Every Day a Treasure
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| Greeting from the Picnic Basket |
Another fantastic forecast. With the run of brilliant weather continuing (not so great for the farmers in Tasmania, but that's another story), it seemed an absolute must to get out and make the most of it. I was awake early and saw that there was almost no wind. Perfect cycling weather again in southern Tasmania.
There was no way I wanted to squander a day of light winds and warm temperatures - in other words, autumn glory at its best- especially at this time of year. Who knows when we'll get another such day? A walk would have been good, but after having a toenail extracted a week ago I thought it might be prudent not to hammer away on a rough bush track, so a ride it was.
To take advantage of the still conditions I decided to forego breakfast and get on the road ASAP. The plan was to get a coffee and a nibble at the Brighton Bakehouse and then decide on a further course of action.
To take advantage of the still conditions I decided to forego breakfast and get on the road ASAP. The plan was to get a coffee and a nibble at the Brighton Bakehouse and then decide on a further course of action.
I wasn't entirely sure how I'd go after having my left calf excruciatingly tortured by Bec the physio yesterday afternoon, but thought I'd just head out and see how things went. Of course, once on the road it's sometimes hard to hold back. Still a bit tired from a big ride a couple of days ago, I set off at a measured pace (yes, I can do that!).
After Brighton, I couldn't resist the lure of Richmond and Grasstree Hill. And then of course, the lure of a century kept me ticking along. Eventually, my ramble took me around to the Picnic Basket at the foot of the Bonnet. Without Di there (she was have an R&R day) to urge me homeward I thought a stop for coffee would be nice before riding up the hill then turning for home.
After Brighton, I couldn't resist the lure of Richmond and Grasstree Hill. And then of course, the lure of a century kept me ticking along. Eventually, my ramble took me around to the Picnic Basket at the foot of the Bonnet. Without Di there (she was have an R&R day) to urge me homeward I thought a stop for coffee would be nice before riding up the hill then turning for home.
A slight variation on the last Richmond/Grasstree route, here's where today's ride took me ...
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| The black dot is coffee, the green marker is my start and finish line |
And here's the elevation profile ...
A relatively flat ride by Tassie standards, with only 1200 metres elevation gain in 107 kilometres of riding.
It's on a day like this - which is just about as good as it gets, I reckon - that I count my blessings. Apart from not currently doing any rock-climbing, this is pretty much what I had hoped for when undertaking retirement. However, as signified by the raison d'être for and title of this blog, we are not only being in the moment but also preparing for ...
A relatively flat ride by Tassie standards, with only 1200 metres elevation gain in 107 kilometres of riding.
It's on a day like this - which is just about as good as it gets, I reckon - that I count my blessings. Apart from not currently doing any rock-climbing, this is pretty much what I had hoped for when undertaking retirement. However, as signified by the raison d'être for and title of this blog, we are not only being in the moment but also preparing for ...
THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY ...
... when we get on the plane to link up with the folks from Ride and Seek and the other eighteen punters with whom we are teaming up with for our epic ride from London to Rome. I've been wording up Sam from R&S to tow some of us up the long passes. We'll see how that pans out.
Three weeks is less than one of the Grand Tours takes to pass, so our departure is not far off at all now! We are so looking forward to this big adventure. Out of curiosity, I've just looked up the distances of each of the Grand Tours for this year. In chronological order they are:
- Giro d'Italia: 3383 kilometres
- Tour de France: 3519 kilometres
- Vuelta a España: 3277 kilometres
They'll do those distances in 21 days of racing. With only a couple of rest days along the way. Amazing. We are only covering 3120 kilometres in 26 days of riding - not racing! We'll have three days in iconic places (Troyes, Como and Venice) to recharge our batteries between stints. Some days are going to involve a lot of saddle time, especially those with lots of climbing. There are actually a few days where we cover less than 100 kilometres per day so we should get a bit of time to savour the sights along the way. I suspect on the four days of 150 kms or more it's going to be primarily a matter of enjoying the sense of movement and appreciating the scenery as it passes by. One way or another, it's all going to be grand: and EPIC!
(Pssst! If you ride a bike can you please fill in my chamois creme survey on the right? Here's a reference point if you don't know where this is coming from.)
Oh, and one more thing. A belated thank-you to my friend Ivan who brought all his wheel-truing and tuning gear over on the weekend and sorted out my rear wheel for me. It's done 453 kilometres since then and has stopped making those annoying noises at slow speeds. Nice one, Ivan!
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