T minus one week and counting...

I leave in less than seven full days.  In one week, minus a few hours, I'll be on the road for real.  Not "training".  Not "a shakedown ride", but actually on my way.  I'm not typically the sort to get intimidated, and generally don't really worry about much - but I have to say, I am somewhat intimidated now. 

Last week I went to BCAA to get a flip map.  We used to get them when I was a kid and my folks were planning a road trip.  It's pretty cool - you follow the highlighted line, flip the page, and keep going.  In order to make one I had to draw out my route (as best as possible) on a big map of Canada.  Then they send it in and turn it into a flip map.  Up until that point all my planning had been via Google Maps.  Strangely, it looks a LOT farther on a single sheet map!  I also got some smaller maps that will allow me to see more details such as smaller roads, etc.  But it was looking at it on a big map that all of a sudden made it look like a really significant undertaking.  Yes, I'm not really that dumb - I knew how far it was.  But for some reason, seeing it all on a big map of Canada makes it seem bigger. 

Today I loaded up the bike with about 30lbs and went out to ride the North Shore.  I haven't ridden this bike with a balanced, heavy, load yet and I wanted to see how the bike handled.  Specifically, when climbing and descending.  So I rode out to Deep Cove via Stanley Park, the Low Road and Dollarton, up part of Mt Seymour, and back.  The good news is that it handles really nicely.  I was descending at ~70kph and everything felt rock solid.  My new brake pads are awesome.  The tracking is good, and the long wheelbase and trail of the fork/headtube allow it to handle the weight very well.  Everything is just smooth and predictable.  Climbing at ~6kph really sucks though...  No Cancellara button, unfortunately. 

My GPS tracker has been functioning fairly well, and so I now present to you all the url where you should be able to track me most of the time.  It might not send if I run out of batteries, or forget to turn it on, or whatever - but for the most part you should be able to get a decent idea as to where I am.  Note that it doesn't follow roads, and as such does a poor job of mapping out the actual route traveled.  It does however, pinpoint GPS coordinates on a map so that so can see a general trend.  You're all smart people and ought to be able to figure out the rest: http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0ghCxT3Q7TUZ6zp6xX2Itq0qftjbyJ1SJ  Bookmark the link, ,or else just come back here when you want to see where I am.  

I had the great misfortune to ride past the "World Naked Bike Ride" on my way home.  They were coming towards me, and as much as I tried to avert my eyes I still got a few glimpses that will take a while to forget.  Some of them yelled at me to take off my kit and join them, but really - no-one wants that.  I certainly don't want that.  There's no possible upside, and more down than I care to consider. 


Just a few days left to finish gear testing and get organized.  It doesn't seem like enough time.  I suppose it never is.