Jul 23 - pre-ride prep

There's really not that much to do, since I've been through this so many times before at this point. I did do some maintenance on my bike though -- the crankset pinch bolts had arrived via mail from Excel Sports and I decided to go ahead and remove the Dura-ace bolt and put in the correct Ultegra bolt. I removed the Neuvation wheels, installed the Hummer wheels (ha), ensured that they were shifting correctly and powering the lights, removed them and put them in the wheel bags. Packing the car is a little more complicated than usual because I'm not alone -- Sandy, the girls and Abby will occupy the passenger seats; luggage will be in the back with the bike on top. It's going to be crowded but we're not going far (compared to driving from Florida that is).

How high is your empathy level ? When you see someone get hurt do you get an empathetic pain ? When you see someone do something foolish do you feel an empathetic flash of embarrassment ? I had one of those today. In my email box was the latest Granite Anvil newsletter. It is so full of grammatical, spelling and excess word issues that I felt a flash of embarrassment. It's not just bad English, like "who" vs "whom" or "your" vs "you're". Some of it is purely cut-and-paste editing with errors in the cutting, as an example. It's replete with spelling errors that would be caught by spell check, singular verbs with plural subjects or objects ... awful. Surely someone must ... no, no one proof read this, not even the writer. It's not just a rush-it-out-the-door with a couple of typos. Fortunately or unfortunately there is no one to whom I should direct my criticism.

Last time the piece was reasonably well written but the contact email addresses were all spelled incorrectly (I discovered that and pointed it out to the author so that other people would not be able to contact the organizers). The other thing that I realized when I looked at the "to" list is that it doesn't agree with the "registered riders" on the website. There is at least one registered rider -- Jerzy -- on the website and not in the "to" list, and at least one in the "to" list that is not in the "registered riders" (a person I know has dropped out) -- Dan Wallace from Florida. I was trying to see if Terry Shuya from Saskatoon living in Jacksonville has registered yet but neither of those gave a clue. I did email the author about that -- everyone who has registered should be receiving the email otherwise they could be missing a critical piece of information.

One critical piece of information in the newsletter is regarding drop bags. At first there were going to be two drop bags, then I heard one and now there will be three. I have to pack three bags ... crazy.

What else happened yesterday ? Well, I went online, finally, and took the Canadian Boaters Exam. Jason was my "supervisor" ... and yes, I passed. Whew. I don't know if David has taken it yet. If not, he can do it when he's here. He's the only other one who tends to drive a boat. Sandy should take it, and learn to drive the boat. Aaron should also take it and perhaps Kylie. Perhaps we can do a group thing while they're here.

Speaking of which, our guests start arriving Thursday, I think. Kylie will already be here because she's coming back with us. Before then, however, I've got this ride to do and that's top of mind. We'll leave here around noon today and be back either Sunday evening or Monday morning, depending on how my ride goes.

Sandy went into Sudbury yesterday, doing some basic grocery shopping at Costco etc. She brought back salmon, so we did NOT eat local fish last night, for a change.

That's it ... I think.