OK... normal people prepare yourselfs for the obligatory bike geek blurb...cycling puritans, prepare yourselfs for a shock. I'm doing the tour on my Gary Fisher Marlin MOUNTAIN BIKE!! I hadn't thought it an issue, but a few of my fellow cycling brethren have cast suspicious almost derisory glances towards the bike during conversation about the trip. I had neither the time, money or the faintest inclination to change my trusty steed but i have some sensible modifications. Gone are the chunky MTB tyres for almost slick 1.5 Armadillo's and I changed the cassette to a ratio more suited to road use. Many thanks to Ronald for his priceless advice and insistence that i get SPD pedals and cleats. For the pannier bags I went Ortlieb - what else?
Taking a job in Heswall provided me with a 28 mile round trip each working day and constituted the majority of my training. Good times were had though, with Sean's dad Paul educating me in Cheshire's multitude of meandering glorious country lanes. I also had many a chance to test out my wet weather gear during this particulary preciptate english summer. There was to be no swanning around the Pyrenee's for Scaggers! All went well apart from a persistently tight hamstring. In typically blokeish fashion, i only addressed this only a few weeks before my trip. My Uncle Andy came to the rescue with advice and funding. The problem was a bit more serious than I had thought involving a distorted pelvis and something called the Sacroiliac nerve. I have now lost my innocence; Chiroprator and Masseuse wise. Its my only worry for the trip but I've faith in Simon's Tiger Balm and the untold talents of west coast massage parlours!
Oh and i lost my foppish fringe...end of an era!
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