Or rather, it is too late for training to do any good. Any more than normal exertion (and any less than normal sleep) over the next six days will just make it more difficult to complete the event.
So I have entered the phase when all preparation is focused on equipment, route planning (where to sleep, how much distance is realistic how fast?), figuring out what to put in the two "drop bags" that riders are allowed, and trying to put work on an even keel so that I can be out of touch during the event without problems.
Part of this involves checking the weather forecasts. My friends in London told me that "the weather is the weather here, never reliable". That seems pretty much the case in other parts of the world as well from every time I have ridden more than 600km in a single tour or event -- at least some rain, and some shine. Indeed, the longer range BBC forecasts for each of the first few days of the ride now look something like this in Brampton (NW England) and Edinburgh:
What does that mean? Some rain showers (2 drops apparently meaning "heavy showers"), some sun, some clouds, with the high temperature somewhere between 14 and 21 degrees C -- all on the same day. And the same forecast (with 1 drop instead of two, signifying lighter showers, and somewhat warmer highs) for almost every location of the ride, every day of the event.
At least it is not likely to be as hot and humid as Tokyo, nor as cold as Rainy Pass in Washington State last year during the Cascade 1200.
No comments:
Post a Comment