All the Small Things

Tomorrow is the first big race/sportive of my cycling 'career', The Hilly 100.

Today the sun has cracked the paint off the walls, and we've had a strong south wester pushing up the Channel. Dry, windy and sunny.... my kind of perfect day.

I dragged the poor old dog up the beach at 6-30 am, by which time my daughter was already on the ice at Ryde Arena for her regular skating lesson.
Son No.1 was on the 'puter playing Runescape by the time I got back, and he didn't budge until about midday when he could no longer stand the pain of his full bladder. I have no idea what this game is about. Every 30 minutes he's on the phone to his buddy Macca conspiring together to advance through the game. I think that's what they talk about. Apparently they 'cheat' or work out some new strategy. I'm glad computer games didn't exist when I was a nipper.

The warm weather in the latter part of this week has got the grass (and the weeds) growing like mad. Unfortunately, my ride-on mower has been on the blink 182..... every time I tried to engage the blades the engine has been cutting out. Even I knew that it must be a faulty relay or switch somewhere, but it took me 2 hours to track it down to a tiny screw. Once I had found the fault, it was cured with half a turn of a screwdriver. If I hadn't got the grass cut today I'm would be needing to borrow a tractor and a set of gang-mowers.

Then it was time to get the bike ready for tomorrow's big ride. The main thing was to wash a weeks worth of sticky mess off the handlebars which accumulates when you drink from your bottles. She didn't need a polish, but she's had one anyway. Then I checked the brakes, the bearings and tweaked the adjustment of the front derailleur.

After the bike was gleaming, I got all the clothing together, mixed some drinks, made a load of flapjack.

I think it's important to get the small things right. The 'big' thing is the riding of the bike. I'm on the 6am ferry in the morning in order to get to Winchester for an 8am start.

I should be able to do the 103 miles. Well, let's face it. If I can't do a 100 tomorrow how am I going to cope with 125 miles and 5 huge climbs in the Pyrenees in 8 weeks time?

I'll let you know either tomorrow night or Monday.