T minus seven weeks and counting...

Well, it's still not "New Bike Day".  Ed called me today to apologize and I just laughed.  I knew that bike was going to take a lot longer than a standard build, but neither of us expected his shop to get slammed the way it has this past week.  He knows I'm not in any real hurry, and appreciates the extra time I can afford to give him.  He's always treated me really well, so I'm certainly not disinclined to do him the odd favour.  It all comes out in the wash.

Training has officially begun.  It actually comes back fairly quickly - one of the nice things about having been a cyclist (even if an inactive one) since before I could drive.  I rode Sunday, Wednesday, and today (Friday).  Sunday felt "good to be back out there".  Wed was "not bad... not bad at all..."  Today I had just a glimmer of what it was like to be a roadie again.  I don't really have any fitness per se, but it's coming back.  Assuming I can keep this up, I should be in pretty decent shape in seven weeks - and in fifteen weeks I should be in AWESOME shape!  :p

Phil pointed out that my Google maps are all messed up in the post from a few days ago.  I'm not sure what went on there but I'm going to leave it up just because I think it's interesting how it's changed - and to see if it changes any more.  Below is the most recent set of maps, with (somewhat arbitrary) endpoint destinations for each riding day.  There are some big days in there, and I won't be shocked if I don't hit them all - but at least it's something of a plan and I have enough slack days built in there to accommodate a few shorter days plus a few days off the bike entirely.  Also benefiting my schedule (though somewhat of a bummer) is that I'm going to miss my sister, bro-in-law and nephew.  They're going to England, and I won't make it that far before they leave (looks like I'll be about a week too late).  That's disappointing, but it also allows me to cut ~400km off the route and save 4-6 days as I had planned a few days off to play with my nephew and eat pie. (If anyone else wants to feed me pie on my way through, I certainly won't turn you down!)

Here's the most up to date itinerary:

Day1	Hope	155
Day2	Princeton	134
Day3	Midway	184
Day4	Salmo	187
Day5	Cranbrook	190
Day6	Sparwood	125
Day7	Ft MacLeod	131
Day8	Medicine Hat	221	AB
Day9	Swift Current	224	SK
Day10	Rouleau	226
Day11	Manor	226
Day12	Glenboro	215	MB
Day13	Ste Anne	207
Day14	Kenora	168	ON
Day15	Dryden	137
Day16	Lac des Mille	126
Day17	Thunder Bay	156
Day18	Pays Plat 51	175
Day19	White River	209
Day20	Lake Sup Prov	143
Day21	Sault St Marie	171
Day22	Espanola	237
Day23	North Bay	203
Day24	Petawawa	210
Day25	Ottawa	163
Day26	Mirabel	148	QC
Day27	Trois Rivieres	160
Day28	Valin	147
Day29	St Simeon	166
Day30	Van Buren	237	ME
Day31	Dalhousie	184	NB
Day32	Miramichi	162
Day33	Bayfield	193
Day34	Wood Islands	136	PEI
Day35	Port Hawkesbury	166	NS
Day36	Sydney Mines	147	NFLD
Day37	St Georges	144
Day38	Rte 1	189
Day39	Grand Falls-Windsor	150
Day40	Gambo	143
Day41	Arnold's Cove	160
Day42	St John's	142

Map - Part I

Map - Part II

Hopefully with discrete points laid out frequently through both maps, Google won't be tempted to deviate and find me a "better" route...  :p

New Bike Day!!!

D'oh!  I was supposed to get my touring bike this afternoon, but apparently the good folks at Mighty are understaffed today - so it's not going to be ready.  Bummer.  Oh well.  Hopefully I can pick it up tomorrow...  :p

Falling into place...

Just checked off another box in the pre-ride prep.  I've had my eye on laser vision correction for - oh, maybe 15 years now...  I just never prioritized it enough to cough up the money.  Riding in glasses kind of sucks however, and the idea of contact lenses while camping (and less than ideal cleanliness of hands) sketches me out.  Time to pony up some bucks and get my eyes done. 

I visited 3 different shops for an initial consultation and opted for the one that I felt the most comfortable with (and also with the doc who's done more procedures than anyone in the area, as far as I can tell - Dr King has done over 50,000 procedures).  Clearly Lasik in Metrotown.  I went in for the procedure yesterday afternoon, slept the rest of the day/night, and woke up able to see.  My vision isn't "perfect" just yet, as the eyes are still healing and I've got a lot of junk (various drops) in there.  Hard edges and lines aren't sharp, and sometimes it takes a second to focus - but I'm told that this is all perfectly normal and that things will stabilize within the week.  I went in for a follow up visit today and was tested at 20/15.  This means that I can see at 20' what "people with normal vision" can see at 15'.  I have to say, I'm pretty pleased. 

Now if I could just stop trying to take off my glasses before I put in my drops...

The Route...

Many people have been asking if I've got my route settled, if I'll be passing nearby/through x town, what my itinerary is, etc.  Here is a Google Map of my route: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=vancouver,+bc&daddr=HWY+3%2FHWY+3B%2FHWY+93+to:HWY+13+to:Dawson+Rd+to:Pim+St+to:King%27s+Hwy+6+to:Route+27%2FCounty+Rd-27+to:King%27s+Hwy+12+to:King%27s+Hwy+7+to:County+15+Rd%2FCounty+Rd-15+to:Franktown+Rd+to:Prince+of+Wales+Dr+to:Boulevard+Maloney+E+to:Route+148+to:Route+40+E+to:St+Peter+Ave+to:Hopedale+Rd+to:Route+1+E&geocode=FeSz7wId-w2p-CmN3LASwnOGVDEACnsqFTUBBQ%3BFVIb9AIdclYb-Q%3BFSLg9QIdpvLb-Q%3BFeRs4wIdDuCt-g%3BFZi4xQIdYmP5-g%3BFVrysAId4sYk-w%3BFRTYqAIdIEQ9-w%3BFV66qAIdXJJD-w%3BFYCwpAIdZHtN-w%3BFYugqwId2X17-w%3BFcnWsAIdFpJ5-w%3BFThdswId0eJ8-w%3BFcoEtgIdwD5--w%3BFSB_uAIdgsqK-w%3BFdZOwgIdVAKq-w%3BFfLU1gId-u4V_A%3BFUw0wwIdhDc5_A%3BFayE1gIdssDb_A&hl=en&mra=mr&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16&sll=45.721522,-63.231812&sspn=1.114059,2.142334&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=44.86755,-80.425415&spn=2.16463,4.224243&z=8

It's a little rough, but that's the general idea.  If it looks like I'm riding down a major freeway (like the 401 in Ontario, for example), I'm probably on a much smaller road that runs closely parallel to it (Hwy 2 in this case).  I do appreciate feedback from people however, as for much of this route I just picked what looked good on the map and have no freakin' clue as to whether that particular road is good for cycling or if riding there would be a deathwish.  So comment away and tell me I'm a dumbass - it's nothing I haven't heard before...  :p

As for an itinerary, I need to be near a moderate sized airport by Saturday, Aug 14th at the latest.  Regardless of whether I've been chillin' in St John's for a few days or for some reason never made it past Princeton, I'll be coming home.  I figure that barring any weird unforseen circumstances, making Montreal is a lock.  PEI should definitely be doable.  It's that last ~1400k push to St John's that's really in question to me.  We'll just have to see what the road and Fortune give me...

Speaking of Fortune, I just signed my online organ donor form (signing the back of your DL don't cut it no mo').  If you might die sometime, even if you aren't planning on it, you should sign up.  It's not like you'll be needing them where you're going...


BC peeps can do it here: https://www.transplant.bc.ca/

And so it begins...

Well actually, it began nearly 20 years ago when I first decided that I wanted to do this ride.  It's just taken me a while to get organized, prioritized, secure time off work, etc.  Back then I was in pretty decent shape.  Not so much this time around.  But I do have a wealth of "experience".  Yeah, experience.  Experience is what we call the failures that didn't kill us.  And I have a boatload of those! 

My departure date (D-day) is looming less than 10 weeks away, and rather than having spent the past year diligently training I had shoulder surgery, spent some time skiing, spent some time cooking and baking, spent a pile of time and effort reducing the probability that I'll ever see the damage deposit on my apartment again, and generally not riding my bike very much at all.  I've done some reading, though...  Reading that tells me my goal of St John's, Nfld and timeline of 8 weeks is "aggressive" to say the least. 

I'm now finishing up the "research" part of my pre-ride preparations and am well into the procurement phase.  As usual, things didn't go exactly as planned there, either.  Still, I press on. 

T minus 10 weeks and counting...