingale, based on the support she gave, and hopefully the spacetourer will be that support for me over the course of the week. Picked up today she had only 8 miles on the clock. Well tomorrow will see her put on sum near 700 miles in a single stint. The alarm is set for 6am, up, shower, breaky and go. It will probably take us somewhere between 10-12 hours to drive up to Scotland. We are heading to a village called Wick, sitting on the east coast of Scotland and leaving us a final 20 minute drive to John o’ Groats on Sunday morning. It looks highly unlikely that I will get to see any of the football tomorrow, unless we can get some decent signal and manage to get it working on the iPad in Florence on the way. It’s no problem though, will get to see England play again on Wednesday in the semi!
That’s all for tonight, time to get some sleep.
Goodnight all
I Just Felt Like Cycling 